The Grand Rapids Press

Rebecca Kiessling’s mother backed out of two illegal abortions, but told Kiessling she would have aborted her baby had it been allowed by law. “I was born exactly three and a half years before Roe v Wade to the date, and I literally own my birth to the 1931 law, which protected me,” said Kiessling, a Livonia attorney, who stood Friday evening outside the Michigan Hall of Justice in Lansing to celebrate the overruling of Roe vs. Wade, the watershed decision that guaranteed for nearly 50 years a constitutional right to abortion.

LANSING, MI – Angelique DuPhene stood with about 200 people at the steps of the Michigan capitol to protest a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could make illegal in Michigan a procedure she had just one day earlier. “They would rather see me die with my two young kids...

OTTAWA COUNTY, MI – A state representative from Ottawa County is resigning his office with six months left in his term. Rep. Jim Lilly, R-Park Township, announced he will step down from his seat on Friday, July 1, to work in the private sector. His current term expires Dec....

ROTHBURY, MI -- Take something, leave something in return. That’s the cardinal rule of the “Giving Tree” at Electric Forest. This is a a must stop for the Forest Family at some point over the weekend.

West Michigan lawmakers’ reactions to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade predictably followed political lines. Republicans, like Congressmen Bill Huizenga and Peter Meijer, cheered the decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson case for saving “unborn lives” while Democrats warned that Americans’ freedoms have been trampled.

Only Iron County in the Upper Peninsula is at a high community COVID-19 level this week, meaning people there should mask while indoors and in public, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A week earlier, there were 11 counties in northern Michigan and the U.P. at such a level.

HOWELL, MI - They may be full of hot air, but these balloons are the real deal. There will be hot air balloons launching throughout Howell this Michigan summer weekend. The 37th Annual Michigan Challenge Balloonfest takes place in the Howell area starting Friday, June 24 and running through the weekend.

LANSING, MI – Both abortion rights protesters and anti-abortion celebrators plan to rally outside the Michigan Capitol Friday evening, setting up a possible clash of opposite opinions in the state’s seat of government hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Planned Parenthood had already scheduled...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday drew the attention of the country, making its expected ruling overturning Roe vs. Wade, the decision that has guaranteed right to abortion in the United States and stoked debate for nearly 50 years. It gives states, legislative bodies and voters the right to make...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House sent President Joe Biden the most wide-ranging gun violence bill Congress has passed in decades on Friday, a measured compromise that at once illustrates progress on the long-intractable issue and the deep-seated partisan divide that persists. The Democratic-led chamber approved the election-year legislation on...

This weekend will have some really nice periods of weather for hitting the beach or hitting the water. A cold front comes through Saturday night and Sunday morning. Cooler temperatures will gradually move in Sunday afternoon. Before the breezy, cooler Sunday afternoon, some Lake Michigan and Lake Huron beaches will be a good destination.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer Friday filed with the Michigan Supreme Court a plea for judges to set an expedited briefing on her court case which seeks to declare a 1931 ban on abortion as unconstitutional. Whitmer sued 13 county prosecutors in early April, looking to have a near century-old ban on...

The U.S. Supreme Court decision has been imminent for weeks, but Christen Pollo still felt overwhelmed when she saw the final opinion, the words “egregiously wrong” used to describe a precedent she has long opposed. “It’s hard not to be emotional. I didn’t think that I would see...

The United States Supreme Court ruled on Friday to overturn the 50-year-old precedent of Roe v. Wade, a landmark case that legalized abortion nationwide. However, in the same ruling, the Supreme Court mentioned that other rulings should be reconsidered — including those that have to do with contraception and marriage rights.

ELK RAPIDS, MI – Short’s Brewing Company is partnering with one of Michigan’s musical stars to release its first non-alcoholic drink. It’s called Thirst Mutilator. Inspired by a song of the same name released by Michigan-born bluegrass musician Billy Strings on his 2016 self-titled EP, the hop water has zero calories, zero carbs, contains zero alcohol, and is all natural and gluten free. Lemon-lime is the first flavor to launch under this brand.

KALAMAZOO, MI — After deliberating just under three hours, jurors returned with a verdict in the William Paul Jones murder trial in Kalamazoo. Jones was found guilty of 18 felonies on Friday, June 24, including one count of first-degree murder in the 2019 death of Christopher Neal, 22, in Comstock Township.

The Supreme Court, in the monumental decision overturning the once-thought immutable right to an abortion established in Roe v. Wade, is the most consequential opinion of the court’s six-justice conservative majority, ushering in a sea change in the country’s treatment of reproductive rights. The practical impact of the...

Republican lawmakers are taking a victory lap over the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling early Friday which overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision which gave women the right to an abortion nationwide. With the issue now back to the states, Michigan would revert to a nearly century-old law that...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — At least one person inside a stolen Cadillac fired a handgun at a Grand Rapids Police Department car just after 3:15 a.m. on Prospect Avenue SE, prompting the officer to fire one shot in return, police said. No one was injured in the incident, and...

LANSING, MI – Michigan’s top law enforcement officer says the overturning of Roe v. Wade is an “erosion” of equality, while the governor called the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling “a sad day for America.”. The two Michigan Democratic leaders reacted firmly to the Friday...