Sarah Cwiek

The Detroit City Council on Tuesday narrowly approved a controversial contract increase for a law firm helping the city counter-sue anti-police brutality protesters.

By a 5-4 vote, the council voted in favor of a $200,000 bump for law firm Clark Hill. That increase was requested by Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration and the city’s top lawyer, Lawrence Garcia.

Many Michigan counties are looking for volunteers to help vaccinate people against COVID-19. And in some counties, those volunteers are able to get their shots as well.

Washtenaw County is offering that option, said county health department spokeswoman Susan Cerniglia. The county is currently operating one mass vaccination site, with plans to open another when vaccine supplies increase. They also use volunteers on mobile teams that go out to vaccinate vulnerable populations.

A new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been identified in Michigan, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced on Saturday.

The new variant, B.1.1.7, was identified in an adult woman from Washtenaw County. She had recently traveled to the United Kingdom, where the variant was first identified. MDHHS says the woman’s close contacts have been notified and are in quarantine. Two of those contacts have tested positive for COVID-19, though it’s unclear if they have the B.1.1.7 variant.

Detroit is ready to restart its sweeping demolition program, Mayor Mike Duggan announced on Friday.

Detroit voters approved Proposal N, a $250 million bond proposal, in November. The city will use that money to both demolish and rehab many of the city’s remaining abandoned properties.

Being more physically fit may protect you from having severe COVID-19, according to a new study from Henry Ford Health System.

Researchers looked at patients who had taken an exercise stress test over the past four years, and were also diagnosed with COVID-19. That was about 250 people.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has unveiled a three-part plan to get COVID-19 vaccinations rolling in the city.

One major component is turning the TCF Convention Center garage into a drive-thru vaccination site. Starting next week, people 75 and older can get vaccinated there. So can people 65 and older so long as they accompany someone over 75. K-12 teachers and child care providers who wouldn’t otherwise get vaccinated through their employer are also eligible to get vaccinated at TCF.

Some violent crimes spiked in Detroit in 2020, Police Chief James Craig said on Wednesday.

In aggregate, the city’s serious crime rate (violent and non-violent) actually fell last year, with sexual assaults, robberies, and carjackings all down significantly.

Preliminary data suggest that opioid overdoses rose in Michigan this year, according to a University of Michigan database.

The U of M Injury Prevention Center tracks opioid overdoses reported by county medical examiners, and EMS administrations of the anti-overdose drug naloxone, in close to real time.

This pandemic year has been tough for lawyers who work with people facing eviction.

The need for their services is greater than ever. Support programs have helped, but they’ve been a patchwork that often leave attorneys scrambling to help clients.

A now-canceled state contract for COVID-19 contact tracing was the result of a rushed, imperfect process, but there’s absolutely no evidence it involved anything criminal, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office has found.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer canceled the contact-tracing contract with Every Action VAN soon after it was signed in April, saying it didn’t go through the proper procurement process.  That was after some state Republicans alleged the contract was awarded based on the company’s political connections to Whitmer and other Democrats.

Dearborn Heights Mayor Daniel Paletko has died from COVID-19 complications, the city confirmed on  social media Tuesday night, calling his death “sudden.”

Paletko was 70 years old. He had served as Dearborn Heights mayor since 2004, and also served in the Michigan State House of Representatives.

Mourners paid their respects to the late former Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon at a Detroit funeral home on Monday.

Napoleon died earlier this month after contracting COVID-19. He was 65.

Frontline workers at Michigan’s largest health care system started getting COVID-19 vaccinations on Tuesday.

Southeast Michigan’s Beaumont Health received 975 initial doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires two shots. It’s vaccinating the highest-priority health care workers, like respiratory therapist Tamara Allen, first.

“The only way to beat it is to face it.”

That’s the slogan Oakland County is using in its public messaging campaign urging people to stick with COVID-19 restrictions as the pandemic drags on.

The city of Detroit is offering assistance to people applying for a property tax exemption at the TCF Center this week.

Detroit offers full and partial property tax exemptions to low-income homeowners who meet certain guidelines every year. In recent years, the city has made the program more accessible as a way to help people avoid losing their homes to tax foreclosure.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is providing $800,000 to expand an ongoing COVID-19 detection program in wastewater.

The expanded program, which has been running as a pilot since spring, will test untreated sewage in some Detroit zip codes, as well as certain targeted zip codes in suburban communities like Sterling Heights, Oak Park, and West Bloomfield.

There’s no way two ways about it: November has been a dreadful month when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan.

County board of canvassers meetings are usually the dullest events imaginable. The boards, comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats, meet to review the results of a post-election canvass. That canvass is meant to catch any major irregularities, down to the precinct level, make sure every vote is accounted for, and then certify the unofficial results.

Tuesday night’s Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting was a wild ride.

After initially deadlocking 2-2 along partisan lines—meaning the county’s election results would not have been certified—the Board reversed course and unanimously voted to certify the election, while also urging Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to do a “comprehensive audit” of certain precincts.

Michigan's largest school district will suspend in-person classes next week, joining other districts that have shifted to online-only classes as coronavirus cases rise significantly around the state.

Michigan health officials plan to study the potential long-term health effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure on people in four West Michigan communities.

PFAS are a class of industrial chemicals linked to health problems like cancer, and thyroid disease. Known as “forever chemicals” that remain intact in the environment and human bodies for a long time, PFAS are present in substances ranging from firefighting foam to food packaging.

Michigan’s coronavirus cases just keep going up, as the state broke yet another record for the number of COVID-19 cases reported in one day on Tuesday.

That daily number was 6,473. Over the past week, the state has reported on average more than 5,000 new confirmed cases per day. Those numbers are far higher than we ever saw in the spring, when COVID-19 testing was far more limited.

The COVID-19 pandemic has closed the Hamtramck city clerk’s office, after City Clerk August Gitschlag and two employees tested positive for the disease.

The office closed on Monday. Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski told the Detroit Free Press that for the time being, all clerk-related business will be handled through the city manager’s office. Hamtramck city hall remains open.

The counting of Detroit’s absentee ballots has been finished since Wednesday. But the TCF Center—where those votes were counted—was the site of angry protests for a third straight day on Friday.

Republican-affiliated protesters began gathering at TCF on Wednesday, demanding to be allowed into the city’s absentee counting board, and making unsubstantiated accusations of fraud even while votes were still being counted. For some reason, Detroit has been a focus point for these widespread claims, even though there were no verified reports of any election irregularities there.

Michigan Senator Gary Peters is returning to the Senate for a second term.

Peters, a Democrat, defeated Republican challenger John James in a tight contest. He won the race by less than 90,000 votes.