City leaders in Grand Rapids say they’re not yet ready to talk about ways to defund the police department.

Instead, the focus is on a new strategic plan for the department which was presented to commissioners today.

State superintendent Michael Rice delivered a report on Tuesday to the Michigan State Board of Education where he offered recommendations on handling in-class and remote learning in the new school year.

Rice suggested Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Legislature rely on last year’s student count and funding formula as a stop-gap plan for the new K-12 school budget. Rice says he has not given up hope on another round of financial assistance from Washington.

The state will spearhead an engineering study to assess the condition of the remainder of a Midland County dam that failed in May.

The Edenville dam partially collapsed after heavy rains, along with the Sanford dam, leading to major flooding in and around Midland. But part of the dam facing the Tobacco River is still intact. The question is how stable and secure it is.

Many voters are worried about casting their ballots in person this November because of the pandemic. They're also concerned that their mail-in ballots could be misplaced or delayed.

One voting option that's gaining popularity — and also attracting controversy — is the use of drop boxes, where voters can deposit their absentee ballots to be collected later by election officials.

Detroit area residents who are older than 50 tend to die earlier compared to people older than 50 in other parts of the state.

That’s according to a study from the Detroit Area Agency on Aging and researchers at Wayne State University.

Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) is investigating delays in mail delivery.

Peters is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee – which oversees the United States Postal Service.

Researchers have found in a 30-year period, 130 square miles of farmland or natural areas were developed in southeast Michigan.

335,000 new buildings were built in the seven county area of Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne between 1985 and 2015.