Events from the year 1976 in Michigan. The Associated Press (AP) selected the top Michigan news stories of 1976 as follows: 1. * United Auto Workers strikes against Ford Motor Company lasting 28 days (from September 14 to October 12) and General Motors lasting 12 hours (from midnight until noon on November 19); 2. * A forest fire lasting for two months from July until September that blackened 65,000 acres in the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the Upper Peninsula with state and federal firefighting costs reaching $7.5 million; 3. * Continued fallout from the Michigan PBB contamination incident in which a flame retardant chemical (PBB) was mixed with livestock feed, distributed to Michigan farms, and fed to 1.5 million chickens, 30,000 cattle, 5,900 pigs, and 1,470 sheep; 4. * Vot