Emergency manager law
The state Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday on a challenge to the referendum on Michigan’s emergency manager law. MPRN's Rick Pluta reports the challenge was filed by business groups that support the emergency manager law.
It says the size of the type used on part of the petition to put the question on the ballot is too small. The referendum campaign says the printer measured the font using the industry standard and it is correct. The campaign also says, regardless, small technical errors should not stop voters from deciding the question after more than 200,000 people signed petitions to put it on the ballot. Groups opposed to the emergency manager law are planning to bus in protesters to demonstrate outside the Michigan Hall of Justice, where the Supreme Court meets. There are seven Michigan cities and school districts that are being run by state-appointed emergency managers.
Energy emergency in parts of the U.P.
Governor Rick Snyder has signed an executive order declaring an energy emergency in parts of the Upper Peninsula. He says a pipeline rupture in Wisconsin has affected the supply of gasoline and diesel fuel to the western and central U.P.
MPRN's Rick Pluta reports that West Shore Pipeline typically carries three million gallons a day between Chicago and Green Bay, which is used to supply much of the western half of the U.P.
Governor Snyder’s order will allow truckers to drive longer hours to get to fuel supplies in Milwaukee and Madison. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has also lifted restrictions because to allow truck drivers to work longer hours. The pipeline resumed moving fuel – although at reduced pressure -- this past weekend, but gas and diesel remain in short supply in some parts of the U-P. That has caused a spike in the price of fuel. Governor Snyder’s emergency order remains in effect for two weeks, unless he rescinds it sooner than that," Rick Pluta reports.
Michigan casinos
Opponents of an amendment to allow eight new casinos in Michigan say the proposal violates the state constitution. So they’re going to court in an effort to keep the question off the November ballot. The Protect MI Vote coalition is made up of business groups and the owners of casinos in Detroit and on tribal land. The coalition’s attorneys say the question is both an amendment to the state constitution and a re-write of the state’s casino gaming law. Protect MI Vote says a ballot question cannot be both.
