A package of gun control/safety legislation bills introduced by Senate Democrats would invest $100 million in schools, with half going for grants for more counselors, social workers and school resource officers, and half in grants for safety measures in schools; SB 897, which passed the Senate without any Democrat support, would require able-bodied Medicaid recipients between the ages of 19 and 64 to work, receive job training or education, or a combination of the three, for an average of 29 hours per week; the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has granted Nestle permission to increase its water withdrawals to 400 gallons per minute for its bottled water plant near Evart despite most public comments opposing increased usage; the Michigan Supreme Court ordered oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by unemployment insurance claimants who were falsely accused of fraud through the state’s controversial Michigan Integrated Data Automated System (MIDAS); As the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol pushes to get the legalization of marijuana on the Nov. 6 ballot, some Republican lawmakers are considering legalizing it through the Legislature rather than let the initiative make the ballot; and 5 p.m. April 26 is the deadline to challenge a sample of signatures submitted by the redistricting reform ballot committee, Voters Not Politicians (VNP). VNP said they submitted 425,000 signatures and have no doubt the proposal will be on the ballot Nov. 6. For more information on these and other legislative initiates, click here for the April 2018 Karoub Report.