2020 Election

A Michigan lawmaker accused of trying to trade his vote on legislation for campaign cash is facing trial in federal court. State Rep. Larry Inman's trial begins Tuesday in Grand Rapids, where he faces up to 30 years if convicted. Charged with allegedly soliciting a bribe, extortion and lying to the FBI, the lawmaker is believed to have tried selling his vote on Michigan's prevailing wage law in 2018.

A new package of bills introduced at the legislature is taking a different avenue to fixing Michigan’s deteriorating roads - and it has nothing to do with raising the state’s taxes. Instead, more than a dozen proposals and bills introduced by the members of the state’s transportation committee would free up Michigan’s local governments to collect their own gas and registration taxes that would go directly to roads managed by those bodies.

The Michigan House has passed legislation that would overhaul expungement laws to make it easier for hundreds of thousands of people to clear their criminal record.

The late Congressman John Conyers' voice played in a recording by his wife Monica at his funeral Monday.

"His motto was always 'Justice, peace, and jobs,' Monica Conyers said.

Last November, voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of proposition 2, Voters Not Politicians. The ballot initiative was directed at curbing partisan gerrymandering, the process of lawmakers redrawing district lines that benefits a certain political party. Lawmakers redraw district lines after every census, which takes place every 10 years. However, Michigan's doing it a little bit differently this time. Instead, 13 randomly-selected residents from Michigan will be responsible for drawing those boundary lines.

In a statewide poll, only 26 percent of voters approved of Gov. Whitmer's job performance in the state. That's 13 points less than President Trump, who voters gave a 39 percent approval rating of.

It’s been more than two years since Brian Banks resigned from the state House to avoid going to the Big House.

State lawmakers are close to ending Michigan's status as one of the few states where 17-year-old offenders are automatically prosecuted as adults. The state Senate overwhelmingly approved bills Wednesday, a day after the House voted. The legislation is expected to soon go to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her likely signature.

The University of Michigan has been selected to host a presidential debate in 2020. 

The GOP's budget differences with the governor were laid bare Wednesday following Whitmer's veto of 147 items from the legislature's proposed budget. After cutting more than a billion dollars from the proposal, there's chatter in Lansing that that money could be sent back to taxpayers.