Michigan House votes to bar Airbnb bans
By Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) Michigan municipalities would be unable to ban Airbnb and other short-term rentals under legislation approved early Wednesday in the Republican-led state House. House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Farwell, kept lawmakers in session until 2 am as he and other GOP leaders wrangled votes for the long-debated legislation pushed by the Michigan […]
Voting machine missing after Michigan clerk stripped of election power
By Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) Michigan State Police launched a criminal investigation Thursday after election equipment at the center of a voting tabulator conspiracy theory went missing this week in a rural, conservative community. Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott, a Republican whose social media has included QAnon memes, had refused to allow a vendor to conduct […]
Michigan redistricting may help Democrats. But will it hurt Black voters?
by Sergio Martínez-Beltrán (Bridge Michigan) LANSING — Michigan’s citizen redistricting panel could approve maps this month that would make the state far more competitive, giving Democrats a solid chance at controlling the state Legislature for the first time in decades. But many African-American leaders fear the approach will reduce their clout, as the Michigan Independent […]
Can Detroit return its brownfields to the indigenous sacred sites they once were?
By Anna West (Yes! Magazine; Bridge Magazine) Ask a current Detroiter what stands at the junction of the Detroit and Rouge Rivers in the Delray neighborhood, and they may tell you about Zug Island: blast furnaces, mounds of coal, and gated-off trestle bridges guarded by signs warning “No Trespassing” and “Cameras Prohibited.” There is no […]
Michigan’s embattled unemployment agency gets third director in 11 months
By Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last Monday appointed a new director for Michigan’s embattled unemployment insurance agency, replacing an interim leader who Republican legislators had urged the first-term Democrat to remove. It’s the second new job in less than a month for Julia Dale, the new UIA director. Whitmer had on Sept. […]
FDA okays all COVID vaccine boosters and mix-and-match strategy
By Robin Erb (Bridge Michigan) Nearly every vaccinated Michigan adult will likely be able to get a booster as soon as this week after a decision Wednesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the use of boosters for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines. The FDA also authorized medical providers to mix-and-match […]
Custer and other Michigan historical markers may get a history update
By Kelly House (Bridge Michigan) The bronze sculpture of George Armstrong Custer — a towering figure in Monroe’s central park — gazes regally from astride a horse, celebrating the town’s most famous former resident as a Civil War hero. Beneath it, a historical marker lauds Custer’s valor at the Battle of Gettysburg, with only a […]
Michigan GOP pushes for $500 million private school voucher program
By Tracie Mauriello (Bridge Michigan) Supporters of school choice are battling on two fronts to open the door to school vouchers in Michigan. They’ve taken their fight to both the courts and the state Legislature in a renewed push. They’ve asked a federal court to strike down a provision in Michigan’s constitution that prohibits spending […]
Few third-graders held back by Michigan’s read-or-flunk law, report finds
By Ron French, Tracie Mauriello (Bridge Michigan) Michigan schools cut the “flunk” out of the state’s controversial “read or flunk” law, holding back less than 7 percent of students eligible for retention because of poor reading scores. A report released Monday by researchers at Michigan State University found that Michigan schools planned to retain just 229 […]
Detroiters implore redistricting panel to ‘do the right thing’ and change maps
By Sergio Martínez-Beltrán (Bridge Michigan) There’s one thing Michigan’s redistricting panel will take away from Wednesday’s hearing in Detroit: Black voters want different maps. The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission kicked off its second round of public hearings at the TCF Center to gather public input on the 20 proposed draft maps put out by […]
