Emma Winowiecki

I know this is a fairly obscure reference but hang with me - there is a point to it:

Thirty-ish years ago the late, great Phil Hartman had a recurring character on Saturday Night Live called The Anal Retentive Guy. A sketch would have him as an instructor demonstrating how to do something. For example, a chef showing you how to create a certain dish. The humorous conceit was that he was so overly meticulous that he would never get around to doing what he was actually supposed to do. In the end, he'd pleasantly acknowledge that he'd run out of time as he continued to be sidetracked.

After one month of striking, the United Auto Workers have reached a deal with General Motors.

The proposed deal, which was announced Thursday, would increase wages, keep the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant Plant open, and lead to 9,000 new or retained jobs - a jump from GM's original proposal of 5,400 jobs.

Columbus Day is a famously contentious holiday, and it may be one that Michigan no longer celebrates in the future.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued a proclamation naming October 14, 2019 Indigenous Peoples' Day, but that decision can't become law unless the legislation is passed and signed into law.

The University of Michigan will host the second of three presidential debates on October 15, 2020. 

The Commission on Presidential Debates made the announcement Friday. The debate format and moderators are yet to be announced. The other two debates will be held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on October 7 and Belmont University in Nashville on October 22.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services confirmed on October 2 a person in Battle Creek who contracted Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) has died, bringing the total number of human fatalities to four.

On October 8, MDHHS announced that it has completed all aerial pesticide spraying, which covered more than 557,000 acres across 14 counties.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday that an adult man has died from a vaping-related lung injury. It's the first such death to happen in the state.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control reported a nationwide total of 18 vaping-related deaths and 1,080 cases so far. Those numbers do not include the Michigan death, or any other deaths that have been reported in other states since Tuesday.

As the 2020 election draws closer, abortion is becoming a pressing issue in Michigan.

Three Michigan Congressional delegates are joining calls for an inquiry into the possibility that President Trump attempted to coerce a foreign government into investigating a political rival.

Over the weekend, reports emerged of a call Trump had with the Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky in July. A whistleblower claimed that Trump had suggested Zelensky investigate former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's son, Hunter, who worked with a gas company owned by a Ukranian oligarch.

President Trump is addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York today.

Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced on Monday that they have filed six felony charges against Southfield City Clerk Sherikia Hawkins.

When you think about the tip of the mitten, what comes to mind? Fudge? Beautiful beaches? Vacation cottages?

Daniel Hinmon, a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB), wants you to know that his homelands are so much more than that.

“We are still here, you know?” he says.

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.

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.