The Associated Press

The Great Lakes Water Authority is allocating more than $1.2 million to help customers cover their current and overdue water bills. About $794,000 is being given to Detroit residents and about $427,700 to Flint residents.

Jonathan Wheatley, public finance manager at the Great Lakes Water Authority, says they've assisted residents with funds from their Water Residential Assistance Program (WRAP) over the past two years. This year, the funding is from the 2018 bill assistance funds for Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties. 

The visiting priests arrived discreetly, day and night.

Stripped of their collars and cassocks, they went unnoticed in this tiny Midwestern town as they were escorted into a dingy warehouse across from an elementary school playground. Neighbors had no idea some of the dressed-down clergymen dining at local restaurants might have been accused sexual predators.

A white elementary school principal is suing a Michigan school district for $5 million, alleging racial discrimination and a conspiracy to favor black administrators.

Crews are working to restore power after heavy storms over two days knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of Michigan homes and businesses.

Democratic presidential hopeful Jay Inslee is wading into a Great Lakes regional controversy by coming out against a proposed oil pipeline tunnel.

The Washington state governor opposes a plan favored by Enbridge to route the company's Line 5 pipeline through a tunnel that would be built beneath the Straits of Mackinac, the channel linking Lakes Huron and Michigan.

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan says he is leaving the Republican Party because he has become disenchanted with partisan politics.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to test a new method to remove soil contaminants in floodplains downstream from a former chemical plant in central Michigan.

If effective, the process could save millions of dollars in ongoing cleanup efforts at the Velsicol Chemical plant site in St. Louis, Michigan, which has become one of the country's costliest Superfund sites.

The Morning Sun reports the agency has directed $30,000 in grant money to study the possible use of activated charcoal as a way to remove concentrations of the chemical DDT in floodplain soil.

Michigan State University says three former men's basketball players have been cleared of wrongdoing in connection with allegations they sexually assaulted a female student in 2015.

Spokeswoman Emily Guerrant told the Lansing State Journal that a report from a school-launched Title IX investigation did not find violations of university policy.

ESPN first reported on the findings and says it obtained a copy of the report.

Aging care experts are warning that Michigan's safety net services for elderly populations are becoming strained as more residents live longer.

The Detroit News ' analysis of recently released U.S. Census Bureau data shows that Michigan's overall population has a median age of nearly 40 years. In 21 of the state's counties, the median age of residents is over 50 years.

Area Agency on Aging of Northwestern Michigan serves some of those counties.

Safety officials in the U.S. and Canada are looking into a multi-car train derailment in an international tunnel connecting Michigan's Port Huron to Sarnia, Ontario.

The National Transportation Safety Board says investigators have been sent to Port Huron, northeast of Detroit.

About 40 freight cars left the tracks around 4:30 a.m. Friday in the tunnel beneath the St. Clair River. Port Huron City Manager James Freed has said the wreck caused "significant damage" to the track and that it was not clear when the tunnel would reopen. No injuries were reported.

Michigan’s senior U.S. senator says Congress’ role in a potential military conflict with Iran may be debated on the U.S. Senate floor this week.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have been rising.

Last week, Iran shot down a U.S. spy drone.   President Trump says he authorized and later cancelled a retaliatory strike. The U.S. did launch a cyber-attack against Iranian military computer systems.

With Republicans firmly opposed to a 45-cents-a-gallon fuel tax hike, Democratic lawmakers want businesses to do more to help fix the roads.

A new $1.2 billion proposal from House Democrats would raise the state's corporate tax, create a new 6-cents-a-mile tax for heavy trucks and charge bridge tolls to tractor-trailers. It also includes portions of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's budget plan, such as raising taxes on certain businesses so they are taxed the same as traditional corporations and restoring tax breaks for pensioners.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says the state Civil Rights Commission is not bound by her predecessor's determination that LGBTQ people are not protected by an anti-discrimination law. 

Quicken Loans has agreed to pay $32.5 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of fraudulently sticking the government with bad mortgages.

Crain's Detroit Business says the agreement, with no admission of wrongdoing, was disclosed Friday by Gerald Rosen, a former judge who served as mediator.

After three years, the criminal probe into the Flint water crisis is back to square one.

The Flint Water Crisis prosecution team, working under the aegis of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, has dismissed without prejudice all pending criminal cases brought by the former Office of Special Counsel.

The lone Republican in Congress calling for President Donald Trump's impeachment has quit an influential caucus of House conservatives.

A spokeswoman for Michigan Rep. Justin Amash (R-Cascade Township) confirmed on Tuesday that he had resigned from the Freedom Caucus. Amash is one of the group's founders, but it is now controlled by Trump's allies.

Fiat Chrysler says political conditions in France caused it to withdraw its offer to merge with French automaker Renault.

The company says its board made the decision at a meeting Wednesday evening. An FCA statement says it has become clear that the political conditions don't currently exist for the deal to proceed successfully.

Authorities investigating Flint's water crisis have seized from storage the state-owned mobile devices of former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and 65 other current or former officials.

A gray wolf that was moved from Canada to Michigan's Isle Royale National Park over the winter has been found dead.

Officials said Wednesday the black-coated male's body was found in the middle of a large, swampy area at the southwestern end of the Lake Superior wilderness island.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) says he is concerned about recent North Korea missile tests, even if President Trump says he’s not.

North Korea tested short-range ballistic missiles on May 4 and May 9, ending a pause in launches that began in late 2017.

The tests have been seen as a way for North Korea to pressure Washington to soften its stance on easing sanctions against it without actually causing the negotiations to collapse.

The president told reporters in Tokyo he is not “personally” bothered by the recent tests.  

UPDATED at 9:25 pm on 5/25/19

Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert is recovering after suffering symptoms of a stroke.

Officials with Detroit-based Quicken Loans said in a statement that Gilbert "received immediate medical attention and is currently recovering comfortably" after going to a hospital early Sunday with "stroke-like symptoms."

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and French automaker Renault are in talks about a possible alliance, as both companies seek to address technological and regulatory challenges in the industry.

A person with knowledge of the matter confirmed the advanced discussions, first reported by the Financial Times. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations have not been made public.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration is proposing to close Benton Harbor High School in fall 2020 and send students elsewhere in the corner of southwestern Michigan.

State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks says, "Sitting back and doing nothing is not an option."

The Supreme Court is putting on hold court orders in Michigan and Ohio to redraw electoral maps that federal judges found were too partisan.

The high court action comes Friday as it is weighing cases from Maryland and North Carolina that raise similar issues and could affect redistricting everywhere.

The state of Michigan has agreed to pay $860,000 to settle a lawsuit over the death of a prisoner who killed herself.

Janika Edmond killed herself in 2015 at an Ann Arbor-area women's prison.

The lawsuit says prison staff members failed to respond properly to a threat of suicide after Edmond yelled for a suicide prevention vest.

Dianna Callahan of Flint was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter.

She was accused of saying, "somebody owes me lunch," after Edmond asked for the vest.

A Michigan group is launching a ballot drive to ban abortions after a fetus's heartbeat is detected, with exceptions to protect a pregnant woman's life or health.

Hunting deer in the city of Ann Arbor will continue as a way to control the deer population.

The Ann Arbor City Council met Monday night and rejected an amendment to stop the deer management program. The vote came after supporters and opponents of the hunts involving sharpshooters voiced their opinions on the issue.

Ford Motor Company has begun a new round of job cuts.

The automaker plans to lay off 7,000 white-collar workers globally by August to "prepare for a fast-changing future."

The company said Monday that the plan will save about $600 million per year by eliminating bureaucracy and increasing the number of workers reporting to each manager. The cut amounts to 10 percent of Ford's global salaried workforce.

Michelle Krebs is an analyst with Autotrader. She says Ford's plan is to wring every penny out of its current operations for future investments.

Update: Sunday, May 19, 12:45 p.m.

President Donald Trump is calling Michigan congressman Justin Amash “a loser” for accusing him of “impeachable conduct."

In a series of tweets on Saturday, U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, says the Mueller report revealed that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.

High water levels in Lake Erie have been flooding streets and houses in Ohio, and people who live near the lake are bracing for problems as water levels continue to rise.

Erie's water levels are expected to approach or break records this spring, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.