Audit: Michigan unemployment agency still struggles with COVID-era claims
by Paula Gardner (Bridge Michigan) Years of problems within Michigan’s embattled Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) continued into 2022, a new state audit revealed Friday, as the agency continued to be challenged by massive oversight gaps that peaked with the surge in claims after the pandemic hit in spring 2020. The state’s latest audit — the fourth in a series — focused […]
3M to stop making PFAS ‘forever chemical.’ Michigan asks, what took so long?
by Paula Gardner (Bridge Michigan) Global chemical and consumer products maker 3M — which has paid out $2 billion to states in water contamination lawsuits and faces more challenges, including in Michigan — will halt production of PFAS chemicals and eliminate them from its many products by 2025. The Minnesota-based company [NYSE: MMM] announced the change Tuesday, saying the move was […]
New Michigan House Republican Leader Matt Hall: Democrats need our help
by Lauren Gibbons (Bridge Michigan) Rep. Matt Hall had hoped to succeed outgoing Republican Rep. Jason Wentworth as the next Michigan House speaker in 2023. Instead, he’ll lead a slightly slimmed-down caucus after Democrats won the legislative majority in November. But the Comstock Township Republican isn’t letting the changing of the guard get him down […]
New Michigan Senate Leader Winnie Brinks: Let’s end ‘toxic time in politics’
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) LANSING — It’s been quite a decade for Winnie Brinks, who entered politics 10 years ago as a reluctant write-in candidate and is now poised to become the first female Senate majority leader in Michigan history. Brinks, chosen by her colleagues to lead the Senate next year as Democrats take […]
COVID-19 in 2022: Deaths fall, but Michigan had 5th most in US
by Mike Wilkinson (Bridge Michigan) COVID-19 battered Michigan again in 2022, but vaccines and new treatments softened the blow of the pandemic in its third year. More than 8,900 died from the virus in Michigan this year, down from 15,000 in 2021 and 13,000 in 2020. Still, Michigan’s mortality rate from COVID-19 is the nation’s […]
Palisades nuclear plant owners will try again to reopen Michigan plant
by Kelly House (Bridge Michigan) After the federal government denied its request for money to reopen the Palisades nuclear power plant on Lake Michigan the facility’s owner said it will try again. Holtec International announced Monday that it will reapply for a grant from the Department of Energy’s $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit Program. The […]
Census: Michigan’s population falls a hair in 2022
by Mike Wilkinson (Bridge Michigan) Michigan’s population fell slightly in 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Thursday. Michigan’s population was estimated at 10,034,113 as of July 1, down 3,400 from 2021’s estimate and 43,200 from the 2020 population of 10,077,325. As a percentage, Michigan’s loss was the 17th most in the nation. New […]
Democratic control of Michigan puts climate change action on 2023 agenda
by Kelly House (Bridge Michigan) As Gov. Gretchen Whitmer considered top priorities for her second term in Lansing, she landed on a big one for the environment: Codify the goals laid out in her administration’s climate action plan into Michigan law. Released in April, the 58-page plan serves as the state’s blueprint to achieve carbon neutrality by […]
Michigan hopes to revive bipartisan bills to help students with dyslexia
by Tracie Mauriello, Chalkbeat Detroit & Koby Levin, Chalkbeat (Bridge Michigan) Letters seem to move around on the page for Evan Kaganov, but thanks to assistive technology and extra support at school and at home, he now reads well enough to manage all A’s and B’s in eighth grade at Bach Elementary School in Ann Arbor. Among […]
Michigan tribes, state reach tentative deal on Great Lakes fishing access
by Kelly House (Bridge Michigan) Four Michigan Native American Tribes reached a tentative deal with the federal and state governments to split up the next 24 years-worth of fishing access in Michigan’s Great Lakes waters. The proposed deal maintains broad tenets of an old agreement that has been in place since 2000, while giving tribal […]
