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Local News

McLaren Port Huron Thanks Community for Generosity

Port Huron, MI — McLaren Port Huron’s Foundation continued to work through the closures and restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospital has recently issued a “thank you” to the entire community for supporting them through the crisis.

Some of the hospital’s own employees have benefitted from the COVID-19 Relief Fund, which helps employees who are struggling. The fund has raised over $50,000 so far. The hospital has also continued awarding scholarships to those who are pursuing careers in the medical field and those who are already in the field and are continuing their education. Scholarships were awarded to 21 individuals totaling $28,000.

While indoor events have had to be cancelled, outdoor events continued. Levi’s Link Virtual 5K raised over $38,000 to support the program for patients with special needs. The Tee It Up to Beat Cancer golf outing raised over $35,000 for cancer services and equipment at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Port Huron. Another outdoor event was the annual golf outing which raised $46,000 to purchase new bassinets for the Miriam F. Acheson Family Birth Place.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

Empty Bowls Benefit Transforms to Drive Up Event

Port Huron, MI — In a difficult season for fundraising, Mid City Nutrition has turned their annual Empty Bowls Benefit into a drive up event. This year’s event will take place at St. Clair County Community Mental Health’s main location on Electric Avenue in Port Huron on Friday, September 18th from 4-7 PM.

Benefit attendees can still look forward to receiving a unique handmade pottery bowl, but this year it will be a surprise. Ticket holders will drive into the event and receive a pottery bowl along with their soup and dinner rolls to go.

Dinner for One is $25 and includes one bowl of soup, a dinner roll, and a pottery bowl, and a Family Pack costs $50 for two quarts of soup, eight dinner rolls, and one pottery bowl.

The silent auction for the event will be held online <HERE> , and auction items can be viewed and bid on starting at 10 AM on Friday, September 4th. The auction closes on Thursday, September 17th at 3 PM, and winners will be notified via email. Winners can pick up and pay for their items at the event on the 18th.

For more information, contact Mid City Nutrition at 810-982-9261.

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

 

Class of 2021 Continues Personalized Parking Space Tradition

Port Huron, MI — The high school class of 2021 is gearing up for a Senior Year with a lot of question marks. But one thing that has become a tradition, personalized senior parking spaces, continues.

Seniors at both Port Huron high schools will be painting their parking spaces this weekend, as part of a fairly recent tradition that has been catching on at high schools throughout the region. Port Huron Northern High School Counselor, Julie Barlass, said that this is the fourth year of allowing students to “own” their parking spaces for the school year.

Barlass said, “This gives the seniors an opportunity to express themselves in creative ways and feel valued as the graduating class.” Students pay a nominal fee for the “ownership” and proceeds go toward the Senior Prom.

In light of the cancellations and postponements that have become expected during the pandemic, the keeping of a tradition is a bright spot for the class of 2021. Barlass said, “So much has changed over the past 6 months, and any tiny bit of routine, normalcy, or tradition helps all of us, students included, to feel more comfortable and at ease.  We are very eager to have our students back on campus in a safe manner.  Hopefully painting parking spaces will bring some joy to our seniors who will, undoubtedly, face many changes this year.”

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

Last Chance to Shop. Dine. & Win!

St. Clair County, MI — The St. Clair County Economic Development Alliance is leading a Business Recovery Committee to help address the changing needs of St. Clair County businesses during the season of COVID-19. The Committee is made of up leaders working across the county to support, encourage, and promote the business community.

As a result of generous funding received from the DTE Foundation and the AT&T Foundation, the Committee has been sponsoring a campaign to encourage safe & healthy patronage of local businesses. The Shop. Dine. Win. promotion enables shoppers and diners to share a selfie of their visit to a local business for a chance to win $1,000 of prizes each week.

The campaign wraps up on Friday, August 21st, and the Committee decided to double this week’s cash prize giveaway. On Friday, the committee will award two $500 cash prizes and five $100 gift card packages.

Community members who want their chance to win can simply visit a St. Clair County business, snap a selfie, and share their photo on Facebook with the #supportstclaircounty or visit the website at supportstclaircounty.com for more information.

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

Rejected Ballots in Primary Election Mainly Due to Lateness

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson released a report which shared preliminary data on rejected ballot numbers from the primary election. Statewide there were approximately 10,600 rejected ballots.

Ballots can be rejected for several reasons including the voter’s death or change of address after the ballot was sent in and failure to include the ballot in the envelope. The top two issues for this year’s primary election were signature issues and late ballots.

If the signature on the ballot is absent or does not match the signature on record, the ballot will be rejected. In this election 1,438 people failed to sign their ballots, and 787 ballots had signatures that did not match.

Ballots are also rejected if they arrive late. According to the data, 6,405 ballots cast in the primary were marked late. In St. Clair County 128 ballots were considered late.

Michigan House Bill 5987 allows ballots to be tabulated if they are received up to 48 hours after the close of the polls on Election Day, and the data released by the Secretary of State’s office doesn’t break down how many of the late ballots actually arrived within the countable period.

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

Redistricting Commission is Finalized after 2018 Referendum

Gerrymandering could be a thing of the past with the final selection of the thirteen commissioners for the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. The random drawing from the final pool of 180 applicants was made on August 17th.

The new commission includes four citizens who identify as Republicans, four who identify as Democrats, and five who are not affiliated with either party. The whole process was carried out by the office of the Secretary of State and was facilitated by the independent accounting firm, Rehmann, LLC.

The process began in 2018 when a referendum vote took the power to draw U.S. congressional districts, as well as state House and Senate districts, away from the legislature. Many districts were set up to support candidates of a particular party in a practice known as gerrymandering. Over 10,000 citizens applied to be on the commission. The candidates were narrowed down to represent the actual makeup of the state by age, race, gender, and region, using census data.

The political implications of redistricting could be substantial. More information about the process and the outcome can be found at RedistrictingMichigan.org.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland