Thurston Elementary teacher Yael Rothfeld is a semifinalist for this year's Music Educator Award.

ANN ARBOR – The Ann Arbor Public Art Commission has opened nominations for its newly-revived annual Golden Paintbrush Awards. This year’s award aims to recognize community members of all ages and organizations who promote creativity in the city’s publicly visible spaces. “Awards will be given for art which demonstrates collaboration and excellence and, as the commission explains, adds a bit of magic to our daily life,” the commission announced in a press release. Winners will be selected by a panel of residents and leaders in the arts, business and education communities in Ann Arbor. The Golden Paintbrush Awards recognize and encourage innovative civic engagement and demonstrate an appreciation for the numerous public art displays in Ann Arbor.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate as Republicans powered past Democrats' boycott of the session. Read update: GOP-led Senate panel advances Barrett despite Dems' boycottWatch live coverage:Despite a Democratic boycott, Republicans are powering ahead to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by Election Day with the Senate Judiciary Committee set to recommend President Donald Trump’s nominee to the full Senate. Never before has the Senate confirmed a Supreme Court pick so close to a presidential election. Thursday’s Judiciary Committee vote is expected to launch a rare weekend Senate session to push Barrett’s nomination forward, as millions of Americans are casting early ballots. “Judge Barrett deserves a vote and she will receive a vote,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the committee chairman, in a statement.

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday morning via social media that he will be announcing his Supreme Court nominee on Saturday at the White House. “I will be announcing my Supreme Court Nominee on Saturday, at the White House! “Some presidents never get any — they last a long time,” Trump said of Supreme Court appointments. Kamala Harris is poised to become a leading figure in the Democratic opposition to Trump’s Supreme Court pick, the Associated Press reported. Trump has already appointed Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in private later this month, without members of the press present, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention said on Saturday, citing the coronavirus. If the GOP decision stands, it will be the first party nominating convention in modern history to be closed to reporters. The decision was first reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The subset of delegates in Charlotte will be casting proxy votes on behalf of the more than 2,500 official delegates to the convention. ___Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.