An unprecedented budget fight will continue Tuesday morning at a meeting that could see Gov. Gretchen Whitmer exercise a rare power reserved for governors. Whitmer also trimmed nearly $1 billion from the Republican-led Legislature’s $59.9 billion budget.

Bridge is expanding yet again, seeking an enterprising reporter to help launch the Michigan Business Watch to cover the state’s vibrant business community.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it didn’t give Enbridge Energy permission to feature an agency researcher in a statewide advertising campaign to protect the Line 5 oil pipeline. One person who worked with the researcher called the ads “dishonest.”

Small rural hospitals are getting squeezed by competition and market forces, forcing painful consolidations, sales and closures. Nationwide, 113 rural hospitals have closed in less than a decade.

For Aspirus Ironwood Hospital, in a sparsely populated former mining region in remote Michigan, merger points to a brighter future.

Rising fiscal challenges force independent Michigan hospitals to seek alliances. They can save the hospitals, but some critics ask at what cost.

At a cost of $1.5 million or more, low-flying aircraft will spray 2.5 miles around each confirmed EEE case across southwest Michigan and beyond.

The state is telling government employees to plan on reporting to work as usual on Tuesday morning as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer prepares to decide the fate of budgets Monday.

The law places a 15 percent cap per congressional district on signature gathering for ballot initiatives. The court said that unfairly hampers the public’s rights.

A survey of superintendents confirms a teacher shortage forcing schools to turn to less-qualified long-term substitutes.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jonker says Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel put St. Vincent Catholic Charities “in the position of either giving up its belief or giving up its contract with the state.”

Tucked inside the $59.9 billion budget, Michigan legislators have proposed big cuts to the Department of Education unless it creates A-F school grades, shifts money for redistricting and requires the construction of a controversial psychiatric facility in Caro.