Despite fears that absentee ballots would be delayed and uncounted, few are complaining about local mail delivery, officials say. In fact, the U.S. Postal Service acquitted itself fairly well in a test set by Bridge to mimic mail-in ballots.

About 8 in 10 Michigan K-12 school children can go back to school buildings this fall if they want; the majority also have the option of continuing to learn from home during the pandemic.

A few dozen districts are offering parents a choice between in-person learning and online learning. Many are starting the school year remotely and planning to transition to face-to-face instruction when conditions allow.

The Detroit district and the union had been at odds over safe working conditions for teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The deal comes about a week after union members voted to allow leadership to launch a safety strike if certain demands weren’t met.

State law gives schools wide discretion on whether to inform the public if there’s an outbreak. That must change, says a union representing 120,000 teachers and support staff.

A Democratic super PAC targeting Senate hopeful John James gets the math right, but uses a hypothetical argument to come to faulty conclusions. But the Republican also is vague about exactly what he’d do about health care.

An Ann Arbor citizens group’s analysis of court records indicates that African Americans are far more likely to be charged with high-level felonies and, at least in one judge’s courtroom, more likely to face harsher punishment.

As Democrats turn to virtual rallies and phone calls amid the COVID-19 pandemic, masked-up Republicans resumed door-knocking in June, have hosted “MAGA meetups” across the state and will welcome Vice President Mike Pence to Traverse City on Friday.

As the coronavirus surged through Michigan last spring, doctors often gave new patients unnecessary antibiotics as they awaited test results, resulting in resistance to antibiotics later in their hospital stays when they developed infections.

Bridge was joined by author Kevin Boyle and by Daniel Baxter for an engaging discussion of 2004’s National Book Award winner for nonfiction.

The U.S. Department of Justice demands records from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other Democratic governors who "issued orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands." A Whitmer spokeswoman says the request is “election-year politics.”

The governor’s office and state health officials have yet to identify schools with active coronavirus outbreaks. And under current state policy, there is no requirement of a public announcement.