Amid worker shortage, Michigan to restore job search rule for jobless aid
By Jonathan Oosting LANSING—Unemployed Michiganders will need to prove they are searching for jobs to continue qualifying for benefits when the state restores a suspended requirement by the end of May, a change employers are clamoring for as they struggle to fill openings. “We’re hearing from our members that hiring people right now is harder than it […]
Mask mandate over for vaccinated in Michigan. Confusion for everyone else?
By Jonathan Oosting, Mike Wilkinson (Bridge Michigan) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration on Friday dropped Michigan’s mask mandate for fully vaccinated people, easing a restriction that could have remained well into summer but creating a host of questions in the process. The order, which took effect Saturday at 9 am, came one day after the U.S. […]
Boarding a freighter in the Soo Locks to deliver 5 doses of COVID vaccine
By Robin Erb (Bridge Michigan) SAULT STE. MARIE—In hard hats and safety vests, the two women shimmy up aluminum boarding ladders onto a converted World War II tanker. The rumble of the ship’s 8,040-horsepower engine makes conversation near-impossible on this blue sky morning. But public health workers Charity Zimmerman, a nurse, and Jill Schaefer, a […]
Michigan vows to seek Line 5 profits if Enbridge defies shutdown order
By Kelly House (Bridge Michigan) If Line 5 is still pumping petroleum through the Straits of Mackinac as of Thursday, May 13, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has notified Enbridge Energy that she will consider all resulting profits to be property of the state of Michigan. That notice, contained in a letter Whitmer and Department of […]
Gov. Whitmer says Florida trip wasn’t ‘gift,’ stays mum on who paid for plane
By Sergio Martinez-Beltràn (Bridge Michigan) LANSING— Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday continued to provide few details about her visit to Florida to see her father, except to say her flight was “not a gift.” Speaking to reporters, Whitmer wouldn’t say who funded the trip, which Bridge Michigan and other news outlets have reported was in March […]
Michigan restaurants ask: How can we find enough workers?
by Paula Gardner (Bridge Michigan) The patio at the West End Tavern overlooks Grand Traverse Bay, which should make it a popular destination as weather warms ahead of the summer tourist season in northern Michigan. But customers so far this year can’t count on getting seated at the outdoor tables with a water view. “I […]
Michigan may not hit 70% vaccination rate until August, as demand falls
by Mike Wilkinson, Robin Erb (Bridge Michigan) In recent days, both President Biden and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have put a bullseye on 70 percent — a goal for adult vaccination rates that would signal a return to normalcy nationwide and end of COVID-19 restrictions in Michigan. It won’t be easy, as demand for inoculations in […]
Michigan began easing COVID mask restrictions on Thursday
by Sergio Martínez-Beltrán (Bridge Michigan) Starting Thursday, masks will not generally be required in most gatherings outdoors in Michigan, while fully vaccinated people can gather inside without masks, according to a new state order Tuesday. “The commitment by Michiganders to receive the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is allowing us to move toward a return […]
Scientists find more complexity in microplastics polluting the Great Lakes
by Sharon Oosthoek, Great Lakes Now (Bridge Michigan) Microplastic pollution has been building up in the Great Lakes for at least four decades, but our understanding of its impact on fish and other aquatic creatures is only just catching up. Now new research from the University of Toronto shows its harm to wildlife is due to […]
As northern Michigan warms, scientists bring tree seedlings from the south
by Kelly House (Bridge Michigan) CARP LAKE—On a blustery hillside near the tip of the mitten, Noah Jansen stooped to inspect the shagbark hickory saplings he spent months growing from seeds collected 250 miles south of here. It’s not a species commonly found among the maple, birch, cedar and white pines of northern Michigan. But […]
