Stateside with Cynthia Canty

It's back.

Legislation to change the state's auto no-fault insurance keeps popping back up at the Capitol.

On today's show, we take a look at why it keeps coming back and what the changes would mean for you.

And, we head Up North for a tour of some of the Upper Peninsula's best-known bars.

But we start the show with the city of Detroit.

Some Detroit City Council officials have formally appealed the determination that their city is in a financial emergency. That designation is part of the ramp up to a take-over by an emergency financial manager.

City Council representatives argued their case to Chief Deputy Treasurer Mary MacDowell.
   
Rick Pluta, Lansing Bureau Chief for the Michigan Public Radio Network, was at the hearing today and we asked him if the appeal will change the Governor's mind about appointing an emergency manager.

Depending on where you live in the state, your auto insurance rates could be outrageously high.

During the last session of the Michigan Legislature, there was an attempt to change the state’s auto no-fault insurance with claims that it would lower rates.

This is something the auto insurance agencies keep lobbying for, and Governor Rick Snyder said in his State of the State address we need to keep costs down.

But there’s little evidence that your insurance rates would go down that much, or at all, by these limits.

That’s because the real reason auto insurance is so high in some areas is theft, fraud, and uninsured motorists.

The part of no-fault that guarantees someone severely hurt will get the reasonable care they need is just a fraction of the cost, and some would argue the best bargain in the nation.

Joining me now is a lawyer who, we should point out, fights the insurance companies over claims on a regular basis.

Steven Gursten is with the law firm Michigan Auto Law.

Most of us find auto insurance coverage a little confusing at best, so we started off by explaining what catastrophic coverage is, and what the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association is.

Listen to the full interview above.

The following is a summary of a previously recorded interview. To hear the complete segment, click the audio above.

The State Department of Natural Resources has been in the planning process of this idea to create what it calls Biodiversity Stewardship Areas.

These areas would include both state and private land.

All the stakeholders were on board in the early planning process - hunting groups, environmentalists - most everyone - until someone became alarmed because the plan could have potentially stopped human access to some areas.

Well, if you even hint that hunters or timber companies can’t have access, you’ve got a problem.

State Senator Tom Casperson (R- Escanaba) has introduced a bill that would prohibit the Michigan Department of Natural Resources from setting aside an area of land specifically for the purpose of maintaining biological diversity.

In part it reads:

THE DEPARTMENT, DIRECTOR, OR COMMISSION SHALL NOT PROMULGATE OR ENFORCE A RULE OR ISSUE OR ENFORCE AN ORDER UNDER THIS ACT THAT DESIGNATES OR CLASSIFIES AN AREA OF LAND SPECIFICALLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF ACHIEVING OR MAINTAINING BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY...

According to Casperson, the MDNR should request approval for each proposal from the State Legislature.

“It’s not that they can’t do it, but it needs oversight,” Casperson said in an interview with Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham.

Michigan’s Budget Stabilization Fund – more commonly known as the “Rainy Day Fund” is getting a lot of attention in Lansing.

The Budget Stabilization Fund is more simply known as the state’s savings account.  

When Governor Rick Snyder took office, Michigan's savings account was nearly empty and only held about $2 million.

Now, there’s about half a billion dollars in the fund, and Snyder wants to add $75 million more this year.

While Snyder has been in office, he has been trying to build up the fund, which he says would help improve the state’s credit rating and allow Michigan to get better interest rates. Additionally, there would be money available to protect against huge budget cuts in emergency situations.

What's the significance of Snyder’s efforts, and how might the sequester affect the Budget Stabilization Fund?

Listen to the audio above to hear the story.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to rule on two cases involving same sex marriage this year, bringing LGBT rights to the forefront of political discussion.

In Michigan, the Eliot-Larsen Civil Rights law doesn't protect members of the LGBT community.

This means that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals can be fired, denied housing, and turned away from restaurants and hotels based on their sexual identity.

Michigan Radio's Lester Graham spoke with Jay Kaplan with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

Kaplan has been the staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan’s LGBT Project since its founding in 2001. He has fought against Michigan’s constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying.

Listen to the full interview above.

  On today's show, balancing the state's budget - there's a fight in Lansing over whether or not the state should add money to it's so-called "rainy-day fund." Just how much money should be in the state's savings account? And, two cases involving same sex marriage will soon be in front of the Supreme Court. We find out what that could mean for gays and lesbians here in Michigan.

But first, It lasted about six months and today, a federal jury found former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick guilty of 24 counts of racketeering, bribery, and extortion.  

Now, you might remember Kilpatrick previously spent a year in prison for lying under oath about a sexting-affair he had with his Chief of Staff and for violating his probation.

So, here we are today. It’s not going to be just a few weeks or few months, the Mayor is going to be facing some serious prison-time.
 
We spoke with Michigan Radio's Sarah Cwiek. She’s been covering the case for Michigan Radio.

The University of Michigan's "Understanding Race Project" will examine race through storytelling tomorrow evening at the Michigan Theater.

La'Ron Williams  is a member of the National Storytelling Network, the Detroit Association of Black Storytellers, and the National Association of Black Storytellers.

He is set to perform his work Elm Park, 1955, in which he shares his interaction with race as a kid growing up in Flint, Michigan.

Michigan Radio's Lester Graham spoke with Williams about the power of storytelling, race, and the University's project.

Listen to the full interview above.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman heard arguments today for and against Michigan's constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage and civil unions.

There was some thought that the judge would rule on the case today. Instead, he decided to wait until after the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on two unrelated same-sex marriage cases.

On today's show, we got an update on the court case in Detroit.

And, we heard about what's working to increase high school graduation rates. One Wayne County school district has made a dramatic difference in how many of its kids graduate from high school.

But first, we talk "re-shoring" with Tobias Schoenherr, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, and Tom Harrison, CEO of Michigan Ladder Company based in Ypsilanti.

"Re-shoring is the opposite of "outsourcing" and "off-shoring."

Listen to these interview and more by clicking on the audio above.

The Detroit City Council will challenge Governor Snyder’s decision to appoint an emergency financial manager for the city.

The Council also approved a resolution asking Governor Snyder to delay his appointment.

They’re asking that he wait until a new emergency manager law kicks in later this month.

Council member Ken Cockrel Junior says that would give the city more choices.

"You could take the existing consent agreement, actually rewrite it and enhance it. So, what do you want to call that? A new consent agreement, or modification of the old one? I think we’d have the ability to do that," said Cockrel.

The appeal comes even as Detroit mayor Dave Bing declined to sign on to the effort.

"This decision does not mean that I'm turning the keys to our city over to the state or throwing in the towel," said Bing. "It is simply a fight that we cannot win at the eleventh hour in a 30-minute appeals hearing."

A hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday in Lansing.

It is with this backdrop that we turned to Detroit News businesses columnist Daniel Howes.

He wrote a column about how businesses are moving to Detroit despite all these problems.

Listen to the full interview above.

There's a little shop on the Main Street of Lake Orion in Oakland County that can teach the rest of the state a big lesson in how to create jobs for workers with disabilities.

The shop is called "Everything Michigan," and it's located in the North Oakland Vocational Association building.

NOVA has been around since 1992 helping disabled workers train for and find jobs around North Oakland County.

One of those workers is Barbara Bell. She has set up her "Everything Michigan" shop to sell products that are all about Michigan.

Store manager LaToi English joined us today from Lake Orion.

Federal Judge Bernard Friedman decided not to rule on Michigan's gay marriage ban this morning.

He said he wanted to wait until after the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on same-sex marriage.

Rick Pluta was at today’s hearing in Detroit and he joined to talk about this surprise decision.

He talked with us about the takeaway from today's hearing.

“Outsourcing” and “off-shoring” - those are words our parents and grandparents never really encountered.

But if you’ve worked in Michigan the past 10 to 15 years, it’s a pretty safe bet you are very aware of outsourcing and off-shoring.

American manufacturers have sent tens of thousands of jobs overseas or across the border - to Mexico, to China, to India, and other countries - setting up foreign plants or farming out work to foreign manufacturers in those countries where labor is cheaper, and costs are lower.

But there’s a new term being heard these days - "Re-Shoring."

Could it be that work is coming home from those distant shores?

Tobias Schoenherr, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, and Tom Harrison, CEO of Michigan Ladder Company based in Ypsilanti, joined us today.

You can listen to the full interview above.

We're more than three years into an economic recovery, but as we in Michigan battle our way back to that recovery, it's a fair question to wonder: when will we get our jobs back to where they were before the Great Recession came smashing its way into our lives?

According to a new forecast from IHS Global Insight, an economics and financial forecasting firm, the answer seems to be "don't hold your breath". Even though six states have made their way back to their peak employment levels, meaning the pre-Great-Recession levels, the news is not as bright for Michigan. Bob Tomarelli, an economist with IHS Global Insight, joined us from Philadelphia. 

The State Supreme Court began hearing cases this week with a full bench.

With Governor Snyder's appointment of new Justice David Viviano to replace former Justice Diane Hathaway, it was the first time in some six weeks that the court has had seven sitting justices.

Of course, Diane Hathway had to step down from the court in January and has since pleaded guilty to a federal bank fraud charge in connection with a family real estate deal. Detroit News columnist Laura Berman had been giving a lot of thought to the appointment of Justice Viviano, and her column in Tuesday's Detroit News reflects her disappointment in Governor Snyder's  choice of a man to replace Diane Hathaway. We now have five men and two women on the Supreme Court. Click the audio link above to hear the full interview.

Like it or not- for it or against it - Obamacare is coming, and coming soon.

The Affordable Care Act requires that most Americans carry some form of health insurance beginning next January or pay a fee. And by October 1, less than seven months from now, states need to have health care exchanges in place where consumers can buy the required insurance.

Last week, the State House agreed to let the state spend a federal grant worth nearly $31 million to help set up that health care exchange.

What would it mean for Michigan to partner with Uncle Sam in running this exchange?

For that answer, we spoke with Helen Levy. Levy is a research associate professor at the Institute for Social Research, the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy, and the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan.