The Glen Oaks Community College (GOCC) Board of Trustees held a planning retreat and regular meeting Thursday morning at the college. President Dr. David Devier and other administrators and staff provided updates on pandemic cases and measures at the college, as well as on several student funding programs provided with assistance from the State of Michigan. Devier also said Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the college’s 2021 budget at flat funding.

The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer did not possess the legal authority under two laws to extend states of emergency and issue executive orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whitmer said after 21 days, a number of health and safety protocols she has mandated will continue under “alternative sources of authority that were not at issue” in Friday’s ruling.

The case brought by Michigan Alliance for Retired Americans against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, who said Friday she isn’t planning to appeal. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens said Friday there was “affidavit evidence that many voters were in fact deprived of having their absent voter ballot tallied in the August primary.”