Despite long hours of intense bargaining that stretched late into the night Thursday, lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm again failed to reach accord on solving the state’s $1.8 billion fiscal crisis, which almost certainly will involve a major tax increase. And the Oct. 1 deadline for enacting a revenue and spending plan — avoiding a government [...]

The three universities that comprise the state's University Research Corridor are expected to release a report as soon as today, showing they're worth 68,800 Michigan jobs and $12.8 billion in annual economic impact.

State Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, is drafting a bill that would allow the names of teenagers convicted of violent sexual crimes to be placed on the Michigan public sex offender registry regardless of their juvenile status.

You won’t find Matthew E. Macon’s name on the Michigan public sex offender registry. That’s despite court records that show when he was 14 he sexually assaulted a child under 13 with a stick. Macon appears on a hidden list - a list that can be seen only by law enforcement. And he’s not the only one. Almost [...]

A branch of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is seeking final approval of a $280,000 grant for a new boardwalk intended to help prevent further erosion of Holland State Park’s Mount Pisgah dune. Another branch of the agency, however, has listed for possible sale a state-owned lot that would provide public access to the project. “This [...]

Once thought of as confined mainly to the rural South, dogfighting is a growing national phenomenon that cuts across social, economic and racial lines, and experts say the Detroit area is a hotbed for it.

State lawmakers said they’ll move to stop the smuggling of tens of millions of beverage cans and bottles into the state from Ohio and Indiana by people who cash in on Michigan’s 10-cent deposit refund. The lawmakers said Thursday that smuggled cans and bottles cost Michigan’s treasury and hurt beer and pop sellers who shell out [...]

Meanwhile, legislation that would eliminate expiration dates on gift cards languishes in committee … In the spring, Carolyn Graham of East Lansing bought a $100 gift card to Becky Beauchine Kulka Diamonds & Fine Jewelry during the WKAR-TV auction. She didn’t pay much attention to the expiration date until last weekend. That’s when she noticed that the [...]

The voters of Michigan may notice how little they count in the ongoing fight over presidential primaries for the state. This week, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed into law a bill that creates a 2008 presidential primary voting day on Jan. 15. It’s not the best bill. In fact, it’s a horrible bill. But one thing Granholm [...]

As lawmakers look for new revenue to help close a nearly $1.8 billion gap in Michigan’s upcoming budget, some Capitol observers say an increase in the state income tax is a logical choice. Economists and others say the increase, once enacted, would be relatively easy to put in place, would be spread over a broad base [...]

For more than a quarter of a century, I have focused my research on understanding the effects of taxes. Do taxes matter? Of course they do. But it’s important to keep things in perspective as the governor and Legislature debate how to balance the state budget and avoid an estimated shortfall of $1.8 billion for the [...]

The Brookings Institution has released a new report that quantifies the economic benefit to the region of restoring the Great Lakes. The numbers tell a compelling story: $50 billion in long-term benefit. $24 billion net gain to the region. Cited report : America’s North Coast : A Benefit-Cost Analysis of a Program to Protect and Restore the [...]

Online predators have a language all their own. That’s a lesson that Michigan school kids will learn somewhere between their ABCs and don’t-talk-to-strangers under a new Internet predator education program unveiled Wednesday by Attorney General Mike Cox. The Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative aims to teach kids how to recognize the language of Internet predators and protect themselves [...]

After Lansing police arrested state prison parolee Matthew Macon last week as a suspect in the murders of five women, state Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, promptly pronounced overdue sentencing reforms dead. Like most Republicans, however, Cropsey had already opposed sentencing reforms that would save the state a much needed $100 million by diverting some minor offenders [...]

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land on Wednesday released guidelines for implementing the state’s voter ID law, set for use for the first time in local elections Nov. 6. Land said the 1996 law, upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court earlier this year, requires voters to produce current photo identification or sign a statement stating they [...]

The tax-hike door opened briefly at the state Capitol on Wednesday, as legislative leaders considered asking voters to approve a one-penny sales tax increase to deal with the state budget crisis. But by late in the day, it appeared no one was prepared to walk through — at least not in time to meet today’s deadline [...]

Former Govs. William Milliken and James Blanchard urged immediate action Wednesday on moves to address state government’s looming budget crisis, calling for tax hikes, spending reform, government consolidation and cuts in spending on health care and prisons. Milliken and Blanchard, who headed up a financial crisis review team for Gov. Jennifer Granholm in January, said in [...]

Republicans say Detroit-Windsor traffic is declining, and that a publicly funded bridge across the Detroit River is unnecessary. They call the DRIC study a waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when the state budget is severely strained.

In hopes of thwarting what he calls an epidemic of copper thefts, Sen. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, introduced legislation that would require scrap metal dealers to be licensed and monitored by the state. Thomas, citing a Monday Free Press story detailing the recent surge in copper thefts, said he first learned of the problem last year from [...]

Several readers e-mailed to ask about an item on the Department of Natural Resources Web site that asks for public comment on the “derogation” of five chemicals for use in forestry. Derogation simply means deviating from a standard and using something in a way that it is not used normally or hasn’t been used before. Dennis Nezich, [...]