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.

The public will get to comment on 10 maps drawn by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) after they were approved the day before the federal court-ordered Feb. 2 deadline.

Then there were seven maps. The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) Monday voted to chop off and discard eight of the 15 potential Metro Detroit state House maps it was considering to submit to a federal court.

The number of hate crimes nationally tend to be higher during presidential cycles, with the vast majority of the hate crime being perpetrated by white supremacist and white nationalist groups, based on information shared at a Department of Civil Rights discussion Thursday.

The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission's (MICRC) application to pause a judge’s ruling to redraw legislative maps was denied Monday – a move an attorney said signals an appeal will likely fail.