HAPPENING NOW: @GovWhitmer holding a press conference to announce that COVID-19 case growth is declining and hospitalizations are stabilizing after limited business closures in mid-November.
Gov. Whitmer renewing call for Legislature to pass $100M state-based economic stimulus/aid for families and small businesses hit hardest by the pandemic and shutdowns ordered by her administration.
.@GovWhitmer also calls for Legislature to pass a mask mandate "until the majority of us have had this (COVID-19) vaccine."
That's a new nuanced position for the governor.
"I know there's bipartisan support for that action. I'd love to see the Legislature take action."
By the end of this month, @DrKhaldun says Michigan's nursing home residents and staff will begin getting the #COVID19 vaccine.
Earlier, @GovWhitmer said she talked to the CEO of Moderna, which expects get FDA authorization for emergency use of its vaccine later this month.
Gov. Whitmer said there was a call this morning with legislative leaders ("the quadrant") and she said she raised the issue of passing a $100M fund to provide relief to shuttered small businesses and individuals suffering financially.
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I got a little sidetracked yesterday with breaking news, phone interviews and Zoom meetings and apparently, according to some people, wasn't tweeting enough about Republicans not accepting the election results.
"This is nothing more than political theater," state Rep. Cynthia Johnson, D-Detroit, says in remarks at emergency Senate/House oversight committee meeting, where Republicans plan to vote on subpoenas for election records from @MichSoS. "This is crazy and we should not allow it."
"Where is the evidence?" asked state Rep. @darrincamilleri, D-Trenton.
Camilleri says @MI_Dems have accepted the election results that Republicans will have a 58-52 majority next year, questions why GOP doesn't do the same with outcome of the presidential election in Michigan.
Rep. Matt Hall, R-Marshall, said the subpoenas and investigation of the election results is "part of the healing process" for voters in Michigan "to make sure that the people of this state can feel comfortable that this was a fair process where legal votes were counted only."
▪️952 on Tuesday, ↗️25% in a week
▪️60% are in outstate hospitals
▪️Outstate hospitalizations ↗️48% in a week
▪️Grand Rapids region ↗️51% in wk
▪️Confirmed & Suspected COVID hospitalizations ↗️18%, +31% in outstate hospitals
.@crainsdetroit has interactive graphics detailing hospitalizations numbers for Southeast Michigan, outstate and combined, as well as positivity rates and the rolling 7-day new case average here (no paywall): crainsdetroit.com/coronavirus/co…
HAPPENING NOW: @GovWhitmer holding a press conference wearing a mask (first time, I think), raising alarms about the rising #COVID19 case counts.
She's reiterating public health code from DHHS that masks are still required inside public-facing businesses. clickondetroit.com/health/good-he…
AD WATCH: @ProgressMich has a new claiming Republican-nominated Supreme Court candidate Brock Swartzle was a “partisan operative at the center of a legislative sex scandal.”
I’m pretty sure Brock wasn’t a party to Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat’s extramarital affair.
This ad claim focuses on a lawsuit filed by Courser & Gamrat's whistleblowing ex-aides who sued the House, saying they told Swartzle they had “undeniable physical proof” Courser anonymously sent out emails smearing himself (ie. the controlled burn tape). detroitnews.com/story/news/loc…
Brock Swartzle was chief legal counsel when Courser & Gamrat's aides, Keith Allard & Ben Graham, came to him and then-House Chief of Staff Norm Saari about their concerns about working under the two reps while they were having an affair.
THEY PLOTTED ON CAPITOL GROUNDS: On June 18, some militia members charged today in a plot to kidnap @GovWhitmer met at a Second Amendment rally at the Capitol, the FBI says.
Lansing Pulse headline that day: "Protesters from the left and right mix peacefully at the Capitol"
STORY: Feds foil militia plot to kidnap Michigan @GovWhitmer from her Up North vacation home