Ron Bieber writes, “Every year, thousands of workers are killed and millions more suffer injuries or illnesses on the job that are entirely preventable. Being safe at work is a fundamental right — and under OSHA, employers must provide workplaces free from hazards.”
COVID-19
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported Wednesday that a total of 2,411,464 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 and 35,935 have died from the virus — an additional 10,474 cases and 78 deaths since last week.
After a two-year hiatus as a result of the pandemic, the St. Joseph County Job Fair returns on Wednesday, April 20, from 3 to 5 p.m., and will be held in Ken Schuler Court (gymnasium) on the campus of Glen Oaks Community College.
The U.S. House has approved a bill with $42 billion for restaurants and $13 billion for a hard-hit industries program that would help small businesses that weren’t eligible for restaurant aid.
“Central Michigan University has long been known for giving low-income, middle-class and first-generation college students the opportunity to earn a four-year degree and lead a fruitful life. But the Mt. Pleasant university, like many other higher-education institutions across the country, is facing hard times.”
Julie Cassidy writes, “Michigan has suffered from a crisis-level shortage of affordable homes for years and housing programs have been underfunded for decades, but our policy choices in this brief moment will have an impact for generations. By focusing these unprecedented federal resources and our political will on safer, accessible, and inclusive housing for people with disabilities and older adults, we will ensure that all individuals and families are valued.”
In this week’s #MomLife, Steph Hightree laments over the burdens of motherhood in sickness and in health.
From people who have lost those they love most in the world to COVID-19 to health care workers once hailed as heroes and now being spit on by patients angry over mask requirements and those known as “essential workers” who made poverty wages while having to endanger their own well-being to work in-person when others were isolating during the stay-home orders, people have dealt with a lot over the past two years.
With just four days left before government funding expires, Democrats and Republicans are trying to reach agreement on $1.5 trillion in federal spending as well as billions more in assistance to Ukraine and COVID-19 relief.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s new budget plan will include a 5% funding hike for Michigan’s 15 public universities and 28 community colleges — the highest increase in decades. Universities would have to cap tuition increases.
The weekly COVID-19 testing and vaccine clinics held on Tuesdays at Glen Oaks Community College will be moved to the foyer of Ken Schuler Court (Gymnasium) beginning with the February 1 clinic.
Immunocompromised people can now get 4th COVID shot, but they remain vulnerable.
Ten million free KN95 masks are now available to Michiganders as they continue to face the fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Thursday.
Due to what Interim Superintendent Nikki Nash called “ongoing community spread of both COVID-19 and other seasonal illnesses,” Three Rivers High School, Middle School, and Hoppin Elementary will temporarily transition to remote learning on Friday.
The federal government launched a website to order free at-home tests for COVID-19 Tuesday, one day ahead of schedule. Here’s how to get your free at-home tests now.
This week, 211 pre-kindergarten-12 schools are reporting new or ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks. Only halfway through the month, 24 Michigan public schools have closed temporarily or put in place remote learning plans in January due to COVID-19 disruptions, including Ann Arbor Public Schools, Detroit Public School Community District and Flint City School District, according to Burbio, a data service that aggregates calendars nationwide.
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, Three Rivers Community Schools (TRCS) administrators have had to make difficult choices concerning transportation services for their students. Watershed Voice spoke with Interim Superintendent Nikki Nash about those choices, and possible solutions to an all too common problem in Southwest Michigan.
University of Michigan economist Gabe Ehrlich predicts Michigan will almost fully recover the 1 million-plus jobs lost during the pandemic by the end of next year but “high inflation is part of the price we’re paying for a fast recovery.”