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Biden makes Granholm pick for Energy official
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to head the Energy Department, his presidential transition team said Thursday night. The Democrat also tapped and North Carolina’s top environmental regulator, Michael Regan, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Rep. Debra A. Haaland to lead the Interior Department. The selections were announced as […]
‘I just don’t trust the system any more’: Voters on edge as election nears.
WASHINGTON — Widespread anxiety and confusion around voting, compounded by the pandemic that has spread to millions of Americans, including President Donald Trump. A vastly underfunded and decentralized electoral system that could take days and possibly weeks to certify results. Attempts to suppress voting, interfere with elections and cast doubt on the integrity of mail-in […]
‘You just have to act’: 1000s outraged by police brutality rally at March on Washington
WASHINGTON – On the 57th anniversary of the original March on Washington and in the throes of a pandemic, thousands of demonstrators on Friday joined Democratic lawmakers on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to demand Congress act on police brutality and voter suppression. The event, organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, […]
‘Extremely frustrating’ mail delays for prescriptions hit veterans, rural areas
Jan Stowe, a Vietnam War veteran from Traverse City, says she was unable to move her head and neck for several days last month after going without medication to treat extreme muscle spasms. Stowe, a Department of Veterans Affairs patient who receives her medication through the U.S. Postal Service, said in an interview with the […]
Whitmer invokes auto bailout in DNC speech given from Lansing union hall
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer championed autoworkers and the former Obama administration’s record during the last economic crisis on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday. Appearing live via video feed from a United Auto Workers hall in Lansing, Whitmer praised presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s record as vice president, when he and […]
Trump’s $400 a week jobless aid could be just $300. It depends on where you live.
Governors, lawmakers and state unemployment agencies on Monday wrestled with confusion created by President Donald Trump’s executive action extending unemployment benefits, and it appeared some states could settle for $300 a week in benefits instead of the $400 that the president touted. State leaders from both political parties remained unsure how much they’d have to […]
Trump moves to extend unemployment benefits, suspend payroll taxes after talks break down
President Donald Trump on Saturday circumvented Congress and took action into his own hands, after weeks of unsuccessful negotiations over another coronavirus relief package on Capitol Hill. He signed three presidential memoranda and an executive order, at his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J. Trump would provide $300 per week in federal unemployment assistance with another $100 […]
Dingell ’emotional’ as House passes bipartisan public lands bill, next stop Trump’s desk
WASHINGTON — Major environmental legislation sailed through Congress Wednesday while the nation’s political leaders were stuck in intense negotiations over the contours of a fifth coronavirus relief package. The bill would provide $9.5 billion over five years to pay down the National Park Service’s maintenance backlog and provide permanent funding at $900 million per year […]
Lawmakers, advocates push for federal police reforms
Updated, 2:07 p.m. 6/15/20 In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death that has sparked protests across the country and the world, Michigan lawmakers and activists are pushing to change federal rules governing police conduct. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer, pinned him to the ground for nearly nine minutes. Louisville police shot […]
Librarians, national guard recruited for states’ new contact tracing armies
As states seek to loosen wide-ranging restrictions imposed to constrain the novel coronavirus, they’re also looking to deploy a huge new fleet of workers to keep cases under control. Enter the contact tracers. With interpersonal contact certain to increase as states lift COVID-19 restrictions, tracing the who infected people had contact with — and then […]
Pandemic strains emergency responders with more disasters on horizon
Federal officials have more money than ever to respond to disasters, but some worry their focus on the pandemic could hamstring efforts to recover from other catastrophes across the country. Michigan currently has a federal disaster declaration for Midland and Gladwin counties after storms beginning on May 16 resulted in six to eight inches of […]
Can lessons from the Great Recession help states avoid budget disasters?
As they face massive budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic, states are looking for federal money to help stave off the kind of drastic cuts they enacted during the last economic downturn. State budget officers and economists generally agree that cuts to state spending worsened the Great Recession in the years following 2008. Layoffs, […]