Dana Nessel

A now-canceled state contract for COVID-19 contact tracing was the result of a rushed, imperfect process, but there’s absolutely no evidence it involved anything criminal, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office has found.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer canceled the contact-tracing contract with Every Action VAN soon after it was signed in April, saying it didn’t go through the proper procurement process.  That was after some state Republicans alleged the contract was awarded based on the company’s political connections to Whitmer and other Democrats.

Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a brief to the Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election in four states including Michigan.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Monday lawyers and election staff are ready to handle any disruptions at the polls Tuesday.

That’s as there’s no word from the state Supreme Court on whether to allow the open carry of guns at polling places.

Nessel said in a phone call that no matter which way the decision goes, there are laws against brandishing firearms and disrupting polling places. 

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel say it’s not too late to reinstate a ban on openly carrying guns at or near polling places on Election Day.

They are appealing a court ruling that struck down a directive from Benson that banned open carry in and near polling places on Election Day.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed suit against a dairy farming operation she says has repeatedly “thumbed its nose” at environmental regulations.

Slater Farms is a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in rural West Michigan. According to the Attorney General’s office, it collectively owns and manages CAFOs with more than 1,500 mature dairy cows and 400 cattle. Every year, those operations produce about 8.9 million gallons of liquid waste and 1,500 tons of solid waste.

Republican leaders in the Legislature are making their final push to reverse a court ruling that absentee ballots that arrive at clerks’ offices after Election Day must be counted.

The first step is for House and Senate GOP leaders to ask to become direct parties to the case. A motion filed Tuesday asked for standing to challenge a Court of Claims decision.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says her office is ready to prosecute any efforts to use intimidation or misinformation to illegally swing the November elections.

Nessell, a Democrat, has compiled a list of laws that are supposed to deter election meddling. She says meddling includes threats that registering to vote could put government benefits at risk, or misleading people on where or how to vote.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday the results of her office's investigation into three separate incidents of alleged police misconduct involving officers in Jackson, Saginaw and Washtenaw counties.  

Former city of Saginaw police officer Adam Collier, who is white, will face felony charges for allegedly using excessive force during an arrest on July 11. Collier is accused of striking a handcuffed woman, who is Black, with a closed fist, first as she entered his patrol car and later at the jail after she allegedly spat at him. Collier was fired on July 17.

Update: Thursday, September 10, 10 p.m.

An Enbridge spokesman, Michael Barnes, confirms that the east leg of Line 5 returned to full operations at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, saying, "The east leg is operating as normal."

Michigan’s Attorney General is warning the operators of senior living facilities against charging a special COVID-19 fee.

This week, the attorney general’s office sent out cease and desist notices to eleven senior facilities after receiving nearly 40 complaints from residents and family members about a special $900 fee.

Updated 1:14 p.m., June 25, 2020: 

Ingham Circuit Judge James Jamo Thursday ordered Enbridge to fully shut down the Line 5 pipeline at the bottom of the Mackinac Straits within 24 hours.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel requested the shutdown after Enbridge reported damage to an anchor support.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is proposing statewide changes to policing oversight, to reduce excessive use of force incidents.

She says the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards issues licenses for police, but needs more authority to take those licenses away.

"And I think it's one of the reasons why you see officers that have committed numerous acts of misconduct and they still have their license," says Nessel. "And also officers that get terminated by a particular agency, they're so easily able to just go to another agency because they still have their license."

Michigan’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the owner of the two dams that failed last month causing historic floods.

On May 19, the Edenville dam failed after days of heavy rain. Torrents of water rushed downstream, overwhelming the Sanford dam and forcing thousands to evacuate.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is joining 17 other state AGs in asking Congress to expand federal law to give them "clear statutory authority to investigate patterns or practices of unconstitutional policing,” Nessel’s office said Thursday. 

“We therefore ask Congress to give us explicit authority under federal law to conduct

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says the commission in charge of running the state Capitol is allowed to ban guns inside the building.

She gave that advice Friday to the Michigan State Capitol Commission, which controls public areas of the building.

On Wednesday, a judge denied a legal challenge to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s stay home order.

Whitmer issued the initial stay home order in March with the intent to slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday that corruption charges have been filed against Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith.

Three others – including a businessman and a former state legislator – also face charges linked to abusing public funds.

Concerns over coronavirus forced several top state officials to conduct a town hall promoting the 2020 U.S. Census in an empty auditorium in Flint Thursday.   

The public was barred from attending the event out of concern of potentially spreading the deadly COVID-19 virus.  The event was streamed on Facebook.

The state of Michigan is suing 17 defendants seeking damages for widespread PFAS contamination. The defendants include industrial giants 3M and DuPont. 

The lawsuit was filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on Tuesday.

PFAS are a family of industrial chemicals linked to serious human health issues, including cancer. PFAS have been used in many consumer products and in firefighting foam. 

State prosecutors are still not saying when to expect new criminal charges in the Flint water crisis probe.

Thursday evening, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley in cutting a ribbon officially opening the department’s new office in Flint. The office will handle multiple jobs. But its highest profile mission is related to the investigation into Flint’s water crisis.