Business + Labor
Affordable housing initiatives ramp up in Michigan amid shortage
As housing costs rise across the state, there are efforts to help underway in the second-largest city in Michigan. The Grand Rapids City Commission approved three new recommendations on Tuesday that leaders hope will encourage the development of more affordable housing units. Lawmakers voted to offer incentives for “small-scale development” that would favor two-family dwelling […]
Whitmer calls for MCCA audit as group announces insurance fee hike
Updated, 8:55 p.m. As lawmakers in Lansing have vowed, once again, to reform the state’s high auto insurance rates, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered an audit into the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA). The Livonia-based nonprofit was created by the Legislature in 1978. It collects annual fees from all insured Michigan drivers, in order to […]
AG, high court could still weigh minimum wage, sick leave laws
Attorney General Dana Nessel and the state’s highest court could still weigh whether Lame Duck laws that dramatically scaled back ballot proposals regarding paid sick leave and the minimum wage are constitutional. But Nessel won’t do so before Friday, when they are slated to take effect, according to spokeswoman Kelly Rossman-McKinney. Another request for the […]
Senate GOP launches website on lowering auto insurance rates
Michigan Senate Republicans are continuing their quest to lower auto insurance rates in the state and they’re calling on citizens to share their stories of what they would do with the savings. State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) on Wednesday tweeted about a new website, ifmirateswerelower.com, that asks Michiganders: “What would it mean to […]
Michigan millennial leads nation’s largest NAACP branch
Kamilia Landrum is on the move. At 30, she’s the youngest Detroit NAACP executive director in the branch’s 107 years. The Detroit branch is the organization’s largest and has a storied history, winning several legal battles, including a 1954 case ending segregation in Detroit public housing. Landrum started with the NAACP in 2012. She earned […]
AG asked to review migrant farm worker pay
Updated, 5:48 p.m. with comments from Arbulu, Scholten, LARA and the Farm Bureau. The Michigan Civil Rights Commission is asking Attorney General Dana Nessel to reconsider whether Michigan’s smallest farms can legally pay migrant farm workers less than minimum wage. The request comes after former Attorney General Bill Schuette issued a 2017 legal opinion arguing […]
Report: Michigan should stop treating transit as a ‘social welfare program’
Michigan needs to rethink its approach to public transit, treating it as a “public utility” rather than as a “social welfare program.” That’s according to a new report from the nonpartisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan (CRC) a Livonia-based public policy organization that was released last week during the Michigan Municipal League’s (MML) annual conference […]
Dem SuperPAC spending $50M in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania
American Bridge, a Democratic SuperPAC that’s chaired by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, has her old stomping grounds in its 2020 sights with a big ad buy in the Upper Midwest. That’s the group that released the infamous video of 2018 Michigan gubernatorial nominee Bill Schuette telling a TV reporter, “I will do anything you want.” […]
Does Whitmer’s roads plan raise $2.5B or $1.9B? Here’s why it matters.
Most people don’t dispute that Michigan has some of the worst roads in the nation, but politicians are still squabbling over how to fix them. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s new road-funding proposal that hikes the gas tax 45 cents hasn’t exactly received a warm welcome from many motorists or the Republican-controlled Legislature. While politicians have been […]
Detroit Chamber backs Whitmer’s gas tax hike
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s roads tax plan got a warm reception last week at a Detroit Regional Chamber luncheon and now the group is making it official. The chamber on Wednesday said it’s endorsing Whitmer’s plan to hike the gas tax 45 cents starting Oct. 1 to raise $2.5 billion to fix Michigan’s roads. The governor […]
Nessel joins fellow AGs in backing payday lender regulations
Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined 23 states and the District of Columbia in urging the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to finalize regulations for payday lenders. In signing the letter with almost half of the country’s state attorneys general, Nessel said she aims to protect consumers in Michigan from falling victim to payday […]
Low-wage working households on the rise in Michigan
The Great Recession may be over, but its impact continues to linger in Michigan, especially for those at or near the bottom of the economic ladder. The Michigan Association of United Ways on Wednesday released a report examining “ALICE” households, an acronym that refers to those that are “Asset limited, income restrained [and] employed.” That […]