TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - A team from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection of the Palisades nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan.

The inspectors will be following up on two incidents in 2011 that caused the plant's safety rating to be downgraded, making it among the nation's poorest performing nuclear plants.

One problem was an electrical fault that caused a reactor shutdown and the other was failure of a water pump that cools safety equipment.

NRC spokeswoman Prema Chandrathil said Monday the eight-member inspector team began work Monday and will remain at Palisades for about two weeks. They'll be determining whether problem areas have been fixed and examining the plant's safety culture.

Afterward, they'll prepare a report that will determine whether Palisades' rating will go up, down or stay the same.

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - An FBI sting operation has led to corruption charges against a former Pontiac city council member.

Federal authorities say Everett Seay accepted $25,000 from a man who needed city approval to open a money-handling business in Pontiac. The government says Seay was told the shop would be used to launder drug profits.

Seay also is accused of helping transport 35 pounds of cocaine for $15,000. The cocaine was fake, and the man who wanted to open a money-handling business actually was an undercover agent. The alleged crimes occurred in 2008 and 2009 when Seay was on the Pontiac council.

Seay was due in court Monday and could not immediately be reached for comment. Two other people also were charged.

Gov. Rick Snyder and Republicans in the legislature made significant cuts to the state's public university system when they first came into office.

As part of the cuts, they set up bonus payments to schools if they met certain performance measures, and if they kept their tuition increases in check.

Earlier this month, the State House Fiscal Agency  released a breakdown of how much each school will get in bonus payments.

All 15 public universities kept their tuition increases at or below 4 percent, so all 15 schools will receive a 'tuition restraint' bonus payment.

This fiscal year, the pot for 'tuition restraint' bonus money is set at $9.1 million for all 15 universities.

Central Michigan will receive the biggest payment. From the Detroit Free Press:

Central Michigan University's decision to keep its tuition rate increase for this school year lower than that of other state schools is paying off to the tune of almost $1.8 million in extra state aid from a fund set up to reward universities for smaller hikes.

CMU raised its tuition rate by 2%, the lowest in the state. It will get 19.6% of the bonus money.

The top five schools for keeping tuition hikes in check (and their associated bonus payments) are:

1. Central Michigan University -  $1.8 million
2. Ferris State University - $1.3 million
3. UM in Ann Arbor - $1.1 million
4. Lake Superior State - $1.0 million
5. Oakland - $930,000

The Detroit Free Press has a breakdown of tuition increases and bonus payments for all 15 public universities.

The Flint Journal reports this morning about three killings over the weekend, bring the total number of homicides to 50:

Three homicides in as many days has brought the city's total to 50 slayings for the year.

The latest was a shooting and hit and run that left one man dead...

The city didn't record its 50th homicide last year until late October.

In 2010, the city set a record for the number of homicides at 66. That's in a city with a shrinking population.

Shortly before Michigan’s statewide primary six weeks ago, I began to hear from people who had concerns about the sheriff in Eaton County, which is suburban and rural and just west of Lansing.

They told me the sheriff Mike Raines was putting together some kind of armed militia group and had scary ideas about the meaning of the U.S. Constitution.