Some Michigan drunken drivers would get records expunged in bipartisan bill
By Mansur Shaheen (Bridge) First-time drunken drivers may get their records wiped clean under bills that would expand Michigan’s felony expungement law to include about 200,000 people convicted of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. A bipartisan group of Michigan leaders announced last Wednesday their support for a bill that would expand on landmark criminal […]
Jobless benefits, COVID stimulus likely focus of Michigan lame-duck session
By Jonathan Oosting (Bridge) LANSING — With federal assistance funding running dry, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican leaders in the Michigan Legislature were set to begin negotiations last week on a potential state stimulus for residents and businesses struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor is proposing a $100 million spending plan, and both sides […]
Forecasts say Michigan’s economy will still be recovering in 2023
By Paula Gardner (Bridge) Michigan’s recovery from the pandemic recession will last beyond 2022, according to University of Michigan economists who recently released new economic forecasts for the state and the nation. The annual reports offer glimpses into some strengths and many changes for Michigan as it pushes its way out of the pandemic recession. […]
Michigan’s results official but harm done to Black voters may linger
by Madeline Halpert (Bridge) Brandy Robinson is exhausted. Since Election Day, she said her blood pressure has skyrocketed as she heard one false claim after another alleging voter fraud in Detroit. President Donald Trump’s unfounded accusations, and two Wayne County Board of Canvassers members’ attempts not to certify the county’s election results, have brought her […]
Enbridge sues Michigan over Line 5 shutdown order
by Kelly House (Bridge) Enbridge Energy is suing the State of Michigan in federal court in hopes of thwarting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s quest to shut down the Line 5 petroleum pipeline. The Canadian company’s filing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan seeks an injunction against Whitmer’s shutdown orders. The […]
He had dementia and COVID. She wanted to hold him when he died.
by Robin Erb (Bridge) KALAMAZOO—Jerry Zeiger tested positive for COVID on a Tuesday. The next day, the hulking former engineer with late-stage Alzheimer’s is tucked under a soft brown blanket at Sue’s Loving Care, an adult foster home in Kalamazoo. He is 73. Outside his screened window, the woman he shared truckstop coffee with on […]
Trump’s hopes come to end in Michigan
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge) LANSING — After three weeks of sound and fury in all-caps tweets, Republican President Donald Trump’s flailing bid to overturn his Michigan election loss came to a quiet close on Wednesday afternoon. The Trump campaign failed to request either a full or partial ballot recount by Michigan’s 4:34 p.m. deadline, according to […]
Desperation growing at Michigan restaurants after new COVID limits
by Paula Gardner (Bridge) Dan Kolander and his staff normally get ready for a surge of business on the night before Thanksgiving as regulars jam Dan’s Downtown Tavern. The bar and restaurant is an anchor among the handful of nightspots in downtown Saline, just south of Ann Arbor, and Kolander says he can count on […]
Michigan officials say no to big Thanksgiving gatherings. Who will listen?
By Robin Erb (Bridge) Hospital leaders have pleaded. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has warned. Health officials have mandated, inspected and threatened fines. And a statistical model developed by Harvard researchers predicts nearly 1,000 COVID deaths a day in Michigan by year’s end if we can’t change the arc of the virus. But even as hospitalizations and deaths […]
Michigan hospital workers weary as public support fades, COVID cases rise
by Dustin Dwyer, Michigan Radio, Kate Wells, Michigan Radio (Bridge) Eric Kumor’s been a nurse for 10 years. But the last few weeks he finds himself having to gear up emotionally just to walk in the door to work. “And within 30 minutes, like two of our nurses are already just in tears,” he says. Sparrow […]
