Detroit business mogul Dan Gilbert says he could launch a ballot campaign to bring down auto insurance rates. The status of Benton Harbor’s city manager is unclear after city commissioners terminate his contract. WMU men’s basketball loses on the road.
(MPRN) Detroit businessman Dan Gilbert says he’s ready to start a ballot campaign to try to lower the state’s auto insurance rates. Gilbert is currently talking to state lawmakers about a proposal he says would lower the state’s high price to drive. But he has a backup plan if the Legislature can’t do something by mid 2019 and that’s starting the ballot campaign. Gilbert’s proposal is focused on letting people choose how much medical coverage they want. Right now, drivers are required to have unlimited, lifetime coverage.
(MPRN) Michigan’s only women’s prison is getting a new skilled trades facility. It’s called a Vocational Village and two men’s prisons in Michigan already have one. Construction began Monday on the new facility at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti. Michigan Department of Corrections Director Heidi Washington says female inmates will have the opportunity to train in high demand fields like computer coding and 3D printing. Washington says at the other two facilities, there is a roughly 70-percent employment rate of people who leave the village with a certification.
(Michigan Radio) A state Senator wants to increase penalties ten-fold for utilities that wrongfully shut off customers. Republican Patrick Colbeck introduced bills to do that after DTE Energy shut off thousands of customers last year and this year without giving them a second notice. The second notice is required by the Michigan Public Service Commission. Colbeck says DTE also charged people for opting out of having smart meters - but didn't disable the radio signal on the meters as it was supposed to do. The utility did not comment on the Colbeck bills, but says only a small percentage of customers were affected by billing and smart meter issues.
(St. Joseph Benton Harbor Herald-Palladium) Benton Harbor City Commissioners have voted to terminate the contract of City Manager Darwin Watson. Watson’s contract expired in February, but he remained on the job under the terms of that deal. The St. Joseph Benton Harbor Herald Palladium reports that commissioners voted unanimously last night to terminate the contract, but did not comment further or explain what the action means. Watson says he plans to continue working as Benton Harbor’s city manager.
(WCMU) For the second time in as many weeks, Central Michigan University is contending with racist messages on campus. Monday flyers were found on campus promoting white nationalism. A University spokesperson says it appears the flyers and cards are the work of an outside organization and that they do not reflect the values of CMU. This is the second racist incident on CMU’s campus in recent weeks. On November 7th, three African American students at CMU found a racist message scrawled on a whiteboard hanging on the door of their dorm room. Officials have not yet identified a person responsible in that case.
In men’s basketball, Western Michigan lost at Cincinnati Monday night 78-52. Sophomore Michael Flowers led the Broncos with a career high 23 points. Western is now 3-2 on the season, they will play in a tournament in Florida this weekend beginning with a game against Southern University on Friday.
Two Western Michigan players have been honored by the National Collegiate Hockey Conference for their part in the Broncos’ weekend sweep at North Dakota. Forward Colt Conrad has been named the NCHC’s offensive player of the week. The senior scored two goals and assisted on four others over the two games. Western’s Trevor Gorsuch was named the conference’s goaltender of the week. He made 32 saves and earned a shutout Friday, then another 30 saves on Saturday. The Broncos are off until they host Niagara for a two game series November 30th and December 1st.