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Marshall police: Sen. John Bizon accused of assaulting nurse practitioner
State Sen. John Bizon (R-Battle Creek) is facing a misdemeanor assault charge after a nurse practitioner at a Marshall medical group accused him of grabbing her, pulling her into him and squeezing her before storming off because she wouldn’t give him medication unrelated to his diagnosis, according to police and court documents. Bizon, a doctor […]
Michigan reports 15,878 new COVID-19 cases and 83 deaths since Wednesday
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported Friday that a total of 1,188,678 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 and 22,767 have died from the virus — an additional 15,878 cases and 83 deaths since Wednesday. The new numbers combine Thursday’s and Friday’s recorded cases and deaths, with an average of 7,939 […]
Trump endorses Rep. Maddock after Michigan Republican attempted to overturn 2020 election
Following attempts to overturn the 2020 election and repeatedly pushing the lie that the election was stolen, state Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford) landed an endorsement from former President Donald Trump Thursday. In the statement issued by Trump’s political action committee, the former president called Maddock “a Trump original, one of my earliest Michigan supporters in […]
Kelly Rossman-McKinney, PR trailblazer who shattered glass ceilings in Lansing, dies at 67
Kelly Rossman-McKinney, a public relations trailblazer and political powerhouse who shattered glass ceilings throughout her 45-year career and became one of Michigan’s most well-known and respected communications experts, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. She was 67. During a career that spanned nearly five decades, Rossman-McKinney was the co-founder of one of Michigan’s most […]
‘I hope you die,’ caller tells Upton in voicemail left after infrastructure vote
U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) received a threatening, profanity-laced voicemail after voting in favor of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Friday, the congressman said Monday on CNN. “I hope you die. I hope everybody in your f—— family dies,” the caller said in the voicemail, which Upton played during his interview with CNN’s Anderson […]
‘Where is the justice for Benton Harbor?’
Softened by the floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows in God’s Household of Faith church in Benton Harbor, Saturday’s afternoon light spread across a sanctuary filled with people wearing “Black Voters Matter” face masks and shirts emblazoned with the words, “clean water is a right.” In the cavernous space, many spoke of poisoned water and political disenfranchisement […]
Michigan’s Afghan refugee resettlement is a ‘model for the rest of the country’
As refugee resettlement agencies are working to place tens of thousands of Afghans across the country, they’re also grappling with a refugee system that has been severely strained by cuts under the former Trump administration, former Delaware Gov. and White House Coordinator for Operation Allies Welcome Jack Markell said Thursday in Lansing. “There are nine […]
‘You see nurses at the end of their shifts parking their cars and just crying’
Carrying signs emblazoned with “patients over profits,” hundreds of nurses and other health care providers marched outside Sparrow Hospital Wednesday evening to call for fairer wages and benefits needed to retain and attract the workers that union representatives said the hospital has been “hemorrhaging” during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Now is our time to stand up […]
‘This is inexcusable’: Rep. Aiyash calls on state to address lead in Hamtramck’s water
After Hamtramck officials announced two weeks ago that high levels of lead were found in samples of the city’s water, the state House on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling on the state to quickly replace the lead service lines that have left residents scrambling for tap filters and bottled water. “Hamtramck is home,” state Rep. […]
Election roundup: History made in Dearborn, 2 Republicans to join state Senate
Updated, 10:45 a.m., 11/3/21 From the first Arab American mayor being elected in Dearborn to the first-ever mayoral race in Whitehall and a councilman claiming victory in Taylor, where the current mayor is facing federal charges in a bribery scandal, Michiganders shifted the state’s local political landscape in Tuesday’s election that predictably drew far fewer […]
‘LaSata and Wendzel have been AWOL’: Benton Harbor mayor slams GOP over water crisis
Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad traveled to Lansing last month to ask state lawmakers for the $11.4 million that’s needed to replace his city’s aging pipes that have left about 10,000 residents unable to drink their tap water because of elevated levels of lead. “If we recognize the urgency, then the response should be in […]
EPA finds ‘violations and deficiencies’ at Benton Harbor water treatment plant
After finding a series of “violations and deficiencies” at the Benton Harbor water treatment plant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday said the city needs to take immediate action to protect residents from the lead-contaminated water that has left thousands of people unable to drink from their taps. In light of elevated lead […]