Around Michigan & State Government

The prison in Baldwin will remain closed for now. Michigan will not allow the privately run, for-profit prison in northern Michigan to house about a thousand inmates because there would be no savings to taxpayers.

The state turned down two bids. In both cases, the contracts would have cost more than what the state pays right now.

The Florida-based GEO Group was hoping to re-open an empty prison it owns in the town of Baldwin. Utah-based Management and Training Corporation also submitted a bid.

After a multi-year push to establish a telephone hotline for people in poverty there's no money to sustain the effort. Starting Monday, United Way of Northwest Michigan is letting its contract lapse for the 2-1-1 helpline serving the five-county Grand Traverse Region.

The phone service is in place in many parts of the U.S., designed to help people find services such as food and housing assistance.

United Way Executive Director Renae McCauley says the service cost her organization nearly $50,000 dollars a year, plus and $3.20 charge for every call that came in.

A federal judge is allowing a legal challenge to Michigan adoption laws and its ban on same-sex marriage to go forward. The judge turned down the state’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.

In a written order, Judge Bernard Friedman says the U.S. Supreme Court decision last week striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act has left unanswered questions that could be addressed by this case.

A federal judge has struck down a Michigan law which prohibits public employers from offering health coverage and other benefits to the unmarried, live-in partners of their employees. In a preliminary ruling, U.S. District Court Judge David Lawson says the law serves no compelling public interest, but it does deny equal protection to people in same-sex relationships.

The Michigan Supreme Court will let stand a policy that allows most state employees to enroll live-in partners on their health plans.  The court today declined to hear a challenge to live-in partner benefits.

The court issued a brief order simply stating the justices saw no reason to take the case.

A special Michigan grand jury, including members from Grand Traverse County, will investigate meningitis deaths and illnesses linked to tainted steroid injections. The grand jury will look into whether any laws were broken in connection with an outbreak that has killed 16 people in Michigan. To people have died from the tainted injections since the request for a grand jury was originally filed. 

Two men from Boyne City were the first same sex couple in Michigan to be legally married. The ceremony took place Friday, only minutes after the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians signed a statue to legalize gay marriage within the tribe.

The two men have been together 30 years. Newlywed Tim LaCroix is a member of the Odawa tribe. His spouse, Gene Barfield is not. Under their tribal marriage, Barfield will now get spousal benefits from the tribe.

An Indian tribe in Harbor Springs could become the third tribe in the nation to recognize gay marriage. The governing council of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians approved the proposal this week.

Even though Michigan's constitution bans same-sex marriage, native tribes have their own sovereign authority. 

Annette VanDeCar says tribal leaders are recognizing a long native tradition of honoring "two spirit people."

Officials with Munson Medical Center say they’ve seen 37 illnesses possibly related to tainted steroid injections, and two confirmed cases of joint infections.

The number of cases continues to climb statewide, with Michigan topping the nation in illnesses related to a fungal meningitis outbreak. Michigan health officials have linked a total of 185 cases and 10 deaths to the outbreak. Those numbers include infections, as well as fungal meningitis cases, and a stroke.

UPDATE Friday 10/12/2012: The number of cases statewide has grown to 41 and  local health officials say there is a suspected case in Grand Traverse County. A Munson Medical Center spokeswoman says they've been a number of nervous patients in the emergency department, and she encourages people to read the guidelines below before coming in to the hospital. 

Michigan currently has 25 confirmed fungal meningitis cases, including three deaths associated with a national outbreak believed related to tainted steroid injections.