News

Republicans have introduced a new bill in the state Senate to stop what wind-rich communities are calling a "bait and switch" by utilities.

Rick Sundquist is an attorney with Clark Hill. He represents a coalition of local governments in Huron, Gratiot, and Isabella counties, where Michigan's wind parks are located.

Sundquist says communities that agreed to let wind parks in did so based on a depreciation table established by the Michigan Tax Commission. The table told them how much tax revenue they'd get from the wind parks over the years of their natural lifespan.

As the mass vaccination in the heart of Detroit at Ford Field closes down, state officials leading Michigan’s COVID vaccine campaign are switching their focus to hyper-local in-person efforts to get more people inoculated.

70% of respondents in a new statewide survey commissioned by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported they either are already vaccinated or have plans to get their shot.  

“There is however some strong resistance among those not yet vaccinated,” said Kerry Ebersole-Singh, Director of the Protect Michigan Commission leading the states vaccine campaign.

Earlier in the pandemic, health officials were worried Indigenous populations would be hesitant to get a COVID vaccine. Now, they’re among the most vaccinated populations in the country. That's according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Michigan, community nurses say there was already a lot of trust in tribal health centers that administer the shots.

Michigan’s mask mandate is lifted in most situations for people who are fully vaccinated. Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that last week. That was following new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But there are still lots of questions to sort through.

School administrators are wondering what this will mean for in-person classes when some students are fully vaccinated and some are not. 

A top aide to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says a private round trip to Florida to see her ailing father was paid from a fund that's used for travel not covered by tax dollars.

The cost was $27,521, with Whitmer personally paying $855.

A Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled on the side of The Traverse City Record-Eagle in a case about transparency. The ruling says that Traverse City Area Public Schools cannot use the Open Meetings Act to withhold documents.

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald says an independent special prosecutor will investigate her own office after she discovered at least one case of what could be prosecutorial misconduct--one that could call into question a number of convictions, and has already affected the prosecution of the men accused of conspiring to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

A bald eagle was rescued in Ann Arbor after being found tangled in fishing line.

The wire was wrapped around his wing, tying him to a log where he was trapped.

The Humane Society of Huron Valley made the rescue and did an initial exam. They found no major injuries.

The eagle was transported to the Howell Nature Center for further care and rehabilitation.

Starting Saturday, fully vaccinated Michiganders are no longer required to wear a face mask inside or outdoors.

Detroit’s Election Commission voted Thursday to put the question of a revised city charter on the August ballot.

The charter revision question has been controversial, and sparked a battle between Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and charter commissioners. Duggan argues some of the proposed changes would drain city finances, and put it back under state control.

Supporters and opponents of bills to remove local control over gravel mines testified at a hearing in the state Senate Thursday.

The bills would have the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy approve or deny permits, instead of villages, townships and cities.  

The sponsor of the bills, Democratic Senator Jim Ananich, admitted there were no gravel mines in his district. He also said he had not met with township officials while the bill was being drafted. 

So it turns out that rebooting an economy after the shock and lingering effects of a global pandemic is not easy. In fact, it's pretty stilted and awkward.

All this has people understandably frustrated. Many have money to spend, but with limited options. Service industries (such as restaurants, resorts, and hotels) cannot attract enough low-wage workers to staff up. And many manufactured items (such as furniture, appliances, and automobiles) are simply not available because of disrupted supply chains.

The Michigan House Overnight Committee met on Thursday morning to discuss a bill that would ban the state government's use of a vaccine passport. This follows last Thursday's hearing, wherein some speakers promoted conspiracy theories and misinformation.

Committee Chair Steven Johnson (R-Wayland) presented changes to House Bill 4667 today, including exempting the CDC immunization card from the definition of passport.

A state Senate committee issued a subpoena Thursday to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. It requires the department to share tens of thousands of documents related to the state’s response to the spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes and other congregate care facilities.

More than 5,000 people in those facilities have died from COVID. That's just a little less than a third of Michigan's total COVID deaths.

Operators of domestic abuse hotlines across the state say more women are calling them in crisis, as pandemic stress has led to more violence at home.

Eric Stiles, a program director with the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, says they’ve documented an increase in survivors of abuse who have called their statewide hotline in 2021, compared to last year.

The head of a major hospital in Windsor, Ontario wants Michigan to give up some of its surplus COVID-19 vaccines.

David Musyj, CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital, has submitted an emergency application to Health Canada’s special access program. Health Canada is the country’s equivalent of the U.S Food and Drug Administration, and the program allows Canada to procure life-saving drugs abroad if they’re in short supply there.

Michigan has reached a COVID-19 vaccination benchmark that will soon let people go back to work in the office in person.

55% of the state's eligible population has gotten at least one shot.

The benchmark achieved this week clears the way for a Michigan Occupational Health and Safety Administration order allowing a return to office work.

MIOSHA could give the go ahead to start by the final week of May.

There will be no Ann Arbor Art Fair for the second year in a row due to the pandemic.

The directors of the three fairs that comprise the annual event held each July in Ann Arbor made the joint decision, saying they couldn’t find a way to make it happen under the State of Michigan’s pandemic restrictions.