Ted Roelofs

Close races, marijuana referendums, a southeast Michigan mass transit tax proposal and a statewide business tax issue highlight the Aug. 5 ballot.

Well-paying jobs in manufacturing, health care and engineering are plentiful in Michigan, but our high school grads still lack the goods to grab them. Experts urge more focus on raising math and problem-solving skills.

After a disastrous launch, Michigan residents are flocking to the Affordable Care Act. Yet the rates all those newly insured vary widely depending on where you live. A lack of competition in some local markets raises questions on why the same kinds of coverage have such different price tags across the state.

Nearly 270,000 low-income Michigan residents signed up for expanded Medicaid in less than two months. While officials project that number to explode, critics fear the program will prove too costly to sustain.

Michigan is among a dwindling number of states that prosecute 17-year-olds as adults, even though teens are more likely to commit more crimes when placed with adults. Most teens prosecuted as adults committed nonviolent crimes.

Innovative programs in Berrien County are going to teens’ homes, not waiting for teens to find trouble. The result: recidivism is down sharply.

Michigan prisons have increased seven-fold as a percentage of the state’s budget since 1980. Michigan also holds prisoners behind bars far longer than other states, a cost that conservatives say the state can no longer afford.

In 1988, Judge Norman Lippitt sentenced Karen Kantzler to life in prison for killing her husband, who she said was abusive. Lippitt never imagined she would actually spend her life behind bars.

Republicans are rethinking the wisdom of “tough-on-crime” formulas of the past, as they eye alternatives to incarceration.

At a time when most professional sports stadiums tap public funds for stadiums, the West Michigan Whitecaps built and run a ballpark on private funds alone.

Taxpayers have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to help Detroit’s sports teams build stadiums over the decades. A look at some recent deals.

Michigan’s congressional delegation controls some powerful defense and intelligence committees. So why does our state rank among the nation’s worst in money paid to veterans?

Military veterans are more likely to “self-medicate” for pain, both physical and otherwise, leading to a surge in homelessness.

A recent Michigan court ruling leaves some brain-injured crash victims unable to afford the vans that get them out of the house. Lansing, meanwhile, is seeking even further restrictions on the state’s generous no-fault auto benefits, citing the high cost to drivers.

Michigan unlimited no-fault auto insurance benefits may soon be rolled back. We weigh the savings of such a rollback against the consequences.

State education leaders are facing off against some districts and administrators who are balking at adding school days in June to account for a flurry of snow days this winter.

School districts debate the wisdom of closing schools on snow days while allowing basketball games and other activities to take place at night.

Farmers are eager to help Michigan’s growing beer and whiskey industry, but the state lacks enough malt operators to reach its potential

Wendell Banks says his small-batch malt in tiny Shepherd costs twice as much as national suppliers charge, but argues that fresh, Michigan-made malt is worth the price.