Category: Coronavirus
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Review: Flint native filmmaker’s latest production puts pandemic focus on frontline workers
By Harold C. Ford “Private industry really stepped up.” –Erin Brennan, emergency room physician “On the Line” is a refreshing antidote to a steady stream of stories about a chief executive who mishandled a pandemic and lied to the nation about its worst health crisis in a hundred years. A short film, lasting less than…
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Low income and marginalized voters face many challenges, Neighborhoods Without Borders panel warns
By Coner Segren With fewer than three months until election day, and fewer than three weeks until mail-in ballots begin going out, Michigan voters still are facing a high degree of uncertainty around a national election that will be unprecedented in the modern era. In an effort to educate potential voters, the group Neighborhoods Without…
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Village Life: A reclaimed piano reclaims grace in a time of plague
By Jan Worth-Nelson Some days, no matter how hard you try to stay sane, it’s just too much. Picture me roaming around my house — a sprawling old place with several routes for pacing and hiding — where we’ve been mostly cloistered, like any reasonable oldsters shrinking away from COVID-19, since March. Picture me agitated,…
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Overview: Fifth Flint Youth Film Festival powered through the pandemic, thanks to teamwork and YouTube
By Patsy Isenberg COVID-19 has thrown a big hit to performance arts and entertainment. Visual arts are coming back, now that the FIA and galleries in the area have reopened. Theatre is the most challenging since audience members could wear masks and social distance in their seats but the performers need the freedom to interact…
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Commentary: COVID-19, mail-in voting challenge the USPS, election clerks
By Paul Rozycki What would it take to make 2020 the most disruptive year in decades? How about a global pandemic, where the U.S. has more cases than every other nation on earth? How about an economic collapse, with unemployment worse than anything seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s? How about racial divisions…
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Funding for Flint Registry to expire in 2021 unless Congress acts
By Coner Segren Without action from Congress, funding for the Flint Registry will expire in June of 2021, several top Michigan elected officials and a health expert announced at a press conference Aug. 26. Congressman Dan Kildee, Mayor Sheldon Neeley, Senator Gary Peters, and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha all spoke in favor of legislation designed to…
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Flint voters experience troubled waters of democracy leading up to Nov. 3 election
By Tom Travis What is the prospect for accurate and reliable voting for the people of Flint as the Nov. 3 election approaches? Several recent developments focusing on the Flint City Clerk’s office are attempting to assure access and trustworthy handling of absentee ballots and election procedures for the high-stakes election. City Hall Shuts Down…
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Education Beat: Student no-shows spur FCS “Operation Return to Learn”
By Harold C. Ford “All hands on deck.” — Kevelin Jones, assistant superintendent, Flint Community Schools More than 50 percent of students expected to attend Flint Community Schools (FCS) during the 2020-21 school year were no-shows through the first week and a half of school that began Aug. 5.. In response, teams of FCS educators—including Superintendent…
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“Music in the Heart of the City” returns to St. Paul’s starting Sept. 27
By Jan Worth-Nelson After months of COVID-dominated musical silence in the sanctuary of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, live concerts in the “Music in the Heart of the City” series are returning. Holly Richardson, the music series organizer, announced a five-concert schedule starting at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, when vocalists Joseph Baunoch and Daniel Ewart…
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Council votes down hiring elections monitor for November election
By Tom Travis Reeling from a primary election fraught with problems and lawsuits, the Flint City Council this week considered a motion to assist the City Clerk Inez Brown and the Clerk’s office as they prepare for the critical November 2020 election. The stakes are high. After all, a foundation of democracy is the vote.…
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