As the calendar turns to 2026, Michigan residents and businesses will see a wave of new laws and policy changes take effect — from paychecks to cannabis sales, education to consumer protections.
Voters in a Democratic-leaning West Des Moines-area district will pick a new state senator Tuesday in a special election that could allow Iowa Republicans to regain a supermajority in the chamber.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently signed dozens of bills into law, including child care safety legislation and the Taylor Swift bills. Here's a list.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently signed dozens of bills into law, including child care safety legislation and the Taylor Swift bills. Here's a list.
A new Michigan law allows child care centers in Michigan to install temporary door locks to keep children safe in the event of a shooting.
A judge has scolded Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell for including confidential victim names in court papers seeking to set aside her 2021 sex trafficking conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence.
The House has approved bipartisan legislation aimed at speeding up permitting reviews for new energy and infrastructure projects and limiting judicial review.
A U.S. senator says she's pausing the nomination for the top Coast Guard job because leaders appeared to have “backtracked” on a commitment to ensure that swastikas and nooses are considered hate symbols and prohibited from being displayed.
The Senate has moved quickly to close a loophole that could allow military aircraft to fly without broadcasting their locations, just like an Army helicopter was doing last January before it collided with an airliner over Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.
The Senate has given final passage to an annual military policy bill that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs.
Michigan’s top legislative leaders agree the state’s budget was finished late this year, and that the delay created real uncertainty, especially for schools.
House Republican leaders are determined to push ahead with a health care bill that excludes efforts to address the soaring monthly premiums for Affordable Care Act recipients.
The final three days of the Michigan legislature are underway and the fight is intense. The Michigan House just slashed $645 million in state spending without the Senate’s approval.
State officials engaged in unusual mid-decade redistricting are pushing a new definition of what it means to have “fair maps” for Congress.
Indiana’s Republican-led Senate has decisively rejected a redrawn congressional map that would have favored their party, defying months of pressure from President Donald Trump and delivering a stark setback to the White House ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Senators from both parties are pushing to change a defense bill after crash investigators and victims' families warned it could undo key safety reforms.
The Senate has rejected legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, essentially guaranteeing that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year.
In a resounding rejection of a pressure campaign from the White House, Indiana Republican Senators voted down a new congressional map created to give the GOP an advantage in the upcoming 2026 election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is set to testify on Dec. 17 before a special Georgia Senate committee.
Initial new federal data shows the number of Americans signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance for 2026 is moderately higher than it was at a similar time last year.
An Indiana state Senate committee took the first step toward enacting a new congressional map.
The controversy surrounding the vice president of Campbell Soup Company has led a Michigan lawmaker to call for lab-grown meat labeling on products.
OpenAI has awarded $40.5 million to more than 200 nonprofits in the first round of grants it has made since it rebranded its nonprofit as the OpenAI Foundation in October.
A progressive group is targeting two Senate Democrats and an independent senator who voted to confirm some of President Donald Trump's judicial nominees.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says three of his New York offices were targeted with emailed bomb threats from an email address alleging the “2020 election was rigged.”.
Two senators who lead a bipartisan antisemitism task force say they want more information from the U.S. Coast Guard about its policy regarding displays of swastikas, nooses or other hate symbols.
The U.S. Coast Guard has released a new, firmer policy addressing the display of hate symbols like swastikas and nooses just hours after it was publicly revealed that it made plans to describe them as “potentially divisive” — a term that prompted outcry from lawmakers and advocates.
The House has voted to repeal part of a new law that lets senators sue the federal government for millions of dollars if their personal or office data is accessed without their knowledge.
President Donald Trump continues to call on Indiana lawmakers to redraw the state's congressional boundaries, even as state senators do not have enough votes to do so.
Both the House and Senate have acted decisively to pass a bill to force the Justice Department to publicly release its files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The leader of the Indiana state Senate, a Republican, has said that his chamber will no longer meet in December as planned to vote on redistricting, citing lack of support from his members.
Now that the government shutdown is over, House and Senate Republicans say they'll negotiate with Democrats on whether to extend COVID-era tax credits that help tens of millions of Americans afford their health care premiums.
One of the most spectacular examples of Renaissance illuminated manuscripts is going on rare public display as part of the Vatican’s Holy Year celebrations.
President Donald Trump has signed a government funding bill that ends a record 43-day shutdown.
After refusing to convene the U.S. House during the government shutdown, Speaker Mike Johnson is recalling lawmakers back into session.
The Supreme Court has extended an order blocking full SNAP payments amid signals that the government shutdown could soon end and food aid payments resume.
The Senate has passed legislation to reopen the government, bringing the longest shutdown in history closer to an end after a small group of Democrats struck a deal with Republicans.
The Senate has taken the first step to end the government shutdown after a group of moderate Democrats agreed to proceed without a guaranteed extension of health care subsidies.
Senate Republicans have rejected legislation that would have put a check on President Donald Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela.
President Donald Trump lashed out at Senate Republicans to end the government shutdown, now the longest ever at 36 days.
The Trump administration is indicating in court that it will only partially fund the federal food assistance program as the government shutdown reaches into a second month.
President Donald Trump says he “won’t be extorted” by Democrats to reopen the government, making clear that he has no plans to negotiate as the government shutdown will soon enter its sixth week.
Two days before November SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits are set to be reduced for an estimated 1.4 million Michiganders, state and community leaders are racing to soften the blow.
France's Senate is expected to approve a bill defining rape and sexual assault as any non-consensual sexual act.
The Senate approved a resolution Tuesday evening that would nullify President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, including oil, coffee and orange juice, as Democrats test GOP senators’ support for Trump’s trade policy.
Vice President JD Vance says that he believes U.S. military members will be paid at the end of the week as the Trump administration reconfigures funding in the second-longest government shutdown.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis has ordered a senior U.S. Border Patrol official to meet with her daily “to hear about how the day went” after weeks of confrontations between immigration agents and the public in the Chicago area.
Members of Congress are divided largely along party lines on the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make room for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom that President Donald Trump wants to build.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon is staging a marathon speech to protest what he calls President Donald Trump’s “tightening authoritarian grip on the country” amid the government shutdown.
The Louvre's director has acknowledged a ″terrible failure″ at the Paris tourist attraction after a daylight crown jewel heist over the weekend.
As the government shutdown enters its fourth week, President Donald Trump is welcoming Senate Republicans for lunch at the White House.
Senate Republican campaign leaders are using artificial intelligence-generated video to falsely depict Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer appearing to say on camera comments he made in a print publication interview about the political impacts of the partial government shutdown.
Kentucky Senate candidate Daniel Cameron is banking on his familiarity with voters to overcome lackluster fundraising.
Senate Democrats are rejecting for the 10th time a stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government.
The Senate has voted to repeal the resolution that authorized the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, following a House vote last month that would return the basic war power to Congress more than two decades later.
Senators are laboring to find a way to reopen the government but find themselves struggling to overcome a fundamental lack of trust between the two parties.
The Trump administration hasn't provided evidence to lawmakers that recent U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats were justified.
Senate Republicans have voted down legislation that would have put a check on President Donald Trump’s ability to use deadly military force against drug cartels.
President Donald Trump cracked the door slightly to negotiations with Democrats on the health care subsidies they’ve made central to the shutdown fight, then abruptly closed it Monday, leaving the two sides once again at a seemingly intractable impasse.
President Donald Trump is using the federal shutdown to push deep spending cuts in states that backed Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.
Halfway through Donald Trump’s inaugural White House meeting with congressional leadership, the red "Trump 2028" hats appeared on the president’s desk.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed a package of bills aimed at shoring up food assistance, rural health care and public broadcasting in response to recently enacted federal cuts.
President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors, by threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to programs important to Democrats.
Senate Democrats kept their promise to reject any Republican spending bill that didn’t extend or restore health care benefits, choosing instead to force a government shutdown.
The Federal Communications Commission voted to end discounts for library and school Wi-Fi hotspot lending programs on Tuesday, drawing criticism from lawmakers and librarians who say the move will make it more difficult for people who are low-income or live in rural areas to access the internet.
Senate Democrats have voted down a Republican bill to keep funding the government, putting it on a path to a shutdown after midnight Wednesday.
Democratic congressional leaders have left a White House meeting without a deal with President Donald Trump and Republicans to avoid a government shutdown.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader John Thune are digging in ahead of this week’s deadline to keep the government open, showing little evidence of budging even as both sides have agreed to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.
President Donald Trump plans to meet with the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Monday, one day before the deadline to fund the federal government or face a shutdown.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is rejecting Democratic demands on health care as unserious but says a government shutdown is still “avoidable.”.
Michigan leaders issued statements after the legislature reached a tentative agreement to pass the School Aid budget and state budget, including long-term road funding, before the end of the fiscal year.