michigan

A $2.5 million federal grant awarded to Michigan will be used to address health care staffing shortages in the state’s rural communities.

Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity says the grant will support the addition of more than 430 new health care workers over the next four years.

The agency will lead MiREACH, a network of employer-led collaboratives, to identify targeted health care occupations based on employer demand and feedback.

Online sports betting and casino games will start in Michigan at noon Friday, an expansion of options for gamblers who now wager through offshore sites.

State regulators have authorized licenses for all three Detroit casinos and seven of the dozen tribes with “Class III” casinos.

Additional operator and platform provider licenses are expected to be approved in coming weeks.

Millions of free masks are being provided to Michigan residents.

Michigan Mask Aid is an initiative from the state health department to ensure everyone has a mask.

There are a couple of locations to pick them up in Gogebic and Iron Counites.

These include the Iron County Health Department in Caspian and UPCAP Services in Ironwood.

There are also a couple of locations in Dickinson County.

It is recommended you call ahead.

Gogebic County Location:

State leaders are asking Michigan residents to beat lines and avoid crowds by shopping at local small businesses on Black Friday.

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. is encouraging shopping, eating and traveling locally through a new “Support Local” campaign in order to make sure small businesses make it through the winter.

One in five jobs in Michigan are in the retail industry, according to the Michigan Retailers Association. It says that in 2017, Michigan residents spent $18.5 billion on out-of-state retailers.

Wildlife officials in many states are issuing lots more hunting and fishing licenses this year — apparently because of the coronavirus.

Americans who are weary of being cooped up at home and wearing masks elsewhere are taking refuge in outdoors sports that offer safety and solitude.

In Michigan, the number of people getting hunting licenses for the first time in at least five years has jumped 80 percent.

Michigan’s health department has issued a mask requirement and other coronavirus restrictions just days after the state Supreme Court’s invalidation of a 75-year-old emergency powers law that underpinned Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s orders to control the pandemic.

Whitmer on Monday asked the Supreme Court to declare its ruling not binding until Oct. 30, to give her administration, the Republican-led Legislature and local health departments time to put alternative measures in place.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is announcing a $500 million plan to upgrade drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.

The initiative is called MI Clean Water. It calls for creating a pot of money from which local governments could apply for grants or loans to improve their water treatment systems.