M-185, the state highway circling the car-less Mackinac Island, will have a speed limit of 15 miles per hour under legislation approved by the Senate on Tuesday. The legislation aims to regulate electric bicycles, with some capable of reaching 40 miles an hour.

Short-term rentals would have to pay a 6% excise tax under legislation that received testimony in the House Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee Wednesday.

The newly renamed Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Economic Development and Lifelong Learning had its first budget hearing, during which Chair Will Snyder (D-Muskegon) asked more about the difference between Michigan Marketing and Pure Michigan funding.

An electroplating chemical spill in Warren’s Bear Creek drain and the spotting of a “mysterious corrosive ooze” seeping out of the ground of a former steel facility in Riverview were propped up as examples by environmentalists and local officials as reasons for new polluter pay laws in Michigan.

For the first time during her six-year tenure, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made endorsements in two state House special elections, giving her stamp of approval to Macomb County Commissioner Mai Xiong in the 13th District and City Council President Pro Tempore Andrea Rutkowski in the 25th.