By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network

Lansing, MI – Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land has endorsed elections reforms that are bottled up in a state Senate Committee controlled by her fellow Republicans.

Land was testifying before the state House Elections and Ethics Committee.

By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network

East Lansing, MI – A state House committee voted to keep the 100 Michigan state troopers who were scheduled to lose their jobs because of budget cuts.

By AP

Detroit, MI – General Motors Corp. has narrowed down the locations where it could build its new small car to factories in either Michigan, Tennessee or Wisconsin.

The automaker says it is in talks with federal and state
officials in those states about selection criteria.

By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network

LANSING, MI – A state House committee voted unanimously Tuesday to require insurance companies to cover autism treatment for Michigan's children.

There are an estimated one and a half million people living with autism in the nation. According to the U-S Department of Education the number of diagnoses increases by about 15 percent every year, making it one of the most pervasive developmental disorders in the county.

By AP

WASHINGTON – The wind, a favorite power source of the green energy movement, appears to be dying down across the United States. And the cause, ironically, may be global warming - the very problem wind power seeks to address.

The idea that winds may be slowing is a speculative one.

Scientists disagree whether that is happening. But a first-of-its-kind study suggests that average and peak wind speeds have been noticeably slowing since 1973, especially in the Midwest and the East.

By AP

MOSCOW – Two international space station crewmen have squeezed into an airlock aboard the station to move a docking mechanism.

American Michael Barratt and Russian Gennady Padalka entered the transfer compartment in the station's Russian-made Zvezda service module on Wednesday for a job expected to take less than 40 minutes.

The operation is considered a space walk because the astronauts have to wear space suits.

By AP

BOSTON – BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Globe is reporting that The New York Times Co. has hired Goldman Sachs to manage the possible sale of the financially struggling newspaper.

The Globe, citing two potential buyers who wished to remain anonymous, reported Wednesday that Goldman Sachs has begun accepting bids for the 137-year-old newspaper. That was before the Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe's largest union, voted Monday to reject $10 million in pay and benefit cuts demanded by the company.

By AP

WASHINGTON – WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of a congressional panel overseeing the federal financial system bailout fund says Washington initially underestimated how much banks in America were struggling to stay afloat.

Elizabeth Warren says the approval of a repayment to the government of $68 billion by several of the banks receiving taxpayer assistance amounts to "phase two of the economic recovery" in the system.

By AP

WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit edged up in April as crude oil prices hit the highest level since December, but the imbalance so far in 2009 is well below last year's total as the recession dampens demand for imports.

The Commerce Department says the deficit rose for a second straight month in April, climbing 2.2 percent to $29.2 billion. That was slightly higher than economists' expectations.

By AP

TOPEKA, KS – The leader of an anti-abortion group says the organization is interested in buying the now-closed clinic of slain abortion provider George Tiller.

Tiller's family announced Tuesday that his clinic in Wichita, Kansas, was shutting down permanently. The doctor was fatally shot on May 31.

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said he would love to make an offer for the property and that his group had discussed the idea.