Among the services Hall, R-Richland Township, is proposing to tax: Limousines, country club memberships, tourist services, skiing, golf, artificial intelligence services, performing arts, private jets, environmental consulting, newspaper publishing, marinas and political ads.
Those proposed service taxes, as first reported by WLNS-TV in Lansing, could generate roughly $4.73 billion in state revenue, nearly offsetting $5 billion tax overhaul he proposed earlier this month, including elimination of the State Education Tax, real estate transfer tax and remaining personal property taxes.
You can click through to see if bowling is one of the included services.
Wes shared this photo of Luxury Lanes in Ferndale way back in 2009. See more in his Canon 30D gallery on Flickr.
Apparently, the fact that Canada has paid for 100% of the construction project isn’t fair enough. IMO, it is deeply embarrassing to become a nation whose word can’t be trusted. Your mileage may vary, but please remember that’s not my or anyone elses problem.
Scattered1 took this photo back in December when the clouds were so low that they couldn’t see the top of the bridge’s 722-foot towers. See more in their massive Michigan gallery on Flickr.
Here’s a shot of a cross border handshake from 2024 to help us remember that the United States has no ally as true and vital as Canada. ♥️ 🇨🇦 🤍
“Since first arriving in the Great Lakes in the 1980s, invasive mussels have spread to all five lakes, and altered the ecosystem in profound ways. Today we understand that zebra and quagga mussels are an existential threat to the Great Lakes and without a coordinated response, they will continue to inflict harm on the environment, infrastructure, and critical species such as lake whitefish. Just as invasive sea lamprey require a coordinated, binational response for effective control, we must partner with national, state, provincial, Indigenous, regional, and local partners to find a solution to the mussel invasion. This bill makes that happen.” –Great Lakes Fishery Commission Chair Ethan Baker
US Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, want to increase funding for mussel control research more than fiftyfold to $500 million over the next 10 years. (EDITOR: They released it on Tuesday)
Otherwise, the “fish that we take for granted are going to just disappear,” Dingell told Bridge Michigan.
…The damage wrought by invasive mussels is among the biggest threats to the Great Lakes in history. Yet Bridge found that while the US government has spent mightily to combat other threats, the fight against mussels has received a comparative pittance.
The main funding program for Great Lakes science has devoted an average of less than $1 million annually to the cause since 2010, according to spending records analyzed by Bridge. The federal government spends about 20 times that amount to keep sea lamprey out of the Great Lakes and has promised 90 times as much to build a barrier against invasive carp.
Read on for much more & kudos to these two Representatives for working together to protect the livelihoods and meals of Michiganders!
The photos are from Michigan Sea Grant and the one of the boat moored was taken by Brandon Schroeder. Sea Grant is an excellent organization that works hard for Michigan waters and the Great Lakes as a whole!
“In times like these, we have to look out to help one another. We have to have compassion for one another to see how can I help my brother.” – Reverend Aaron Hicks
The National SNAP participation map breaks things down at the conty level. In Michigan average of 14.2% of small town households, 16.1% of urban households, and 16.8% of rural households receive SNAP benefits, and Michigan spends $3 billion a year on food assistance for our 1.4 million SNAP recipients.
One of the many Michigan organizations working hard to keep food in the hands of hungry Michiganders is Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan who rescue, repack, and distribute over 2 million pounds of food every year to add to food pantry stores. Due to uncertainty with SNAP (food stamp) benefits, they are holding additional repacks – get all the details right here & feel welcome to share options you know of in the comments!!
Editor’s Note: the author of this blog is one of millions of Americans who feel that actions by President Trump & his Administration cross dangerous Constitutional and/or societal red lines including stopping people based on skin color, warrantless raids by masked police, “clawing back” duly appropriated Federal funds, directly threatening to turn the military on American citizens who oppose him, and refusing to seat a duly elected representative for almost a month because she will be the 218th vote to release the Epstein files. You may certainly disagree, but if you get nasty, you’re gone. No kings or tyrants in the USA, ever.
The second No Kings Day protests are scheduled across the state, nation, and even the world for this Saturday, October 18, 2025. You can check the map at NoKings.org or text #63033 for detailed information about protests near you. Also, they are asking that folks wear YELLOW because it is neither blue nor red
Dennis took these at the No Kings Day protests in Ann Arbor & Saline back in June. See more from the protests below, and more from these cities in his Ann Arbor Area gallery on Flickr.
The document, circulated on Capitol Hill, was first reported by The Detroit News (link) and reportedly includes more than $800 million in Michigan projects. Other Michigan-based recipients on the list include Ford Motor Company and Dow Chemical Company. (and Stellantis)
The proposed cancellations come after Trump administration officials last week defended the decision to cancel federal projects in regions of the country that have voted for Democrats, insisting it was in an effort to reduce the size and scope of government during the ongoing shutdown of the federal government. Democrats, however, said the cancellations further eroded Congress’ constitutional authority over spending by unilaterally canceling funding that lawmakers approved on a bipartisan basis.
The lawmakers definitely have a point. How can we expect companies to invest in industries of the future if we as a nation can’t honor our commitments?
Jordyn Hermani of Bridge Magazine shares that Michigan lawmakers passed the nearly $81 billion dollar budget early this morning. Highlights include almost $2 billion for roads, cuts of “ghost employees” in government jobs, and continued free meals for Michigan K-12 students. The key to the whole deal is a new 24% wholesale marijuana tax in January that is anticipated to bring in a conveniently estimated $420 million a year. The article is an excellent overview of the budget and says in part:
Marijuana industry advocates have decried the plan, arguing it will lead to higher prices for consumers, force companies out of business and benefit the illegal black market.
“This is going to drive Michigan customers out of the legal market,” said Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, who opposed the bill. “This is telling customers from other states, ‘Stop bringing your money to Michigan.’”
...The budget will continue to make school meals free for all students, a top priority of Whitmer and Senate Democrats. It includes $201.6 million to cover meals for students who don’t qualify for no-cost programs through the federal government. The budget includes a record $10,050 in per-pupil funding for Michigan schools, up from $9,608 this year, and also provides full funding for cyber charter schools. Those changes will cost the state $593.5 million. It also adds $321 million for mental health and safety grants that are available to both public and private schools.
These photos are from one of my favorite companies in the Michigan cannabis industry, Grasshopper Farms. One of the reasons for this is how lovely their outdoor cannabis farm looks, and another huge one is how they work to be a part of their community in the Paw Paw area! Here are some more photos from the farm – follow them on Facebook & Instagram for more.
EDITOR’S NOTE: whatever your politics, a Michigan company that in many cases has a state-granted monopoly secretly spending to influence state policy, coordinated secretly with the Michigan Republican Party & then lied about it should set off all kinds of alarm bells.
Newly released court documents show power utility DTE Energy knowingly contributed $100,000 to a dark money non-profit that helped sabotage Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Covid lockdown policies. The documents contradict previous DTE statements that claimed the utility was not involved with the donation.
In January 2023, the Guardian detailed how a DTE-affiliated dark money non-profit financially contributed to the successful repeal of Whitmer’s emergency order powers. The campaign, coordinated with state Republican leadership, helped bring about an end to Covid lockdowns and policies.
Peter Ternes, then a DTE Energy spokesperson, twice emphatically denied the company’s involvement. In late 2022, he told a Guardian reporter, “DTE unequivocally is not financially supporting” the campaign to kill Whitmer’s emergency order powers, led by Unlock Michigan, and made an almost identical statement when asked in 2020. New emails, however, show a DTE employee coordinated the $100,000 contribution. The dark money non-profit and Unlock Michigan leadership referred to it as a “DTE donation” and “$100,000 DTE check”, emails show.
…The “revelatory” emails illuminate how DTE “deploys dark money in Michigan”, said Karlee Weinmann, research and communications manager with the utility industry watchdog Energy and Policy Institute. The group detailed the emails in a new report.
EDITOR’S NOTE ON THE EDITOR’S NOTE: I am the editor of Leelanau.com. I wrote the Editor’s Note below and fully endorse the position of the letter writer. Honestly, if you don’t I really wonder why you follow this blog and for sure don’t care if you go away for good.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first message that I am going to share from a National Forest Service employee who is neck deep in the horrors being perpetrated against the National Park Service and the National Forest Service. Sadly, I don’t think it will be the last. Also, at the end, the author says mean things about the Department of Government Efficiency aka DOGE aka the unelected & unaccountable organization taking a wrecking ball to the federal government which I fully endorse. This is an ill-fated & poorly planned action that will cause untold & in some cases irreparable damage to public resources that you and I own. We should not allow this.
1. I still have a job, meaning I somehow cleared level one. RIF (reduction in force) is the Boss Level, and that’s still a ways off (days? Weeks? We don’t know). I am not in any way hopeful that I will still be employed with the National Forests in four months, or that there will be National Forests in four years.
2. People at work are packing, printing our performance docs, waiting for the call. Some of us (like me) have targets on our backs, but nobody is safe. Nobody sleeps. A co-worker thought he was having a heart attack. We compare what meds we’re taking for anxiety. The wait is torture. I had to process termination paperwork for a very close friend who kicks ass at her job. It sucks every day. And work used to be my happy place.
3. The termination letters site performance issues. THIS IS A LIE and they know it. That’s why they fired (and were forced by a federal judge to rehire) the head of the Merit Systems Protection Board, a board whose main job is to say, “Whoa whoa wait a sec. You can’t fire federal employees without just cause!” This is why people are signing termination docs “signed under duress.” My friend has excellent performance evaluations. Most of the fired people do. Because…
4. Probation does NOT mean we did something wrong. It means we just got hired (or promoted) and it came with a probationary period. These are recent graduates who went to school for natural resource management, wildlife conservation, forestry, and did so with the SOLE INTENT of protecting our public lands. These are the MOST devoted, passionate, educated, efficient people. With the least pay. We don’t work public lands for the pay; it is so much less than private sector wages, you guys. Look up the federal pay scale. It’s public information. Compare GS level jobs to what they’d make at a private company. In NPS we joked that we got paid in sunsets. We join because we believe in preserving public land for future generations. But it’s starting to look like our public lands will be cannibalized for parts. So
5. Please! If you go to public lands this summer, or in the next four years, know that we are doing the best we can with the staff and budget we’ve been given. There’s a district north of Yellowstone of over a million acres that has been left with THREE employees. Recreation and Trails departments across the nation have been gutted. There are NO PEOPLE LEFT ON THE GROUND TO CLEAN YOUR SHIT. If you have a complaint about your lands this summer, do NOT get hostile with the federal workers on the ground. Take that complaint, dip it in hot tar, and shove it as far up the DOGEs ass as you can reach.
A park representative said gates will be closed on the park’s campgrounds, bathrooms and popular Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive until the shutdown ends, though visitors may still access the park’s hiking trails and lakeshore. (our emphasis)
Sleeping Bear Dunes is one of five national parks in Michigan affected by the shutdown, a move that comes at an unfortunate time for tourism-dependent parks nearing the end of their operating seasons. The Leelanau County attraction, which will operate with a skeleton crew of emergency-only personnel until the shutdown has ceased, normally averages 2,300 visitors a day during the fall season, according to park reports.
Michigan in Pictures 