News highlights from the last 7 days

City Pulse News Rewind: GM investing $100M in Delta plant

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City Pulse News Rewind is a look back at five noteworthy items that made the news over the last week.

GM investing $100M in Delta plant

General Motors will start making the GMC Acadia at the Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant as well as prepare the factory for future SUV and full-size pickup production. The Big Three company announced plans with a multi-billion-dollar price tag, including another $53 million at other Michigan plants. The biggest investment: $2 billion for Spring Hill, Tennessee, to convert the plant to be GM’s third electric car facility.

Another round of Trump vs. Whitmer

Already the subject of an alleged kidnapping plot, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer fended off another attacker: Donald Trump. The president, campaigning in Muskegon Saturday, told thousands of supporters, “You got to get your governor to open up your state, OK. And get your schools open. The schools have to be open.” As the crowd chanted “lock her up,” Trump said, “Lock them all up.” Whitmer told “Meet the Press”: “The president is at it again, and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism. It is wrong. It’s got to end.” Even Republican state House Speaker Lee Chatfield thought Trump crossed the line. “She was literally just targeted,” Chatfield said. “Let’s debate differences. Let’s win elections. But not that.”

COVID-19 fears persist as second wave looms

Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail is skeptical of a recent proposal from Republican lawmakers that would direct county health officials to take action on COVID-19 based exclusively on local case numbers instead of a “one-size-fits-all approach” based on regions. The plan wouldn’t override statewide health orders, but it aims to allow local public health officials to set more localized — and perhaps lighter — restrictions based on local metrics. “COVID-19 cases don’t always conveniently abide by county lines,” Vail explained. The concept arrives as Michigan surpasses 147,000 COVID-19 cases — including about 10,000 tracked in the last seven days. Nearly 6,000 cases have been found in Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties. About 500 of those cases in Greater Lansing were reported in the last week. Ingham County alone has recorded at least 4,266 cases and 60 virus-related deaths to date.

Tensions remain high ahead of Election Day

Much to the dismay of Second Amendment activists, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced last week that the open carry of guns at polling places would be banned on Election Day. Benson said the prohibition ensures that voters aren’t intimidated, threatened or harassed. Legal scholars have since suggested that the weapon ban would be challenged with a lawsuit. Benson’s announcement follows a ruling from the Court of Appeals that prevents late-arriving ballots from being counted past the date of Election Day. A prior ruling had found that ballots could be counted up to two weeks late, as long as they were postmarked before the General Election. It’s unclear if the latest decision will be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Sparrow tops 200,000 tests

Sparrow processed its 200,000th COVID-19 test this week and East Lansing police officers issued three $500 citations last weekend for violations of the county’s 25-person limit on outdoor gatherings, a lack of social distancing and failure of guests to wear face masks.

In related news:

Prosecutors also dropped criminal charges against Owosso barber Karl Manke who gained notoriety earlier this year for blatantly defying Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders.

More than two dozen Peckham employees in Lansing also tested positive for COVID-19 this week, triggering a suspension of company operations while officials work to mitigate the spread.

As cases spread across Michigan, the Washtenaw County Health Department also issued a stay-in-place order for University of Michigan students on Wednesday that lasts through Nov. 3. Vail said local case counts don’t require a similar move for Michigan State University students after a rapid spike in campus-related cases in recent months continues to taper off into October.

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