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Southwest Michigan Today Monday May 22, 2017

Bills introduced in the state House and Senate would keep nurses from working overtime. According to the Gongwer News Service, the legislation would require hospitals to make staffing plans that insure there are enough nurses per patient and to record those ratios. Nurses would have to take at least an eight hour break after working more than 12 hours, and hospitals could not penalize nurses for refusing to work overtime. 

About 40 percent of 2016 Michigan high school graduates aren’t enrolled in college. That’s the lowest enrollment in the state since 2010. Mlivesays the declining enrollment could actually be a symptom of a better economy. Teens have more options for work that do not require a college degree.

A new scholarship for medical students will honor retiring Western Michigan University president John Dunn. The more than $100,000 scholarship will be available to students admitted to the M.D. program at the Homer Stryker School of Medicine.

This year’s first cases of West Nile Virus have surfaced, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. A turkey in Barry County and two crows from Kalamazoo and Saginaw counties have all tested positive for the mosquito-borne disease. State health officials urge people to use insect repellent when outside to prevent possible infection with West Nile.

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