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Michigan has two intertwined problems when it comes to car insurance rates, according to a new University of Michigan report: overall high premiums that place the biggest burden on the poorest communities.

The report finds that car insurance is unaffordable for the vast majority in Michigan, with “affordability” defined as two percent or less of an area’s median income.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra says the automaker will build a new electric vehicle at its Orion Assembly Plant - where it already builds the all-electric Bolt. She says details about the vehicle will come later.

Barra, who's been head of General Motors since 2014, says GM will invest $300 million in the plant and add 400 jobs.

"EVs are going to help us drive our vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion," says Barra. "And allow us to deliver cleaner air and a healthier planet."

President Donald Trump is bringing a campaign rally to Grand Rapids. 

The rally is scheduled for Thursday, March 28 at 7 p.m. at Van Andel Arena. Free tickets are available here.

The state of Michigan has promised to make sure adoption and foster agencies that receive state money do not discriminate against same-sex couples.

Friday is World Water Day.

In Flint, nearly five years after the city’s disastrous drinking water switch, activists are calling for more to be done to help city residents recover from Flint’s lead-tainted tap water crisis.

Members of the group, Color of Change, carried boxes containing 15,000 petition signatures into Flint city hall to mark World Water Day.

Eight more people have contracted measles in Oakland County, the state health department said Friday morning, bringing the total up to 9. 

This comes just over a week since a visiting Israeli citizen picked up the highly contagious virus in New York and brought it to Michigan.

Health officials are asking anyone showing symptoms not to go to the hospital or their doctor’s office without calling ahead, so they can keep the individual isolated from other patients.

The Flint city council failed Thursday night to vote down pay raises for themselves and the mayor.

The pay raises were proposed by an independent commission. In order to stop the pay hike, a majority of the Flint city council had to vote to reject it.

Councilman Santino Guerra made a motion to stop the pay hikes during last night’s meeting. He says now is not the time for Flint’s elected leaders to get a pay hike.

“We still have the Flint water crisis going on... there are still homes with pipes in the ground that need to be replaced,” said Guerra.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed her first bill into law on Thursday. The new law will keep a judge’s seat in a court in the Upper Peninsula.

Representative Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain) represents part of the Upper Peninsula, including Menominee County, where the judge will be. He sponsored a similar bill in the state House.

“We want to make sure that judges don’t have to drive 250 miles to ensure the due process rights of everybody,” he said. “Doesn’t matter if you’re in Monroe or Menominee. You have a right to due process and that means you've got to have a judge close by.”

The current judge plans to retire at the end of the month. Under state law, his retirement would have eliminated the district judge position due to attrition.

The clock is ticking on dozens of unlicensed medical marijuana provisioning centers in Michigan.

Starting April 1, the state will direct those dispensaries to shut their doors.

Advocates are concerned that could mean medical marijuana patients will have trouble getting their medicine.

“We’re going to see a reduced access for medical marijuana patients because of the shuttering of some of those provisioning centers that are in the process of the licensing,” says Rick Thompson, with the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

On Saturday March 16,  at 4:35 p.m., in the middle of a vigil on the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus for the victims of the mass shooting in New Zealand, two police officers ran through the event, shouting for the students to move.

A new report commissioned by the Environmental Law and Policy Center urges Great Lakes states to mitigate and prepare for the "profound" effects of climate change.

The report, authored by more than a dozen Midwest and Canadian researchers, says Great Lakes states will see more very hot days, increases in heavy rainfall and flooding, declines in crop yields, and threats to drinking water.  

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a researcher who exposed Flint’s lead tainted tap water against activists who criticized him.

In 2015, local activists worked with Virginia Tech’s Marc Edwards to reveal Flint’s drinking water exceeded the federal action level for lead.  But by 2018, Edwards’ relationship with some of those activists had soured. 

Several years ago, Progress Michigan started what would become a years long court battle with then-attorney general Bill Schuette.

The group accused Schuette and his office of using private emails for state business in 2016. The group filed a public records request for emails that were sent using private accounts.

Wayne State University will offer free tuition to its employees’ children. The program is called "Born to Be a Warrior".

It's a pilot scholarship program for freshmen and transfer students who do not have a bachelor’s degree.

Plainfield Township could end up paying millions of dollars more than it though due to PFAS.

Residents of Plainfield Township in Kent County, north of Grand Rapids, are dealing with PFAS pollution. State officials believe it was caused by shoe-manufacturer Wolverine Worldwide, and there is ongoing lawsuit addressing who is to blame

Michigan's eighth graders will face a change in mandatory state tests starting this April. They will  take the College Board's PSAT 8/9 in math and English Language Arts.

The new test will replace the M-STEP test previously required of eighth graders for these subjects.

After two months of trying to negotiate an interview between the Michigan attorney general’s office and former interim MSU President John Engler, things hit the fan on Tuesday.

The head of Michigan’s marijuana program says he intends to watch and learn as the state figures out the rules for future sales of recreational marijuana.

Andrew Brisbo testified before a legislative committee on the future of marijuana in Michigan Wednesday. That’s after voters approved recreational marijuana use last fall.

Disgraced ex-Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has failed again in his efforts to reduce the time he's spending in federal prison for corruption.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds on Tuesday denied a motion to vacate the 28-year sentence she handed Kilpatrick in 2013 for extortion, bribery, conspiracy and other crimes during his years in office.

The 48-year-old Kilpatrick said in his motion that the court made errors during his trial that included incorrect jury instructions.

State lawmakers want to give librarians immunity from any issues that could arise if they administer opioid overdose medication. A state House committee passed bills on Tuesday that would do that.

The quiet, secluded nature of libraries makes them an attractive place for some drug users to get their fix. Librarians can administer overdose medication like Narcan. But some don’t carry it because they could be sued if something goes wrong.

Lawmakers in the state House unanimously passed a group of bills they say will make state government more transparent.  The bills would, in some cases, open the governor’s office up to freedom of information requests. They would also create a new Legislative Open Records Act to allow for some records requests from state lawmakers.

Representative Daire Rendon (R-Lake City) is a bill sponsor. She says Michigan is one of only two states that doesn’t allow for records requests from the governor and Legislature.

“It was necessary for us to be like everyone else and make government more accountable to the state of Michigan,” says Rendon.

A former student at Detroit Country Day School accuses the school of having “a culture of systemic racism” in a new federal civil rights lawsuit.

LaNard Graham, Jr.’s family is suing Detroit Country Day, an elite private school in Oakland County. Graham was a senior student-athlete there until 2016. That’s when the Grahams say they were forced to withdraw after he was allegedly caught smoking marijuana with two other students on campus.