Michigan

DETROIT (AP) — Despite fears that the coronavirus pandemic will worsen, Victor Gibson said he’s not planning to take advantage of Michigan’s expanded vote-by-mail system when he casts his ballot in November.

The retired teacher from Detroit just isn’t sure he can trust it. Many Black Americans share similar concerns and are planning to vote in person on Election Day, even as mail-in voting expands to more states as a safety precaution during the pandemic.

(AP) --- A white couple was arrested after at least one handgun was pulled on a Black woman and her daughters during a videotaped confrontation in a restaurant parking lot in Michigan, authorities said Thursday.

Jillian Wuestenberg, 32, and Eric Wuestenberg, 42, were charged Thursday with felonious assault, Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said in a release. It was not immediately clear when they would be arraigned or if they have attorneys who could comment on the allegations.

HOLLAND, Mich. (AP) — Severe thunderstorms accompanied by winds approaching 70 mph battered lower Michigan late Wednesday as the remnants of Tropical Storm Cristobal moved out of the Midwest and into Canada.

Cristobal ended a trek from the Gulf of Mexico up through the midsection of the U.S. that caused flooding across the region, downed trees and power lines and damaged homes and businesses in Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A hydroelectric dam that failed to hold back floodwaters this week in Michigan was the target of lengthy investigations by federal regulators, who revoked the facility’s license over safety violations two years before the flooding that forced 10,000 people to evacuate their homes.

EDENVILLE, Mich. (AP) — Two breached dams caused by several days of rainfall and rising water on Tuesday forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people in mid-Michigan, where the governor said one downtown could be “under approximately 9 feet of water” by morning.

For the second time in less than 24 hours, families living along two lakes and a river were ordered Tuesday to leave home.

WARREN, Mich. (AP) — More than 130,000 autoworkers returned to factories across the U.S. for the first time in nearly two months Monday in one of the biggest steps yet to restart American industry, while an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus yielded encouraging results in a small and extremely early test.

Stocks rallied on the vaccine news and signs that the worst of the crisis has passed in many countries. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared about 900 points, or nearly 4%.

DETROIT (AP) — Defying a wave of layoffs that has sent the U.S. job market into its worst catastrophe on record, at least one major industry is making a comeback: Tens of thousands of auto workers are returning to factories that have been shuttered since mid-March due to fears of spreading the coronavirus.

Until now, it was mostly hair salons, restaurants, tattoo parlors and other small businesses reopening in some parts of the country. But the auto industry is among the first major sectors of the economy to restart its engine.

DETROIT (AP) — After a devastating start to the Democratic primary, Joe Biden’s campaign was revived when black voters in South Carolina and throughout the South overwhelmingly sided with him. Now that he’s the presumptive Democratic nominee, black voters and leaders are pressing for him to pick a black woman as his running mate.

Biden launched a committee last week to begin vetting possible candidates for the vice presidency, a process he has said will likely last through July. He has already committed to picking a woman.

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A woman, her adult son and husband have been charged in the fatal shooting of a security guard who refused to let her daughter enter a Family Dollar in Michigan because she wasn’t wearing a face mask to protect against transmission of the coronavirus.

Calvin Munerlyn was shot Friday at the store just north of downtown Flint a short time after telling Sharmel Teague’s daughter she had to leave because she lacked a mask, according to Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday that Michigan’s stay-at-home order remains in effect through May 15 despite Republicans’ refusal to extend her underlying coronavirus emergency declaration, as she amended it to allow construction, real estate and more outdoor work to resume in person next week.