Judge Paul L. Maloney entered the courtroom when the clock on the wall read 9:08. He strode to the bench and settled into his chair. Behind him, mounted on the wood paneled wall, was a large round seal of the United States Federal Court Western District of Michigan. The hearing was off to a late start, but only by eight minutes. And, given that everyone was here to try to settle a dispute that dates back more than a century and a half, those eight minutes didn’t seem like much.

In front of Maloney in the wood-paneled courtroom at the federal building in Kalamazoo sat more than a dozen attorneys. Maloney called out each of them by name for the record.

“That took longer than usual,” he joked at the end.

The state Legislature is in its final week of the lame duck session before the holiday break, and the bills are not slowing down.

Bills covering everything from shielding donor identities in campaigns to legislation on cleanup of toxic sites advanced in the Legislature Tuesday.

A controversial bill setting new standards for cleaning up contamination is on its way to the governor.

The state House approved the legislation Tuesday by a narrow 56 to 53 vote margin. The bill has already passed the state Senate.

The governor’s desk is the next stop for a bill to protect the identities of non-profit donors, including to political advocacy groups.

It would be a misdemeanor for a public official to require non-profits to disclose their donor list for government review under the legislation the state House approved today. 

State Senator Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) defends his bill against charges it’s intended to shield big name political donors trying to influence Michigan politics.

53rd District Court judge Theresa Brennan was arraigned Tuesday on three felony counts: tampering with evidence, perjury, and corruption in office.

The hearing was brief.  Appearing by video conference, Judge David Guinn read Brennan her rights and asked if she understood them. She said she did.

Plans to change Michigan’s auto no-fault law will likely not make it to the governor’s desk this year. Lawmakers in the state House have been considering taking up the issue – and they still might. But with only days left in this session, the Senate is unlikely to follow suit.

The A.V. Club has named the Believed podcast from Michigan Radio and NPR as the “Best Coverage of a News Story” podcast its annual “Podmass Superlatives” list, 2018. The entertainment webzine gives this nod to the investigative reporting podcast just as the Believed series wraps up with its Epilogue episode, “No Pretty Bows” released this week.