The first case of the Zika virus has been confirmed in Michigan, and health officials are doing their best to keep residents from freaking out.

Despite the fact that Zika is a tropical disease transmitted by mosquitos in warmer climates, the prevalence of Zika in Central and South America has made it more likely that American travelers might carry the virus back into the snow-covered States. According to the Detroit Free Press, health officials in Michigan have made it clear that Zika isn’t expected to take hold in the state because this northern region lacks the specific type of mosquitoes — the Aedes aegypti species — that are “carrier mosquitoes” for Zika.

The nearby states of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio have all confirmed cases of Zika within their states as well but it’s clear in each case that the afflicted individuals contracted the virus after traveling to “areas where the virus is endemic or native.”

Up until recently, those “areas” were limited to tropical regions in Central and South America, as well as in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

But now that virus has begun spreading quickly, health officials believe that the Southern portion of the U.S. is at risk as more Aedes aegypti mosquitoes move in and make themselves at home.

The virus has also been linked to the species Aedes albopictus — although certainly not to the same extent as Aedes aegypti — but this second species has been known to reside farther north, possibly even as far as Ohio or Indiana.

If that’s the case, Michigan may be at risk of seeing an epidemic break out, too. Health workers in Oakland County have already begun preparing to fight off the disease, despite state officials’ assurances that there’s no major risk at the moment.

According to MLive, the county has already committed part of its budget to monitoring Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases in residents. The county health division will be setting up specialized mosquito traps in June, as well, so that specimens can be tested extensively in labs.

Health care centers are taking proactive measures to educate their communities about the disease itself, about the risks of contracting Zika, and about how to prevent it. Not only are residents encouraged to learn more about the virus, but health care workers are bolstering their own preventative measures. Something as small as an accidental needlestick — which occurs to around half of all nurses at least once in their careers — can make a huge difference in containment of a virus.

Michigan might not be at high risk for a Zika epidemic, but it’s always better to err on the side of caution.

Passengers at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport had quite the unpleasant morning recently when two airplanes collided on the taxiway, according MLive from Michigan.

While on their way to be de-iced, an American Airlines aircraft clipped the tail of a Southwest aircraft.

It took no time at all for passengers to take out their phones and share the accident across social media.

One tweet from Carlos Salinas read, “AA plane hits Southwest plane in taxi way, you would think they have all the room in the world !!!!!”

Fortunately, no passengers were harmed, but they were stuck on the plane for roughly three hours.

“We were taxiing over to get the wings de-iced and there was a plane sitting, kind of facing the opposite direction, and our wing came across the back of that plane and we were just too close to it and clipped the back,” described American Airlines passenger Jim Bishop. “It tore a piece of our wing off and the tail cone is cut completely off of the other plane.”

Both airlines have since issued apologies and attempted to accommodate the grounded passengers.

While Salinas’ tweet does raise the question of how two planes on a seemingly vast runaway were able to collide with each other, a recent surge in travelers coming through Detroit’s airport could explain it.

Daily Detroit reports that in 2015, the city’s airport saw 926,557 more arriving and departing passengers than the previous year — a 2.8% increase.

According to the International Air Transport Association, the airport is a full percentage point above the rest of the 31 national airports across the United States.
Part of the increase can be attributed to the addition of new routes traveling to locations such as Seattle, Orlando, Boston, and even London.

Delta airlines is currently the leading airline for Detroit, accounting for about 78% of all flights.

“A very encouraging sign for our regional economy is growth in the number of customers who are beginning or ending their trip in Detroit,” stated WCAA CEO Thomas Naughton.

Karena Bennett is a 21-year-old mom, who up until recently led a relatively normal life with her infant son and husband.
That is, until, she got tagged in a photo on Facebook.
On Thursday, Feb. 18, Bennett was working a routine morning shift at a small local restaurant when her phone alerted her that she had a Facebook notification.
As she opened it, she couldn’t believe her eyes. A picture of the young woman with her husband and son had been juxtaposed with a story of a Detroit mom who allegedly had 14 babies with 14 different men. The photo first appeared one year prior in the Milford, CT, Mirror newspaper when Bennett’s son was featured as the first baby born in 2015 in Milford.
“To be honest, I laughed about it at first. It was just ridiculous,” Bennett, of Milford, Conn., told the Free Press. “It seemed like a joke”.

But unfortunately, the situation soon escalated and seemed to be anything but a joke. Typically, 90% of online experiences begin with a Google search. But with viral content like what Bennett was dealing with, you don’t need to search for it — it’s everywhere. From Facebook timelines to websites to blogs, the viral hoax soon accumulated more than 6,000 comments from around the world.
Many of the comments were harsh, judgmental, and cruel, personally targeting her appearance.
“I don’t understand why someone would do this to me,” Bennett said. “I really do wish I could find the person and ask, ‘Why?’”
Since the post first went live, things have certainly quieted down. However, Bennett still wants to know who used her photo, why they did it, and she even wants to bring them to court and sue them for slander and defamation.
But for now, Bennett is trying to keep it together.
“I think I’m just living day by day,” she said. “It was definitely a big shock. I guess it is what it is. Sometimes I feel like it isn’t such a big deal.”

Student loan debt is a serious issue all over the nation, including in Michigan. Now, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow is touring local colleges as she centers her campaign around putting an end to the student debt crisis.

According to MLive.com, Sen. Stabenow recently visited the University of Michigan to discuss her stance on student loan debt.

“It is incredibly important that we finally fix what’s happening here in terms of the cost of college,” Stabenow said last Wednesday in front of about two dozen U-M students.

While some politicians may casually mention student loan debt to catch the ears of young voters, Stabenow is taking action in several different ways to make positive changes to the system.

The senator is an author of the Reducing Educational Debt Act, or RED ACT, which will be presented to the U.S. Senate for an official vote in the near future. The RED ACT would allow student loan borrowers to refinance high-interest loans, in addition to taking advantage of lower rates that were offered to borrowers in 2013-2014.

“Right now, it’s a variable rate that goes up,” Stabenow said. “So, we would reduce the rate and lock it in.”

Stabenow’s legislation also piggybacks off of an ideal popularized by Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate who has promised tuition-free community colleges if elected.

In its current form, the RED Act would create new federal and state partnerships that would waive the tuition fees of eligible students for two years. All of this is part of #InTheRed, a campaign created by Stabenow to drum up support from young voters.

The average college graduate today will have to pay back a little more than $35,000 in loans, which can severely hinder a person’s financial stability in adulthood. When inundated with student loan debt, most graduates find it difficult to buy a home or make other investments, which harms the entire economy.

“This is really something that’s affecting our whole economy now,” Stabenow added.

According to The Michigan Daily, approximately 40 million Americans carry a total of $1.3 trillion of student loan debt. Currently, about one out of every four Americans is either in delinquency or has defaulted on their payments.

While Stabenow’s legislation will certainly attract many young voters, some have questioned how her administrations plans to bring her plan to fruition.

“We have to look at the total numbers,” Stabenow said. “But it will be completely paid for because we are going to be using what’s called the Buffett Rule, Warren Buffett, recommending that high-income individuals pay at least a 30% tax rate, and by closing loopholes and companies taking their earnings offshore.”

It remains to be seen if Stabenow’s message will resonate with young voters, but it seems as if her focus on reaching young voters has been successful thus far.

After a long uphill battle, it seems that the housing market is finally back on the rise from the great recession.

According to The Detroit News, Americans were buying new homes in this past December at the strongest pace in 10 months. This is an indicator of strong positive momentum in real estate.

New home sales shot up 10.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000. December showed the third consecutive monthly gain since sales collapsed in September.

This surge almost reached the high sales rate of 545,000 in February 2015.

There was a sharp rise of 14.5% in the sale of new homes, likely a result of steady job growth dwindling the unemployment rate to 5%, as well as relatively low mortgage rates making them more affordable for the 32% of purchasers who are first time buyers.

The median sales price for a new home has fallen 4.3% over the past year, to $288,900.

This trend has even been seen in areas that suffered the most during the recession and the crash of the housing market, such as Detroit, MI.

The high demand for housing has forced buyers to look at alternative options besides popular metropolitan areas, such as New York City or Los Angeles.

What made Detroit such a hot spot recently was the discovery of mansion districts once owned by auto barons and wealthy business owners, who spared no expense to build homes from 1900 to 1929, as the Windsor Star reports.

Because Detroit’s poverty rate is more than twice the national average, many of the blue collar workers live in suburban areas, leaving many of the century old mansion districts up for grabs.

Buyers think: “Why not trade a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan and have an 8,800-square-foot mansion in Detroit for half of that?” said Kenan Bakirci, an agent for Max Broock who for almost 20 years has focused on Palmer Woods and Sherwood Forest, two historic neighborhoods in north-central Detroit.

The Detroit neighborhoods filled with 4,000 to 7,000-square-foot beauties, have attracted buyers all over, from Paris, Panama, New York, Washington, and San Francisco.

Since the city filed for bankruptcy in July 2013, surprisingly, more tech start-ups and boutiques have opened, and international investors are buying more commercial property. Coupled with the rise of their housing market, Detroit could soon see an even bigger surge in housing demand.