Michigan Radio Newsroom

Michigan diners can start bringing their own bottles of wine to restaurants.

A new corkage law went into effect on Friday.   It says restaurants with liquor licenses can permit outside bottles of wine and charge a corking fee to serve them.

State representative Jim Stamas sponsored the bill.   He says the law will promote Michigan's wine industry.

Michigan can meet almost one-third of its electricity needs from in-state renewable energy sources by 2030 – at virtually no increase in cost to consumers.

That's according to a Union of Concerned Scientists report released on Wednesday. 

Sam Gomberg is an energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists and author of the report.

The Pure Michigan advertising campaign helped fill state tax coffers again last year.

Michigan has invested heavily in an effort to boost tourism in recent years. And the commercials, which are voiced by actor Tim Allen, and often feature scenic shots of lake vistas or Detroit nightlife, are getting through to people.

Michelle Grinnell is the public relations manager for Pure Michigan. She says the Pure Michigan brand connects with people.

William Clay Ford's widow, Martha Ford, will take control of the Detroit Lions, a team her husband purchased 50 years ago. She will have controlling interest in the football team, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports. 

Ford, the last surviving grandchild of Henry Ford, passed away Sunday morning at the age of 88. 

More Michigan kids are making college dreams come true while still in high school. That's according to a new report that finds the number of low-income Michigan pupils taking Advanced Placement coursework has increased eight-fold over the past ten years.

With less than four weeks to go in the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act, the push is on to reach the Latino community, which officials say has traditionally not had widespread access to affordable health insurance.

Mayra Alvarez, associate director of the Office of Minority Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, says the latest study finds that eight in 10 uninsured Latinos can now get a break on the cost of insurance.

Update: 11:08 a.m., March 7, 2014

The 14-year-old pup we wrote about earlier in the week was reunited with its owner (woman on the right):

From the Coast Guard's press release:

Jodi Benchich of St. Clair Shores, Mich., visited with her 14-year-old pet “KC” at the Wilson Veterinary Hospital before taking him back home. The dog sustained frostbite on his paws and also lost a significant amount of weight during the time he was lost.

"KC is happy to be back home and is eating everything we give him," said a very happy Benchich. "We're forever grateful to the Coast Guard and hope to be able to thank the crew in person sometime soon."

A  third-grader from Howell is making a big difference.

Eight-year-old Cayden Taipalus was upset when he saw a child refused a hot  lunch at his elementary school cafeteria because his lunch account was in arrears.

Instead, the child was served a sandwich with fruit and milk, the alternative provided free by Howell school policy when a student's overdue lunch balance reaches $5.

Amber Peters is Cayden's mother. She said he came home asking how he could help.

A few weeks ago, we asked you to show us what your winter looks like on Instagram using the hashtag #PSWinterWhere.

We coordinated with KPCC (Southern California Public Radio) and NPR  and sent out a call to public radio listeners around the world and asked them what their world looks like this winter.

Here are 10 of our Midwestern favorites.

Flint mayor declares war on blight

"Flint Mayor Dayne Walling is calling for a $70 million "war on blight" to help tear down nearly 6,000 buildings in the financially troubled city. Walling made the declaration Monday in his State of the City speech," the Associated Press reports.

Great Lakes 90% covered with ice

All of the Great Lakes combined have 90% ice cover. According to the Detroit Free Press, "that's the most ice cover in 34 years."

Lawmakers want to ban term "retard" from state law

"Michigan lawmakers are looking to remove the terms 'mental retardation' and 'mentally retarded' from state law. Bipartisan bills would strike references to outdated language such as 'retarded' from various statutes and instead use terms such as 'developmentally disabled' or 'intellectually disabled'," the Associated Press reports.

Detroit officials revealed today a computer security breach of files containing personal information of 1,700 past and current firefighters and EMS workers.

Beth Niblock is Detroit's Chief Information Officer. She said the breach was caused by malware that froze access to the files.

Niblock said it does not appear that the employees' personal information is at risk. 

If a "preventive" measure is the same thing as a "preventative" measure, it seems hard to justify having both words.

This week on That’s What They Say, host Rina Miller and University of Michigan English Professor Anne Curzan discuss words with multiple endings.

In this case of preventive and preventative, preventive is used more often.  So is the shorter ending always more common?

“If we look at the ‘ive’ ending as in preventive, versus the ‘ative’ ending as in preventative, it’s not always the case that the shorter one wins,” Curzan argues.  

When looking at the terms exploitative and exploitive, Curzan found that the “ative” ending is four times more common than the “ive” ending.  Nevertheless, both of these terms are in dictionaries, making either usage correct.

Attention “Breaking Bad” fans (read: almost everyone): Bryan Cranston’s latest role has a Michigan twist. 

Cranston, the 57-year-old star of “Breaking Bad” and of course, “Malcolm in the Middle,” signed on for the lead role in the new movie, “Holland, Michigan.”

Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris is expected to direct the film, a thriller centered on a family from – you guessed it – Holland.

Canadian officials are saying the proposed U.S.-Canadian bridge is not getting the U.S. funding it needs.

That could mean the New International Trade Crossing – the second bridge between Detroit and Windsor – could be postponed beyond the project’s 2020 completion date.

As Jim Lynch of the Detroit News reports, Canadian officials are offering up $630 million to build the new bridge.

The only thing the Canadians aren’t paying for is the customs office that would need to go on the U.S. side of the bridge.

Governor announces plan to help foster care system

"Gov. Rick Snyder says the state could do a better job protecting foster children if it changed the way it paid for the service. The governor unveiled a report yesterday that says the state should pay foster care agencies based on their performance," Jake Neher reports.

Schools in better financial shape

"There are fewer school districts in Michigan that have budget deficits than there were at the end of 2013, and more districts are pulling themselves out of debt. That’s according to the state Department of Education," Rick Pluta reports.

Debbie Dingell to officially run for U.S. House

"Debbie Dingell is officially launching her campaign today for the U.S. House seat held by her husband," the Associated Press reports.

Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law today legislation that will require Michigan public schools to tighten fire, tornado and lockdown safety drills.

State Rep. Joseph Graves, R-Argentine Township, sponsored the legislation in response to media reports of widespread disregard by schools of safety drill requirements.

The new law requires schools to file by Sept. 15  a schedule of drills for the whole year with their county emergency manager. Schools must also post on their websites notice of a completed safety drill within five days.

Longest-serving congressman from Michigan retires

John Dingell, the longest-serving congressman in American history has announced his retirement. "There may still be a Dingell in the race," Steve Carmody reports. "Debbie Dingell, the congressman’s wife, is seen as a favorite in a potential race."

Same-sex marriage trial starts today in Michigan

Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage will be debated in federal court starting today. The case involves a lesbian couple from Detroit who are raising three adopted children, but can't jointly adopt the children.

President Obama to announce manufacturing hub in Detroit

"President Barack Obama will announce today the creation of two Pentagon-led institutes that will bring together companies, federal agencies and universities to work on technologies that can boost manufacturing. The institutes in Chicago and near Detroit fulfill Obama's 2013 State of the Union promise to create three manufacturing hubs with a federal infusion of $200 million," the Associated Press reports.

In Michigan, if a homosexual couple adopts children, the legal rights to the children can only be assigned to one parent.

If something were to happen to the parent with legal rights, the child could be returned to foster care and the surviving parent would have no legal ground to get them back.

For couple Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, who have three adopted children, this fear is one they have had to live with for years. 

Tomorrow, a federal court case will begin that could change things in Michigan.

(Editor's note, this commentary was first published on August 13, 2013. We shared it again today in light of Rep. Dingell's announcement that he will retire.)  

You probably know that this year, John Dingell became the longest-serving member of Congress in history. Legendary Speaker Tip O’Neill’s autobiography was called “Man of the House.” But Dingell deserves that title more.

80 years ago, shortly after his father was elected to Congress, the first John Dingell took his six-year-old son to work.

Yesterday, the congressman told me, “We walked through the biggest doors I had ever seen into the biggest room I had ever seen.” For young John, it was the beginning of one of the longest love affairs in history.

Same sex marriage trial

Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage goes on trial this week in Detroit. The case involves a lesbian couple who want to get married so they can jointly adopt the special needs children they’re raising together.

Bills to crack down on meth move forward

"Legislation to stop the sale of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to people convicted of methamphetamine-related crimes is moving ahead in Lansing. The state Senate last week overwhelmingly approved bills to alert Michigan stores not to sell cold medicine containing the popular ingredients for meth production to criminals convicted of meth offenses," the Associated Press reports.

Bankruptcy plan gives safety net for pensioners

"[Detroit's] bankruptcy plan calls for cutting pensions for general city retirees by up to 30 percent. But this fund would give some of that money back to pensioners who fall close to the federal poverty line," Sarah Hulett reports.