Gov. Whitmer plans to further ease coronavirus restrictions
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday her administration will announce the further loosening of Michigan’s coronavirus restrictions in coming days.
She did not elaborate much in a news conference, in which she again pressed the Republican-controlled Legislature to pass a multibillion-dollar COVID-19 relief funding plan. A state health department order limits indoor restaurant capacity to 25%, imposes a 10 p.m. curfew and restricts the size of inside residential gatherings to no more than 10 people from two households, through March 29.
“Our case numbers and public health metrics are trending in the right direction. I’m very pleased to see that,” the Democratic governor said.
Feds looking into drug pipeline from Detroit to North Dakota
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Federal authorities said Wednesday they are investigating a drug pipeline that involves moving the powerful opioid fentanyl and other painkillers from the Detroit area to three Native American reservations in North Dakota.
The operation includes the sale of “tens of millions of dollars” of narcotics and thus far has targeted 22 defendants from Michigan and eight from North Dakota, U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said in a news conference. The group began dealing oxycontin pills in the state about five years ago and switched to fentanyl during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
Organizers used “violence, threats, firearms and other means” to recruit people, including many on the Spirit Lake, Turtle Mountain and Fort Berthold reservations who joined to feed their own drug addictions, Wrigley said.
The indictments are currently sealed because of “the sheer number of defendants,” Wrigley said. He added that three leaders of the ring are charged with running a continuing criminal enterprise.
This case is separate from one unsealed earlier this month involving 26 people moving oxycodone pills from Detroit to the three reservations. North Dakota is an attractive market for drug dealers because they can demand higher prices, Wrigley said.
Michigan lawmakers unveil bills to curb health care costs
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Republican legislative leader and other lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled measures they said are designed to lower prescription drug prices, bring parity in insurance coverage of chemotherapy and improve the quality of health care.
The sweeping 15-bill package would, among other things, regulate pharmacy benefit managers that run prescription drug coverage for insurers and employers, and ban the “middlemen” managers from profiting by charging a health plan more than what is paid to the dispensing pharmacy. Other bills would cap insulin co-pays at $50 for a 30-day supply, require insurers to count all drug rebates received for a medication toward a family’s deductible or maximum out-of-pocket costs and limit drugmakers’ ability to give gifts to doctors.
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