The Northern Michigan University Board of Trustees approved a motion to offer an $820 credit, plus a carryover of any remaining Dining Dollars to next semester, to students who check out of their residence hall rooms before 5 p.m. Friday, April 3. Students can also forego the credit and opt to remain on campus through the remainder of the semester, which ends May 2.

The stock market response to COVID-19 has fueled extensive media coverage and some consternation among investors. But on a related positive note, former Wildcat hockey defenseman, NHL player and "Survivor" contestant Tom Laidlaw recently helped to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

When modern environmentalism posed an economic threat to extractive industries such as mining and timber, there was a movement in the Upper Peninsula to sever political ties with lower Michigan and form a new state. Dan Truckey, director of NMU's Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center, is featured in a news article about this divisive period in the 1970s.

Northern Michigan University will continue remote instruction through the end of the semester, including final exam week, and has postponed the May 2 commencement ceremony. NMU also has restricted some traffic on campus in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. A recent example is the Admissions office's decision to suspend hosting in-person visits as part of its Campus Visitor Program.

NMU alumna Elle Gallager recently found herself on lockdown in the Veneto region of northern Italy, one of the first COVID-19 hot spots in the country. Her earlier-than-planned journey back to the U.S. on March 17 was markedly different than when she left, with added declaration documentation, temperature screenings and face masks required for air travel.