On WestSouthwest, the barriers broken by Western Michigan University graduate Merze Tate and following the money spent by lobbyists in Michigan.
Merze Tate's career took her around the world as a journalist, author and representative of the U.S. State Department. She broke barriers in education at Western Michigan University and as the first African-American graduate of Oxford University. Sonya Bernard Hollins has written extensively on Tate. Her new books The World Through the Lens of Merze Tate will be released in March. WMUK's Rebecca Thiele spoke with Sonya Bernard Hollins.
Lobbyists spent more than $37-million last year trying to influence Michigan lawmakers. Michigan Campaign Finance Network Director Rich Robinson tells WMUK's Gordon Evans that current laws don't always make it easy to know which lawmakers are eating, drinking or traveling with lobbyists picking up the bill.