Dustin Dwyer

Minnesota-based 3M will pay $55 million to Wolverine Worldwide to address PFAS contamination in Kent County.

Wolverine Worldwide is based in Rockford. It has said it could spend $113 million to meet its obligations in a settlement with the State of Michigan and two townships over PFAS. That money includes $69.5 million to extend a municipal water system to more than 1,000 residences where PFAS has been found in well water.

While waves and record high water levels pound away at shoreline properties, state lawmakers are trying to pound away on new laws to protect property.

One bill debated Tuesday in the House would allow property owners to build temporary shoreline barriers to protect against erosion, even without a permit.

City commissioners in Kalamazoo are scheduled to vote Monday night on whether to raise rates for water and sewer services.

The city’s public services director, James Baker, told commissioners earlier this month the rate increases are needed to help fund improvements to the water system. Those include the replacement of lead service lines, and extending the city’s water system to two townships where harmful PFAS chemicals were found in the water supply.

The state of Michigan will no longer be able to enforce key parts of its Sex Offender Registry Act, unless state legislators write a new law by this summer.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Cleland issued an opinion today that will force the state to stop enforcing parts of the law that were ruled unconstitutional, and from enforcing any part of the law against people whose offenses happened before April 12, 2011. Lawyers in the case have until March to come up with a plan for how to notify the more than 40,000 people currently on the sex offender registry. Sixty days after that plan is submitted, key parts of the state's current sex offender registry will become unenforceable.

"The law can't be enforced, it has to be rewritten," says Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan. 

Grand Valley State University is offering a new online degree program aimed at adult students. The program expands on the online degrees already offered by the university.

GVSU president Philomena Mantella  says the new program will offer more flexibility.

The coronavirus outbreak in China is expected to have an impact on the auto industry in the United States.

That’s according to a new analysis from the Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group.

Many residents in northern Kent County say they're happy with a proposed settlement agreement over contamination from chemicals known as PFAS in the area, though some said they wish the agreement would go further. 

The Michigan attorney general's office held a forum to hear public comments on its consent decree Monday night in Rockford. More than 100 people showed up.

A new package of bills in Lansing could dramatically change how the state handles the problem of lead-based paint.

Lead based paint was banned in 1978, but it remains the leading cause of lead poisoning in the state.

Michigan’s second-largest city is taking aim at the Second City.

Leaders for The Right Place, Inc., a non-profit economic development firm for the Grand Rapids area, announced a new three-year strategic plan on Wednesday. The plan sets a goal of supporting more than half a billion dollars in new investment and more than five thousand jobs. One way the organization hopes to reach those goals: by attracting businesses from Chicago.

State Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that paperwork has been filed on a proposed settlement with Wolverine Worldwide over PFAS contamination.

Nessel’s office announced a tentative agreement in December. The state and two townships in northern Kent County had filed lawsuits against the shoe company for contaminating water with chemicals in the PFAS family.

Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak is facing a formal complaint from the National Labor Relations Board.

The complaint alleges the hospital interfered with its nurses’ right to discuss unionization in the workplace.

Lawmakers in Lansing will consider a bill this week that would allow for temporary boating speed limits when water levels are high.

Artie Bryson is supervisor of Clay Township on Lake St. Clair. He told a state House committee last week that boats aren’t usually a problem for homes in the township. But last year, when water levels shot up to record highs, homeowners had to resort to sandbags to keep water out. Boats made it worse.

Lawyers will make their case in front of a federal judge on Wednesday over what to do about the state’s sex offender registry.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled nearly four years ago that many of the requirements of Michigan’s registry are unconstitutional. But the law hasn’t been changed, and people continue to be on the list.

“The court has said that this registry is so ineffective, that it is also unconstitutional,” says Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan. “And yet the Legislature has done nothing to fix it.”

Some schools in West Michigan have been forced to close in the past few weeks because of outbreaks of "flu-like illnesses."

UPDATE: Alireza Yazdani Esfidajani has now been deported, according his attorneys. This story has also been updated with statements from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Michigan State University.

An incoming Ph.D. student at Michigan State University faces deportation after being stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Detroit Metro Airport.

The student's name is Alireza Yazdani Esfidajani. He's originally from Iran. His attorney says he has a valid visa and permission from MSU to study at the university.

Talk of new gun regulations have led to a wave of gun rights advocates showing up at local government meetings in Michigan.

The gun rights advocates have spoken up in at least 10 counties across the state, asking the counties to declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuary counties.

The local resolutions are not legally binding. But advocates say they are important.

The state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency is recalling more than 9,000 vape cartridges by a Detroit company.

The state says 8,020 of the cartridges were never sold, and will be destroyed. The other 1,360 cartridges were sold by Plan B Wellness in Detroit.

The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center says 13 unaccompanied immigrant children have arrived in Michigan in recent months, after their parents were turned back at the southern border.  

Under the current policy, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, adults who seek asylum at the southern border have to wait in Mexico for their asylum claim to be processed.

The policy doesn’t apply to children.
 

A retired United Auto Workers employee says he was forced to pay dues to a fake local union. He’s now suing the UAW.

Jim Shake worked for the UAW as an accountant. Some UAW staff are part of local bargaining units. Shake was not. Still Shake says the UAW forced him to pay union dues to something called “Local X.”

Michigan Congressional representatives have introduced a resolution to oppose storing nuclear waste near the Great Lakes.

The resolution was introduced by Representatives Dan Kildee and John Moolenaar, along with Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters.

It’s not the first time a resolution like it has been introduced in Congress.

Federal prosecutors say they will pursue a retrial in the case of a state legislator accused of soliciting a bribe and attempted extortion.

State Rep. Larry Inman (R-Williamsburg) allegedly tried to get campaign contributions in exchange for changing his vote on legislation to repeal the state’s “prevailing wage” law.

Months after the strike at General Motors ended, thousands of workers are being required to work long hours to catch up on a parts backlog.

At least six GM plants – including five in Michigan – are on so-called “emergency status.”

A former Amway salesperson is suing the company in California, saying he and other sellers should be paid as employees.

Amway says its sellers are “Independent Business Owners” who agree to be treated as independent contractors under the law.

State officials are working to quickly approve permits for work along the Great Lakes to try to save properties threatened by erosion. The state received nearly 500 permit requests from October through December. That's close to half what the state received for the entire year before that.

It used to take around 90 days to get a permit for a project on the shoreline. Now the state Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) says it takes about a week.

About 240,000 people in Michigan face new work requirements to stay eligible for Medicaid health benefits.

The work requirement took effect at the start of the year, and affects people enrolled in the Healthy Michigan Plan.

A western Michigan lakefront home has fallen down a sandy bluff in an area plagued by erosion.

One index of the Midwest economy is showing its lowest reading in a decade.

The Midwest Economy Index tracks 129 indicators in five states: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. It’s released by the Chicago office of the Federal Reserve each month.

The reading for November was at -0.48, the lowest it’s been since 2009.

Parts of Michigan ended the year under flood advisories, as the state’s rivers continue to be high from an extremely wet 2019.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for parts of the Grand, Muskegon and Saginaw rivers.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees the right to freedom of speech, so no words – no matter how vile, dirty or dangerous – can actually be banished.

But some words or phrases are so overused, and so misused, that a lot of people wish they could.

Battle Creek police officers can now pull over drivers who are holding a cell phone.

Battle Creek commissioners passed the distracted driving ordinance earlier in the year, but the police department says it wasn’t enforcing it until signs went up along roads this month.