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With SNAP benefits paused, Michigan recipients, advocates, lawmakers determine how to respond

LANSING — At 1 a.m. Thursday morning, Symone Wilkes, a Detroit resident and mother of two young sons, received a loud alert on her phone. It was her MI Bridges app — the site through which state benefits are provided — alerting her that her Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as SNAP, would not be sent to her in November due to the federal government shutdown. “What went through my head at that moment is like, ‘Wow, they’re really gonna do this to families that’s trying to feed their children,’” she said. “It just made me just go into a ...

LANSING — Four marijuana-related bills were up for consideration before a House panel on Thursday, with one aiming to upend rules on the legal amount of regulated marijuana a person is allowed to possess, both in plant and concentrate form. Members of the House Regulatory Reform Committee discussed but did not amend or advance House Bill House 5104, Bill 5105, House Bill 5106 and House Bill 5107. Derek Sova, a policy and legislative assistant for the Cannabis Regulatory Agency, told the committee previously that Michigan’s legal marijuana industry faced several challenges, and ...

Michigan Senate greenlights big hike to fishing, hunting fees, House GOP says ‘No way’

LANSING — Hunting and fishing fees in Michigan would increase to net revenue of more than $20 million under a bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday, which was met with staunch opposition from Republicans in both chambers of the Legislature. The bills raising the fees were sprung on Senate lawmakers during session held Tuesday and were not initially on the agenda. But the bills were not new introductions jammed through the process and had been in the hopper for months now. There had also been discussions during the budget process of finding new revenue from hunting and fishing fees. ...

Veterans, rural residents, older adults may lose food stamps due to Trump work requirements

OAKLAND, Calif. — An Oakland, Calif., grocery store displays a sign notifying shoppers that it accepts electronic benefit transfer cards used by state welfare departments to issue food assistance benefits. States are just beginning to implement changes to work requirements for the national food stamp program approved by Congress and President Donald Trump this summer. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) States are rushing to inform some residents who rely on food stamps that they will soon be forced to meet work requirements or lose their food assistance. Recent federal ...

After nearly 3 million pounds of food aid cancelled, impacts across Michigan vary

LANSING — While Michigan food banks lost nearly 3 million pounds of food in cancelled deliveries through August 2025, the actual impact on the organizations varied widely. In March, $500 million was cut in funding for the Commodity Credit Corporation, a program that provides food to food banks and other emergency food providers through The Emergency Food Assistance Program, another Department of Agriculture program. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data obtained by ProPublica, this meant that around 94 million pounds of food never reached those food banks. For some ...

Michigan haunted house teaches actors to ‘scare the pee out of’ guests

PONTIAC, Mich. — Grotesque makeup, menacing props and intimidating costumes are just one part of a Michigan haunted house's 25-year-old formula to terrify guests. It starts by educating the actors looking to provide the most horrifying experience to its visitors. At Scare School, they ...