State News

The first month of legal recreational marijuana business in Michigan produced around $6.5 million in retail sales. The Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency has now issued 54 recreational licenses, with about half of those for retail outlets. Only one retail license has been issued for the Upper Peninsula – the Fire …

The resolution of the General Motors strike helped Michigan’s unemployment rate fall a bit in November. The seasonally unadjusted rate dropped from 3.5 percent in October to 3.2 percent in November. The Upper Peninsula did not fare so well, as the rate rose from 3.6 percent to 4.2 percent. The …

Michigan’s economy is expected to slow a bit over the next three years. The Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency’s latest Economic Outlook and Budget Review is projecting growth of 1.8 percent this year, 1.7 percent next year, and 1.5 percent in 2022. That’s down from a 2.9 percent increase last year. …

Michigan’s population grew slightly last year, but remains shy of the all-time record. Estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau place the number of people who live in the state at 9,986,857. That’s a slim 2,785 increase over 2018. Michigan’s population peaked in 2004 at just over 10 million. It …

Miminum wage workers in Michigan will see an increase in their next paychecks. On Wednesday, Michigan’s minimum hourly standard rose to $9.65 per hour. The base pay for tipped workers – such as restaurant wait staff – rose to $3.67 per hour.  In 2018, a citizen initiative to increase the …

The Mackinac Bridge Authority has officially begun its phase-out of MacPass toll cards. The MacPass system will remain in place, but the cards are being replaced with window stickers. The stickers will be read electronically as your vehicle passes through the toll booth, with no need to roll down your …

A Hamtramck man is the latest Michigan soldier who died in a long-ago war to have his remains identified by modern technology. 19-year-old Army Pfc. John A. Shelemba was reported missing in action July 20, 1950, while defending the South Korean city of Daejon. His body was recovered after the …

Michigan is now included in a nationwide recall of hard-boiled eggs and products made from them. Almark Foods has shut down production at its facility in Gainesville, Georgia, because of possible listeria contamination. The recall affects products carrying Walmart’s Great Value house brand name, along with the Almark and Eggland’s …

A state representative is apologizing after she was arrested for drunk driving late last week. 48-year-old Democrat Rebekah Warren of Ann Arbor was pulled over just before midnight Thursday by police in Auburn Hills, in Oakland County. Officers say she was weaving through traffic, and sideswiped a guard rail. She …

A creepy green ooze that began to spread across a Detroit-area freeway more than a week ago has led to a full-scale battle to secure a deteriorating building that once housed a plating company. The green slime shut down a lane of I-696 in Madison Heights on December 20th. Testing …