{"Feature":[{"Photos":[{"Id":120051,"Name":"1607572OCBA-AaronBurrell-web.jpg","ArticleId":1607572,"Description":"","IsMainPhoto":false,"Ordering":0}],"id":1607572,"location_id":1,"title":"Burrell sworn in as president of the OCBA","summary":"Dickinson Wright attorney Aaron Burrell was sworn in as the 94th \r\npresident of the Oakland County Bar Association ( at the OCBA 92nd \r\nAnnual Meeting and Awards Ceremony on June 3.
","text":"Dickinson Wright attorney Aaron Burrell was sworn in as the 94th president of the Oakland County Bar Association ( at the OCBA 92nd Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony on June 3.
“I’m honored to be serving as president of the Oakland County Bar Association for 2026-2027,” says Burr. “I look forward to working with our Board of Directors, membership, judiciary, and the public to continue to further the OCBA’s mission of being the premier resource for navigating the legal and judicial system in Oakland County.”
Burr is a business lawyer whose practice centers on complex corporate strategy, high-stakes commercial litigation, internal and external investigations, appellate advocacy, labor and employment matters, and minority business enterprise counseling. He also serves as the chair of Dickinson Wright’s Diversity Committee and has previously co-chaired litigation training and contributed to the firm’s lateral-recruiting strategy.
Burr has long been recognized as a leader in the legal profession. He has served in leadership roles for numerous organizations and committees including the American Bar Association’s Coalition of Racial and Ethnic Justice, the State Bar of Michigan’s Board of Commissioners (Executive Committee), State Bar’s Representative Assembly (chair), the State Bar’s Equal Access Initiative (co-chair), the D. Augustus Straker Bar Association (president), the National Bar Association’s Board of Governors (affiliate representative), and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School Board of Directors. He has been recognized as a leader in his field by numerous publications including Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, Legal 500, Michigan Super Lawyers, Michigan Lawyers Weekly, Crain’s Detroit Business, National Bar Association, DBusiness, Profiles in Diversity Journal, Diversity MBA Magazine, and Savoy Magazine. The D. Augustus Straker Bar Association honored Burr with its highest recognition, the Trailblazers Award.
","author_id":0,"date":"2026-06-12T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[{"Id":120052,"Name":"1607573Bridge-MI-KellyHouse-web.jpg","ArticleId":1607573,"Description":"","IsMainPhoto":false,"Ordering":0}],"id":1607573,"location_id":1,"title":"Judge: Michigan should reject Consumers’ ‘highly problematic’ dam sale to private equity firm","summary":"Michigan should reject Consumers Energy’s plan to sell its 13 Michigan \r\ndams to an out-of-state private equity firm, an administrative law judge\r\n overseeing the proposed sale concluded Wednesday.
","text":"By Kelly House
Bridge Michigan
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.
Michigan should reject Consumers Energy’s plan to sell its 13 Michigan dams to an out-of-state private equity firm, an administrative law judge overseeing the proposed sale concluded Wednesday.
In a 312-page recommendation to state regulators who will ultimately decide whether to approve the sale, Judge James Varchetti wrote that the deal “is inconsistent with the public interest,” “highly problematic” and “unreasonable and imprudent.”
Varchetti, who has spent months gathering evidence and testimony from Consumers and interest groups that support and oppose the sale, concluded that the transaction threatens public safety and may not be the cheapest option for ratepayers.
“For a transaction involving infrastructure like major hydroelectric dams to be in the public interest, it would be a transaction that ensured the new owner is financially committed and able to meet the dam’s full lifecycle needs, thereby protecting taxpayers from assuming future liabilities such as decommissioning costs,” Varchetti wrote. “This transaction fails that test.”
The advice comes nine months after Consumers first proposed selling its aging dams in the AuSable, Grand, Kalamazoo, Manistee and Muskegon rivers to a Maryland-based private equity firm for $1 apiece, then inking a 30-year contract that would obligate the company’s 1.9 million ratepayers to buy back the power at twice the market rate, plus pay a $270 million profit to Consumers.
Spokespeople for Consumers Energy and its proposed buyer, Confluence Hydro, expressed disappointment in the recommendation but noted that it is not legally binding.
The Michigan Public Service Commission, a trio of utility regulators appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, is expected to decide by September whether to approve the sale.
“We believe the judge did not appropriately recognize the major benefits of the sale, Consumers spokesperson Katie Carey said.
Arguing the deal would bring “significant cost savings” for ratepayers while “protecting the 13 communities and tens of thousands of people who depend on the dams,” Carey said Consumers officials will continue to advocate for sale approval.
All told, the deal would cost Consumers ratepayers $3.4 billion, or an average of $1,800 per person.
Consumers officials contend that’s a good deal because they would otherwise seek the MPSC’s permission to charge ratepayers billions to repair or demolish the unprofitable dams.
But critics have accused them of downplaying the risks. They fear the deal would repeat a longstanding pattern of utilities transferring unwanted dams to private owners who fail to invest in maintenance, raising the risk of dam failures while pushing repair or removal costs onto taxpayers.
The structures generate meager power while operating at a $152 million annual loss. The largest among them, the Hardy Dam on the Muskegon River, needs a multi-hundred-million-dollar spillway upgrade to comply with modern flood safety standards. All but one of the 13 dams are high-hazard, meaning a failure would likely kill people and inflict widespread property damage.
Confluence Hydro, the company set to buy the dams along with tens of thousands of surrounding acres, has vowed to modernize and relicense them to generate energy for decades to come.
In a statement Wednesday, Confluence spokesperson Natalie Joubert said the company “looks forward to continuing to demonstrate to the Michigan Public Service Commission our proven track record of success, owning and operating dozens of hydroelectric power facilities, improving their safety, increasing their sustainability, and generating clean, reliable energy for the communities we proudly serve.”
But critics are wary of the deal, arguing weak contract language and a maze-like corporate structure make it doubtful the company will uphold those vows.
Confluence, which itself is a subsidiary of Maryland-based private equity firm Hull Street Energy, proposes to further divide ownership of the dams by creating 13 of its own limited-liability subsidiaries. Company officials have described that as standard industry practice, but critics see it as a way for Hull to profit off the dams while avoiding liability for their upkeep.
Sale opponents hailed Wednesday’s ruling as a victory for Consumers ratepayers and Michigan taxpayers.
“The evidentiary record seems to support the position that the coalition has taken all along: That this sale would not be in the public interest,” said Bob Stuber, executive director of the Michigan Hydro Relicensing Coalition.
Hull Street has bought and sold dozens of dams and power plants across the US since its formation in 2014. More recently, the company has entered the data center business.
The Consumers sale proposal culminated years of deliberations by the utility over whether to keep, sell or remove the dams, which average 106 years old.
The company had no easy options.
Beyond being expensive to maintain, the dams are destructive to rivers, blocking fish habitat while warming the water, depleting oxygen levels and trapping sediment upstream. Many environmentalists would like to see them removed.
But in their century-plus of existence, the lake-like impoundments created by the dams have become beloved fixtures of nearby communities. Homes, marinas and campgrounds have all cropped up along their shores.
The sale plan has support from some local governments and waterfront homeowners’ associations, whose leaders see it as a way to secure the reservoirs’ future.
Sale critics include Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, state environmental and utility regulators, ratepayer advocates and outside environmental groups, all of whom contend the deal puts the public at risk.
Some argue it’s too costly for ratepayers. Others say the contract terms make it too easy for Confluence to sell or demolish the dams, parcel off the surrounding land or avoid spending money to keep the structures safe. Yet others balk at Consumers’ attempt to profit off the sale, accusing Consumers of “double dipping” on unwanted assets that ratepayers have already paid-off.
In his recommendation to the Public Service Commission, Varchetti appeared to share many of those concerns.
He wrote that Consumers has failed to prove that the sale is cheaper than keeping or decommissioning the dams and panned the company’s proposal to reap $270 million in ratepayer-funded profits off the deal.
Taken together, Varchetti wrote, the inflated power price and the proposed profit scheme would set “troubling precedent” that rewards Consumers “for shedding its own future obligations while placing substantial financial risk onto ratepayers and taxpayers.”
Consumers officials have rejected calls to add more safeguards to the sale plan, saying if regulators don’t approve the sale as-is, the utility will seek to demolish all 13 dams.
Stuber called that ultimatum “absurd,” saying he would like to see a community-based approach to decide the best course of action, dam-by-dam.
“All of these projects are unique in their own right,” Stuber said. “You have to sit down with the local community and the larger statewide community, and say what’s the best future?”
Both fans and foes of the sale plan have criticized the utility’s refusal to negotiate.
Coco Soodek, who represents the Lake Allegan Association, a pro-sale group representing landowners on the reservoir behind the Calkins Bridge Dam, called it “tin-eared” and called upon Consumers to start making concessions.
“I would like them to do this sale,” Soodek said. “But it sounds like if they want to do it, they have to be reasonable.”
If not, she said, “I don’t agree with the ALJ’s decision, but I understand it.”
","author_id":0,"date":"2026-06-12T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[],"id":1607574,"location_id":1,"title":"Michigan Human Trafficking Commission launches quarterly newsletter","summary":"This month, the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission launched the first\r\n edition of its newsletter. The quarterly newsletter aims to keep the \r\npublic informed about the human trafficking crisis while highlighting \r\nagencies, nonprofits, and resources that assist and support survivors.
","text":"This month, the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission launched the first edition of its newsletter. The quarterly newsletter aims to keep the public informed about the human trafficking crisis while highlighting agencies, nonprofits, and resources that assist and support survivors.
“Through the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission, my office does tremendous work spreading awareness, prosecuting traffickers, and improving our laws to better protect survivors,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. “This newsletter will serve as another important tool to share resources and highlight our efforts to combat human trafficking. I encourage anyone interested in addressing this crisis to sign up and receive updates.”
The first edition spotlights the Department of Attorney General’s Address Confidentiality Program (ACP), which provides certain protections for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or those who fear that disclosure of their physical address will increase their risk of harm. The ACP also offers free online training for those interested in becoming a certified ACP application assistant.
The newsletter also highlights Michigan Champions for Change, organizations united in the fight against exploitation. Featured organizations include Sacred Beginnings, Saginaw’s Underground Railroad, and Unsilenced. In addition, the newsletter includes statewide news impacting policy, response, and prevention efforts.
The Michigan Human Trafficking Commission was formed in 2015 after the 2014 Human Trafficking Commission Act became law. The Commission is comprised of 11 members appointed by the Governor. Assistant Attorney General Melissa Palepu is the Commission’s current chair.
Victims of human trafficking or those who have identified someone they think may need help can contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 888-373-7888 or text 233733. This is a national, toll-free hotline that is available to answer calls, texts, and chats from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year. All calls are confidential. People who live in the State of Michigan who suspect human trafficking can call 855-MICH-TIP for assistance.
To sign up to receive the Michigan Human Trafficking Newsletter, visit the Department of Attorney General’s website.
","author_id":0,"date":"2026-06-12T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[{"Id":120053,"Name":"1607575MichaelWaldman-web.jpg","ArticleId":1607575,"Description":"","IsMainPhoto":false,"Ordering":0}],"id":1607575,"location_id":1,"title":"A wake-up call for a moribund Congress","summary":"In recent days, it seemed that Congress had a pulse. Alas, it was not to\r\n be. Lawmakers complained about President Trump’s $1.8 billion slush \r\nfund for insurrectionists, then voted against stopping it.
","text":"Michael Waldman
Brennan Center for Justice, president
In recent days, it seemed that Congress had a pulse. Alas, it was not to be. Lawmakers complained about President Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund for insurrectionists, then voted against stopping it. The House passed a bipartisan measure against the war in Iran, but it turned out to be a largely symbolic act. Lawmakers are making noise about blocking partisan attacker Bill Pulte as director of national intelligence or Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche as attorney general. But will they act? Count me skeptical.
Congress’s abdication over many years is a big reason why American government doesn’t work. It rarely stands up to the executive, serving instead as a cheering or booing section for whoever occupies the Oval Office. A supine Congress creates the opportunity for executive abuse and Supreme Court overreach. It has been polarized by partisanship for decades, but now the two parties barely speak. Committees, once a source of expertise and a platform for ambition, have been supplanted by lobbyist whispers to legislative leaders. And gerrymandering and deregulated campaign finance mean lawmakers spend their time fundraising, terrified of a primary challenger or a dark money dump, rather than catering to the vast majority of voters and their needs.
What’s next? That will soon be the big question animating American politics. The public is angry and ready, it seems, for big steps. Citizens are dejected by government’s inability to solve problems. They seem ready to throw the bums out once again. In any case, it has been more than a decade since Trump first ran for office. His reordering of the Republican Party, and then of politics, once was new and rude. Now it seems like a rehash.
If the political system cannot act after voters speak, we will be sentenced to a recurring cycle of anger and disappointment.
The Brennan Center has launched a series called “Solutions for a Stronger Democracy,” a string of innovative policy agendas that aim to help shape a new era of reform. We’ve published ideas for how to curb corruption and how to reform the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, we published “Eight Solutions to Unstick Congress.” It’s made up of new ideas — new to us, at least — for how we can get Congress to do its job. To function better. To stand on its own feet.
Authors Maya Kornberg and Emily Whitehead write, “It may be hard to believe, but the framers expected Congress to be the preeminent branch of government. As James Madison wrote, ‘In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates.’
Known as the people’s branch, Congress was established to most reliably represent the will of the public.” Yet right now, public approval of Congress hovers at 10 percent, among the lowest ratings ever recorded.
Some necessary changes would involve Congress stepping up — holding presidents accountable and supervising the courts — all as the Constitution envisions. In the 1990s, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) eliminated the Office of Technology Assessment and slashed resources, undermining Congress’s ability to perform effective oversight and use its power. Lawmakers should restore that expertise and expand staff. The last time Congress reorganized its committees was the 1970s. Now it should create a technology committee to focus on artificial intelligence and other transformative changes.
Other moves would shake things up even more.
Congress increasingly resembles a gerontocracy. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers on average are a decade older than legislators around the world. We all cringe at lawmakers being tucked away in assisted living facilities when they are supposed to be on the job or appearing befuddled, as Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) did in her last years in office. This year, more than a dozen lawmakers over the age of 80 are running for reelection.
So there should be an age limit for representatives and senators. Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor who was also a member of Congress himself, has proposed a mandatory retirement age of 75. It could be higher, too.
And Congress should be expanded. The size of the House has been frozen at 435 members since that number was set by law in the 1920s. It used to be that the Congress grew as the country grew. Not lately.
George Washington only spoke on the record twice during the Constitutional Convention. One of the times, on the last day, was to cut the size of congressional districts from 40,000 to 30,000 people. Today, each member of the House represents, on average, about 760,000 constituents. Lawmakers can’t truly reflect the diversity or interests of such a large number of constituents. We propose expanding the House to 600 members.
This is an idea propounded by the conservative American Enterprise Institute and others across the political spectrum. Many agree it would help address polarization and dampen the worst consequences of gerrymandering.
In the 1970s, after Watergate and the Vietnam War, Congress reasserted itself. It enacted a generation’s worth of reforms. It transformed its own operations to give rank-and-file lawmakers more say over policy. Now, a half century later, those reforms have been eroded or smashed to bits.
We are living through a time of corruption and abuse of power that far surpasses what we saw then. Our reform moment must be as big as the problems we face.
","author_id":0,"date":"2026-06-12T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null},{"Photos":[{"Id":120054,"Name":"1607576Nihem-Monaghan-Punch-web.jpg","ArticleId":1607576,"Description":"Nancy A. Nihem and Haley A. Monaghan-Punch","IsMainPhoto":false,"Ordering":0}],"id":1607576,"location_id":1,"title":"Daily Briefs","summary":"Former Hartmann & Nihem, PLLC attorneys, Nancy A. Nihem and Haley A.\r\n Monaghan-Punch, recently joined Plunkett Cooney to create the firm’s \r\nnew Grosse Pointe, Michigan office.
","text":"Plunkett Cooney establishes Grosse Pointe office
Former Hartmann & Nihem, PLLC attorneys, Nancy A. Nihem and Haley A. Monaghan-Punch, recently joined Plunkett Cooney to create the firm’s new Grosse Pointe, Michigan office.
Nihem, who was a former principal of Hartmann & Nihem, PLLC, joins Plunkett Cooney as a senior attorney in the firm’s Trusts and Estates Practice Group and as managing attorney of the new location, which is located at 63 Kercheval, Suite 200, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan 48236. In addition to Nihem and Monaghan-Punch, a former Hartmann & Nihem legal assistant has also joined Plunkett Cooney.
With over 35 years of experience, Nihem creates tailored plans and strategies involving estates, business succession, estate tax and gifting. She has significant experience drafting wills, trusts and powers of attorney for both financial and health care decision-making, as well as serving as a successor trustee and advising personal representatives, trustees, fiduciaries and beneficiaries in both complex and uncontested estate and trust administration matters.
Admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Michigan, Nihem is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. She graduated from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1991 and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Detroit in 1987.
Associate attorney Haley A. Monaghan-Punch also joined the firm as a member of the Trusts & Estates Practice Group. She focuses her practice on probate and trust administration and sophisticated estate planning matters across Michigan.
In addition to handling estate plans, wills and trusts, Monaghan-Punch has experience advising clients with probate proceedings, estates holding diversified investment portfolios, multi-property real estate interests, retirement assets and closely held business interests.
Monaghan-Punch is a 2019 magna cum laude graduate of Cooley Law School. While there, she received several academic accolades, including certificates of merit awards in civil procedure II, business organizations and estate planning. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 2015.","author_id":0,"date":"2026-06-12T00:00:00","type":"Featured","uri":null,"category":"feature","homepage_order":0,"subdomain":null,"LocalHeadLines":null,"LocationName":null}],"NationalNews":[{"Title":"Bill Kurtis’ memoir tells how law school trained him for covering trials","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/bill-kurtis-memoir-tells-how-law-school-trained-him-for-covering-trials/"},{"Title":"ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/aclu_and_biglaw_firm_use_orange_is_the_new_black_to_promote_ny_prison_refor/"},{"Title":"Justice Barrett’s home targeted in attempted swatting call","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/justice-barretts-home-targeted-in-swatting-call/"},{"Title":"Texting-and-driving charges dropped against woman without right hand","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/texting-and-driving-charges-dropped-against-florida-woman-without-a-right-hand/"},{"Title":"Fender warns guitar makers to stop producing Stratocaster look-a-likes","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/fender-warns-guitar-makers-to-stop-producing-stratocaster-look-a-likes/"},{"Title":"General counsel compensation climbs, aligned with equity and company scale","Link":"https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/general-counsel-compensation-rises/"}],"LocationId":1}