Tracy Samilton

Chrysler is freezing contributions to its U.S. defined benefit pension plans for salaried employees, and will switch to a defined contribution plan instead.

Chrysler will determine the amount it will contribute - and that amount is not being publicly disclosed - and employees will choose from a number of investment strategies, such as stocks and bonds, annuities, etc.

Talk about a research monkey wrench.

The federal government and automakers have spent billions and billions of dollars to encourage the development of electric cars. Consumers get a big tax credit to buy one.

Now, a University of Michigan researcher says it's really not worth the money.

On average, an electric car produces half the carbon dioxide emissions as a gasoline-burning car.

John DeCicco doesn't dispute that. But the natural resources professor says everyone is so focused on the car, they're ignoring the bigger problem. (You can read his new study in the journal Energy Policy here).

Two-thirds of the carbon going into our atmosphere comes from things like factories, oil refineries, and power plants.

One of the two front-runners in the Detroit mayoral race is off the ballot for the August primary.

Mike Duggan is the former CEO of the Detroit Medical Center.

He registered to vote in the city on April 16, 2012.

According to city law, a candidate for elected office must be a registered voter a full year before filing.

Duggan filed his nominating signatures for his mayoral run April 2, 2013 - fourteen days short of the requirement.

It's not easy to buy enough nutritious, filling food to last a week if you only have $31 -- the average amount an individual on food stamps receives from the federal government.

"I bought tuna, lots of cans of tuna," says Michigan Congressman Sandy Levin.  

Levin is participating in a challenge to eat on an impoverished person's food budget for a week, to call attention to deep cuts in food programs proposed by House Republicans.  

A new survey suggests the danger of distracted driving is being compounded by distracted walking.

Dave Melton of Liberty International, the parent group of Liberty Mutual, says more and more pedestrians are chatting and texting on their cell phones as they cross streets.

55% of people surveyed agree it's dangerous, yet nearly half admit to doing it.