Governor Gretchen Whitmer

On Monday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order mandating people stay in their homes.

People who work in hospitals, pharmacies and grocery stores and who provide other essential services are excempt.

To help exempt workers do their jobs, Whitmer asked northern Michigan educators to coordinate child care services and make emergency daycare centers available if needed.

The state Department of Health and Human Services reports there are 11 new confirmed cases in Michigan. That brings the total number of known COVID-19 cases to 65.

The state is reporting new cases in Jackson, Leelanau and Otsego Counties.

Update 3/16/20, 11:30 am: In addition to bars and restaurants, Gov. Whitmer’s executive order also closes gyms, spas and health clubs, casinos, as well as theaters and other performance venues across the state. Order restrictions will remain in place until Monday, March 30 at 11:59 pm.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will sign an executive order this morning that closes bars and restaurants in Michigan starting this afternoon. The emergency action is to help slow the spread of the new coronavirus. The ban will only apply to sit-down service.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer confirmed two people in Michigan tested positive for coronavirus and has declared a state of emergency.

Whitmer announced the development during a press conference late Tuesday night in Lansing. 

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in Michigan’s March 10 presidential primary.

A federal court has struck down Michigan’s requirement that adults enrolled in the Healthy Michigan plan must be working or in school, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Legislature’s Republican leaders are at odds on what to do next.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was in Traverse City Friday to support Democratic State House candidate Dan O'Neil. She spoke to donors at a fundraiser at the Park Place Hotel. 

Democrats are turning to Michigan’ s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, to deliver the English language response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.

The choice highlights the central role Michigan and the industrial Midwest are expected to play in the presidential election this year.

State lawmakers plan to finish up their work in Lansing this week.

The state House is expected to vote on bills to restore funding for some of the items vetoed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in late September.

Lieutenant Gov. Garlin Gilchrist became the first African American Lieutenant Governor to sign a bill into law Thursday.

The Michigan Court of Claims ruled on Thursday in favor of Enbridge and its plan to house the Line 5 oil pipelines in a tunnel under the straits of Mackinac.

In 2018, former Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law authorizing the Mackinac Bridge Authority to oversee the construction of a tunnel for Line 5. Earlier this year Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a suit for state agencies to stop work on it. Enbridge also filed suit and now the court knocked down Whitmer and Nessel's order.

Michigan lawmakers want to make it easier for people to apply for public assistance.

A Michigan Court of Claims judge says the state ban on flavored vaping products must be lifted.

That’s while underlying litigation opposing the ban plays out in court. Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s administration issued emergency rules in September. The Department of Health and Human Services says youth vaping is a public health crisis. 

Governor Gretchen Whitmer wants Republican leaders to come back to the bargaining table.

Earlier this week Whitmer announced more than 100 line item vetoes that she made in the state budgets, and she moved money around within departments. That’s something she can do without the approval of the Legislature.

Starting Wednesday, Michigan vape shops will have to stop selling flavored nicotine products. The final rules of the ban were announced two weeks ago.