A competition for free rent attracted 58 applicants seeking to open businesses in downtown Lansing. Now the winner is preparing to open this fall, bringing a new business model — kids cooking classes — to the business district.

Western Michigan and southeast suburbs are growing gangbusters, but Detroit, the U.P. and Thumb continue to lose residents. ‘It’s a trend that can’t continue,’ says one.

The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission hires lawyers who defended districts deemed by courts to be Republican gerrymanders.

GOP areas in northern Michigan lose population, but so do some Democratic strongholds. Something’s got to give as the state loses one congressional seat.

Michigan’s population rose 2 percent since 2010. In general, suburbs gained population, while the exodus from some cities and rural areas continued.

With charts of county, city population changes: Much of Michigan loses residents, but growth of the west side offsets losses. Populations of Flint, Detroit plummet; challenge eyed.

Two months after the state’s workplace safety regulators dropped most COVID-19 restrictions, they’re once “strongly’ encouraging masks but not mandating them.

Public health advocates and bipartisan lawmakers are advocating for new funding to fix the failing septics that leech fecal bacteria, viruses and toxins into Michigan’s waterways.

Customers are ready to spend, but the state’s hospitality businesses can’t operate at 100 percent, according to a new industry survey. They’re ‘leaving money on the table’ instead of rebuilding lost revenue.

Michigan’s roads and bridges are in sorry shape. Biden’s infrastructure bill wouldn’t fix all of them.

The board, by a 6-2 vote, rejected a non-binding resolution by Republican members to prevent schools from requiring masks, COVID tests or quarantining unvaccinated students. One GOP member was in tears.

Even as COVID cases increase, online-only learning won’t be an easy option for schools this year. The policy shift was agreed to by the GOP legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.