President Joe Biden to visit Traverse City with Michigan’s governor on Saturday, July 3
On Saturday, July 3 President Joe Biden will travel to Traverse City with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The president’s visit is part of the Biden administration’s nationwide America’s Back Together tour.
The tour is taking place to highlight the country’s progress against fighting COVID-19, according to the White House.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is expected to meet with Biden during his visit to discuss the recent damaging floods.
The two Democratic US Senators from Michigan, Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, are also expected to meet with Biden during his visit.
Trash concerns piling up across Metro Detroit following massive flood
A large pile of flood debris is now perched in the parking lot at the former Hawthorne Valley Golf Course in Westland.
The city owns the property and has opted to put the trash there temporarily.
“What we wanted to do is get all the contaminated debris removed from the curb, especially with the holiday weekend coming up,” said Westland Deputy Mayor Michael Reddy.
Neither the city or its waste hauler, Priority Waste, has a timetable on when it will all be removed.
Wayne County has several communities with substantial flooding damage, and the debris is piling up at curbs across the county.
Waste hauler, GFL Environmental -- which serves Detroit’s east side, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Garden City, Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Park, Harper Woods and Inkster -- is mobilizing its crews.
The company asked residents in those communities to have all flood debris at the curb on Saturday morning.
At least 19 missing as mudslide west of Tokyo hits houses
A powerful mudslide carrying a deluge of black water and debris crashed into rows of houses in a town west of Tokyo following heavy rains on Saturday, leaving at least 19 people missing, officials said.
As many as 80 homes in Atami were completely buried, according to an official with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
The official said more people, possibly 100, could still be missing under the mudslides but warned that details were not immediately clear. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as is often policy at Japanese bureaucracies, stressed that aggressive rescue operations were underway to find survivors.
Public broadcaster NHK earlier gave the number of missing people at 20, but Shizuoka prefecture spokesman Takamichi Sugiyama said the prefecture confirmed at least 19, although he said the number may grow.
Torrential rains have slammed parts of Japan starting earlier this week. Experts said dirt had been loosened, increasing landslide risks in a country filled with valleys and mountains.
Metro Detroit weather: Seasonable warmth returns Saturday ☀️
COVID in Michigan 💉
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Michigan has risen to 894,957 as of Friday, and the state announced a total of 19,754 deaths.
READ: Michigan announces COVID cases, deaths will only be updated on Tuesdays, Fridays
Friday’s update includes 101 new COVID cases, while the updated number of COVID-related deaths is four fewer than what the state announced Thursday: 894,856 cases and 19,758 deaths.
Here is what the state said about the death count decreasing from Thursday to Friday: “Corrections made to the provisional case data resulted in a reduction of the cumulative confirmed death total to 19,754.”
Testing has been steady around 20,000 diagnostic tests reported per day on average, with the 7-day positive rate below 1.3% as of Thursday, near the lowest on record. Hospitalizations have declined over the last several weeks, now near the lowest point since the start of the pandemic.
The state’s 7-day moving average for daily cases was 135 on Thursday -- the lowest since June 2020. The 7-day death average was 11 on Thursday, the lowest since March. The state’s fatality rate is 2.2%. The state also reports “active cases,” which were listed at 9,000 on Monday.
Michigan has reported more than 9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered as of Wednesday, with 61.8% of 16+ residents having received at least one dose while 53.3% of 16+ residents are considered fully vaccinated.
DETAILS: Michigan coronavirus cases up to 894,957; Death toll now at 19,754
Here’s a look at more of the data: