Michigan’s embattled unemployment agency gets third director in 11 months
By Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last Monday appointed a new director for Michigan’s embattled unemployment insurance agency, replacing an interim leader who Republican legislators had urged the first-term Democrat to remove. It’s the second new job in less than a month for Julia Dale, the new UIA director. Whitmer had on Sept. […]
FDA okays all COVID vaccine boosters and mix-and-match strategy
By Robin Erb (Bridge Michigan) Nearly every vaccinated Michigan adult will likely be able to get a booster as soon as this week after a decision Wednesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the use of boosters for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines. The FDA also authorized medical providers to mix-and-match […]
Custer and other Michigan historical markers may get a history update
By Kelly House (Bridge Michigan) The bronze sculpture of George Armstrong Custer — a towering figure in Monroe’s central park — gazes regally from astride a horse, celebrating the town’s most famous former resident as a Civil War hero. Beneath it, a historical marker lauds Custer’s valor at the Battle of Gettysburg, with only a […]
Michigan GOP pushes for $500 million private school voucher program
By Tracie Mauriello (Bridge Michigan) Supporters of school choice are battling on two fronts to open the door to school vouchers in Michigan. They’ve taken their fight to both the courts and the state Legislature in a renewed push. They’ve asked a federal court to strike down a provision in Michigan’s constitution that prohibits spending […]
Few third-graders held back by Michigan’s read-or-flunk law, report finds
By Ron French, Tracie Mauriello (Bridge Michigan) Michigan schools cut the “flunk” out of the state’s controversial “read or flunk” law, holding back less than 7 percent of students eligible for retention because of poor reading scores. A report released Monday by researchers at Michigan State University found that Michigan schools planned to retain just 229 […]
Detroiters implore redistricting panel to ‘do the right thing’ and change maps
By Sergio Martínez-Beltrán (Bridge Michigan) There’s one thing Michigan’s redistricting panel will take away from Wednesday’s hearing in Detroit: Black voters want different maps. The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission kicked off its second round of public hearings at the TCF Center to gather public input on the 20 proposed draft maps put out by […]
Michigan’s balmy October means more mosquitoes, peril for coldwater fish
By Kelly House (Bridge Michigan) Normally this time of year, Dennis Eade would be on a boat in the Pere Marquette River or Grand River, hooking chinook salmon or steelhead as they migrate upstream for the annual fall spawning season. But instead, Eade is still waiting for his fishing buddies to alert him that the […]
After 18 months: Welcome back, Canada, if you’re vaccinated
By Ted Roelofs After more than 18 months in which the U.S. border was closed to most Canadians, Michigan business leaders hailed Wednesday’s announcement that the U.S. border would reopen to vaccinated travelers from Canada next month. Claude Molinari, president and CEO of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, noted that 1.3 million Canadians […]
Michigan ER patients left on stretchers, then recliners, in swamped wards
By Kate Wells, Michigan Radio (For Bridge Michigan) Just looking at all the patients laying on the stretchers in emergency department hallways makes Tiffani Dusang physically uncomfortable. It’s like she vibrates, a sort of perpetual small bounce on the soles of her practical shoes. “It’s hard to watch,” said Dusang, the director of emergency and […]
Lawmaker: ‘We’re going to fix’ Michigan’s broken public records request law
By Jonathan Oosting LANSING — Big bills, baffling redactions, and years-long delays. Michigan transparency advocates, journalists and citizen activists on Thursday shared horror stories of trying to navigate the state’s public records request law that they say is broken. Loopholes, exceptions and vague language in Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act allow the state and local governments […]
