News

The City of Escanaba is moving one step closer to closing its decades-old power plant. The Escanaba City Council has voted in favor of asking energy regulators to allow the city to “retire” its plant this summer, when the current “System Support Resource” contract expires. Escanaba Mayor Marc Tall says …

The Enbridge oil pipeline running under the Straits of Mackinac has a new challenge as the Sierra Club filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the U.S. Forest Service permit that allows it to operate. The pipeline requires the permit because portions run through the Huron-Manistee National Forest. It spring a …

Millions of dollars will be put toward improving the health of almost 12,000 acres of non–industrial forest land across the Upper Great Lakes region. $5 million, to be exact, will be used to conserve habitats across the U.P., Wisconsin and Minnesota. These habitats are crucial to threatened and endangered species. …

While most Upper Peninsula utilities were pleased with Tuesday’s announcement that large electric rate hikes may not be coming after all, the Cloverland Electric Co-op was not one of them. The Co-op based in Dafter covers five counties on the eastern end of the U.P. (Chippewa, Mackinac, Schoolcraft, Delta and …

A federal judge in Detroit is ordering the state to recognize hundreds of same-sex marriages. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith called marriage a “fundamental right” Thursday in his opinion on the ruling. The 300 couples married last March after another judge struck down the Michigan ban on same-sex marriage, but …

A trio of Michigan House Republicans has wasted no time in pushing for a complete repeal of Michigan’s prevailing wage law. The law, which has been criticized by conservatives for decades, requires hourly pay on government construction projects to be based on the prevailing wage in a given area. The …

A freshmen state representative from Eaton County introduced a bill on the first day of the legislative term Thursday to repeal Michigan’s pension tax. House Republican Tom Barrett of Potterville says it is fundamentally unfair to tax our retirees in a way that they could not anticipate throughout their working …

Governor Rick Snyder has vetoed two bills that would substantially change the state’s process for issuing a license to carry a concealed weapon. Snyder says the measures include some reforms he supports, but include changes that might inadvertently increase the risk of violence and intimidation faced by domestic abuse victims …

It has taken more than a decade, but the Michigan Retailers Association has finally achieved their goal of requiring some internet retailers to charge the state’s sales tax at the time of an internet purchase. Governor Rick Snyder has signed the so-called “Mainstreet Fairness Act” legislation approved during the waning …

Six Department of Natural Resources division heads are rejecting a proposed land deal in the eastern Upper Peninsula that would be the largest public land sale in state history. The six sent the recommendation to DNR Director Keith Creagh opposing the sale of more than 10,000 acres of public surface …