Rina Miller

The elections may be over, but there's still uncertainty about how the Affordable Care Act will affect small businesses.

Michael Rogers is with the Small Business Association of Michigan.  He says the biggest provisions of the ACA won't go into effect until 2014,  but employers will soon have to make a lot of decisions about  how the changes in health insurance will affect them.

"There's no one-size-fits-all," Rogers says. "It's going to impact every small business differently, depending on the number of employees they have."

A Michigan mother whose twins were conceived using  in-vitro technology after their father died is asking the state Supreme Court to allow the children to get death benefits and inheritance rights.

Pam and Jeff Mattison had a daughter using in-vitro fertilization, and wanted more children.

But Jeff Mattison was ill, and died just before the procedure was performed again.

Pam Mattison had a twin boy and girl nine months after her husband died. She applied for Social Security benefits for the twins, but was denied.

Merriam Webster has one pronunciation for the word lackadaisical, but often people pronounce it laxadaisical.

“I would guess that what’s happened here is that speakers have reinterpreted lackadaisical as related to lax. And once they do that they change the pronunciation of lackadaisical to laxadaisical” said Anne Curzan, a professor of English at the University of Michigan.

Curzan says in surveys she’s done, half the people say lackadaisical and half say laxadaisical, but it doesn’t seem to be because of generation differences.

It’s seems that the combination of the letter K and S is what causes the confusion. Another mix-up can be found in words like especially and espresso.

On Weekend Edition,  Rina Miller talks with Michigan Radio's political analyst Jack Lessenberry about some of the biggest news stories of the week. This week they discuss election turn out, how marijuana laws have been eased in some cities in the state, and the possible change to how public defense attorneys are appointed in Michigan.

The city of Troy faces some changes now that its mayor has been recalled. 

Voters removed Troy Mayor Janice Daniels this week, after a year of controversy and blowback that kept her -- and the city -- in the headlines.

Michigan may be getting an enhanced 911 system. 

The system  known as Next Generation 911 could be in widespread use in the state by 2017.

Emergency dispatchers can already identify where landline and cellphone calls originate.

But Michigan's 911 administrator says changing technology is driving an upgrade of the system.

The new system would  let people send text messages, digital photos and videos in real time to alert authorities to emergencies and provide critical information to first responders.

A report from  the Michigan 911 Committee says the number of emergency calls coming from cell phones and services like Skype are rising exponentially.

The Michigan Election Coalition is asking state and local police to look into why hundreds of absentee ballots sent  in Oakland and Macomb county communities never made it to voters.

The National Hockey League Winter Classic that was supposed to be held at Michigan Stadium on January First has been canceled.

There’s a debate in Michigan over whether people who provide in-home help to those with disabilities and some elderly should be guaranteed the right to collective bargaining under a Constitutional amendment.

That’s part of what Proposal 4 is about.

Elizabeth Schultz lives in an apartment in Holland with her cat, Kiko.  Schultz is college educated, teaches a class at a community mental health agency and is a deacon at her church.

Every Saturday Michigan Radio's Rina Miller talks with political analyst Jack Lessenberry about the week's top news stories in the region. This week they talked about the upcoming election, the status of Michigan's auto industry as GM and Ford are feeling the pinch of Europe's weak economy, and how campaign signs are now allowed in bars and restaurants.

Supporters of embattled Troy Mayor Janice Daniels say a recall effort is just a matter of sour grapes on the part of Democrats who lost the last election. 

Members of Tea Party and other conservative groups say Daniels is doing a good job as mayor of Troy.

Daniels faces a recall after making slurs against homosexuals on a social media page. She was also criticized for removing references to the city's charter language in her oath of office.

Every Saturday Michigan Radio's Rina Miller talks with political analyst Jack Lessenberry about the week's top regional news stories. This week they talked about who Michiganders are likely to vote for in the presidential election, how the Teamsters are backing Proposal 6, and the death of inventor, Stan Ovshinsky.

Some immigrants who qualify for a federal deportation deferral still can't get a Michigan driver's license or ID card. 

Michigan's public school employees may have to work longer before they can retire. They're living longer,  
and that's hitting the bottom line of retirement programs.

Mark Guastella is Executive Director of the Michigan Association of Retired School Personnel. Hesays the current retirement age is 60, but that will have to change.

Every Saturday Michigan Radio's Rina Miller talks with political analyst Jack Lessenberry about the week's top regional news stories. This week they talk about Proposal 5 which would require a two-thirds majority vote of the Legislature in order to raise taxes and the cost of campaigning in the state.