The state Senate on Tuesday narrowly approved fee hikes that are factored into the state budget that takes effect in the fall.

Starting in April 2014, an annual off-road vehicle license fee will cost about $26 instead of $16. It'll cost roughly $36 to ride on state off-road vehicle trails for a year.

Though lawmakers recently passed a budget assuming the fee hikes would raise an extra $2.7 million next year, senators struggled to pass the increases. The bill passed on a 20-18 vote.

A separate bill to raise hunting and fishing license fees failed to pass but is expected to be revisited Wednesday.

CMS Energy Corp.'s Consumers Energy subsidiary said about 27,600 customers remained without power Tuesday morning — primarily in the Flint, Saginaw and Midland areas. About 45,000 customers lost power statewide as a result of Monday's storms.

DTE Energy says about 17,000 customers are without power, down from about 24,000. The utility's hardest hit area was Macomb County.

The National Weather Service says thunderstorms generated winds gusting to 70 miles per hour, golf-ball size hail and a funnel cloud.

The storms downed power lines and trees, and ripped siding off buildings before moving east out of the state.

The Daily Telegram of Adrian reports that wheat fields along Michigan 52 in Lenawee County's Fairfield Township will host the shooting of an action scene for the movie "Transformers 4" later this month.

In March, the Michigan Film Office said the state approved for a $20 million incentive for "Transformers 4" and said and shooting would take place in the Detroit area.

The newspaper says moviemakers will use a 2 mile stretch of M-52, about 65 miles southwest of Detroit.

The Michigan Department of Transportation says it's approved the closing of the roadway from June 25 to 29 for the shooting.

After lawmakers legalized louder, more powerful fireworks in Michigan in late 2011, they began hearing from residents and local officials upset about noise and safety issues.

Legislation approved Wednesday by the House and Senate would let local governments regulate fireworks use during nighttime hours on national holidays and the day before and after. Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to sign the bill in time for the July 4th holiday.

Bottle rockets, aerial cakes, Roman candles and firecrackers all are sold legally after lawmakers and Snyder erased the ban.

Senators rejected an amendment that would have let Mackinac Island regulate fireworks usage all year.

The tax was due to expire at year's end. The measure signed Tuesday extends collection of the tax through 2017.

The law doesn't address the problem that the tax is bringing in $130 million a year less than expected. If legislators don't find a long-term fix, Michigan could lose $400 million federal Medicaid match.

Snyder also has signed legislation letting judges assign GPS tethering devices to defendants on bail for assaultive crimes. Other new laws target liquor or Lottery sales licenses of stores engaged in food stamp fraud and assign duties of local election canvassing boards to county canvassing boards.

The Keep Michigan Wolves Protected campaign is holding forums this week in Kalamazoo, Clarkston and Woodhaven. Organizers say they'll focus on the ecological and cultural value of wolves and provide information about the hunt.

The coalition includes animal welfare groups, conservationists, Native American tribes and faith leaders. They gathered more than 255,000 signatures seeking a statewide vote on a new law designating the wolf as a game species.

But legislators rushed through another measure that would make the referendum meaningless by allowing the Natural Resources Commission to establish a hunt. The commission last month scheduled an Upper Peninsula hunt for Nov. 15 to Dec. 31.

Police believe Bowers was driving drunk Sunday when he backed out of a driveway on M-43 and struck a motorcyclist and throwing him into oncoming traffic.<p/>

Troopers returned to the house in Barry County he shares with his girlfriend for followup investigation this morning and located Bowers. He was taken into custody without incident.<p/>

Michigan State Police is still requesting the public's assistance in locating the truck he was driving at the time of the crash.

The victim motorcycle driver in this crash is William Madden, a 46 year old Hastings man.

The credit would be equal to half the amount paid on qualified student loans in a tax year but couldn't exceed 20 percent of the average annual tuition at Michigan's public universities. To be eligible, students would have to be a state resident, a graduate of a Michigan university and have earned a bachelor's degree.

Democratic Senator Glenn Anderson of Westland says his bill introduced last week gives graduates an incentive to stay in Michigan and helps address the "brain drain" of grads leaving the state. His legislation is backed by Democrats along with a couple Republicans in the GOP-led Senate.

Governor Rick Snyder says the pilot program addressing blight was approved Thursday by the U.S. Treasury Department.

The money comes from the Hardest Hit Fund and will be used in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Pontiac and Saginaw. The fund was created in 2010 to help states struggling through the economic and mortgage crisis.

U.S. Representative Dan Kildee says it previously was unclear if state housing authorities could use the fund for residential demolitions.

Kildee, a Democrat from Flint, earlier this year asked Treasury officials to expand use of the money. He introduced a resolution to reallocate the funding.

Legislation passed 77-32 by the Republican-led state House Wednesday raises about $20 million more, a 40 percent boost. The money would let Michigan hire more conservation officers and improve parks, trails and habitat.

The measure would create a new base hunting license costing $10 for most in-state residents, with lower rates for children and seniors. Separate fees still would be levied for hunting certain species, and some would go up. Tags for deer would rise from $15 to $20.

Out-of-state residents would bear the biggest impact of fee hikes.

The bills now go to the Senate. Legislators assumed the revenue from fee hikes in the next budget but need to separately approve the increases.