Consumers throughout the Midwest may face up to a combined $5.9 billion annual spike in gas and diesel costs if the administration of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is successful in shuttering the Enbridge Line 5.
Over the next five years, the cost could exceed $23.7 billion in additional transportation costs across the region.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday announced she has reinstated Michigan’s controversial prevailing wage for government contracts.
The state’s prevailing law was repealed by the state legislature in June 2018, during the final year of the administration of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. Michigan was one of 24 states repealing the prevailing wage practice.
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A bipartisan bill, intended to clear confusion over an apparent contradiction between state and federal law over who actually qualified to receive benefits during the pandemic, is now law.
Senate Bill 445 amends the Michigan Employment Security Act to allow certain unemployed workers eligible for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) to keep benefits.
“As we continue to grow our economy, my top priority is working toward bipartisan solutions to save Michiganders time and money,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement commemorating her signing the bill. “I’ve always said that Michiganders should not be penalized for doing what was right at the time they applied for federal pandemic benefits. The changes in this legislation will streamline our unemployment system and provide relief to Michiganders who needed these federal benefits to pay their bills, keep food on the table, and continue supporting small businesses.”
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday signed into law three bills aiming to reduce the price of prescription drugs.
“I am proud to sign this bipartisan legislation that helps us lower the cost of prescription drugs,” Whitmer said in a statement. “For too long, unlicensed pharmacy benefit managers have been able to engage in practices that drive up costs for Michiganders whose lives and health depend on critical prescription drugs like insulin. This bill brings much-needed transparency to our healthcare system and is a testament to what we can do when we put Michiganders first.”
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the GOP-dominated Legislature will soon battle over spending a $6 billion budget surplus.
Whitmer wants targeted tax breaks for retired Michiganders; family tax credits; and, perhaps most controversial, has announced a plan that would give private auto manufacturers more than a billion dollars, which many Republicans also support.
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The Michigan Senate approved a bipartisan plan to reduce prescription drug prices in the state.
House Bill 4348 aims to save patients money by regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) who serve as facilitators between health plans, drug manufacturers and pharmacists.
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After a week-long blockade that shut down Ambassador Bridge connecting Michigan to Windsor, Ontario, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) maps show that the route is clear.
The Canadian Freedom Convoy, a grassroots group of truckers who blocked the bridge in protest of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions, was broken up thanks to police efforts, according to The Detroit Free Press.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday signed into law two bills ostensibly aimed at assisting first-time homebuyers.
House Bill 4290 and Senate Bill 145 will allow first-time homebuyers to save down payments and closing costs tax-free. The bills establish the Michigan First-Time Home Buyer Savings Program within the state’s Department of Treasury.
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After an Ontario Superior Court judge issued an injunction Freedom Convoy protestors at Ambassador Bridge to disburse, more protestors showed up in defiance of the order.
The order, handed down Friday afternoon, told protestors to clear the bridge or be arrested. Police officers from across the province reportedly swarmed to the area.
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For months, the lawyer representing Kaleb Franks—one of six men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020—has produced some of the most detailed and damning reports to make a case for FBI entrapment. Defense attorneys last year discovered that at least a dozen FBI agents and informants were intimately involved in the abduction plot, brought to a dramatic conclusion in October 2020 when the men were arrested after an FBI informant drove them to meet an undercover FBI agent to buy materials for explosives.
With the trial date just weeks away, the Justice Department’s case is imploding amid numerous scandals.
The timing could not be worse for the government, especially the FBI, which is now under scrutiny for its suspected role in fomenting the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021. After all, the two events share many similarities, including plans to “storm” Michigan’s state Capitol building, the use of militia groups reportedly loyal to Donald Trump, and official designations that both represent “domestic terror” attacks.
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After two years of imposing heavy-handed COVID-19 restrictions resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs for Michiganders and nearly 30 percent of small businesses in the state expecting not to survive the pandemic, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is concerned about the economic ramifications of the Canadian Freedom Convoy.
“[The right-wing media is] inciting and encouraging people to break the law and to do so in a way that devastates so many hard-working people…This is five days, and it’s already taken a toll of tens of billions of dollars — that number compounds over time,” Whitmer said on CNN Friday morning.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pitched a $74.1 billion budget that would increase state spending by $4.1 billion over the prior year.
Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, said Michigan’s 2009 budget was $48 billion and has grown in 13 years by $26.1 billion.
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A federal plea deal filed Monday says Kaleb Franks, 27, will plead guilty to the March 2020 plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Franks also will testify against four others in a March 8 trial.
Franks signed a plea deal that he was “not entrapped or induced to commit any crimes” by undercover agents or confidential informants, contrary to the defense’s claims.
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Parents of a Michigan school district are threatening a lawsuit if officials continue to force their children to wear masks.
Attorneys from the Thomas More Society presented a demand letter February 3 on behalf of the Walled Lake Citizens for Parental Rights to the city’s Consolidated School District Board of Education.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to pitch spending $500 million of additional federal taxpayer money on private companies that produce electric vehicles (EV). The governor will discuss her proposal on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
However, it’s unclear if general economic development is an approved use of federal COVID dollars under U.S. Treasury guidelines.
The Detroit News first reported the story.
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The Michigan House approved a range of bills that aim to reform the embattled Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) that has mishandled at least $8.5 billion since March 2020.
When the UIA acknowledged losing $4 billion of taxpayer money, it admitted: “mistakes were made.”
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A militia member who is described as a leader of a surveillance operation in the plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is a paid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to several reports.
In September 2020, 12 men involved in the alleged plot traveled to Whitmer’s vacation cottage on Birch Lake in Antrim County. Their goal was to surveil the property, and figure out whether they could blow it up or kidnap the governor.
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A federal judge refused to dismiss charges against five men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said defendants who claim government entrapment “have a heavy burden to carry.”
The accused men must show that the government lured them into the plot and have a “patently clear absence of predisposition as a matter of law,” Jonker wrote. “Defendants fail to carry their burden because the evidence on both issues is decidedly disputed as it almost inevitably is at this stage of the case.”
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Michigan may never know the actual number of deaths resulting from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order to place COVID-19 patients in long-term care (LTC) facilities.
That conclusion was the only verifiable takeaway from Thursday’s Senate and House Joint Oversight Committee meeting, where state senators and representatives grilled Michigan Auditor General Doug Ringler, Deputy Auditor General and Director of Audit Operations Laura Hirst, and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel.
The committee meeting spotlighted sharp differences between the Democratic Whitmer administration and the nonpartisan Auditor General (AG). It also brought into stark view thepartisan divisions between Senate and House legislators; namely, Democrats who either disparaged the AG’s methodology or defended Whitmer’s EO 2020-50; and Republicans, who argued the governor erred when she issued the order, and depicted the administration’s underreporting of the number of LTC deaths as a cover-up for her failed policy.
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The media went wild last week after Joe Biden’s Justice Department finally produced a criminal indictment to support the claim that January 6 was an “insurrection” planned by militiamen loyal to Donald Trump: Eleven members of the Oath Keepers, including its founder, Stewart Rhodes, face the rarely used charge of seditious conspiracy for their brief and nonviolent involvement at the Capitol protest that day.
Journalists luxuriated in the news, jeering those of us who had correctly noted that the Justice Department had failed to charge anyone with insurrection or sedition for more than a year.
But the press does not share the same zeal in covering another politically charged investigation: the imploding criminal case against five men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The kidnapping narrative shares many similarities with their preferred telling of January 6, not the least of which is that alleged militias incited by Trump attempted to carry out a domestic terror attack.
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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s administration drastically undercounted COVID-19 nursing home deaths in the state, according to a state auditor general report reviewed by Fox News.
The damning report, which is expected to be released on Monday, reveals suspicious similarities to how former Democrat governor Andrew Cuomo hid nursing home deaths in New York.
Republican State Rep. Steven Johnson, the chairman of the Michigan House Oversight Committee, spoke with Fox News Digital in a telephone interview on Thursday. Whitmer [like Cuomo] is “well known” for her executive order “to place COVID-positive patients into nursing homes,” Johnson said.
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A report from Auditor General Doug Ringler scheduled for a Monday release is expected to show the state undercounted COVID-19 long-term care deaths.
On Wednesday, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie LeDuff posted on Facebook:
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the first-of-its-kind drone technology study in three proposed areas between Michigan and Ontario, southeast Michigan, and any other suitable location.
Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the Michigan Aeronautics Commission, the state and Ontario will explore whether small drones can be flown beyond a pilot’s line of sight and harnessed for just-in-time delivery like medical transport. The study will further decision-making for the future of advanced air mobility in North America.
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According to documents filed by the government prosecutors in response to a motion by the defendants in the alleged kidnapping plot against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) informants turned rogue during the plot.
The controversy stems from Steve Robeson, a Confidential Human Source (CHS) in the case.
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When law enforcement touted foiling a months-long kidnapping plot of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in October 2020 that spanned several states and included encrypted chats and explosives, many believed it was an open-and-shut case.
But more than a year later, critics say the arrest and convictions of the lead FBI agent and an FBI confidential informant blurred the line between extremist and confidential informant. Moreso, three planned witnesses have been accused of crimes and won’t be testifying in the March 8 trial in Grand Rapids as defense attorneys question the FBI’s credibility.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed an executive directive establishing the Michigan Office of Rural Development within the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD).
The Office of Rural Development will focus on all rural matters.
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In June 2020, as the country attempted to recover from deadly and destructive riots after the death of George Floyd, a man from Wisconsin hosted a national conference of self-styled “militia” members in a suburban Columbus, Ohio hotel. Stephen Robeson, founder of the Wisconsin chapter of the Three Percenters, an alleged militia group on the FBI’s naughty list, pestered his contacts across the country to participate in the gathering.
People who attended the conference, including two men later charged with federal crimes related to a plot to abduct Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation cottage in 2020, observed that the hotel was crawling with federal agents.
One of the feds at the conference was none other than Stephen Robeson himself.
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Often at the center of controversy, Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is facing transparency questions, along with leading state Republican lawmakers, after they signed nondisclosure agreements preventing them from informing taxpayers about a pricey new economic development initiative.
Whitmer, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, and House Speaker Jason Wentworth all signed the NDA with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation regarding a $1 billion business incentive program that became law last week, The Detroit News reported.
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Defense attorneys for five men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) are seeking a dismissal of the indictment, citing “egregious overreaching” by federal officials, who they say invented a conspiracy and entrapped the men.
If convicted in the alleged extremist kidnapping conspiracy, the five men – Adam Fox, 38, Barry Croft, 46, Kaleb Franks, 27, Daniel Harris, 24, and Brandon Caserta, 33 – face up to life in prison.
“When the government was faced with evidence showing that the defendants had no interest in a kidnapping plot, it refused to accept failure and continued to push its plan,” the mens’ attorneys wrote.
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After calling state vaccine mandates a “problem” on Dec. 7, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has apparently changed her mind and now supports them.
“I know if that mandate happens, we’re going to lose state employees,” Whitmer said on Dec. 7, the Greenville Daily News reported. “That’s why I haven’t proposed a mandate at the state level. Some states have. We have not, we’re waiting to see what happens in court.”
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed into law a $1 billion bipartisan economic development package.
The Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) package aims to support small businesses and attract businesses to the state, and includes:
Establishment of an economic development fund.
Funding programs “to make our economy more adaptable to the rapid pace of technological change, supporting small businesses, and creating or retaining good-paying jobs.
Creation of a financing mechanism for both programs.
Appropriates $407 million to fund small businesses affected by COVID-19.
The third time was a charm for a small-business relief provision of Senate Bill 85, which was signed Monday by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
A House version of the bill, House Bill 4047, was proposed by Rep. Timothy Beson, R-Bangor Twp., last March, and signed by the governor. However, Whitmer exercised a line-item veto of the afflicted business relief. Another version of a small-business relief subsequently was passed by the legislature with bipartisan support. Whitmer again exercised her veto authority to squelch it.
SB 85 was introduced by Sen. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth.
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A $40 million project is estimated to help 30,000 workers statewide secure employment through the state’s Going PRO Talent Fund.
The program aims to lure back Michigan’s workforce lost during COVID-19, encourage specialization, and help businesses fill jobs in a tight labor market. Between Feb. 2020 and April 2020, Michigan’s labor force plunged by 341,500 or 6.9%. Labor force levels in Michigan have rebounded modestly, increasing by 139,400 or 3% percent from April 2020 to August 2021.
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In a marathon overnight session this week, the Michigan House voted 100-2 on a bill aiming to ban the Independent Citizen’s Redistricting Committee (MICRC) from meeting in a closed session for any purpose.
On Dec. 2, the Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 728. The bill moves to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk, whose office hasn’t responded to a request for comment about the legislation.
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As many predicted, pipeline company Enbridge filed to remove a lawsuit to shut down Line 5 from state court to keep it in front of a federal judge.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have been attempting to revoke the easement that allows Line 5 to transport approximately 540,000 gallons of hydrocarbons across a five-mile stretch of the Straits of Mackinac. The easement has been honored since 1953.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the bipartisan Council of Great Lakes Governors asked federal leaders to fund the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in the 2022 Water Resources Reform and Development Act to prevent invasive Asian carp from entering Michigan’s water.
“The Great Lakes are the beating heart of Michigan’s economy, and we are taking action to put Michigan first and protect the Great Lakes,” Whitmer said in a statement. “By funding the Brandon Road Lock and Dam, we can protect local economies and key, multi-billion-dollar industries that support tens of thousands of jobs including fishing and boating. I am proud that my fellow Great Lakes governors from both parties and I are coming together to continue uplifting our economies, build the Brandon Road Lock and Dam, and keep invasive carp out.”
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The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA) will return surplus funds to Michigan policyholders and refund $400 per vehicle to Michigan drivers.
Drivers are expected to receive checks in the second quarter of 2022.
“These refunds and the recently announced statewide average rate reductions are lowering costs for every Michigan driver,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. “Michiganders have paid into the catastrophic care fund for decades, and I am pleased that the MCCA developed this plan so quickly after unanimously approving my request to return surplus funds to the pockets of Michiganders.”
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The nonpartisan Cook Political Report on Friday shifted eight high-stakes gubernatorial races toward Republicans as Democrats continue to face political headwinds.
Ratings in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada, three pivotal battleground states, shifted from “Lean Democratic” to “Toss Up.” Each has a first-term Democratic incumbent — Govs. Gretchen Whitmer, Tony Evers and Steve Sisolak, respectively — fighting to win reelection in a state that President Joe Biden won by fewer than four points in 2020.
Other states that saw changes were Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, Iowa and South Carolina. While Democrats remain favorites in the first three, Cook noted, the ratings in Iowa and South Carolina both moved from “Likely Republican” to “Solid Republican.”
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is trying to use federal funds from a recently-signed infrastructure package to accelerate the replacement of lead service lines.
Whitmer signed an executive directive (ED) for the Legislature to work with the State Budget Office to spend federal funds to accelerate the replacement of lead service lines (LSL).
“Right now, we have an incredible opportunity to put Michiganders first by using the funds we will be getting under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to ensure every community has safe drinking water,” Whitmer said in a statement. “With this executive directive, we are accelerating the timeline to replace 100% of lead service lines in Michigan, prioritizing communities that have been disproportionately impacted, fostering enhanced collaboration across departments, and ensuring that the projects are built by Michigan workers and businesses. I look forward to working with the legislature to invest these dollars and get the job done.”
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced plans to spend billions of federal tax dollars to increase high-speed internet access in the state.
The governor issued Executive Directive 2021-12 Monday, designed to expand access to high-speed internet in Michigan. The programs will be funded from money the state is anticipated to receive from the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Attempts to “bridge the digital divide” have been implemented through federal and state programs since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initiated its National Broadband Plan in 2010, with money from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Michigan has allocated additional federal funds, including:
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive Tuesday, which will direct federal funds from the recently signed infrastructure package to fix the state’s roads and bridges.
“Right now, we have an [sic] historic opportunity to put Michiganders first and use the billions in funding we are expected to receive under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to ensure every community has safe, smooth roads and bridges,” Whitmer said in a statement. “With this executive directive, we are getting ready to build up local roads and bridges across Michigan, create thousands of good-paying jobs for Michiganders, and ensure small businesses, downtowns, and neighborhoods have high-quality, reliable infrastructure to rely on as we usher in a new era of prosperity for our state. I look forward to working with the legislature to invest these dollars and get the job done.”
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A former car dealership mogul has thrown his hat into the race to be the next governor of Michigan, intending to run against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).
Kevin Rinke is a Republican who made a fortune in the car business. He said he will put $10 million of his own into defeating Whitmer, who has spent her term in office plagued by scandals.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer welcomed the expansion of free or low-cost child care to 105,000 more kids via the expanded income eligibility criteria in the latest bipartisan budget.
Families of four earning up to $49,000 will be eligible for free or low-cost child care under new criteria, helping parents return to work
“We need to continue working hard to drive down costs for families and expand access to high-quality, affordable childcare so parents can go to work knowing that their kids are safe and learning,” Whitmer said in a statement. “I was proud to put childcare first in the bipartisan budget I signed in September. Together, we lowered costs for working families by expanding low or no-cost care to 105,000 kids and providing grants to improve childcare programs and empower childcare professionals. Countless working parents rely on childcare, and we must continue expanding high-quality care to help every working family thrive.”
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Citing the potential threat of energy poverty, a national organization of Black activist groups has appealed to President Joe Biden’s administration to allow the Line 5 pipeline to remain open.
Project 21 is an initiative sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. The initiative includes members and organizations aimed at providing conservative solutions to problems facing African-American communities.
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U.S. District Judge Judith Levy gave final approval to the $626.25 million settlement for victims of the Flint lead-contamination water crisis.
“The court is persuaded that the over $600 million settlement is a fair and sensible resolution of the claims against the settling defendants,” Levy wrote in a 178-page opinion. “The complexity and volume of this litigation present significant risks and potentially great expense to all parties if the cases were to be tried.”
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The Biden administration on Monday confirmed that they are considering shutting down another pipeline, Michigan’s Line 5 oil pipeline.
When speaking to reporters, Karine Jean-Pierre, a spokesperson for the White House, confirmed numerous reports that the group is analyzing effects of the potential termination.
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Applications are now open for a bipartisan $350 million grant program to support more than 8,000 child care professionals.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer celebrated the launch of the Child Care Stabilization Grant on Monday.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is calling for the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association to refund $5 billion in surplus funds to Michigan automotive insurance customers.
“My office recently reviewed the Annual Report of the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA) to the Legislature issued in September 2021,” the governor wrote in a Nov. 1 letter addressed to R. Kevin Clinton, MCCA executive director. “The report stated that the MCCA had a surplus of $2.4 billion at the end of 2020. In your annual statement issued on June 30, 2021, the surplus is now $5 billion. I am calling on you today to refund money to Michiganders.”
The governor attributes the surplus to the bipartisan Senate Bill 1 insurance reform bill she signed in May 2019. Provisions of the bill include:
Guaranteeing lower rates for drivers for eight years;
Giving people the choice to pick their own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) options with coinciding PIP rate reductions, offering unlimited coverage (at least 10% PIP reduction), $500,000 coverage (at least 20% PIP reduction), $250K coverage (at least 35% PIP reduction), $50,000 coverage for Medicaid eligible recipients (at least 45% PIP reduction), or a complete opt out for seniors or anyone with sufficient private insurance (100% PIP reduction).
Increasing consumer protections by banning companies from using the following non-driving factors to set rates: ZIP code, credit score, gender, marital status, occupation, educational attainment, and homeownership.
Setting fee schedules for hospitals and providers to prevent overcharging for auto-related injuries.
A ballot question committee aims to gather enough signatures to enact the Student Opportunity Scholarship legislation passed last month by the Michigan legislature. It’s anticipated those bills will be vetoed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Let MI Kids Learn (LMKL) will aim to collect more than 340,000 valid signatures from registered voters for each of the two bills in the Student Opportunity Scholarship package. Upon certification of the signatures by the Board of State Canvassers next year, the House and Senate could enact this veto-proof reform.
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A Monday Detroit News report claims that an employee of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) who works for the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) admitted to burning public documents in a deposition.
MOISHA was attempting to fine the city of Port Huron for violations under some of Whitmer’s COVID-19 mandates, which have now been rendered unconstitutional.
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