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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 ...

How federal funding changed the game for Michigan’s homeless students

LANSING — When a Washtenaw County student experiencing homelessness faced obstacles to being able to take the SAT because the test site was more than an hour away in Lansing, an increase in one-time federal funding created an opportunity. Washtenaw Intermediate School District Grants & Special Projects Coordinator Sarah Hierman said the significant influx of $800 million in one-time federal funding during the pandemic via the American Rescue Plan provided more flexibility for schools to work with families who were facing challenges associated with housing instability. In this case, ...

Count Day: Detroit school district sees modest bump in enrollment, officials say

DETROIT — Nearly 500 more students were in attendance on Count Day in the Detroit school district this year compared to last, according to early data. The numbers are crucial for determining how much state funding the Detroit Public Schools Community District will receive. The early data suggest that the district’s efforts to ramp up enrollment and reduce chronic absenteeism have paid off with incremental gains. On Wednesday, 45,388 students attended school in the district compared to 44,893 last school year, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat. The numbers are ...

24% Michigan marijuana tax, a key piece of the legislative budget deal, has passed

LANSING — After much hand wringing and consternation from lawmakers who feared detrimental effects to Michigan’s cannabis industry, the Michigan Senate voted early Friday morning by a thin margin to pass a 24% wholesale tax on marijuana products sold in the state. The measure is estimated to raise $420 million in new revenue to fund road repairs and construction in the new fiscal year, a key component of the budget deal reached by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids). If the vote had failed, ...

ACLU of Michigan files lawsuit in federal court for due process of detained Michigan residents

LANSING — The ACLU of Michigan filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Sept. 29 seeking bond hearings for, and the release of, eight Michigan residents currently in immigration detention. The lead defendant in the case is Jose Daniel Contreras-Cervantes, a father of three who was diagnosed last year with leukemia and given four to six years to live, according to his wife Lupita Contreras, in a press conference hosted by the ACLU. Contreras-Cervantes was detained in August after a traffic stop in Macomb County, where he lives, and is ...