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Did MSU’s president flip flop on vaccinations?
Despite a recommendation from the Michigan State University Advisory Panel last month to require COVID-19 vaccinations for incoming students, faculty and staff for the upcoming fall semester, MSU President Samuel Stanley has decided to skip the mandate. The move flies in the face of recommendations of federal, state and local health officials who have strongly […]
Democratic lawmakers condemn violent, racist death threats left on Black lawmaker’s voicemail
An obscenity-laced, racist voicemail left on the House office voicemail for a Black state representative is being investigated by law enforcement, according to a press release from the House Democratic Caucus Wednesday. “N****** die. The whole world will be rejoicing. Sleep well,” the woman said in a more than three-minute voice message Monday to state […]
Ingham County prosecutor orders review of HIV felony convictions
Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon ordered her team on Friday to review all prosecutions brought by the county under Michigan’s former felony law AIDS — Sexual Penetration with Uninformed Partner. The review found only two prosecutions. One case was dropped, but another, from 1999 remains a pending case. Siemon has ordered her staff to file […]
HIV at 40: Racial disparities continue to drive the epidemic in Michigan
“Why are you talking to them?” Hank Millbourne remembers friends saying to him during the 1980s gay scene in Detroit about other gay men. “They have the package.” Millbourne had only a passing idea of what the “package” was, but he was quickly taught the alleged telltale signs of it: darkened fingernails from using AZT, […]
HIV law has changed, but those prosecuted under former measure struggle to overcome convictions
Jeremy Merithew had a hook-up in 2012 that he will remember for the rest of his life. He met a man on the gay app Adam4Adam. The man came over for sex and left. The next day, a deputy from the Kent County Sheriff’s Department was knocking on his door and he ended up behind […]
Michigan judge reverses course, will restart YouTube livestream Monday
St. Joseph County 3B District Court Chief Judge Jeffrey Middleton announced Thursday morning in a video posted on YouTube that beginning Monday May 24, his courtroom hearings will once again run on a livestream on the video service. The move comes after State Court Administrator Tom Boyd called Middleton personally. Middleton said the former judge […]
Michigan judge in viral videos pulls YouTube stream
St. Joseph County 3B District Court Chief Judge Jeffrey Middleton shocked his thousands of YouTube followers this week by announcing he was turning off the livestream and shutting down access to virtual hearings. “Some of you may have heard, someone may have posted that we will be ending our YouTube livestream essentially today,” Middleton said […]
Todd A. Heywood: Let’s talk about immunocompromised people and the COVID vaccine debate
Everyone has heard politicians and public health leaders pleading with Americans to get one of the three available vaccines for SARS-COV-2 — the virus that causes the disease COVID-19. And vaccination rates are increasing to a point where pandemic restrictions are beginning to loosen and promises of “hope” for a “return to normalcy” continue to […]
Whitmer: Legislature needs to OK $370M for childcare as more residents to restart in-person work
With COVID cases in Michigan receding and vaccinations increasing, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is calling on the GOP-led Legislature to work with her to pass $370 million to help in providing childcare for workers heading back to in-person work. Whitmer announced earlier this week the state reached the milestone of 55% of residents 16 and up […]
ADL: Michigan antisemitic incidents increase 21% in 2020
The normalization of antisemitism is continuing a “very, very troubling” upward trend in Michigan, despite a year of health restrictions and social distancing that often meant less human interaction. Since 2015, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of Michigan has documented a 240% increase in reported antisemitic incidents in Michigan, starting with 15 in 2015 and increasing […]
A new variant is identified in Michigan, underscoring concerns about what’s driving the new COVID surge
As Michigan is in another deadly surge of COVID cases — with both positivity rates and hospitalization rates rising — the question of how much variants of the virus are driving the surge is still up in the air. On Thursday, variants became even more of a concern. The Michigan Department of Health and Human […]
Former Michigan senator, Ag director pleads ‘no contest’ to domestic violence
Updated, 9:32 p.m., 3/22/21, 12:04 p.m., 3/23/21 with comments from Irwin’s attorney Mitchell Irwin, a Democratic former state senator, state Agriculture director and Department of Technology, Management and Budget director, has entered a “no contest” plea to a single misdemeanor charge of domestic violence in 15th District Court. He faces a sentencing hearing on Tuesday. […]