State transparency laws need to be reviewed and improved upon but in a way that enables them to have teeth, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks said this week.
Criminal financial charges filed Tuesday against former Speaker Lee Chatfield and his wife, Stephanie Chatfield, have again led to the state's top law enforcement agent to plead for legislative ethics and transparency reforms regarding political dark money accounts, nonprofits and other accounts commonly called slush funds.
Lawmakers and statewide officers were required to file financial disclosures on Monday for the first time in state history, though the specifics of the filings were limited as officials for the most part don't need to report specific amounts of income.
GRAND RAPIDS – Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Monday that the hotel-motel tax bill signed earlier this month would strengthen Kent County's economy and increase its placemaking abilities with a potential new amphitheater and soccer stadium – a facility she hoped would be grand enough to even attract her favorite fictional TV football-turned-fútbol coach.
BATTLE CREEK – Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday that although she supports continuing to expand and protect abortion access in Michigan, that isn't her focus right now.
A year after the death of her husband, Sandy Wynn-Stelt found out her home's water supply was contaminated with PFAS, the so-called "forever chemicals" associated with a host of side effects. A blood test revealed she had over 750 times the national average amount of PFAS in her bloodstream, due to a waste dumping site from a local tannery near her home in Belmont.
GRAND RAPIDS – Former President Donald Trump shredded his Democratic opponent's immigration policy Tuesday, calling the nation's southern border a mess that is leading to carnage in Michigan and across the nation at the hands of people in the country illegally.
A bill passed by the Legislature in 2023 was finally signed into law Tuesday by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
ROYAL OAK – Surrounded by families who relied on surrogacy and IVF to get pregnant, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the Family Protection Act in Royal Oak on Monday.
ROYAL OAK – Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks said Monday that Republicans are using the slaying of a Grand Rapids resident as a political talking point and should be ashamed.