Republican Carolyn Cater spent a dozen years working on ships in the Great Lakes. Cater was once a coal-passer on the S.S. Badger, spending her time shoveling coal into the ship’s boilers. Cater is now running for Michigan’s 101st state House District seat, which runs from Ludington to Northport.

Jack O’Malley spent decades as a morning radio host in northern Michigan. He signed off at WTCM-FM for the final time in April. Now he wants a new job in the state House of Representatives.

Michigan Democrats hope to win back seats in the state House of Representatives this election. To do that, they’ll need to win districts like northern Michigan’s 101st, which was last won by a Democrat a decade ago.

Michigan State University has reached a half-billion dollar settlement with victims of Larry Nassar. Nassar is the former MSU sports medicine doctor who sexually assaulted hundreds of women over decades – and called it treatment.

Thousands of households in Michigan generate their own electricity with solar panels. They’re reimbursed by utility companies for any extra power they put into the grid under a program called net metering. But under new rules, those customers are going to get less in return.

Democrats have struggled to find candidates to run for office in Grand Traverse County. In recent elections, Democrats let most seats on the county Board of Commissioners go unchallenged.

Michigan’s attorney general is suing an Escanaba-based shipping company that he claims is responsible for a mineral oil leak in the Straits of Mackinac earlier this month.

President Donald Trump’s plan to fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure hasn’t gone anywhere yet. Earlier this year, Trump proposed investing $1.5 trillion in the nation’s roads, bridges and other systems. However, only a fraction of the money would come from the federal government in the plan. Instead, most would come from state and local governments.

Michigan’s roads are falling apart. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the state a D- letter grade for the condition of its roads in a report released last month .

Michigan State University’s interim President John Engler criticized state lawmakers last week for a package of bills that would give sexual assault victims more time to file lawsuits, among other changes.