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VIRUS OUTBREAK-MICHIGAN

8 Michigan counties drop orders requiring masks in schools

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Eight Michigan counties are dropping masking requirements for schools and day care facilities, pointing to sharp declines in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations and many children’s ability to get vaccinated. The announcements by Oakland County, Washtenaw County and six counties in northern Michigan come a day after Ingham County lifted its mandate. The orders will end starting Feb. 18 or Feb. 28. Local health officials strongly recommend masking in public indoor settings, including educational settings. Schools will decide whether to still require masks. Wayne County, which includes Detroit, is the lone county without a plan to rescind its mandate.

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Canadian judge orders an end to blockade at border bridge

WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) — A Canadian judge has ordered protesters at the Ambassador Bridge over the U.S-Canadian border to end the 5-day-old blockade that has disrupted the flow of goods between the two countries and forced the auto industry on both sides to roll back production. It is not immediately clear when or if law enforcement officers will be sent in to remove the demonstrators, who parked their pickups and other vehicles in a protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions and an outpouring of fury toward Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Voting, payday lending ballot drives advance in Michigan

DELTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Ballot drives to expand voting options, restrict payday loans and overhaul Michigan’s citizens initiative process have cleared procedural steps. Organizers will soon start collecting signatures needed to make the ballot. Promote the Vote wants to create over a week of early voting and let all voters request an absentee ballot for future elections. Michiganders for Fair Lending wants to slash interest rates charged by payday lenders. Michigan’s election board also procedurally cleared a different voting rights initiative and a measure to eliminate lawmakers’ ability to pass certain ballot drives without the governor’s signature. Another initiative would decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms.

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Study: Fewer crashes after Utah sets strictest DUI law in US

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Officials say car crashes and traffic deaths dropped in Utah after the state enacted the nation’s strictest drunken driving laws. A study published Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests Utah’s roads became safer after the state lowered the drunken driving threshold to .05% blood-alcohol content. Crash and fatality rates fell in neighboring states but not as significantly as they did in Utah. In a state where politics is heavily influenced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the findings are a victory for lawmakers who argued the change was about safety, not religion. The state lowered the threshold over tourism industry objections.

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EXPLAINER: A look at what’s behind at the protests in Canada

TORONTO (AP) — For five days, a blockade of pickups, cars and a handful commercial of trucks has choked off traffic at the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing between Canada and the United States. There are blockades at two other crossings as well. And for two weeks, downtown streets in Canada’s capital have been snarled by a convoy of semis and other vehicles as protesters rail against COVID-19 restrictions and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Much of it can be tied to anger against Trudeau, a Liberal Party politician who has been prime minister since 2015 and is loathed by many conservatives.

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US urges Canada to use federal powers to end bridge blockade

TORONTO (AP) — The Biden administration urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government Thursday to use its federal powers to end a truck blockade by Canadians protesting the country’s COVID-19 restrictions that is tightening the screws on the auto industry, forcing Ford, General Motors and other car companies to shut down plants or otherwise scale back production on both sides of the U.S. border. The bumper-to-bumper demonstration entered its fourth day Thursday at the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit. It is disrupting the flow of auto parts and other products back and forth across the border.

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Deaf musicians part of Super Bowl halftime show for 1st time

The Super Bowl will include a spectacular halftime show, as usual. Some of the biggest names in hip-hop will entertain the masses while championship-contending teams take a break. For the first time, two of the performers are deaf. Dr. Dre added deaf stars Warren “Wawa” Snipe and Sean Forbes to Sunday’s lineup that also includes Eminem and Snoop Dogg. Wawa and Forbes will use their hands, body and facial expressions to deliver unique renditions of the songs in American Sign Language as the superstars sing on stage in an inclusive and accessible show.

HATCHET ATTACK-POLICE SHOOTING

Deputy shoots, kills man who attacked another with hatchet

ELLIS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — State police say a northern Michigan sheriff’s deputy fatally shot a man who attacked another deputy with a hatchet . Police say a Cheboygan County sheriff’s deputy responding to a domestic disturbance at a home in Ellis Township shot the 32-year-old suspect after he struck another deputy with the hatchet. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name hasn’t been released. The deputy received non-life-threatening injuries. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. Cheboygan County Sheriff Dale Clarmont has issued a statement saying “the deputies responded in accordance with departmental policy and training.

OFFICER SHOT

Man sentenced for shooting Monroe officer who fell into coma

MONROE, Mich. (AP) — A Ypsilanti man was sentenced Thursday to serve 25 to 50 years in prison under a plea agreement for a shooting that injured a Monroe police officer and put her in a coma. Twenty-one-year-old Kordney McDonald pleaded no contest in November to charges of assault with intent to murder, carjacking and assaulting/resisting a police officer causing serious impairment. Cpl. Renae Peterson was shot on a busy Monroe street on May 24, 2020, while investigating a carjacking. Two bullets struck Peterson below her protective vest. Monroe County Prosecutor MichaelRoehrig say she underwent numerous surgeries and spent 17 days in a coma,.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MICHIGAN

Ingham lifts school mask mandate; other counties may follow

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Ingham County is lifting indoor mask requirements at Lansing-area schools and colleges starting Feb. 19, citing a drop in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations. Other Michigan counties may follow suit in coming days, leaving it up to schools to decide whether to mandate masks. Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail points to a 78% decline in the county’s case rate over two weeks and how more kids in the area are vaccinated than in the rest of Michigan. Vail urges schools to still maintain strict masking policies, especially in areas with substantial or high transmission levels.