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U.P. airports to receive funds from CARES Act

MARQUETTE — U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters on Wednesday announced the Department of Transportation will award more than $8.7 million to airports across the Upper Peninsula.

This Federal Aviation Administration grant is supplemented by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to support airports affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sawyer International Airport will receive $3,786,194 to construct, improve and repair utilities.

Delta County Airport will receive $1,848,736 to install an emergency generator and reconstruct runway lighting while Ford Airport in Dickinson County will receive $3,067,462 to rehabilitate runways.

“This investment will make traveling to and from the Upper Peninsula safer and more efficient,” said Stabenow, D-Michigan, in a statement. “Safe and reliable air travel will also help encourage businesses to invest in the region and create jobs.”

Peters, D-Bloomfield Hills, said safe and reliable air travel to and from the U.P. is critical for Michigan small businesses and to connect to new markets and opportunities.

“I’m pleased to announce these grants, which will make key airport infrastructure upgrades and improve airport operations,” Peters said in a statement.

More information on the Department of Transportation grant program can be found at www.dot.gov/ grants.

NMU releases enrollment report

Northern Michigan University’s 10th day enrollment report shows continued positive strides related to retention amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as enrollment in graduate and online Global Campus programs.

NMU has also increased the total population served through its learning options and its Educational Access Network.

Graduate enrollment is up 6.4% overall, to 634. Global Campus head counts have increased 16.8%, to 611. The total traditional head count for undergraduate and graduate students is 7,368, a decrease of 4.7% compared with last year.

“The uncertainty with COVID-19 made it really difficult to get a sense for what students were planning to do for this fall; many made last-minute decisions,” said Jason Nicholas, director of Institutional Research and Analysis, in a statement. “Early in the cycle, we saw indications that the numbers could potentially decrease more than they have. As the summer progressed, they improved a bit — not to the level of last year, but better than earlier projections.

“We’ll probably spend the rest of the semester trying to understand the full effects of COVID-19 on our university statistics. It’s hard to get a sense of what changes are based on demographic impacts versus student decision-making.”

Nicholas said the coronavirus significantly impacted NMU’s ability to deliver community learning programs, but those losses were more than offset by gains in Educational Access Network subscribers. The EAN delivers high-speed internet to K-12 and college and tribal partners, as well as lifelong learners throughout the Upper Peninsula. It serves 6,868 people, a 48% increase over last year.

When the EAN number is combined with the traditional head count and community learning program participants, NMU serves a total of 16,086 people across its educational offerings.

NMU’s 10th day enrollment report was released on Wednesday, which was earlier than usual. The start of fall classes was moved up by a week so the holiday break can begin just before Thanksgiving, negating the necessity of students having to travel back to school for the remainder of the semester. It was believed cutting down on travel time would decrease the potential of COVID-19 exposure for the students.

NMU dashboard updated

NMU indicated on its reporting dashboard that as of Wednesday afternoon, NMU has had 42 positive cases of COVID-19 since July 27. There have been positives from 24 on-campus students, 14 off-campus students and four employees.

Also as of Wednesday afternoon, NMU has six active positive cases — five off-campus students and one employee.

Mackinac exposure site ID’d

The Luce-Mackinac-Alger Schoolcraft District Health Department has been notified that one Mackinac County restaurant had a possible exposure to COVID-19.

Anyone present at the Driftwood Motel Restaurant & Sports Bar, 590 N. State St., in St. Ignace between noon and 1 p.m. Monday is urged to monitor for symptoms and contact the LMAS District Health Department at 906-643-1100 or 1-800-562-4832 with questions or concerns.

Renewal process easier

The benefits renewal process is now simpler for roughly 2 million food, health care, child care and cash assistance clients with the rollout of new, streamlined benefits renewal forms, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced on Wednesday.

Michigan is the first state to have this kind of streamlined application and renewal in print and online. Project Re:New, a collaboration between MDHHS and Detroit-based Civilla, began in 2018 and spans the department’s four largest assistance programs.

The changes will help MDHHS serve Michigan residents and families better and faster during the COVID-19 pandemic, which it said has left federal agencies and some state governments struggling to reduce application or renewal backlogs.

The changes also should allow more more hotline traffic across assistance programs, which are a temporary lifeline for many residents, to be handled.

Project Re:New follows the 2018 launch of a simplified application that was also completed in collaboration with Civilla through an effort called Project Re:Form. The new renewal forms feature human-centered design to emphasize urgent information and outline clear steps, deliver directions in plain language and incorporate feedback from clients and caseworkers on their experiences completing or processing forms.

Instead of using a renewal form that includes questions that might not apply to an individual’s assistance program, clients will complete one core redetermination form, and a one- to two-page supplemental form specific to each of their assistance programs.

Visit www.civilla.com/paper-enrollment for details.

Fisheries aid requested

The bipartisan Senate and House Great Lakes task forces on Wednesday requested that tribal, commercial, charter and recreational fisheries in the Great Lakes be made eligible for future emergency funding provided by Congress because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter was led by Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, and Rob Portman R-Ohio; Michigan Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-9th District, Debbie Dingell, D-12th District, and Bill Huizenga, R-2nd District; and Ohio Rep. David Joyce, R-14th District.

Previous emergency packages, like the CARES Act, have provided money to help fisheries across the country, but the law has been interpreted so that fisheries in the Great Lakes basin do not qualify for assistance.

“As in the rest of the country, the economic calamity stemming from the pandemic is significantly harming our commercial, charter, recreational and tribal fisheries. It is estimated that these fisheries and charter businesses have suffered up to $50 million in losses over the last few months,” wrote the bipartisan group of lawmakers. “We support your efforts to help our nation’s fisheries, tribes and commercial and recreational fishing industries, and ask that you work with us to ensure any future coronavirus assistance is also available to our tribes and businesses in the Great Lakes basin.”

Judge rules for administration

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office on Wednesday released a following statement from Press Secretary Tiffany Brown after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of the Whitmer Administration in Castillo v. Whitmer, a case challenging a testing plan to protect agricultural and food processing workers.

The statement reads: “In a 3-0 decision, today a federal court of appeals upheld the state’s power to require certain agricultural employers and housing providers to implement testing protocols among Michigan workers who are especially at risk to COVID-19. The governor welcomes this decision upholding her strategy to save lives and protect the food supply.”

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