State of Oakland County: Economy top issue

The economy — and its recovery — was the focus of Republican L. Brooks Patterson's annual State of the County address Wednesday in Pontiac.

The five-term county executive, up for re-election this year to a sixth four-year term, outlined programs he has instituted in the past 20 years to either grow jobs or mitigate their losses in a down economy.

"The overriding issue facing all of us in this room, in this region, and in this state is, of course, the economy," Patterson said in his invitation-only address to about 400 people at the Centerpoint Marriott.

Keeping track of how Michigan lawmakers vote

Interested in how every state lawmaker voted last year in Michigan? Do you want to see who missed the most votes? The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has arduously put together the votes and voting records of all 110 Michigan state representatives and 38 state senators with a handy interactive tool.

  State Sen. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake, has suspended his campaign for Congress in the new district where he would have faced a Republican primary against U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Livonia.