In November, Lowell residents lined up to vote in a national election. They also watched as area COVID-19 numbers rose. By the end of the month, new public health orders were issued at the state level which closed restaurants for indoor dining and sent high school students to learn from home.
Against that backdrop, here are the top five articles of the month on Lowell’s First Look in November 2020, as determined by website views.
5. WearForward Offers Latest Fashions, Low Prices in Downtown Lowell
It’s been a tough year for Lowell merchants, but it hasn’t been all bad news. Tori Runstrom says community response to her online clothing consignment store, WearForward, was so great that she quickly outgrew her space at home. Now, WearForward has a storefront on Main Street, and Runstrom is already making plans to expand her space to accommodate more consignment inventory. The article profiling her business was the fifth most-read article on Lowell’s First Look in November 2020.
4. Planning Commission Recap: More Marijuana Shops Discussed
Another Planning Commission meeting, another marijuana business application. Or at least, that has been the trend for the past few months. At its November meeting, the Lowell Planning Commission ok’d the site plan of a marijuana microbusiness which will located in the former Showboat Automotive building. The commission also conducted a further review of a gravel mining application for an operation on Bowes Road and approved site plans for New Union Brewery and King Milling.
3. Keeping Lowell Safe: Police Beat for October 2020
The monthly update from the Lowell Police Department highlighted a spate of larcenies in the Key Vista community and included a reminder about changes to on-street parking for the winter months. Chief Chris Hurst also shared his hope to eventually host a series of community sessions which would allow people the opportunity to meet with officers, ask questions and provide feedback.
2. Lowell COVID-19 Cases
The second most-read article on Lowell’s First Look for November 2020 isn’t actually an article. Instead, it’s a page we set up months ago to track local COVID-19 case numbers. It pulls together data from the Kent County Health Department and the State of Michigan to report on current numbers in the area as well as cases at long-term care facilities and school outbreaks. We try to update data on this page several times throughout the week. (Note: we realize the tables at the bottom of this page don’t display well on mobile devices but haven’t yet found a good fix.)
1. Lowell Voter Turnout and Results for the 2020 Election
The biggest story of the month – locally as well as nationally – was the November general election. At the time we published this story, a winner of the presidential election had not yet been determined. However, final numbers for the City of Lowell, Lowell Township and Vergennes Township had been tabulated, and those were published here along with each municipality’s turnout.
Did your favorite article make the list? Tell us which story you liked best by leaving a comment below or on our Facebook page.
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