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A state appointee has run the cash-strapped city for more than two years. Former Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed Joe Harris the city’s emergency financial manager in March 2010.

Now elected leaders have set a goal for him to leave by December 2013. They hope to get a $7 million emergency loan from the state to help get Benton Harbor out of its “financial emergency”.

Mayor James Hightower says the loan would be “a game changer”.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder released six videos expressing his opinion on the six ballot proposals facing voters this fall.

And just like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Gov. Snyder is encouraging a "no" vote on all five proposed amendments to the Michigan Constitution. He is encouraging a "yes" vote on the referendum on the emergency manager law (Public Act 4).

From Snyder's press release:

“I respect the initiative process as a fundamental democratic right, but the proposed constitutional amendments in November’s election have potentially dangerous long-term consequences for Michigan,” Snyder said. “Enshrining these seriously flawed proposals within our constitution would roll back positive reforms that are helping reinvent our state, and I encourage citizens to view them with skepticism.”

You can listen to Gov. Snyder's reasoning in his YouTube videos below. By the time he gets to proposal six, his voice seems a little strained:

I’m not running for anything, now, or presumably ever. But I have a confession to make. I am not rich, but my household income is more than a hundred thousand dollars a year.

Nevertheless, I get a form of welfare from the government. And my guess is that you do too. If not, other members of your family do. My welfare is called the home mortgage tax deduction.

The government exempts me from paying thousands of dollars in taxes that I would have to pay if I lived in a rented apartment.

This week Morning Edition Host Christina Shockley and Michigan Radio's political analyst Jack Lessenberry talked about the lawsuit filed against Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. The lawsuit challenges Johnson’s instruction that voters who show up on Election Day should be asked whether they are US citizens. Shockley and Lessenberry also talked about Governor Rick Snyder's trade mission to China.

Michigan No. 5 most obese state in the US

Michigan is now the fifth-most obese state in the nation. That's according to a study released yesterday by the Trust for America’s Health. The study also used data from the Centers for Disease Control to project obesity through the year 2030. The report says if habits don't change by then, about three out of every five

Snyder in China

Governor Rick Snyder left for a 10-day trade mission to China Tuesday. "Governor Snyder and members of his administration say he has two goals – to boost the more than two billion dollars a year in goods and services exported to China from Michigan, and to convince Chinese companies to make Michigan their U-S operational base," Rick Pluta reports. 

Detroit City Council says Belle Isle proposal is dead without changes

"It looks like a plan to turn Detroit’s Belle Isle into a state park has no shot with the Detroit City Council. The plan calls for the city to lease the park to the state for 30 years. The state would take over maintenance and make major, as-yet-unspecified upgrades to the island. But City Council members blasted the plan’s lack of detail. So far, Bing hasn’t laid out a contingency plan for dealing with Council resistance," Sarah Cwiek reports.