In Flint, city officials, law enforcement and church leaders are concerned about a rise in violent crime.

There have been 34 murders in Flint this year. That’s up from 30 this time last year.

Police Chief Tim Johnson says suspects in a triple homicide over the weekend are in custody.

When your buddies tell you “we like you because you’re not like most black people,” should you throw down or lay low? How do you support your transgender kid when their own sibling thinks transgender is a misguided choice? What makes someone an “other,” anyway?

Michigan Radio’s new podcast, Same Same Different, will tackle these issues and more over five episodes, starting October 7. Host Bryce Huffman and his guests will explore identity and how to survive “otherness” with our full humanity and sanity intact.

Preparations are expected to begin this week for a quarter billion dollar mixed-use development on the border of Lansing and East Lansing.

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor says workers will be begin clearing the 36 acre site of the $270 million Red Cedar Development Project. A ground breaking is expected next month.

State health officials have confirmed an eighth case of the mosquito-borne virus called Eastern-Equine-Encephalitis, or Triple-E.

Three people in Michigan have died from the virus this year. The Michigan Department of Health and Human services says Triple-E has a 33% fatality rate. The latest person to contract the virus is an adult in Calhoun County. 

All eight human cases are in southwest Michigan. But confirmed cases of Triple-E in animals pose a risk to people in 11 counties across the Lower Peninsula.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos used a visit to a Detroit charter school on Friday to push one of her policy mainstays—more school choice.

DeVos visited the Detroit Edison Public School Academy as the final stop on her national “back to school” tour. It was her first visit to a Detroit school as Education Secretary.

DeVos says DEPSA is an example of the benefits school choice can provide. Its students perform better on statewide tests than most comparable schools, and more than 95% graduate within four years.

DeVos’ choice to appear at a charter school was not coincidental. The DeVos family has been instrumental in reshaping Michigan’s school landscape to include more charters and school choice, and she appeared at the event alongside Dan Quisenberry, of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA).

A newly introduced bill in the state House would allow people to buy shares in a solar array. The concept is called community solar. The bill was introduced by Representative Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton).

Each subscriber would pay a portion of the cost of constructing the solar array, and they would get a credit on their electric bill for the electricity produced.

Ed Rivet is with the Michigan Conservative Energy Forum. 

He says under the bill, 10 or more people or groups could support clean energy even if they can't install their own rooftop solar panels.

That could include renters and condo owners, businesses or places of worship.

DETROIT (AP) - Federal prosecutors in Detroit have filed charges against an 11th person in an investigation of corruption in the United Auto Workers.

Jeff Pietrzyk is charged with conspiracy. He's accused of accepting at least $70,000 in 2013-14 from a chiropractor who was paid millions of dollars to make watches for General Motors workers. Investigators also say Pietrzyk was a middleman who passed cash to someone identified as Union Official 1.