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President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are spending the weekend campaigning in Michigan ahead of Tuesday’s election.

Former President Barack Obama served as Joe Biden’s lead in at a pair of drive-in rallies Saturday in Flint and Detroit.  

Obama’s main message focused on voting.

“Get out there and vote,” Obama told the crowd gathered in a high school parking lot in Flint.

A number of Michigan police and sheriffs’ departments are increasing staffing levels on Election Day, just in case.

There could be more poll watchers and poll challengers than usual this year, and the Michigan Supreme Court has yet to rule in a lawsuit over whether the Michigan Secretary of State can ban people from openly carrying guns into and near polling places. 

“Who’s going to vote on Tuesday?”

President Donald Trump drew cheers from his supporters when he asked that question during a rally Friday in Oakland County.

The days are dwindling down until Tuesday’s presidential election.  

And President Trump is planning on spending a significant part of those final hours of the campaign in Michigan.

A number of major hospital systems across the state are warning they may have to cancel certain medical procedures if coronavirus cases continue to rise.

As of Thursday, the state reported a total of 1,545 people hospitalized with COVID-19, a 47% increase compared to last Monday, when 1,050 people were hospitalized.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced this week that teachers and support staff who worked through the pandemic will be eligible for state grants.

The state’s budget set aside $53 million for teachers and $20 million for support staff to receive payments recognizing their work in the spring.

What can be said about this election that hasn't already been said? It seems like it has all been covered. And with that comes a temptation to slow down when we see the finish line. But now is not the time let up — we all gotta run through the tape and complete the race at full speed.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced multiple felony charges Thursday against Justen Watkins, the self-proclaimed leader of The Base, a white supremacist group that advocates violence, along with another man associated with the group, Alfred Gorman.

Watkins, 25, of Bad Axe, MI, and Gorman, 35, of Taylor, MI, were arrested at their homes early Thursday and taken to the Washtenaw County Jail. 

State health department officials are imposing new limits on indoor gatherings to curb surging rates of COVID-19.  

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is dropping the number of people permitted at indoor gatherings from 500 to 50. This would apply to events like weddings. 

The Michigan appeals court has rejected an appeal from a Democratic state official who wants to ban the open carry of guns outside polling places. The court says said voter intimidation already is illegal.

The Washington Post’s The Fix politics blog has named three public radio reporters in Michigan as “outstanding politics reporters to follow” in the state. They include Michigan Radio’s Zoe Clark, Rick Pluta of the Michigan Public Radio Network, and Abigail Censky from WKAR.

Former University of Michigan professor Stephen Shipps was arrested Thursday morning at his Ann Arbor home on two charges of transporting a minor girl across state lines to engage in sexual activity. 

Do you ever feel like you’re just…overwhelmed by the headlines? Those almost constant news alerts?

You are not alone. 

Our daily Stateside podcast, hosted by April Baer, is here to cut through the noise with conversations that matter to Michigan. 

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel say it’s not too late to reinstate a ban on openly carrying guns at or near polling places on Election Day.

They are appealing a court ruling that struck down a directive from Benson that banned open carry in and near polling places on Election Day.

Some hospitals in metro Detroit are prepared to accept COVID-19 patients from regions of the state that are experiencing a sharper rise in hospitalizations. 

Beaumont Health’s chief operating officer Carolyn Wilson told Michigan Radio that the system’s eight hospitals currently have enough space in their COVID units to accept transfer patients if needed. 

“We still have some capacity there, and that is where Beaumont is willing to work with the state and those that need it to transfer some patients in,” she said. 

Michigan’s place as a pivotal swing state in next Tuesday’s presidential election is clear, based on its frequency on the itineraries of the major presidential campaigns.  

Vice President Mike Pence is the latest candidate to make Michigan a stop on the presidential campaign trail.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and  U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) say they may appeal the U.S. Census Bureau's population tally for Detroit when it is announced. 

They described the Bureau's counting efforts in Detroit as "deficient and haphazard," and said that puts the city at risk for an undercount.

"The truth of the matter is, they started later in Detroit, understaffed Detroit, and shut it down earlier for one reason," said Duggan. "There appears to be a national strategy to undercount cities, and it appears to be hitting Detroit most effectively."

A top executive at West Michigan’s largest health system issued a sobering update to staff Tuesday, saying he’s worried they’re standing at “the base of a mountain” of new COVID-19 cases.

The video update by Spectrum Health West Michigan president Darryl Elmouchi was posted online with limited access, so that only people with the link to the video could view it. The video is available here.

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Michigan, with 2,367 new cases reported on Tuesday. Over the past week, the state has hit a new peak for the average number of new daily cases, though deaths remain far below where they were in the spring. 

Health officials across the state have been urging people to take precautions to stop the spread of the virus: to put off gatherings, keep a distance from others and wear a mask.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has rolled out a proposed plan he said would help many Detroiters who were overtaxed by the city between 2010 and 2013 due to property tax overassessments. The stated goal is to help Detroiters who were hurt by the overassessments, including many who lost their homes due to tax foreclosures. 

Five city council members have co-sponsored Duggan's proposal, and a resolution was introduced Tuesday at a formal session of the city council. 

A judge has blocked a ban on the open display of guns near Michigan polling places on Election Day. Judge Christopher Murray acted Tuesday, just a few hours after hearing a challenge from gun-rights groups.

Unless it’s reversed by a higher court, it applies to voting places and absentee counting boards November 3. The only exception would be churches and other places that are already allowed to forbid the open carry of guns.