Michigan spends $8.5M to push small manufacturers to become ‘digital ready’
by Paula Gardner (Bridge) A $25 sensor may be all it takes to persuade some Michigan manufacturers to take a leap into a new level of technology investment that state officials hope will boost the sector’s competitiveness. That sensor on a stamping press could measure vibration, sending alerts when it gets out of whack and […]
COVID vaccine for Michigan health workers may arrive by next week
By Robin Erb, Kelly House (Bridge) The first batch of COVID vaccine — “a few hundred thousand” doses — may begin to arrive for Michigan’s health care workers as early as next week, with a vaccine for the general public available as early as the spring, Michigan’s chief medical executive told Bridge Michigan Tuesday morning. […]
Some Michigan schools will stay remote until January amid COVID
By Ron French (Bridge) Many Michigan students won’t be returning to classrooms until at least January as COVID roars through the state. A Michigan Department of Health and Human Services order mandating a three-week closure of the state’s high schools ends Dec. 8, but many schools in some of Michigan’s most populous counties aren’t waiting to see if […]
Will Michigan Supreme Court rescue restaurants from COVID dining ban?
By Paula Gardner (Bridge) Michigan’s struggling bar and restaurant industry has lost a legal bid to resume indoor service. But the federal court ruling published Wednesday opened the door to the Michigan Supreme Court possibly weighing in on the legality of the state’s most recent coronavirus restrictions. A similar path in an earlier lawsuit involving the same […]
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 […]
