Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Thursday signed into law the first bill in a package eliminating the tax on menstrual products.
State of Michigan
A petition-driven initiative to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people in Michigan is now dead after the Michigan Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to weigh in on whether organizers collected enough signatures
During a pandemic that isolated children and left over 3,000 children in Michigan grieving a primary caregiver — with Black children accounting for 40% of impacted kids — state and education leaders emphasize that the need for social and emotional learning in schools is greater now than it ever has been.
Regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted emergency authorization to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds, a step that means kid-sized doses can begin shipping to health care providers across the country. The Centers for Disease Control’s panel of vaccine experts is scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss guidelines for the vaccine’s use in the younger age group.
A Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) meeting Wednesday was postponed after the commission received a death threat, according to spokesperson Edward Woods.
House Bills 5300-5302, known as the Michigan Cannabis Safety Act, tighten rules for caregivers related to plant allowances, product testing and where they can grow medical marijuana. The new legislation would create a new specialty medical grower (SMG) license for caregivers that includes a variety of regulations.
This year’s round of redistricting is already crumbling into partisanship and court challenges in multiple states, even as voters pay more attention than ever to new political maps that will shape elections for a decade
The next wave of the massive COVID-19 vaccination campaign could begin as soon as next week, after federal regulators decide if elementary school students across the U.S. should begin rolling up their tiny sleeves.
Homelessness in Michigan dropped 19% in 2020 from 2019, according to a new report. Michigan” was created in collaboration with several state government departments and agencies. It outlines a combination of factors contributing to 2020’s reduction in homelessness, including the implementation of eviction moratoriums.
The statewide child poverty rate improved from 2018 to 2019, decreasing from 17.9% of the state’s children to 16.3%.
Add the Michigan Civil Rights Department director to the growing number of voices who say that the initial redistricting maps proposed by the state’s new independent panel violate the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965.
State Rep. Padma Kuppa (D-Troy) writes, “For decades, top-down movements have been sowing the seeds of disinformation, which has created a world where everyday Americans cannot trust facts presented to them. This environment divides us and those who fuel disinformation intend to confuse Americans and pit us against each other. Our democracy is stronger when we work together. Those hellbent on power and control know this well — and use disinformation to push us apart. When we are too busy fighting each other, we fail to notice when bad actors chip away at our freedoms, our rights and our collective power.”
As all Michigan schools have begun 2021-22 classes, the state is reporting school- and sports-related COVID-19 outbreaks on a weekly basis. As of Monday, 413 pre-kindergarten-12 schools and seven universities — Alma College, Central Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, Saginaw Valley State University, University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University and Concordia University — are reporting new or ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks.
A national gerrymandering project from Princeton University has graded Michigan’s 10 preliminary district maps headed for public comment after they were approved last week by the state’s independent citizens panel.
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.) alongside U.S. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) introduced a bill last week that would boost financial literacy in high school students by establishing a pilot program where students will be given an initial deposit and subsequent opportunities to have a set amount of their continued savings matched.
Dietary aide Angela Davenport argues that “nursing home workers, who have given so much throughout this pandemic, need real support.”
As of Sept. 16, more than 5.5 million children have been infected by the virus since the start of the pandemic. That represents more than 15% of the total cases, according to Dr. Lee Beers, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. More than 21,000 children have been hospitalized, a rate that’s 2.5 to 3 times higher than flu-related hospitalizations, Beers testified.
WSV’s Dan Robinson writes, “Who knew pipes and stormwater, roads and the electric grid, internet broadband access and housing would be such hot topics? With the infrastructure bills being considered by Congress, people from across the country and the political spectrum are debating these topics because they have such a direct impact on our lives. That impact can be felt in small communities like Three Rivers or in big cities like Detroit. And community-based groups aren’t waiting for government to be the only solution to problems.”