Vincent Duffy

The Michigan Supreme Court says a new law taxing public pensions does not violate the state Constitution. 

The advisory opinion released today is a major victory for Governor Rick Snyder, who signed the sweeping tax changes earlier this year. Employee unions were opposed to the new law.

State officials expect the law will generate as much as $330 million dollars in revenue in 2013.

The court did say a portion of the law doesn't pass muster. The court ruled the tax could not be administered as a graduated income tax, which is illegal under the state constitution. And that means Governor Rick Snyder will have to go back and find more revenue or more cuts to make sure the state budget remains balanced.

However, the Supreme Court says that does not stop the rest of the tax overhaul from taking effect.

The court divided along party lines, with the four Republican justices making up the majority.  

The decision means the new tax on pensions will take effect January first largely as it was designed by Governor Rick Snyder and the Legislature. However, they will have to come up with a plan to make up some of the money they were counting on to balance the budget.

I received an email last week from a listener angry enough to write the most common threat I hear from Michigan Radio listeners, “I will never donate to your station again!”

We hadn’t libeled or defamed this man. We didn’t misquote him or make an error in a story he thought was important. He wasn’t even accusing us of left-or-right wing bias.

Michigan Radio's Sports Commentator John U. Bacon has a new book out. It premiered at number six on The New York Times non-fiction best seller list this week. Bacon was already well-known at the University of Michigan for the book he co-wrote with Bo Schembechler. So, it wasn’t difficult for him to get access to the Wolverine football program in 2008 when the team got a new head coach Rich Rodriguez, or Rich-Rod.

Bacon's plan was to write a story on the spread offense that Rich-Rod had used so successfully at West Virginia. But Bacon quickly found himself in the middle of a new, more complex story.

"It started out being a very simple story... and, now you realize, of course, three years later, the real story is off the field: it's what it's really like to be a player, what it's really like to be a coach, NCAA investigations, pressure, losing, ultimately getting fired... I don't think you have to be much of a football fan to follow this," says Bacon.

Michigan Radio's Christina Shockley spoke with Bacon about his new book, Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College Football.

Update 3:12PM

Today's Detroit bus shutdown has come to resolution.

From the Associated Press:

Officials say drivers have ended a work stoppage and public buses resumed running following an announcement that Detroit police officers will randomly stop and board city buses in some high-problem areas.

Mayor Dave Bing released the plan at a press conference Friday.

Grand Rapids Public Schools has closed Southwest Community Campus school today because of a police stand-off underway in the neighborhood near the school.

Police are looking for a man who they consider a "person of interest" in connection with the fatal shooting of a woman.

That incident happened around six o’clock this morning. Police have blocked off some streets near the school.

The shooting is not related to the school at all, but administrators are closing the school because the neighborhood may not be safe for students to travel through it, according to John Helmholdt, spokesman for the Grand Rapids Public Schools.

Former Michigan Congressman and Democratic candidate for Governor Howard Wolpe died Tuesday night at the age of 71.

“Congressman Howard Wolpe was a champion for Michigan and one of the strongest Democrats I've ever known," said current Michigan Congressman Gary Peters (D-09) . "Howard was a true representative of the people and his legacy will never be forgotten. I'm deeply saddened to learn of his passing and my condolences go out to his family, friends and loved ones.”

Wolpe served in the Michigan Legislature before being elected to the U.S. House in 1978. For seven terms he represented Michigan’s Third District. Redrawn district boundaries prompted him to retire in 1992.

Wolpe also served as a diplomat in  the Clinton and Obama administrations.

Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract.

Details of the agreement have not been released, but at 9:00 am this morning, Ford executives John Fleming and Marty Mulloy will discuss the deal at the company's Dearborn headquarters. Then at 11:30 am, UAW President Bob King and Vice President Jimmy Settles will present their view of the agreement at a press conference.

The UAW and Ford began contract talks for a new national labor agreement on July 29th and have been in eight consecutive days of intense negotiations on economic and job issues.

General Motors workers ratified a new four-year agreement with the UAW last week and talks at Chrysler are ongoing.

The Ford deal is expected to swap annual pay raises for profit sharing checks and will include commitments from Ford for thousands of new union jobs.

Local union leaders from around the nation will also meet this morning in Detroit to vote on whether they'll recommend the deal to Ford's 41,000 union members.

Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers says as the Muammar Gadhafi regime loses power in Libya, the United States needs to make sure Libya’s weapons stockpiles don’t fall into the wrong hands.

Rogers chairs the House Select Intelligence Committee and was among a group of Republicans who supported stronger military support of the rebels in Libya, including a U.S. enforced “no-fly zone.”

He says as Gadhafi loses power, the U.S. must move quickly to safeguard Libya’s advanced and  chemical weapons.

"Unfortunately we know through intelligence that Al-Qaeda is trying to take advantage of the chaos and obtain those weapons systems or at least components of them or incomplete weapons systems or all of those things. They are making that effort."

President Obama says the United States will be a friend and partner to help a democratic Libya emerge in the post-Gadhafi era. He says U.S. assistance will continue to be part of a multinational effort to help Libya.

Faculty reports and the student newspaper say CMU faculty went on strike tonight. The faculty say the administration did not bargain in good faith. The move comes one day before classes are scheduled to start tomorrow.

CMU officials call the faculty strike an illegal work stoppage. They say students should report for the first day of classes tomorrow. The university says it will seek a court injunction tomorrow to stop the strike.

CMU’s 439 fixed term faculty and 591 graduate assistants will still hold classes as scheduled.

Michigan Radio will have more on the story Monday as it develops.

Update 9:40 p.m.

Here's the University's statement:

Central Michigan University is disappointed that members of the CMU Faculty Association have voted to engage in an illegal work stoppage. This action creates an unfair disruption to the start of the academic year for CMU’s students.

CMU students should report for classes Monday and staff should report for work. CMU’s 439 fixed term faculty and 591 graduate assistants will still hold classes as scheduled.

The impact of the FA’s action places an unfair burden on students who want to graduate in a timely fashion, pursue graduate school or launch successful careers. As such, CMU will request a court injunction Monday to get the faculty back in the classroom.

CMU remains committed to working with the FA toward a contract that is fair and equitable to all parties. CMU and the FA have both petitioned for fact finding, which is the appropriate process to follow in coming to terms on a collective bargaining agreement.

 

The Detroit Free Press reports the strike came after a week of concentrated negotiations:

The move tops a weeklong, last-ditch effort to come to some sort of agreement between the more than 600 members of the union and the school.

The union voted on Monday to authorize the bargaining team to take any job related actions, including a strike.

After that vote, the two sides sat down at the bargaining table every day last week, but made little to no progress on the big issues separating them, such as pay and benefits.

Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell says yesterday’s violent murders and hostage situation in his city has shaken the community to its roots.

But he says Grand Rapids is still a great community and a safe city.

"I don’t for a minute think that that defines Grand Rapids in any way or that it suggests that we are a city that is changed, or less safe today," said Heartwell.

Heartwell praised the city's police force, saying their actions saved lives.

34-year old Rodrick Danztler took his own life last night while negotiating a hostage release with the police.

Police say earlier in the day he shot and killed seven people, including an ex-girlfriend and his daughter, and a second ex-girlfriend and her daughter who was not his child.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk says the man suspected in seven Michigan shooting deaths has killed
himself and two hostages he was holding are safe.
 

Belk said 34-year-old Rodrick Shonte Dantzler fatally shot himself inside a Grand Rapids home where here had been holding the hostages Thursday night.
 

 Dantzler had released a 53-year-old female hostage unharmed earlier in the evening. Two other hostages had remained in the home.
 

Update 11:16

There are reports that another person has been hiding in the home where the suspect and hostage are. One hostage was released, but now there could still be two hostages inside with Dantzler.

Update 10:54

A Kent County Sheriff Officer confirms one hostage, a 53-year-old woman, has been released and is reportedly safe. There is still one hostage still inside with the suspect.

Update 10:13 p.m.

Police have located the suspected gunman in Grand Rapids and are negotiating with him.

Republican Congressman Thaddeus McCotter of Livonia kicked off his presidential campaign at a small town festival in Whitmore Lake tonight. He made the announcement under threatening skies and in front of 600 people attending a festival sponsored by a conservative talk radio station.

“Today I am announcing my candidacy for the nomination of my Republican party, to serve as your President of the United States,” McCotter told the crowd after taking the stage and briefly outlining his beliefs.

UPDATE:

General Motors and Ford both saw U-S sales rise more than 10 percent in June as lower gas prices brought more customers into its showrooms.

The fuel efficient Fiesta and Focus drove sales for Ford.

The new Chevrolet Cruze compact led GM's sales gain. Cruze sales were more than double those of the old Chevrolet Cobalt.

Don Johnson is the Vice President of U-S sales operations for General Motors. He says sales were led by smaller, more fuel-efficient models.

Original story:

General Motors says its U.S. sales rose 10 percent in June as lower gas prices brought more customers into its showrooms.

The Detroit car company says it sold 215,000 cars and trucks last month.

Don Johnson, the Vice President of U.S. sales operations for General Motors, says sales were led by smaller, more fuel-efficient models:

"What drove our success this month, as well as the last couple of months, is our ability to meet the needs of the consumers as they go looking for more fuel efficient vehicles," said Johnson.

The new Chevrolet Cruze compact led GM's sales gain. Cruze sales were more than double those of the old Chevrolet Cobalt.

GM's small-car sales were helped by earthquake-related shortages of Japanese cars.