A top concern for local election workers throughout the country this year is their own safety.

A government study says nearly half of the tap water in the U_S_ contains potentially harmful compounds known as “forever chemicals.”.

The Great Lakes might be home to the world’s most abundant supply of freshwater whitefish, and to many, that treat tastes even better when it is smoked to give it even more flavor.

To some, staying in a haunted hotel or Airbnb is a bucket list experience, but when I found out my friends booked an Airbnb in a building that used to be a psychiatric hospital, all I could think was that some ghosts were going to visit me at night.

Giving the vaccine to teachers and other school staff “will help protect our communities," Pennsylvania Gov. The Department of Health and Human Services has ordered all states to make teachers, school staff, bus drivers and child care workers eligible for shots. In Wisconsin, teachers will get priority when the state receives its first shipment of about 48,000 doses of the J&J vaccine, health authorities said. In Texas, where teachers have been battling to gain access to shots, state officials on Wednesday ordered vaccine providers to begin administering shots to school workers. “The more people we can get the safe and effective vaccine, the faster we can return to a sense of normalcy,” Michigan Gov.

Activists Tyasha Harrison, left, and Holly T. Bird pose along the Grand Traverse Bay waterfront in Traverse City, Mich., Feb. 13, 2021. “In this age, no place is an island,” said Warren Call, president of a business organization in Traverse City, the county seat. Producers of the fruit for which Traverse City bills itself “cherry capital of the world” are struggling to survive. The area remains solidly Republican, although Democrats have captured two county commission seats representing Traverse City, which has a gay mayor. Her organization formed after a Black Lives Matter rally along the Traverse City waterfront last summer.

Gretchen Whitmer took legal action Friday to shut down a pipeline that carries oil beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes. “Enbridge has routinely refused to take action to protect our Great Lakes and the millions of Americans who depend on them for clean drinking water and good jobs,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. "They have repeatedly violated the terms of the 1953 easement by ignoring structural problems that put our Great Lakes and our families at risk. One of the pipeline supports was damaged this summer, apparently by a boat cable. Placing the pipes beneath a busy shipping lane with no protective cover violated the state's duty to protect the public's interest in Great Lakes waters and bottomlands, the document said.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Voters across the U.S. received anonymous robocalls in the days and weeks before Election Day urging them to “stay safe and stay home” — an ominous warning that election experts said could be an effort to scare voters into sitting out the election. The FBI is investigating calls that seek to discourage people from voting, a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security told reporters Tuesday. The brief calls, which featured a computerized female voice, made no mention of the election. Stay safe and stay home.”Whoever created the robocalls used sophisticated tactics, routing the calls in a way that masked their identity and location, Quilici said. Nessel filed charges Oct. 1 against two political operatives accused of orchestrating a series of robocalls “aimed at suppressing the vote” in the general election.

(AP Photo/John Flesher)WASHINGTON – Education Secretary Betsy DeVos planned a “Moms for Trump” rally in her home state of Michigan. It's long been one of the benefits of incumbency that a president can enlist his Cabinet to promote administration accomplishments. “The Trump administration has completely obliterated that line," said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, which describes itself as a nonpartisan watchdog organization. "The White House is now the seat of government, where the president lives, and one of his chief campaign props. “The Trump administration takes the Hatch Act seriously and all events are conducted in compliance with the law,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer campaigns with Dan O'Neil, a Democratic candidate for the Michigan House in Traverse City, Mich., Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. Whitmer visited the area the day after police announced a foiled plot to kidnap the governor. (AP Photo/John Flesher)

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – The Trump administration plans to lift endangered species protections for gray wolves across most of the nation by the end of the year, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday. The administration also is pushing ahead with a rollback of protections for migratory birds despite a recent setback in federal court, she said. Skipwith said the Fish and Wildlife Service was still evaluating the judge’s decision and planned to issue a final rule by the end of the year. The agency remains committed to “making sure we’re not criminalizing these unintentional actions” while stepping up efforts to protect migratory birds, she said.