The coronavirus pandemic changed many aspects of life, including the way people get around. Michigan confirmed its first cases of COVID-19 on March 10, 2020. After that, the Detroit Department of Transportation and the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation stopped collecting fares on buses to limit contact between drivers and passengers. One year later, DDOT..
The IRS Begins 2020 Income Tax Season While Dealing With Lingering COVID-19 Delays
The Internal Revenue Service is now accepting 2020 income tax returns, even though it's still catching up on 2019 returns. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a backlog at the IRS, according to Marielle Segarra of American Public Media's Marketplace Morning Report. IRS spokesperson Luis Garcia is asking people who are still waiting for their 2019..
Wayne State Seeks Volunteers for COVID-19 Vaccine Trial
Wayne State University's School of Medicine needs people to roll up their sleeves for research's sake. The school is part of a nationwide clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine made by Novavax, Inc. Phase 3 of the trial will help scientists determine whether it's effective at preventing infection. "I think that this vaccine will be..
Wayne State Word Warriors Present List of Long-Lost Words to Revive in 2021
What would you call someone who gives you their opinion on something about which they know... nothing? While a few expletives may come to mind, you can say this about them: They are being ultracrepidarian. That adjective -- it's also a noun -- is one of ten words compiled by Wayne State University's Word Warriors, whose..
“COVID-19,” Other Pandemic Terms Top Lake Superior State’s Banished Words List for 2021
COVID-19 has infected almost a half-million people in Michigan since the pandemic began, killed more than 12,000 and disrupted the way we work, play, learn, eat, shop and be together. People are tired of dealing with it. Hearing about it. Thinking about it. Even saying it. The term "COVID-19" tops Lake Superior State's annual list of "banished"..
Work Begins on New Soo Lock After Decades of Delays
Work has finally started on a new shipping lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, more than 30 years after the project was first proposed. The Soo Locks allow millions of dollars' worth of freight, cargo and iron ore to travel from Lake Superior to the rest of the Great Lakes. Only one lock is big enough..
Look Up to See Jupiter and Saturn Meet on the Winter Solstice
The solar system's two largest planets -- Jupiter and Saturn -- are hundreds of millions of miles apart from each other. But from our vantage point on Earth, they appear to be very close to each other and getting closer. And on Dec. 21, 2020, they'll do a celestial dance no human has seen in..
Yes, The Detroit Lions Were Actually Great Once
The Detroit Lions are one of four National Football League teams that have never played in a Super Bowl. The only time they came close was in 1991, when they beat the Dallas Cowboys in the National Conference playoffs, but lost to Washington in the NFC championship game. The victory over Dallas is Detroit's only postseason..
Beaumont Study Confirms Masks Reduce COVID-19 Risk
One of the nation's largest serological studies of COVID-19 confirms what health experts have been saying since the pandemic began -- masks work. Beaumont Health drew voluntary blood samples from more than 20,000 of its employees between April 13 and May 28, 2020. Scientists were looking for COVID-19 antibodies, hoping to find out whether they..
Research Shows Child Care Not Linked to Spread of COVID-19 Early in Pandemic
A Yale University study shows child care providers who worked during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic were no more likely to catch or spread the disease than those who stayed home. They were also no more likely to be hospitalized. Researchers surveyed more than 57,000 child care workers in all 50 states, the..