Local officials in hundreds of Michigan communities installed more than 1,100 absentee ballot drop boxes last year, state data shows. Election officials say new regulations proposed by Senate Republicans threaten to limit the popular option in future elections.
Vaccinating Michigan teens and young adults will be key to lifting pandemic limits and reaching herd immunity. Health officials are scrambling to make COVID vaccines available to high school students, who are getting shots at far lower rates.
State Republicans pushed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for months to set metrics for relaxing pandemic restrictions. The governor did so Thursday, tying the loosening of pandemic rules to state vaccination rates. Republicans don’t like that metric.
Advocates, state and county agencies, private agency, and caregivers for the elderly and disabled pretty much all agree: something needs to be done to address the shortage of workers.
Starting this summer, eligible families are expected to get monthly payments, through expansions in child tax credits, to support the cost of raising kids.
