| November 2, 2021 
 Under ideal circumstances, Michigan’s independent redistricting commission would have been adopting final versions of new House, Senate and Congressional maps by Nov. 1. Instead, the 13-member citizen panel tasked with drawing updated political maps for the next decade is entering what’s set to be a long week of deliberations before approving draft maps by Friday, which will kick off another round of public comment and final votes on the new district lines on or after Dec. 30. Initially delayed by late U.S. Census data, the commission’s mapping process was crammed into several weeks of back-to-back meetings that stretched on for hours at a time. The commissioners’ work thus far has come under scrutiny from observers across the political spectrum as they inch closer to a set of maps that must meet a slew of state and federal requirements to withstand expected legal challenges. READ MORE  Major state investment in electric vehicle infrastructure and workforce training – apart from any federal dollars – would start Michigan on the road to lead the nation’s clean mobility industry, advocates argued from the steps of state’s capitol building. Nonprofit group Clean Fuels Michigan and two dozen other agencies and companies collectively called on state lawmakers to spend $600 million on a roadmap they suggest will drive the economy into a future with Michigan still the world’s auto capital. They intend to lobby legislators this week to find bill sponsors while infrastructure spending remains a nationally trending conversation point. READ MORE  Former Gov. Rick Snyder’s public health director says he can’t be charged with manslaughter for his role in the Flint water crisis because he owed no personal duty to individual citizens of the state. Nick Lyon, the former director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, makes the claim in a motion to dismiss the 10 charges he’s facing in Genesee Circuit Court, the second time he’s asked Judge Elizabeth Kelly to throw out the pending nine counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of willful neglect of duty. READ MORE  The Lions’ losing streak reached an NFL-worst 12 games on Sunday with an embarrassing 44-6 loss against the lowly Philadelphia Eagles. And it appears many fans decided they didn't want to chance being witness to a Halloween fright at Ford Field. The Lions reported a paid crowd of 47,129 on Sunday, their smallest crowd for a game since 2010. And it would be surprising if even that many people actually made it through the turnstiles at Ford Field. The seats might have been 25% full at kickoff, and the joint never looked more than about 60% full. Fans are clearly fed up with another league-worst losing streak and starting to hit the Ford family in the bottom line. READ MORE  Child care workers and local and state officials agree it will take work from a wide variety of people to fix the shortage of child care in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. With Ann Arbor Public Schools largely discontinuing its before- and after-school care programming for 2021, local child care providers say it’s imperative that local, state and federal governments step up to support child care in Washtenaw County. “I feel we’re at a reckoning,” Community Day Care Executive Director Laura Stidham said. “The old tuition-based model is hurting our future. I know dozens of other centers just like mine and if we don’t do something to provide financial relief in the future, we will not be able to survive.” READ MORE
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