d when he received a life-saving transplant,” said Fairbairn, R-Harbor Springs. “Before that gift, he waited 478 days for a heart – 478 days of uncertainty, hope, and resilience. In the midst of unimaginable loss, another family made the most courageous and selfless decision: to give the gift of life to a stranger, and it changed everything for our family.”

“The normal allotment of snow days is set with a reasonable expectation of typical winter weather,” said Fairbairn, R-Harbor Springs. “However, this is the second consecutive year of unusually severe storms resulting in more days on which student instruction could not be provided in school districts throughout  Northern Michigan and the U.P., and while I believe that, as a rule, missed days need to be made up for the benefit of students, I think that there needs to be an option that, under exigent circumstances, schools can make the decision to seek exceptions to the rule.”