Facing criticism over a $155,000 payout to her former health director and other severances, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issues an executive order saying the deals can continue but must be based on a “reasonable” belief they’ll save taxpayers money.

The expanded eligibility is a month ahead of President Biden’s plan for universal U.S. eligibility by May 1. In the Upper Peninsula, one health department threw wide open its scheduling Friday, immediately offering appointments to any resident 16 and older.

The plan, which comes two months before the day Whitmer has said Enbridge Energy must stop transporting petroleum through Line 5, outlines investing in rail and storage, incentivizing energy efficiency, and taking other steps to offset the loss of Line 5.

Thousands of Michigan families will see payments reduced, as the COVID stimulus caps premiums at 8.5 percent of incomes. Under Obamacare, income limits priced many out of the market.

Michigan is among 20 states mulling bills that would bar transgender athletes from competing on girls’ school teams. Critics call the measures a “disgusting” attack.

Michigan residents 60 and older are making up far fewer of new coronavirus infections, a likely result of the nearly 1 million seniors who have gotten at least the first vaccine dose.

Bipartisan legislation advanced Wednesday to allow expungement after three years, but it faces opposition from sheriffs, prosecutors and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.

The Great Start Readiness Program offers state-funded preschool for 4-year-olds from low- and moderate-income families. But funding hasn’t been boosted since 2014, leaving school districts to make up the difference.

The residents of Bois Blanc, in the Straits of Mackinac, were ready when a small, single-engine plane landed Tuesday with an island’s worth of doses.

Some $1 billion in federal funding remains unspent, as Whitmer vetoes funding for small firms as well as Republicans’ efforts to weaken her pandemic powers.

As climate change complicates Lake Erie’s algae problem, scientists say farmers must do far more to reduce phosphorus runoff. But will enough farmers change their ways without a government mandate?

Changes to tax policy buried in the American Rescue Plan could dramatically help the working poor, pushing a quarter of Michigan’s poor children out of poverty.