Emma Winowiecki

The Education Department is fining Michigan State University $4.5 million for failing to respond to sexual assault complaints against Larry Nassar. 

In recent years, Flint has often been in the limelight for negative reasons. For many, the city has become a symbol of the consequences of institutional racism and government failures.

But Flint native India Young wishes people would associate the city with something positive.

“There’s a lot more to us than ‘Flint has dirty water,’ you know?”

This post has been updated with new information about the testing of Flint's water.

Five years ago, the city of Flint switched its water to the Flint River. Citizens soon complained of dirty, foul-smelling water. Doctors found evidence of high lead levels in children. Outside researchers proved the city’s water (because of a lack of corrosion control) was corroding pipes, bacteria levels skyrocketed, and thousands of people were without clean water.

When President Donald Trump announced in 2017 that the United States would pull out of the Paris Agreement, cities across the country declared that they would uphold the goals of the accord on their own.

Two years later, a handful of Michigan cities have plans in place to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but many more are just in the process of putting a plan together. Which is good, says Jenna Jorns, because cities are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Jorns is the program manager for the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments Center.

Michigan college grads are borrowing 42% more on average than they were 10 years ago. Today, your average Michigan student with school loans has about $31,000 in debt, compared to roughly $21,600 a decade earlier.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, President Donald Trump told Rep. Rashida Tlaib and three other minority Congresswomen to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

Rep. Tlaib (D-Detroit), who was born and raised in Detroit, responded to the attack, saying she was proud of her Palestinian roots.

Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier accused of sex crimes against many girls, visited and donated to Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Epstein has been accused of preying on girls who aspired to be performers, although the school says they have no record of any complaints from current or former students.

Just down the street from the Michigan Radio office is an iconic Ann Arbor destination: Washtenaw Dairy. It didn’t come by the label of “icon” lightly; the dairy is celebrating its 85th anniversary this week.

Today, Washtenaw Dairy is known for ice cream, doughnuts, and coffee. But when Edwin Laubengayer opened the shop in the middle of the Great Depression, it was one of the state’s many dairy shops.

It's not news to Michiganders that it's been a rainy, gray few months. Temperatures are lower, water levels are higher, and many of us are starting to feel a bit blue.

But is this weather abnormal, or are we just so desperate for summer that it's all in our heads? 

According to Jeff Masters of Weather Underground, it's not an illusion.

A lot of Michiganders have hometown pride. It’s the reason you see so many locals sporting everything from bumper stickers to tattoos celebrating their home. But in some cities, hometown pride is a bit more complicated.

Cities like Dearborn, Michigan.

Dearborn native Rima Fadlallah says many people from her city see being “too Dearborn” as a negative thing. Being associated with the city's large Arab American community, she says, "in some ways is an unpopular thing to do."

The measles outbreak in Oakland County is over.

Officials announced Wednesday that the months-long outbreak has successfully been contained.

After months of turmoil, Michigan State University has a new president.

The school's Board of Trustees announced Tuesday that Samuel L. Stanley, Jr. will be the official successor to Lou Anna Simon, who stepped down in January 2018 in the fallout of the Larry Nassar scandal.

When people think of Michigan, a handful of places come to mind. Big cities like Detroit and Grand Rapids, tourist destinations like Traverse City, the political hub of Lansing. And that’s with good reason — all of those cities are deservedly beloved by those who live there and those who visit.

But what about the places that are often overlooked? That town you drive past every time you go on vacation, for instance, or a city that you’ve never been to but could probably find on a map.

State Representative Larry Inman (R-Traverse City) has been voted out of the House Republican caucus by his fellow GOP legislators.

Inman was charged on May 15 with soliciting a bribe, extortion, and lying to the FBI. He is currently scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Grand Rapids. 

A federal grand jury indicted state Rep. Larry Inman on charges of attempted extortion, soliciting a bribe and lying to the FBI.

Inman is a Republican from the Traverse City area who is serving his third term in the House after decades as a local official in northern Michigan.

State officials are warning Michiganders to completely avoid touching PFAS foam. Previously, they emphasized not ingesting it.

PFAS (poly and perfluoroalkyl substances) are a class of chemicals used in firefighting foam, water-proofing substances, and more. The chemicals have been found in 119 municipal water systems.

Last week, a federal court ruled that Michigan's Republican lawmakers had unconstitutionally drawn district lines. Now, those lawmakers have appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In its decision, the U.S. District Court said Republicans had violated the First and Fourth Amendments by unconstitutionally drawing district lines to favor their party. The Court ordered the Legislature and governor to work together to redraw at least 34 districts for the 2020 election.

The National Weather Service says snow is expected throughout Michigan this weekend. Cue the exasperated sighs of Michiganders everywhere.

Michigan Radio was honored to accept the Scripps Howard Award in Radio/Podcast for Believed Thursday evening.

Reporter and Believed co-host Kate Wells accepted the award on behalf of the entire team. You can watch her acceptance speech below.

This week, Michigan Radio employees participated in an unofficial competition between member stations: Public Radio Cake Week!

The baking competition began eight years ago on Facebook as a friendly contest to see which public radio station could create the most fantastic cakes. The prize? Bragging rights.

This year Michigan Radio went all out, and pulled off some amazing experiments in baking! Every day of the week had a different theme: Public Radio Stereotypes, Historical Events in Cake, News Story of the Year, Surprise Inside, and Fondant-Free Friday.

The State Board of Education will vote Tuesday on a new set of social studies standards, after months of contention. 

In spring 2018, Republican State Sen. Patrick Colbeck and other conservative lawmakers stripped the proposed standards of references to climate change, Roe v. Wade, and LGBT rights, and reduced the number of references to the KKK and the NAACP. 

Michiganders who are paid minimum wage will be getting a raise Friday. After many hurdles and changes, the state’s new minimum wage law is being put into effect.

The law originally started as a ballot initiative, although it looks very different from when it was adopted by the state Legislature in September 2018.

A new digital initiative by the Michigan Department of Transportation makes bridge safety data more accessible to Michiganders.

The Michigan Bridge Conditions Dashboard provides up-to-date information on more than 11,000 bridges throughout the state, including locally-owned bridges.