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‘The playbook for authoritarianism counts on this’
When U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) arrives at the U.S. Capitol Thursday, he will do so to tell the truth: That, one year ago, armed rioters attempted to overthrow a democratically elected government in a fatal attack that followed a months-long campaign by former President Donald Trump to claim victory in an election he lost […]
‘You see mothers and fathers on ventilators over the holiday season’
As Michigan faces record-breaking numbers of COVID-19 cases in the wake of the rapidly spreading omicron variant, deeply beleaguered hospital officials pleaded with the public to get vaccinated and booster shots as health care workers navigate a months-long surge of cases, hospitalizations and deaths that has left them feeling broken and abandoned by their communities. […]
Tucked in an MSU office, the Moist Towelette Museum is an ode to quirk and connection
The origin story of the Moist Towelette Museum, a space of eight packed shelves tucked into an office at Michigan State University’s Abrams Planetarium in East Lansing, is something of a tale of quirk and friendship — and the birth of the internet. “I started collecting them back in the ‘90s — I was working […]
Michigan meteorites take center stage at new Abrams Planetarium exhibit
Standing by ancient rocks that have fallen from space to Earth, Shannon Schmoll, the director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University in East Lansing, gushed with enthusiasm when talking about the new exhibit, “Asteroids, Meteors and Meteorites Oh MI.” “A lot of people love astronomy and space, but we don’t have a lot […]
‘A history of overcoming’ in Benton Harbor
Sitting in Benton Harbor’s oldest home, a space built in 1849 that’s filled with the echoes of history, Morton House Museum Board President Denise Reeves and Board Trustee Kate Ulrey scanned the rooms in front of them: expansive, tall-ceilinged places filled with concrete reminders of the people who once called the Southwest Michigan city home. […]
Kellogg workers approve new contract, ending 11-week strike
Updated, 4:59 p.m., 12/21/21 with comments from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office Unionized Kellogg’s workers from four states, including a cereal plant in Battle Creek, voted to approve a new five-year contract that increases wages and expands health care, ending one of the country’s longest strikes this year, union and company officials announced Tuesday. About 1,400 […]
Omicron variant reported at University of Michigan and MSU
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported Friday that a total of 1,420,838 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 and 25,824 have died from the virus — an additional 12,649 cases and 254 deaths since Wednesday. Michigan has the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases and the sixth-highest case rate in the country […]
Lead levels are dropping in Benton Harbor’s drinking water, new tests show
After years of dangerously high lead levels that have left Benton Harbor’s 10,000 residents unable to drink their tap water, the most recent round of state-ordered testing showed “a significant reduction” of lead in the city’s water, state officials announced Wednesday. Despite this decrease, lead — a toxic chemical that can cause brain and kidney […]
A Howell woman tweeted criticism of COVID misinformation. Police launched a probe.
After a Howell woman posted a series of tweets calling out health care workers for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 at public meetings this month, the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into her that her attorney said has a “chilling effect on free speech.” Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy confirmed in an interview with […]
After mass shootings, many GOP leaders’ ‘concern is for guns,’ experts say
After police say a 15-year-old shot and killed four of his classmates and wounded seven others at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, Igor Volsky, the co-founder and executive director of Guns Down America who led discussions in Flint and Lansing in 2019, did a search of U.S. Senate Republicans’ tweets to see what they […]
Federal program pays $150K for overdue water and sewer bills in Benton Harbor
Hundreds of Benton Harbor families facing overdue water and sewer bills have gotten a financial boost from a federal assistance program that has provided a little more than $150,000 to a community still unable to drink its tap water. The federal Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) has paid $151,953 for 237 households with overdue […]
Sparrow Hospital caregivers approve new contract that boosts wages, guarantees N95 respirators
Unionized health care workers at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing voted to ratify a new three-year contract late last week, averting a recently authorized strike, ending months of tense negotiations, and creating incentives needed to attract and retain health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, union officials said Monday. Ninety-six percent of the caregivers in the […]