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Covid-19

Wife of Wisconsin lawmaker with COVID-19 urges vaccination

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The wife of a Wisconsin lawmaker who has been an outspoken critic of vaccine and mask mandates and who remains hospitalized with COVID-19-induced pneumonia is urging people to get vaccinated for the coronavirus. Republican state Sen. Andre Jacque has been hospitalized since Aug. 16. He was placed on a ventilator several days later. His wife, Renee Jacque, said in an email to WBAY-TV on Monday that five of their eight family members have tested positive for COVID-19. They have six children, including an infant. She said that of the three fully vaccinated family ...

State lists 134 new virus cases across UP

State data Monday showed 134 new confirmed COVID-19 positives in the Upper Peninsula since Friday, with 20 in Menominee County, seven in Dickinson County and five in Iron County. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services coronavirus website Monday reported 30 new cases in Delta ...

Athletes, worker sue over vaccine rules at Michigan colleges

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Four female soccer players at Western Michigan University challenged the school’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement for athletes Monday, saying it violates their Christian beliefs. The lawsuit came days after a Michigan State University employee sued to block its mandate, which is broader and applies to all students, faculty and staff. The players — Emily Dahl, Hannah Redoute, Bailey Korhorn and Morgan Otteson — said Western Michigan on Aug. 12 required them to get a shot by month’s end or be removed from the team. They were denied religious exemptions, ...

Hostile school board meetings have members quitting

A Nevada school board member said he had thoughts of suicide before stepping down amid threats and harassment. In Virginia, a board member resigned over what she saw as politics driving decisions on masks. The vitriol at board meetings in Wisconsin had one member fearing he would find his ...

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court refuses to take up mask challenge

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has declined to take up a conservative legal group’s challenge to Dane County’s mask mandate. In a 4-3 ruling issued Friday afternoon, the court refused to exercise its own jurisdiction over the recent public health order, instead leaving it up to the state’s lower courts to consider any future legal challenges first, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty challenged the mask mandate in a lawsuit on behalf of Sun Prairie resident Bryant Stempski against Dane County and Madison, their ...

Reporter punched in face while covering an anti-mask event

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A newspaper reporter said he was punched in the face while covering an anti-mask event near Traverse City. The Grand Traverse County sheriff’s office is investigating. “I know the concern you have,” Sheriff Tom Bensley told the Traverse City Record-Eagle. “There are some people out there that are not happy with the news outlets. We’ve had two incidents in a short period of time.” Record-Eagle reporter Brendan Quealy went to Silver Lake Recreation Area to check an event organized by a group called Citizens Liberating Michigan and promoted by ...