News

This week the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is holding the first of two online sessions to listen to people’s thoughts what to do about climate change. Governor Gretchen Whitmer wants Michigan to be carbon neutral by 2050. EGLE with input from the Council on Climate Solutions has to come up with a plan.

The Department of Natural Resources is warning landowners about a tree-killer that pops up this time of year. It’s called oak wilt. If you have oak trees you can help prevent the spread of the fungus.

State Representative Jewell Jones has been released on a personal bond and ordered to submit to random drug and alcohol testing.

That’s after a probable cause hearing on Friday.

A magistrate determined there’s enough evidence for a case to proceed against the lawmaker – who is charged with drunk driving and resisting a police officer stemming from an April 6 crash along Interstate 96 in Livingston County.

Drug overdoses in Michigan were on a downward trend before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

In 2019, there were 2,354 fatal overdoses in Michigan. 1,768 of them—or about 75%--were opioid-related.

The average age of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Michigan has been dropping as the total number of people hospitalized with the disease rises, health officials said Thursday.

Two-thirds of people hospitalized at Munson Healthcare, a network of hospitals and clinics across Northern Michigan, were under 65 years old, said the organization’s chief medical officer, Christine Nefcy.

Bridge Michigan has done an excellent job summarizing the voting plan Michigan Republicans are proposing. They compare this plan with the package recently put into law in Georgia. It's a good way to get some context because there has been a lot of exaggeration and misinterpretation.

About 11,000 people who’ve been getting extended unemployment benefits will lose them this week.

Michigan qualified for the federal extended unemployment benefits because its unemployment rate was so high. But Michigan has had three months below the threshold and the feds put the state on notice.

A Detroit family facing eviction after apparently being scammed by a fake landlord has been given a reprieve of sorts.

The group Detroit Eviction Defense announced Thursday that the family will be given at least 30 days before moving out, plus additional assistance from the city of Detroit.

Hearings are expected to begin soon in the Michigan Legislature on a 39-bill Republican election package aimed at reversing absentee ballot access and early voting policies in the battleground state.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, on Thursday slammed the bills, describing them as a response to a problem that doesn’t exist, and that would tamp down legal voting.

Anyone 18 years and older would be allowed to possess and use a stun gun for self-defense in Michigan under legislation that passed this week in the House by a vote of 78-32.

The bill (HB 4029) now moves to the Senate where a similar bill died in committee last year.

Stun guns are devices that need to be held in direct contact with a person. They use an electrical current to create enough pain to temporarily disable an assailant.

Michigan Radio was presented with fifteen awards from the Michigan Associated Press Media Editors on Wednesday. These awards recognize excellence in news coverage throughout 2020. The station was honored with six First Place awards, including Best Documentary and Best Investigative Reporting.  The station also received nine Second Place awards.

A new University of Michigan study finds female nurses’ risk of suicide is twice as high as the general population.

Researchers examined CDC data from 2007 through 2018.

Christopher Friese is the Director of the Center for Improving Patient and Population Health. He’s worried nurses in the U.S. have been in trouble for a long time and they were in trouble before the pandemic began.

Dana Serafin still hauls in 20,000-pound boatloads of whitefish to supply regional restaurants and markets, but in recent years, the Saginaw Bay fisherman has found it more difficult to fill his orders.

Native whitefish, the main livelihood for Serafin and other Great Lakes commercial fishers, have been in decline for years amid changes to the food web, replaced in Serafin’s nets by healthier populations of walleye and lake trout that he’s not allowed to keep.

A former employee of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is facing embezzlement charges.

The Attorney General’s office filed charges against Joseph Pettit. He worked in EGLE’s Oil, Gas, and Minerals Division. One of his jobs was to make sure when an oil or gas well changed hands, the original owner got back the conformance bond money that was required by the state before drilling or operating a well.

Hospitals and health care systems around Michigan are feeling the strain of increased COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Over 4,000 patients are currently hospitalized with the disease, and test positivity rates are up in many regions.

One of those regions is the Thumb, where three counties have positivity rates of over 30%: Tuscola at 30.5%, Sanilac at 35.3%, and Huron at 36.9%.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says the city is in real danger from COVID-19 again, and things are likely going to get worse.

After months of relatively few COVID-19 cases, the virus is surging in Detroit once again. The city’s test positivity rate is now over 20%, and more than 400 Detroiters are hospitalized.

Michigan will expand the use of a COVID-19 treatment in hopes of substantially reducing climbing hospitalizations and deaths. Additional doses of monoclonal antibodies will be given to hospitals and other providers, which will be asked to add infusion sites.

The treatment has concentrated doses of lab-made antibodies to fight coronavirus infections and is geared toward people who are at high risk for severe symptoms or hospitalization.

A Black Farmington Hills resident has sued the City of Detroit, its police chief, and a city detective for wrongful arrest and wrongful imprisonment. 

Robert Williams was arrested in his own driveway in front of his wife and daughters. He was held in an overcrowded cell for 30 hours.

The federal lawsuit says Williams' arrest for shoplifting was based on a flawed match made by a facial recognition algorithm with no other corroborating evidence.

Two brothers accused of plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer will have to keep wearing electronic tethers as they await trial.

A judge made the decision Wednesday. 

William and Michael Null are facing numerous charges in Antrim County, including providing material support for terrorist acts.

At times, Keli MacIntosh had to take a deep breath before getting her words out.

During an emotional testimony Tuesday, she explained why she decided to sue Commissioner Ron Clous and Grand Traverse County.

“I will act, even though quite honestly, based on what has happened thus far, I am concerned for my safety,” she said.

The litigation stems from a virtual public meeting in January, when MacIntosh asked county officials to denounce violence from the Capitol insurrection, and specifically from the Proud Boys.