Rick Pluta

Miranda warnings to suspects who are arrested and questioned are not complete unless officers include the detail that attorneys can be in the room before and during interrogations.

That decision came today from the state Court of Appeals.

The state Department of Civil Rights is now accepting complaints from people who say they’ve faced discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

   It’s also getting ready to defend its right to do so.

The state civil rights commission this week changed its interpretation of Michigan’s civil rights law. It now includes being refused housing or employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity as forms of sex discrimination.

A question to boost Michigan’s minimum wage to 12 dollars an hour could be headed to the November ballot.

The campaign to raise Michigan’s minimum wage says it’s gathered enough petition signatures to force the Legislature to vote on the question, or it goes on the November ballot. The initiative would also eliminate the lower minimum wage for restaurant servers and others who work for tips.

Tracy Pease is a server who says women who work for tips are more likely to face sexual harassment on the job.

A group opposed to legalizing marijuana in Michigan is now asking the Legislature to adopt an initiative to do just that,

   The opposition group says legalizing pot is pretty much a sure thing at this point.

Here’s why opponents actually want lawmakers to approve the measure: If they do that,

changes can be made to the law with simple majorities. But, if voters adopt it, amendments will require super-majorities.

   Mark Fisk with the opposition campaign says changes are needed.              

Marijuana-infused beer, wine, and spirits would be outlawed under a bill adopted today  by the state Senate.

The Senate vote took place with an eye toward the November ballot.

It’s looking increasingly likely voters will decide whether recreational marijuana will be legal in Michigan as the time for the Legislature to act grows short.

State Senator Rick Jones he expects the question will be on the ballot, and it will be approved.  

“When the November ballot passes, Jennie, bar the door, it’s going to be the wild, wild west.”

The Michigan Supreme Court has called a halt to a petition campaign to repeal wage protections for workers on government-funded construction projects. 

The court order came less than an hour before a state board was supposed to send the question to the Legislature. The stay allows time for a legal drama to play out at the state Supreme Court. Construction worker unions say petition circulators broke the rules, and that should disqualify the initiative.

   Steve Claywell is with the Michigan Construction and Building Trades Council.

Construction worker unions have asked the Michigan Supreme Court to put the brakes on sending a petition-initiated question to the Legislature.

The unions say the petition campaign broke the rules. 

The unions are trying to preserve state and local laws that require construction companies to pay union-scale wages on taxpayer-funded projects. But they say the issue here is the integrity of petition circulators. 

A court says the Legislature gets to vote on a petition-initiated bill that would outlaw rules for how workers are paid on publicly funded projects.

Prevailing wage rules adopted by the state and some local governments in Michigan require contractors to pay union-level wages on taxpayer-funded projects. 

A state board is starting to move faster to finalize business licenses to grow, transport, test, and sell medical marijuana.

The marijuana board added three meetings to its schedule between now and the end of the year.

The board has dealt with the just a handful of the hundreds of applications that have been submitted, and has yet to issue a finalized business license.

A study commissioned by an independent research group says term limits in Michigan have not met many of the expectations set when voters adopted them 25 years ago.

The study relies in part on interviews since 1992 with 460 legislators. The interviews were conducted by two researchers from Wayne State University.

   Eric Lupher of the Citizens Research Council says there are limits to the study. But he says one of the findings is that Michigan has not retired career politicians. He says what’s changed is state lawmakers are more focused now on their next jobs.