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Covid-19

Whitmer resumes wearing mask at indoor events

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday resumed wearing a mask at indoor events, citing revised guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a recommendation from Michigan's chief doctor. The Democratic governor, who is vaccinated, said she does not anticipate reinstating a face covering requirement, though "not in the near future and maybe not ever." The CDC on Tuesday reversed course and recommended that even vaccinated people return to being masked indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging. While daily COVID-19 cases have ...

State: Six new virus cases in Iron, five in Dickinson

State data Tuesday showed six new confirmed COVID-19 positives in Iron County and five in Dickinson County in the past four days. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ coronavirus website showed in the U.P. nine more confirmed positives in Delta County since Friday, six in ...

Wisconsin GOP fails to override veto of bill to end extra jobless aid

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Assembly Republicans failed Tuesday in an attempt to override Gov. Tony Evers’ veto of a bill ending $300 a week in federal unemployment aid. Republicans fell five votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override, 59-37, with no Democrats joining them. All Republicans voted to override. Republicans argued that the $300 federal payment, on top of Wisconsin’s weekly $370 unemployment benefit, was motivating people to not search for jobs, worsening the state’s worker shortage problem. Congress approved the money to help the unemployed ...

VA requires COVID-19 vaccination for its health care workers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday became the first major federal agency to require health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines, as the aggressive delta variant spreads across the nation and some communities report troubling increases in hospitalizations among unvaccinated people. The VA’s move came on a day when nearly 60 leading medical and health care organizations issued a call for health care facilities to require their workers to get vaccinated. No federal law stands in the way of employers requiring vaccinations, but like mask mandates, the issue ...

Whitmer OKs $385M bill with aid for hospitals, care centers

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday signed a $385 million supplemental budget bill, two-thirds of which will go to Michigan hospitals and nursing homes confronting financial pressures due to the coronavirus pandemic. The new law allocates $10 million in state emergency spending for places hit with tornadoes, heavy rainfall and flooding in late June. More than $100 million will go toward increasing subsidy rates by 40% for child care providers that serve low-income children, retroactive to last October, and paying providers base on enrollment and not attendance as of ...

Whitmer veto of reading scholarships sparks debate on vouchers

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s veto of $155 million in proposed spending on reading scholarships for students has sparked fresh criticism from opponents who say it would have addressed pandemic-related learning loss and approval from those who liken the grants to vouchers. The Democratic governor struck the Republican-backed program while signing a $17 billion school budget this month. It would have been funded with federal COVID-19 relief aid. The GOP-controlled House unsuccessfully tried to override the line-item veto Wednesday. The funding would have gone to ...