Bills would designate election days as state holidays hat  Election Day is today. (You can check yesterday's newsletter edition for links to local elections.) Carving out time during your busy day to get to the polls could be made a tad easier in the future if a bill package introduced last week in the state House is approved. The bills would make election days state holidays. MORE ►10 Michigan communities to vote on marijuana business ►Should Facebook ban all political ads?

  

What to know after first round of football playoffs   Last Friday got the high school football playoffs off to a rousing start. This Friday, the fun continues with district finals. We've updated the playoff brackets and highlighted 10 key contests this week. Remember, folks, only the best of the best get to play under threat of November cold and snow. MORE ►Michigan high school football district brackets ►10 can't miss district final games ►20 of Michigan's all-time biggest district upsets

Penske buys Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar Series hat  It is a rare fall day when an auto racing story eclipses football news. But, a Detroit businessman purchasing one of the worlds most famous racetracks does the trick. Roger Penske is purchasing Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series. He hopes to finalize the deal by January. He's already got plenty of innovative ideas to bring to the speedway. (And thanks, Roger, for helping distract us from the Detroit Lions for for a day!) MORE

  

MLive staff takes on 'monster pizza' challenge and gets stuffed     This before picture is near perfection: Happy faces, a huge mouth-watering pizza pie, and innocent delusions of grandeur are all on display. Two teams of MLive reporters ventured to Thompson's Pizzeria in Chelsea to take on a pizza challenge worthy of reality T.V.. They got off to a great start. But once the sweating started, these scribes were as good as stuffed. MORE ►Video: MLive reporters take on pizza challenge ►Michigan's Best Pizza: Our top 12 in the state