| August 27, 2021 
 Even in districts where masks are optional and many students are certain to be unmasked, parents still should send children to school wearing facial coverings, doctors said. “There is still some protection that your child will get,” said Dr. Sandy Patel, pediatric hospitalist at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Children in masks inhale less measurable virus so even if they do get sick, hopefully, they will not get as sick, Patel said. Experts say masks work best when everyone wears them and doctors, including Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, have recommended all students and school staff wear masks while indoors. READ MORE ►'Liar,' 'coward:' Large crowd ridicules Kent County health official at meeting over mask mandate  Yesterday marked Women’s Equality Day and the 101st anniversary of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote in 1920. Gaining voting rights was a huge accomplishment in the women’s rights movement at the time. In 2021, women’s advocates are still fighting for change, but the issues affecting women today look different than what they were over a century ago. Bonsitu Kitaba, deputy legal director for the ACLU of Michigan, said she’s excited for the more recent movements of women’s rights, which has become more inclusive of women of color, transgender women and gender nonconforming individuals. READ MORE  The first drafts of state House and Senate districts in South and Central Michigan are taking shape as the state’s independent redistricting commission nears completion of its first week of map-drawing. So far, the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission has laid down preliminary lines based primarily on equal population, and will later reassess for other factors, including communities of interest, racial polarization data and federal Voting Rights Act requirements. All of the maps at this stage are preliminary and could be changed at any time. You can see the initial drawings here: READ MORE ►As Michigan's redistricting deadline looms, chair of commission has missed 10 of last 14 meetings
 Getting ready for the weekend? Here's the weather outlook from MLive Chief Meteorologist Mark Torregrossa: "This weekend in Michigan will seem more like July than almost September. It’s definitely going to be a hot and humid weekend. We will also have a couple rounds of thunderstorms. There will be many more dry hours than wet hours this weekend. At any one spot, you could have two rounds of thunderstorms, with each round lasting an hour or two. In this heat and humidity, storms can get potent and even become severe." READ MORE  Fans of all things fall, here’s some good news: Though it still feels like summer, Michigan’s apple season is about to get rolling. And if you can’t wait to crunch into a Honeycrisp or bake an apple pie, Michigan State University Extension data collected earlier in the growing season suggested that the 2021 harvest dates would be just a few days earlier than normal. Each year, MSU Extension releases a list of predicted harvest dates for some of the most popular and well-known apple varieties in Michigan. You can check out when your favorite apple is predicted to arrive for the season: TAKE A LOOK ►Michigan apple harvest expected to shrink after April frosts Get your local news 24/7 Connect with MLive
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