Gov. Whitmer pitches financial incentives to recruit more Michigan teachers
by Ron French (Bridge Michigan) Facing a statewide teacher shortage that threatens to hobble schools during a crucial post-pandemic year, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is proposing financial incentives to recruit and retain educators, and alternative routes to lead classrooms. The Democratic governor and an executive branch-appointed, 29-person committee of educators and health officials released a 40-page […]
Whitmer, Michigan GOP make peace, will negotiate billions in federal stimulus
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) Hours after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced plans to end COVID-19 restrictions by July 1, she and Republican lawmakers on Thursday agreed to end a stalemate and begin negotiating billions of dollars in federal aid. As part of the deal, Whitmer will withdraw proposed rules from April that would have […]
More than 20,000 Michiganders have applied for federal rent aid since March
by Nushrat Rahman (Bridge Michigan) More than 20,000 Michiganders have applied for help to pay their rent through a federally-funded rent aid program that launched two months ago, reflecting an ongoing need for housing assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rent remains one of the top pandemic-related reasons people call the United Way’s 211 service, right […]
GOP targets no-ID ballots to cut fraud. Only 0.2% voted that way in Michigan.
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) Roughly 11,400 Michiganders voted in person without photo identification in 2020 after signing an affidavit to confirm their identity, a convenient but rarely used option that would end under a controversial Senate Republican election reform plan. Roughly 1 in 4 of those affidavits were signed in Detroit, but the practice […]
From TikTok to school clinics, Michigan ramps up young teen vaccinations
by Arjun Thakkar (Bridge Michigan) Brandess Wallace didn’t hesitate to make an appointment to vaccinate her two children at East Lansing High School last Thursday, the first day 12-to-15-year-olds were eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine. Wallace, whose children attend school in Okemos, drove her 12-year-old son Miles and 13-year-old daughter Olivia to the high […]
Detroit’s decade of growth has been separate and unequal, new study finds
by Louis Aguilar (Bridge Michigan) The average value of homes owned by white Detroiters is $46,000 more than Black-owned homes and $39,000 higher than those owned by Latinos, a new study by Detroit Future City finds. That’s just one of the stark gaps that have emerged between white people and Black and Latino residents in Detroit, according to […]
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 […]
