Education Secretary Miguel Cardona says there’s a ‘sense of urgency’ to reopen schools following a year of halted learning because of the pandemic.

New research suggests that microplastics act like a chemical sponge, soaking up contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. Those chemicals, in turn, appear to be causing deformities in larval fish.

A warming climate means trouble for northern Michigan’s boreal forests. By importing saplings common to southern Michigan, foresters aim to help trees get a head-start in building the forests of the future.

Local officials in hundreds of Michigan communities installed more than 1,100 absentee ballot drop boxes last year, state data shows. Election officials say new regulations proposed by Senate Republicans threaten to limit the popular option in future elections.

Vaccinating Michigan teens and young adults will be key to lifting pandemic limits and reaching herd immunity. Health officials are scrambling to make COVID vaccines available to high school students, who are getting shots at far lower rates.

State Republicans pushed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for months to set metrics for relaxing pandemic restrictions. The governor did so Thursday, tying the loosening of pandemic rules to state vaccination rates. Republicans don’t like that metric.

Advocates, state and county agencies, private agency, and caregivers for the elderly and disabled pretty much all agree: something needs to be done to address the shortage of workers.

Starting this summer, eligible families are expected to get monthly payments, through expansions in child tax credits, to support the cost of raising kids.

The study, released after the CDC relaxed new guidelines for vaccinated people, is a reminder for Michiganders that your immunity against the virus isn’t fully realized until at least two weeks after the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said she’d end long waits. Two years later, it can take three months just to get an appointment in some branches.

A judge ruled Thursday that the $19.3 million project, which would allow scientists to test technology that allows some fish to pass through a dam on the Boardman River while others are kept out, can’t proceed without voters’ consent.

Detroit Charter Revision Commission says the City’s inadequate funding to inform residents of proposed changes to the City Charter is a form of “voter suppression.”