Since the Legislature adjourned for the year before Nov. 11, 21 legislators had plenty of time for the opening day of firearm deer hunting season on Nov. 15 to fill the freezer with venison.

The surface parking lots between the Ottawa Building and the Hall of Justice in downtown Lansing would be transformed into park space, complete with an amphitheater, sculpture garden and possibly another memorial, under a concept the Michigan State Capitol Commission is exploring.

A bicameral bill package giving the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) greater power to issue emergency water management orders was introduced in both chambers last week, in response to a still-unsettled lawsuit over Kalamazoo’s Morrow Dam.

Canadian-based Enbridge Energy will appeal a Wisconsin judge’s $5.15 million trespass ruling, which also calls for the company to remove its pipeline from an Indian tribe’s reservation within three years.