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Gov. Whitmer launches first meeting with legislative leaders

Leaders of the state Legislature and Governor Gretchen Whitmer will hold their first “quadrant meeting” Wednesday.

Whitmer announced when she won the November election that she would like to hold regular meetings with the Speaker of the House, House Democratic Leader, Senate Majority Leader and Senate Democratic Leader. All members agreed.

The idea is to talk about issues and find ways to come to an agreement before bills hit Whitmer’s desk.

Senator Jim Ananich is the leader of the Senate Democrats.

“I think it’ll lead to us finding common ground on things. There’s going to be plenty of things we don’t agree on and that’s – we just have our debates and move on. But there’s plenty of things we have a responsibility to get done for the citizens of Michigan,” he says.

Ananich says he hopes the meetings continue throughout the session. Last term, the leaders had a few meetings, but Ananich says the meetings died out.

Before becoming the newest Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Cheyna Roth was an attorney. She spent her days fighting it out in court as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Ionia County. Eventually, Cheyna took her investigative and interview skills and moved on to journalism. She got her masters at Michigan State University and was a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer before finding her home with NPR. Very soon after joining MPRN, Cheyna started covering the 2016 presidential election, chasing after Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and all their surrogates as they duked it out for Michigan. Cheyna also focuses on the Legislature and criminal justice issues for MPRN. Cheyna is obsessively curious, a passionate storyteller, and an occasional backpacker. Follow her on Twitter at @Cheyna_R
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