Every Michigan child attending school or childcare centers—over 1.4 million—could soon drink lead-free water.

With 35-1 votes, "Filter First" bills passed out of the Michigan Senate on Tuesday and now head to the House.

Gas prices are slowly dropping across the state and nation, as they have been for two months. That’s thanks to an increase in gasoline production, federal initiatives, and a cutback on driving.

It’s what economists call the “rocket and feather” effect. Gas prices shoot up quickly and fall slowly. Unlike a falling feather, though, the slow drop in gas costs is painful. Gas prices are still abnormally high. That in turn, is making the cost of many products, which are dependent on vehicles, to be abnormally high, too.

People have endured this expensive cost of living for too long. For some, it’s a frequent inconvenience. For others, it’s another dent in their already too-strained paychecks, a sacrifice of comfort.

Southwest Detroit is home to renowned public art, Mexicantown's famous restaurants and shops, and its proud neighborhoods. But amidst the cultural vibrancy hangs air pollution. Lots of it.

That's because Southwest Detroit is also home to dozens of industries, a sprawling oil refinery, several major highways, and a bridge to Canada. That creates a lot of vehicular and factory pollution. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health concluded the pollution is sickening and even killing people, and that sickness and death has led to billions of dollars in lost economic revenue.

Unfortunately, the air pollution and its effects could soon get even worse if a merger between two railway companies is allowed. It's why the Michigan Environmental Council's vice chair Michael Dorsey and president and CEO Conan Smith filed a letter to the federal government to stop it.