January 7th, 20210LANSING — Governor Whitmer has joined several other state governors to call on the federal government to release millions of COVID-19 vaccines held back by the Trump administration for unknown reasons.
Whitmer joined Gavin Newsom (CA), Laura Kelly (KS), J.B. Pritzker (IL), Tim Walz (MN), Andrew Cuomo (NY), Tony Evers (WI) and Jay...
January 6th, 20210LANSING — Governor Whitmer and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) officials announced that the state is moving to a new phase of vaccination on Monday, Jan. 11.
The MDHHS is moving forward with vaccination of Michiganders age 65 and older and some frontline essential workers, including preK-12 teachers and...
January 5th, 20210WASHINGTON DC — The mutated strain of COVID-19 that was previously only in the United Kingdom has now been found in four states throughout the U.S.
With the new strain, health experts say that the rapid spread of the virus could threaten the healthcare system as this strain is reportedly more contagious.
The new strain has...
January 5th, 20210DETROIT — Priority vaccinations for healthcare workers continue this week, with thousands of frontline healthcare workers at Henry Ford Health System branches receiving their second doses of the COVID-19 vaccines in the coming days.
Henry Ford prioritizes vaccinations based on employees' role and risk for exposure as well as their...
January 4th, 20210MICHIGAN — As the state surpassed 500,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, Michigan’s health department is distributing 3.5 million free masks as part of its Mask Up, Mask Right campaign.
Free KN95 masks provided by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) will be distributed by community organizations,...
January 4th, 20210BEIRUT - Lebanon announced a full lockdown for three weeks, including a night curfew, to stem a rise in COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals in a country already facing financial meltdown.
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan said the lockdown would start on Thursday and run until Feb. 1, with further details on...
December 31st, 20200DEARBORN - With restaurants still being closed to indoor dining due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Dearborn has approved funding to help restaurants.
The funding, set for up to $200,000, authorizes the administration to work out a plan to provide tents, lighting, seating, tables, and heating in public spaces.
On Saturday,...
December 30th, 20206WASHINGTON D.C. - The online tool to track COVID-19 stimulus payments is temporarily down, as the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department began delivering a second round of payments Tuesday night. The IRS says the initial direct deposit payments begun arriving Tuesday night for some and will continue into next week. Paper checks will begin to...
December 29th, 20200WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday put off a vote on President Donald Trump’s call to boost COVID-19 relief checks and urged the Senate to override his veto of a defense bill, in a rare challenge to his fellow Republican three weeks before he vacates the White House.
McConnell acted...
December 28th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite CDC recommendations and COVID-19 cases still on the rise, nearly 1.3 million people traveled through airports on Sunday.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it screened 1,284,599 people across the country on Sunday, many of whom were returning from holiday travel.
On Dec. 23, TSA...
December 28th, 20200LANSING - With over 37,000 healthcare workers in Michigan already receiving the vaccine, CVS Health will begin administering the vaccine to long-term care facilities.
The distribution of the first vaccines is expected to begin Dec. 28 to nearly 1,000 long-term care facilities across the state.
The vaccines will be administered at...
December 28th, 20200TORONTO — Officials in Toronto have confirmed the first two cases of a more contagious variant of COVID-19 that was first identified in the United Kingdom in September.
The new strain has been detected in Australia, Italy and the Netherlands as well.
Toronto’s associate chief medical officer said that the cases are a couple...
December 28th, 20200FLORIDA — President Trump, who has been at his golf course while a stalemate ensued over a $2.3 trillion combined stimulus and spending package, has now signed the bill into law.
The law will release $900 billion in stimulus funds as soon as possible, including those $600 stimulus checks Trump earlier wanted increased. Republicans...
December 28th, 20200DEARBORN - Having been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic for a majority of the year, the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center (The Center) is partially reopening.
Beginning Monday Jan. 11, 2021, The Center will be welcoming back passholders for some amenities.
The amenities being reopened are the fitness center, swimming...
December 25th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump’s surprise opposition to emergency coronavirus aid and annual government funding passed by Congress has left Americans and global financial markets wondering whether Washington will iron out its differences or descend into chaos in the coming days.
Trump has not yet said whether he will veto the...
December 24th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. — On, Thursday, Democrats in the House of Representatives attempted to increase direct payments to Americans included in the stimulus bill from $600 to $2,000 per person.
This was a request made by President Trump. Trump’s fellow Republicans blocked that effort.
Republicans opposed the higher amount and...
December 23rd, 20200LANSING — More than 37,000 frontline healthcare workers have now received a COVID-19 vaccination shot in the state, the state’s health department announced on Wednesday.
The immunizations of healthcare workers is a common strategy across the U.S., as the first doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, and later Moderna's...
December 23rd, 20200With the U.S. in the grips of an unprecedented economic crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government grows increasingly concerned over scammers targeting desperate people.
Experts at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have noted the spread of dangerous schemes that disguise themselves as legitimate ways to...
December 23rd, 20200WASHINGTON D.C. — President Trump vetoed a bipartisan defense policy bill on Wednesday and raised the prospect that the United States could face a government shutdown during a pandemic, stirring new turmoil in Washington as he headed to Florida for Christmas.
Angry at his fellow Republicans in Congress, Trump sought to refashion...
December 22nd, 20200LANSING — As a $900 billion federal pandemic relief package now awaits likely approval from President Trump, Governor Whitmer’s administration passed measures to soften the blow of COVID’s economic impact on Michiganders.
The measures are similar to those passed during the first peak of cases in the state. This includes a...
December 21st, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Congress prepares to vote on a COVID-19 relief package late Monday, which includes direct payments to Americans struggling with the dire economic consequences of a pandemic that has killed more than 315,000 and infected more than 17.5 million.
After months of stalemates on negotiations on an urgently...
December 19th, 20200On Friday, Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccine became the second to receive emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), welcome news to a nation with a staggering COVID-19 death toll of more than 307,000 lives lost.
Millions of doses of the Moderna vaccine are expected to be added to the U.S....
December 19th, 20200DEARBORN — The state of Michigan began immunizations against the COVID-19 virus on Monday, as quantities of the new Pfizer vaccine began reaching sites across the country this week.
By Wednesday night, 1,078 vaccines had been administered to Michigan’s health care workers who are at high risk of contraction due to their routine...
December 19th, 20200DEARBORN/DEARBORN HEIGHTS — With one school district already returning to in-person learning, all districts have the same goal of returning for the second half of the year.
Dearborn Heights’ D7 School District returned to in-person learning again last week after having to pause with the rest of the state.
“We haven’t had...
December 19th, 20200DEARBORN – U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) hosted a virtual town hall this week with health experts from Beaumont and Washtenaw County to discuss COVID-19.
“I can’t wait to get back to the things we used to work on instead of COVID 24 hours a day, but it matters,” Dingell said. “Public health really matters. First and...
December 18th, 20200MICHIGAN — The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine arrived at various Michigan hospitals this week, as immunization began in hard-hit epicenters of the pandemic in places like Wayne County.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun joined several frontline health care workers at...
December 18th, 20200WASHINGTON D.C. — As the coronavirus pandemic roared to new record highs across the U.S., it lit a fire in the U.S. Congress, where Republicans and Democrats were scrambling to pass a new round of aid after months of partisan finger-pointing and inaction.
Even as they contemplated passing a third stopgap measure to give them a few...
December 17th, 20200Another COVID-19 vaccine appears ready in the pipeline, as an outside panel of advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) overwhelmingly endorsed Moderna’s vaccine on Thursday.
The committee of outside experts makes recommendations to the FDA, which it did for Pfizer’s vaccine just last week. The FDA generally goes...
