The day after the Oakland County Reapportionment Commission had it’s organizational meeting — and sent out a news release with comments from all members, Republicans and Democrats, talking about cooperation and fairness — a stable of Republican state representatives from Oakland County introduced legislation that would give control over redistricting county commissioner seats to the GOP-dominated county Board of Commissioners. House Bill (HB) 4380, sponsored by state Rep. Eileen Kowall (R-Highland, White Lake) and co-sponsored [...]

If you’re an Oakland County resident living on a gravel road and would like to participate in the Road Commission for Oakland County’s (RCOC) dust control program, you can now submit an application for the service. Applications must be received by May 2. The program involves the RCOC applying mineral well brine to gravel roads four times during the summer to help control dust. Mineral well brine is naturally-occurring salt water that is pumped from [...]

Every 10 years in conjunction with the completion of the decennial census, politicians begin drooling at the thought of one thing — redistricting — and that official process has begun in Oakland County, with the organizational meeting of the county’s Reapportionment Commission taking place last week. Officials serving on the commission — Clerk/Register of Deeds Bill Bullard, Jr.; Prosecutor Jessica Cooper; Treasurer Andy Meisner; Oakland County Republican Party Chairman Jim Thienel; and Oakland County Democratic [...]

The husband and wife legislative duo of state Sen. Mike Kowall (R-Commerce, Highland, Milford, Walled Lake, Wixom, Wolverine Lake, White Lake, Orchard Lake, West Bloomfield) and state Rep. Eileen Kowall (R-Highland, White Lake) have introduced identical legislation in their respective chambers to implement a change in election law called for by Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Bill Bullard, Jr. earlier this year. Senate Bill (SB) 204 and House Bill (HB) 4357 would eliminate the requirement [...]

The Water Resources Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) will be offering close to $500,000 in available grants for water quality monitoring projects this year. Local governments and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply for the grant program, which is funded by the Clean Michigan Initiative’s Clean Water Fund. Up to $200,000 is available for water quality monitoring projects at inland beaches and another $250,000 is available for non-beach water [...]

It wasn’t quite the news many had hoped for — no, demanded — but the recent decision to rebuild the roadways in and around the Pontiac Trail and West Maple Road intersection in Walled Lake a year earlier than previously planned qualifies as good news. The scheduling change serves as an example of the squeaky wheel getting the grease. But all the Walled Lake officials, businesses and residents who piped up about the deteriorating conditions [...]

Political power for the next decade in Oakland County is at stake as the county’s Reapportionment Commission — which is now controlled by Democrats — does its work to redraw district boundaries for the Board of Commissioners based on 2010 U.S. Census data. But legislation introduced by Oakland County Republicans in the state House of Representatives and the state Senate would effectively strip the Democrats of their control of the Reapportionment Commission in what appears [...]

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s split its final two regular season games against Detroit Public Schools teams before heading into the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) District Tournament beginning this week. The Eaglets began last week with a 48-47 home victory over Detroit Finney on Tuesday, March 1. St. Mary’s (11-9) led 14-12 after the first quarter and 28-25 at halftime before taking a 39-34 lead after the third quarter and holding on to win [...]

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s won its sixth consecutive regional championship last week as it seeks a return to the state final four. The Eaglets defeated Northville 9-3 in a Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) Division 1 regional final at Eddie Edgar Ice Arena in Livonia on Saturday, March 5. Connor Lyons had a hat trick and an assist for the Eaglets (17-10), while Cody Milan had 2 goals and 2 assists. Trevor Bardallis, Stephen [...]

After several years marked by the crash of the housing market nationwide, preliminary figures from the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) show that people are slowly but surely looking toward southeast Michigan, Oakland County and parts of the lakes area to build new homes. The organization that represents seven counties in the metropolitan Detroit region is reporting an 82 percent gain in new housing units in 2010 with 2,902 residential building permits issued in [...]