Jennifer White

With Michigan poised to become the country’s 24th so-called "right-to-work" state, thousands of protestors have flooded the State Capital today to demonstrate against the legislation. Michigan Radio's Jennifer White talks with Katie Oppenheim, a registered nurse, and president of the University of Michigan Nurses Union. Oppenheim is also affiliated with the Michigan Nurses Association.

Governor Rick Snyder and leaders of the Republican led state House and Senate announced plans to introduce so called “Right to Work” legislation today. While police and firefighters are excluded from the legislation, it would prohibit contracts that require union membership and ban the requirement that union dues be paid for all other public and private workers. Clearly, this marks a major shift in direction for the state of Michigan.  Michigan Radio’s political analyst Jack Lessenberry gives us a historical perspective.

Michigan Radio's Jennifer White talks with Bonnie Raffaele, mother of Kelsey Raffaele, a teenage girl who died in a car crash on January 24, 2010 while using a cell phone. Bonnie has been advocating for the passage of Senate Bill 756. The bill, also known as Kelsey’s Law, would prohibit novice teen drivers from talking on the cell phone while driving. The bill, passed by the Senate earlier this year, will be discussed tomorrow in a House Transportation Committee Hearing.

Each week we take a look at Michigan politics with Ken Sikkema, former senate majority leader and senior policy fellow at Public Sector Consultants, and Susan Demas, political analyst for Michigan Information and Research Service.

The House GOP Health Policy Committee, today voted by a 9-5 vote  against legislation to establish a state-run health care exchange. The health care exchanges are a requirement of the federal Affordable Care Act.

Governor Rick Snyder has been pushing for a state-run online market where people can compare and buy health insurance plans, but Republicans in the House continue their opposition to Obama's federal health care act. Today, Speaker of the House Jase Bolger asked fellow Republicans to pass the legislation.

"Here you have a situation where the Speaker finally said lets do this, and his own members said, 'No, we don't want to do it.' So, I think that's somewhat of an embarrassing moment here for the Speaker, not so much for the Governor," said Sikkema.

Demas says there are no signs of an extension for states to set up the exchange. At this point it's likely the state will get a federally created exchange.

More candidates are entering the Detroit mayoral race. State Representative Fred Durhal Jr. announced his plans to run this week.

In the best of times, running a city the size of Detroit is incredibly challenging. The city will face some considerable challenges for some time to come. So we asked Rep. Durhal Jr. why he wants the job.

Others possible candidates for Detroit mayor include State Rep. Lisa Howze, Detroit Medical Center CEO Mike Duggan and Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon. Current Mayor Dave Bing has not yet announced whether he plans to run for reelection.