The Tigers have two more postseason award winners.

Left fielder Riley Greene and utility man Zach McKinstry won American League Silver Sluggers Awards on Friday night. The awards go to the best hitter at each position and are voted on by MLB managers and coaches.

Greene hit .258 with 36 homers, 111 RBI and 31 doubles. His slugging percentage was .493 and his OPS was .806. Greene set career-highs in homers and RBI in his fourth MLB season.

McKinstry had 23 doubles, 12 homers and a .259 batting average. His OPS was .771 and his WAR was 2.8 – both career bests.

Both Greene and McKinstry made the AL All-Star team at midseason.

Last week the Tigers’ Dillon Dingler won the AL Gold Glove Award for catcher. The Cy Young will be awarded next week and Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal is one of three finalists. Skubal won the Cy Young in 2024.

The National League Silver Slugger winners were announced Thursday night.

AL winners

C – Cal Raleigh, Seattle

1B – Nick Kurtz, Athletics

2B – Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York

3B – Jose Ramirez, Cleveland

SS – Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City

OF – Riley Greene, Detroit

OF – Aaron Judge, New York

OF – Byron Buxton, Minnesota

DH – George Springer, Toronto

UT – Zach McKinstry, Detroit

NL winners

C – Hunter Goodman, Colorado

1B – Pete Alonso, New York

2B – Ketel Marte, Arizona

3B – Manny Machado, San Diego

SS – Geraldo Perdomo, Arizona

OF – Juan Soto, New York

OF – Corbin Carroll, Arizona

OF – Kyle Tucker, Chicago

DH – Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles

UT – Alec Burleson, St. Louis

Melissa Nann Burke, Max Reinhart, Anne Snabes and Ben Warren, MediaNews Group

About 1.4 million Michigan residents eligible to receive federal assistance to pay for food should get 65% of their monthly benefits for November, federal officials clarified Thursday morning.

But hours later, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled late Thursday that the Trump administration must fully cover November benefits, reportedly saying the government had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” when it moved earlier this week to only partially fund the program.

The competing orders added another day of confusion for Michigan residents who receive government assistance to pay for groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as the ongoing federal government shutdown passed its record-setting 37th day.

“These benefits are a vital lifeline for many Michigan families, especially with the rising cost of food.”

Hertel’s agency said Michigan recipients who normally get their benefits on the third, fifth, or seventh day of the month will receive their partial SNAP allotment on Saturday. All other SNAP recipients would get their partial benefits on their normally scheduled date.

“I would say that that’s wonderful that they will be getting something,” said Christopher Ivey, a spokesperson for Metro Detroit food rescue organization Forgotten Harvest, of the SNAP news. “It’s unfortunate that that won’t be the full amount.”

The update came as local food pantries are tracking a 30% to 50% increase in the number of individuals seeking aid, according to the Food Bank Council of Michigan. Hertel noted that families can find local food pantries as needed by calling 2-1-1.

The USDA had planned to suspend payments starting Nov. 1 amid the federal government shutdown, but federal officials said Monday the program would be partially funded after two judges required the government to keep SNAP benefits flowing.

The reduction in food aid, while a partial restoration, is “diabolical,” said Natasha Bell, a downtown Detroit resident.

“What they give us is not enough already, and then for them to give us partial … it’s just not right, you know,” Bell said Thursday. “It’s just not right.”

Bell said she has cancer, so she can’t work. Amid the delay in SNAP benefits, she said she has been making more side items to accompany the meat in a meal, which allows her to stretch the meat out over more days.

Bell is also relying on food pantries and preparing meals that last more than one day, such as spaghetti or soup, she said.

“Something is better than nothing,” said Bell of the partial November SNAP benefits.

Brother Gary Wegner, executive director of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, said he thinks the USDA announcement is “good news.” Sixty-five percent is “certainly better” than 0%, he said.

“One hundred percent would be even better, but for now, at least, it’s going to give the people we serve who depend upon the SNAP benefits a better chance to fulfill what they need,” Wegner said.

Who is affected?

SNAP serves about 1 in 8 Americans, including about 1.4 million Michiganians. In the state, the average household assisted by the program receives about $335 in benefits a month, or about $5.68 per person a day. SNAP benefits support more than 492,000 Michigan children.

In Wayne County, 22.3% of households received food stamps last year, a figure amplified by the nearly 100,000 households in Detroit that benefit from the SNAP program.

A smaller share of the households in Macomb (11.9%) and Oakland (7.6%) received SNAP benefits, according to the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey, which is the most recent year when full county-level data is available.

Outside of Metro Detroit, Genesee and Saginaw counties outstripped the state average for SNAP participation, with just under 20% of households. On the other end of the spectrum were Leelanau and Livingston counties, which each had 5% or fewer of their households enrolled in the program.

Across nearly every part of Michigan, households with children were far more likely to receive SNAP benefits than households overall. In almost every county, at least a quarter of households with children participated in SNAP, including more than half of those households in counties like Ottawa, Clinton and Gratiot.

About 78% of SNAP households in Michigan are working households, half of households have someone with a disability and 36% of households have seniors, according to state data.

Kate Bauer, a University of Michigan public health professor, said partial funding is better than nothing when it comes to SNAP benefits. It would “ward off, hopefully, the physical experience of hunger,” but leave families already stretched thin to fill the gap, she said.

“Under the current circumstances, what we need to know is that SNAP is critical to our families having enough food, and even the full benefit amounts are not enough,” Bauer said.

“I’m super glad our families are going to get something, but that is not the end of the story,” she added.

SNAP benefits are crucial for families with children, according to Bauer, “because they have more mouths to feed, and mouths that don’t earn an income.” With less money to buy food this month, she said, parents will likely make additional sacrifices, foregoing meals so their kids can eat.

One saving grace for families with children, she said, was free school meals.

“Many families are breathing a sigh of relief that their kid is getting, potentially, up to 10 meals a week.”

Joyce Bowens, a Detroit resident who uses SNAP, said Thursday that she’s “not too happy” with the government’s decision because 65% of benefits is “not enough.” She said some women have seven to 10 children.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” she said. “I don’t think it’s right.”

Bowens, who went grocery shopping at the Capuchin Services Center in Detroit on Thursday, said the past week has been “stressful.” The pause in benefits has affected how she plans meals. She said, “Everything changed just that fast.”

“OK, you would normally cook a meal, don’t worry about making it stretch,” she said. “Now, we have to think about making it stretch to the T.”

Eartha Harris, 45, who is friends with Bowens, said she thinks the government needs to give people their “full amounts when it comes to food.”

“But at least you could give somebody food, so no one go hungry, regardless of what’s going on,” said Harris, a Detroit resident.

The state Department of Health and Human Services said new applications for SNAP benefits filed in October and November still will be processed, but it is unclear whether those applicants will receive any benefits for November.

State aid to last 2 weeks

To help feed families amid the government shutdown, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week said the state would provide $4.5 million to the Food Bank Council of Michigan.

Phil Knight, executive director for the Food Bank Council, said Thursday he expects that $4.5 million released by the state to last about two weeks. The $4.5 million allotment represents roughly 6 million meals, Knight said.

Local pantries have seen between a 30% and 50% jump in individuals seeking aid, he said.

“One of the things I think we kind of miss about this population that’s struggling … is that they’re very resilient,” Knight said. “They’re trying to resolve the problem on their own first. They’re turning inward to themselves, their family, whatever, and then they turn out to find resources.”

Gleaners Community Food Bank reported Thursday that its drive-up mobiles and partner network of 350 local pantries in five counties are seeing an increase of up to 50% in requests for help.

A partial restoration of SNAP support is a “positive development,” Gleaners spokeswoman Kristin Sokul said, “but we expect to continue seeing heightened community need while partial benefits catch up and full benefits remain unavailable, as well as while workers’ incomes are impacted by the prolonged government shutdown.”

Ivey, the Forgotten Harvey spokesman, said the last week has been “very difficult” for his organization. He said Detroit alone gets $58 million a month in SNAP benefits.

“Forgotten Harvest is doing everything they can do to fill that gigantic void that’s out there,” he said. “I mean, we’re never going to be able to be the complete supplement for all of that. It’s just too large for any organization to take on.”

He said Forgotten Harvest is receiving around 600 to 1,000 phone calls a day. Some are from people asking where they can find food. Others are from organizations that partner with Forgotten Harvest or are interested in partnering with it.

Knight of the Food Bank Council said he intends to submit a report next week to the governor and House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, on how the money was used and what might still be needed.

Hall said Thursday he and Whitmer will review that report and the federal situation to determine whether to release additional funding to the Food Bank Council for distribution to local pantries.

“We’re going to take this from week to week, working with the governor to assess the need,” Hall said.

The Democratic-controlled Senate last week approved a stopgap proposal that would target $50 million to aid low-income individuals and households in buying food and $21 million to food banks and other assistance programs that are expecting an onslaught of food requests.

The Republican-controlled House has not acted on the legislation.

Hall told reporters last week that the Senate bill was “political” since there was no way to act on the legislation before the Nov. 1 cutoff because of a rule requiring a five-day waiting period between chambers. There is not enough state funding to patch every hole that will develop as the federal shutdown continues, the speaker said.

“There’s a time for disagreements in politics,” Hall said then. “It’s not right now when literally people are about to lose their ability to feed their families.”

Beth LeBlanc contributed to this report.

By Summer Ballentine, MediaNews Group

The LaFontaine auto dealership suspended this week for allegedly selling used loaner vehicles as new cars is once again open for sales.

LaFontaine Chevrolet Buick GMC of St. Clair and the Michigan Department of State reached an agreement Wednesday that allows vehicle sales to resume, according to LaFontaine and state officials. The state had suspended the China Township dealership’s business license Tuesday.

The state fined LaFontaine $25,000 for selling loaner vehicles with as many as 6,000 miles of use as new vehicles, Department of State spokesperson Cheri Hardmon said in an email. LaFontaine also will be under increased state oversight through December 2026 and must conduct staff training.

LaFontaine has described the violation as a “clerical issue” and said no fraud was committed.”

“This issue was purely administrative in nature — stemming from confusion between automaker program requirements, dealer processes, and the State’s outdated regulatory statutes,” the dealership group said in a statement from spokesperson Max Muncey. “Frankly, the speed at which this matter was resolved reinforces our belief that the initial action was more of a headline-driven move by the State than a substantive compliance concern.’

This is the LaFontaine dealer group’s second penalty under Michigan’s used vehicle law, which requires loaner vehicles that have been titled and registered by dealerships to be sold as used.

Regulators identified LaFontaine’s latest alleged violations while checking its compliance under a 2024 agreement with the state for the same issue at its Livonia dealership.

LaFontaine Hyundai of Livonia shut down for one day in December 2024 after the state suspended its license for allegedly misrepresenting vehicles as new. The dealership agreed to pay a $25,000 penalty and complete a 24-month probation period in lieu of an administrative hearing.

LaFontaine Hyundai of Livonia was required to participate in dealer training for managers and employees and was subject to periodic unannounced inspections by MDOS regulatory staff as part of the 2024 agreement.

By Henry Payne and Grant Schwab, MediaNews Group

Robot cars are coming to Detroit streets.

Waymo LLC, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, said Monday that its self-driving fleet is headed to the Motor City. The electric autonomous ride-hailing service has become a fixture in cities like Phoenix and San Francisco, where hundreds of vehicles — instantly recognized by their rooftop Lidar arrays — service hundreds of thousands of customers with no driver behind the robotaxis’ spinning steering wheel.

Recently, the service expanded to Los Angeles, Atlanta and Austin — and now it is expanding again with service in Detroit, plus San Diego and Las Vegas. Detroit is significant because it’s Waymo’s first northern market. Waymo said the service is targeted to operate 365 days a year through rain, sleet and snow.

The service is also notable because it uses Zeekr minivans, the first Chinese electric auto brand on U.S. streets. At its inception in Phoenix, Waymo used Chrysler Pacifica minivans, which have been phased out over time.

“Starting next week, you’ll see us manually driving around the city as we familiarize ourselves with Detroit’s historic streets before moving to autonomous operations,” Waymo said in a press release. “We’ll arrive with a mixed fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles with the 5th-gen Waymo Driver and Zeekr RT vehicles equipped with our 6th-gen Waymo Driver, which will be key to driving in winter weather.”

Waymos are hailed by an app similar to Uber and Lyft. Waymo is the most-used robot service in the United States and is in fierce competition with Amazon’s Zoox and Tesla Inc. robotaxis to bring driver-free ride-hailing services to U.S. customers. The latter service, which recently started testing in Austin, Texas, with human monitors on board, aims to be more affordable than Waymo by eschewing expensive Lidar arrays and navigating solely by cameras.

Waymo said that it is coordinating closely with local officials, including the Michigan Department of Transportation and the city of Detroit, as it begins its step-by-step testing approach in the Motor City. Neither MDOT nor the city offered comments ahead of the Monday announcement.

“We’re proud of our roots in Metro Detroit, including in Novi, where we’ve had an engineering team for many years,” the company statement said. Waymo’s Novi office employs several dozen engineers, technicians and test drivers.

The company has prepared for its Detroit rollout through launches in other cities, closed-track testing and forays into areas like the Upper Peninsula with snowy winter conditions. A recent Waymo blog post discussed efforts to create an “all-weather Driver.”

The first phase of the Detroit rollout will feature human drivers manually operating the vehicles to collect a highly detailed, high-definition map of the city, Waymo technical program manager Jake Tretter said in an interview.

Once that phase is complete, the vehicles will roam the streets — supervised — using their autonomous technology while a human operator sits in the driver’s seat to make sure performance is safe and smooth.

The company did not provide a timetable for when testing phases would end and the public would be able to hail self-driving rides from the Waymo app.

“Our goal is to do it as soon as possible,” Tretter said. But he also stressed the importance of building “trust and understanding” so Detroiters are ready for an eventual full launch in the city.

“It’s harder to lose the trust and try to regain that than it is to slowly build that trust and make sure that we’re working in unison with the community and policy and legislators,” he added.

The Detroit expansion will “first and foremost” focus on the city’s urban core near Comerica Park, Ford Field and Little Caesars Arena before expanding out slowly from there.

Waymo began operating as a service open to the public in Phoenix in October 2020. Since its introduction in San Francisco in 2023, it has become a tourist sensation as well as ferrying locals on their daily rounds. Waymo has been validated over 100 million fully autonomous miles and 10 million-plus trips.

In May of this year, Waymo released a study saying that over 56.7 million miles, its vehicles had 92% fewer crashes with injuries to pedestrians and 82% fewer crashes with injuries to cyclists compared to human drivers. The company’s latest data show similar rates across 96 million miles.

Still, its robotaxis have faced scrutiny from safety regulators, including a 14-month probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into more than a dozen minor crashes in which Waymo vehicles ran into parked cars and other stationary objects. Waymo recalled 1,200 vehicles, leading NHTSA to close the inquiry, Reuters reported.

In addition to eventually opening its service to the public in Detroit, Waymo is partnering with organizations like the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan.

“For many people living with epilepsy, transportation is a significant barrier. The Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan celebrates organizations like Waymo, which are leading the way in providing accessible and safe transportation solutions,” said Andrea Schotthoefer, the foundation’s president. “Their efforts show what’s possible and inspire collective action toward a future where transportation barriers no longer stand in the way of opportunity and inclusion.”

By Breana Noble

MediaNews Group

Ford Motor Co. is opening the doors of its new world headquarters to the public on Nov. 16.

Attendees must register online for free to enjoy the festivities that include self-guided tours, a car show, live entertainment, food trucks and other activities for families from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

The Dearborn automaker last month announced it was moving its headquarters across town to the new, enormous, glassy product development center known as “The Hub” off Oakwood Boulevard across from the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. It’ll serve as the home for the company that first made vehicles accessible to the masses as it pursues a future toward greater electrification, autonomous driving and other advanced technologies.

The new headquarters will get the 1 American Road address that has marked the location of the Glass House at Michigan Avenue and Southfield Road that has served as Ford’s headquarters since 1956. That building will be demolished and is expected to be turned into a park-like community space in partnership with the city.

On Nov. 16, a grand opening ceremony will occur at noon and a closing ceremony at 4 p.m. Guests can make reservations to see the inside of the building, including workspaces and employee wellness areas. The walking, self-guided look likely will take 15 to 30 minutes, according to Ford.

Guests still can register to attend, even if tour reservations become fully booked. The Ford Community Car Show will show privately owned Ford classics from custom designs and sports models to heavy-duty trucks.

For now, The Hub is listed at 2100 Carroll Shelby Way on Google Maps. Ford’s invitation encourages guests to enter at Village Road and South Pond. Parking is at Deck 300 at 21324 S. Military St. and the PDC lot at 21000 S. Military.

By Kara Berg, MediaNews Group

The widow of a man killed in 2010 in Farmington Hills and her attorney say the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office is neglecting its duties in the retrial of the man convicted of killing her husband.

Genniver Jameel, the widow of Saif Jameel, said she is frustrated about what she sees as corruption in the prosecutor’s office and courtroom maneuvers strip away the justice her family got in 2011 when Hayes Bacall was sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree murder of her husband. Bacall is in the process of being retried for Saif Jameel’s murder after the Court of Appeals vacated his conviction in April.

“We are living through hell every single day — grieving Saif while fighting a system that seems determined to silence us,” Jameel told The Detroit News in a statement. “Instead of finding support and accountability through the court system, we have faced betrayal and corruption that has only deepened our suffering.”

Hayes Bacall was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2011 for the July 2010 murder of his nephew Saif Jameel. Prosecutors say Bacall walked into the gas station Jameel owned and shot him 12 times, then later told police he killed Jameel because Jameel owed him $400,000.

The Oakland County Conviction Integrity Unit reviewed the case in 2022 and determined that prosecutorial misconduct related to lies the prosecutor told during closing arguments, as well as witnesses recanting their testimony, resulted in a weak conviction.

Prosecutors and Bacall’s attorneys agreed to move forward with a second-degree murder charge instead of the original first-degree murder charge in 2023, but new evidence has again come up, pausing justice for Saif Jameel again.

Prosecutors obtained recordings in May and July of two phone calls that one of the recanting witnesses, Samir Bacall, Saif’s younger brother, had with his aunt. In the calls, Samir implies he lied during his recantation and was truthful in his original testimony. He expresses a desire for revenge on Genniver Jameel because she allegedly owes him money.

Though prosecutors transcribed translations of the calls in time to include them in their response to Hayes Bacall’s motion to dismiss the first-degree murder charge, prosecutors did not mention them in public court filings until days after Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Mary Ellen Brennan granted Hayes Bacall’s motion Oct. 15 and dismissed the first-degree murder charge. Assistant Prosecutor David Williams said Brennan knew about the filings from off-the-record conversations, but they were not introduced to influence her decision on the first-degree murder charge.

The first mention of Samir’s statements came in a motion for reconsideration of Brennan’s decision filed after 5 p.m. Oct. 20, the day before Bacall was set to plead guilty to second-degree murder. The recordings call into question the validity of Samir’s recantation and his motives for his original trial testimony, Assistant Prosecutor Shelbee Sanborn wrote in the motion for reconsideration.

Brennan said the late filing was “stunning” and said “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Sanborn during a hearing Oct. 21 told Brennan she had to work “very quickly” to get this motion filed and did it as soon as she could, but did not say why the information was not included in her response to Bacall’s motion to dismiss the first-degree murder charge. Prosecutors filed the motion after The News inquired Oct. 16 about the recordings and why they weren’t brought up.

Sanborn wrote in her motion that she did not have a chance to tell Brennan about the new evidence, including the recordings and another witness who could testify to premeditation, on Oct. 15 when Brennan ruled on the motion. Sanborn is asking Brennan to reconsider her ruling dismissing the first-degree murder charge for Bacall.

“The existence of the phone calls was never a secret. They were disclosed to the defense and we made the court aware of their existence,” said Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams. “We didn’t believe that the phone calls were relevant to the motion to dismiss, which is why we didn’t attach them to our response.”

Genniver Jameel’s attorney, Pam Szydlak, said the prosecutor’s office’s conduct is “nothing short of alarming.”

Jameel and Szydlak said Sanborn told them she would be fighting for the first-degree charge to remain in place, and would be mentioning the recordings in her response and at the hearing on Bacall’s motion to dismiss the first-degree murder charge. Sanborn did not mention it, however, and argued only that prosecutors were not barred from proceeding with the first-degree case in her written response.

“The People were given a full and fair opportunity to defend against this motion, yet they failed to do so in any meaningful or competent way — all the while pretending they were fighting it,” Szydlak said. “Rather than engage with real legal issues and the transcripts of Samir Bacall saying he lied in his recantation, they instead offered vague assertions, unsupported rhetoric, and outright neglect of its duty to the court and the interests of justice.”

Williams said no one has denied Hayes Bacall shot and killed Saif Jameel, and the prosecutor’s office has continued to fight to hold him accountable for his actions. Prosecutors are now seeking to have Bacall tried again for first-degree murder.

“Those recordings are attached to our motion for reconsideration, and the Judge has agreed to consider them,” Williams said in a statement. “The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office has fully pursued a transparent and thorough review of the case against Hayes Bacall for the death of Saif Jameel.”

Samir Bacall, Saif’s younger brother, originally testified that Hayes Bacall had called him multiple times in the months before the shooting, saying he was going to kill Saif because of the money he owed him. Samir and Jameel’s close friend Slieman Bashi said in 2022 that they lied during the trial about these statements, which was part of why prosecutors decided to reopen the case and seek to overturn Bacall’s conviction.

In the recorded conversation, Samir told his aunt “she harmed me,” speaking of Genniver.

“Yes, but you don’t go to seek your revenge on her by going and changing your testimony,” the aunt said, according to a translated transcript of the phone call.

Samir talks mostly about seeking revenge on Genniver, because he says she sought revenge on him and took his money, but also said “I did not testify falsely, no, I didn’t lie … Geniver Geniver (sic) is the one who testified falsely, not I.”

Bacall’s attorney, Mark Krieger, said during a hearing Oct. 21 that he didn’t think the recording changes anything and that Brennan should not change her ruling about the first-degree murder charge. He said Bacall was prepared that day to plead guilty to second-degree murder. Krieger did not respond for comment.

Brennan will issue a written ruling on Sanborn’s motion for reconsideration. Bacall’s next court date is Dec. 4.

By Summer Ballentine, MediaNews Group

About 1,200 workers at General Motors Co.’s Detroit-area all-electric plant will be laid off as the company downsizes to a single shift in response to the slowing U.S. electric vehicle market.

The company also will cut 550 jobs at its joint-venture Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Ohio, with another 850 slated for temporary layoff. The Ultium Cells’ Tennessee plant will temporarily lay off 700 workers.

The layoffs reflect a rapid pullback in EV production as GM adjusts to a U.S. EV market no longer bolstered by $7,500 tax credits for buyers and lessees that expired last month. Automakers also expect to soon be free of expensive government fines for greenhouse gas emissions that pushed EV manufacturing ahead of market demand. Both policy changes were pushed by President Donald Trump.

“In response to slower near-term EV adoption and an evolving regulatory environment, General Motors is realigning EV capacity,” according to a company statement. “Despite these changes, GM remains committed to our U.S. manufacturing footprint, and we believe our investments and dedication to flexible operations will make GM more resilient and capable of leading through change. Impacted employees may be eligible for SUB pay and benefits in accordance with the National GM-UAW Agreement.”

GM on Wednesday said its all-electric Factory Zero Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center, which went offline this week, will remain shut down until Nov. 24 when it will run two shifts until the holiday break. It will only operate one shift when it reopens Jan. 5 after the holidays.

About 2,000 employees will stay on at Factory Zero, spokesperson Kevin Kelly said. Cuts will be based on seniority.

The plant has repeatedly cut shifts and slowed production this year, including axing a shift each for the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ.

Ultium Cells plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Warren, Ohio, will pause operations starting Jan. 5 and continuing through at least May, Kelly said.

“During the temporary pause Ultium Cells plans to make upgrades to both facilities to provide greater flexibility,” according to a GM statement. “Ultium Cells will continue to evaluate and adapt production plans based on evolving market needs.”

Kelly said more layoffs are coming at two other sites. GM’s Pontiac Metal Center, a Metro Detroit stamping plant that supplies parts for Factory Zero, will temporarily lay off 45 workers and New York’s Rochester Operations, which makes electric vehicle battery cooling lines supplied to Factory Zero, will temporarily idle 74 employees. Both actions will take effect Nov. 17.

The moves come as battery manufacturers ― including the Detroit Three ― scale back plans for EV battery production, citing tepid demand and a sharply changing regulatory environment under the Trump administration.

Ford Motor Co. has delayed production plans at major battery plants it has a stake in, while a Stellantis NV partnership isn’t moving forward with major parts of its originally-planned battery factory footprint. Numerous battery projects have been scrapped, delayed or mothballed.

Automakers are in many cases rethinking their entire game plan for EVs under Trump, pivoting more to hybrids and big-engine trucks, pausing EV assembly lines, and in some instances ― including with GM ― altogether stripping EV-related production equipment out of factories.

By Max Bryan, MediaNews Group

A Republican is the only city clerk candidate on the ballot in Democratic-dominated Southfield, a prospect that worries Democrats and has GOP leaders arguing that the Democrats are in disarray.

Republican Gavriel “Gabi” Grossbard is running for the Southfield clerk’s seat after losing his 2023 bid to current city Clerk Janet Jackson, a Democrat who was disqualified from running for reelection. Democrats are hoping either City Council member Coretta Hogue or city clerk’s office worker Wynett Guy can prevail as write-in candidates, but political experts said write-in campaigns are often uphill battles.

The clerk oversees local elections and public records in the predominantly Black city of more than 75,000 residents. This would include overseeing the local results of the 2026 midterm election, when Republicans are seeking to win an open U.S. Senate seat as well as take back the governor’s office and state Senate.

The Michigan Democratic Party has highlighted this race in part due to a November 2020 federal lawsuit that Grossbard filed with three other voters that sought to decertify the presidential ballot counts in the Democratic strongholds of Wayne, Washtenaw and Ingham counties. Grossbard and his co-plaintiffs accused election officials of clerical errors, fraud and counting illegal votes.

The lawsuit in the Western District of Michigan sought to invalidate more than 1.2 million votes — more than 848,500 votes for Democrat Joe Biden and more than 368,400 votes for President Donald Trump, a Republican — after Biden defeated Trump by 154,000 votes. But Grossbard and his co-defendants withdrew the lawsuit five days later.

“There’s good reason that, in a majority-Democratic city, we wouldn’t want somebody like that to be clerk,” said Michigan Democratic Party President Curtis Hertel, adding that “it’s incredibly important that those people’s votes are counted in a free and fair election in 2026 and beyond.”

Southfield Mayor Ken Siver said he’s known Grossbard to be “a reasonable, nice guy” and would be ethical in the clerk’s office if elected. Siver also said he doesn’t believe Grossbard is “MAGA” or a Make America Great Again diehard, although the mayor is not supporting his bid for clerk.

Grossbard didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment, and campaign manager Pea Gee did not arrange an interview with the candidate despite multiple requests.

Jackson, a former Oakland County commissioner who beat Grossbard 75%-25% for the clerk’s office in 2023, was taken off this year’s ballot due to an unresolved campaign finance fee.

Michigan Republican Party Chairman Jim Runestad called Jackson a “Keystone cop” for getting disqualified from an election she’s charged with overseeing.

“How catastrophic for the city, one of the biggest in Oakland County, to have this level of incompetence,” Runestad said. “So then, they’re now stuck with trying to plug in whoever they can as opposed to a gentleman who went about it the right way, filed in time, filed his paperwork correctly and is on the ballot.”

State Democrats have thrown their support behind Guy at the request of local Democratic chapters, Hertel said.

“She doesn’t come in with a learning curve,” said Southfield / Lathrup Village Democratic Club President Joseph Person, referencing Guy’s position in the clerk’s office. “(Grossbard and Hogue) come in with a learning curve.”

Expert: Write-in efforts ‘extremely difficult’

But the Democrats have unique challenges to win the Southfield clerk’s race, a political analyst said.

Write-in candidacies usually are “extremely difficult” because of the huge educational effort required by campaigns to ensure voters remember a candidate’s name and write it on the ballot, said Southfield-based consultant Mario Morrow Sr.

The Southfield situation complicates the situation further because of the dueling write-in candidacies, he said.

“Just off the bat, the write-in candidates might end up splitting votes if they get people to support them, which leaves the person who, love him or hate him, is a legitimate candidate, on the ballot, and very well could end up in this spot,” Morrow said.

Guy originally sought to be placed on the election ballot, but said her name was removed because Grossbard pointed out disqualifying aspects in her campaign. Grossbard’s campaign manager, Gee, rejected the claim, arguing that Guy failed on her own to ensure she complied with state election law.

As a result, Guy mounted a write-in campaign.

Guy said she would make sure the clerk’s office flows more efficiently if elected. She also said she would better educate its employees about the office’s functions.

Hogue said she put her name down before she knew Guy was going to launch a write-in campaign.

The City Council member said she is concerned about the prospect of split votes, but said she was the only write-in candidate before Guy threw her hat in the ring. Hogue also said she has experience running a voting precinct.

Asked about the possibility of a weakened write-in vote due to the two candidates, Person said he’s not concerned about “hypotheticals” and is instead focused on helping Guy win the election.

2020 lawsuit becomes focal point

Grossbard’s supporters said he was within his rights to try to decertify a portion of Michigan’s votes in the 2020 presidential election if he believed there were irregularities.

Grossbard and three other plaintiffs said in the lawsuit they were worried their votes were “unconstitutionally diluted” by fraudulent ballots, including some of the absentee ballots counted at what was then the TCF Center in Detroit.

“There exists sufficient evidence to place in doubt the November 3 presidential-election results in identified key counties, including issues with transparency, fraudulent changing of dates, a software glitch, clerical errors, illegal votes, and many other issues and irregularities,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit cited other lawsuits and conservative blogs in its reasoning and claimed the plaintiffs would analyze poll books and other records to create “expert reports” to provide proof of fraud. None of the other lawsuits seeking to overturn Michigan’s election results succeeded. Grossbard and his allies withdrew the lawsuit without explanation on Nov. 16, 2020.

The lawsuit would have invalidated more than 20% of Michigan’s 5.5 million votes if successful.

“This case was clearly designed to spread misinformation about the security and integrity of Michigan elections,” state Attorney General Dana Nessel said of the lawsuit.

Gee said Grossbard “had some concerns, didn’t break the law, put their name on a lawsuit.” Runestad agreed.

“It’s perfectly legal to be able to do this. It happens all the time that people feel that there were things that were not kosher in the election process,” Runestad said.

Gee said Grossbard would be “more cognizant” of election integrity than other candidates since he’s sued over them before.

Guy said she wouldn’t care about Grossbard’s politics if he hadn’t challenged the 2020 election.

“I was concerned about the city, so they needed to be told, and not just blindly vote for someone who’s the only person on the ballot without knowing their track record,” Guy said.

Noting prior clerk’s misconduct

Gee accused the Democratic Party of hypocrisy because it supported former Southfield Clerk Sherikia Hawkins in 2019. Hawkins was convicted in 2022 of misconduct in office for ending the city’s 2018 election without counting nearly 200 absentee ballots. She was forced to resign from office, leading eventually to the Jackson-Grossbard race in 2023. She was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

Gee also accused the Democrats of making the campaign “about a Jewish man running against one African American write-in candidate,” and pointed out that both Guy and Hogue are Black.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Hertel called Gee’s claim “ridiculous.”

“The only thing that we have talked about in this campaign is his lack of credibility in county elections when he himself has been part of denying them,” Hertel said.

Grossbard said he will “defend and preserve the individual right to vote, secure the voting process, and will fight voter suppression,” according to his campaign literature. The campaign materials also said Grossbard will expand services to include passport applications and process birth and death certificates in a timely manner.

Grossbard would bring council minutes up to date if he were elected, Gee said. She claimed these records have fallen out of compliance with Michigan’s Open Meeting Act under Jackson.

“I’m surprised that the Democratic Party is worried about the candidate as opposed to the people getting their accurate information,” Gee said.

Jackson did not respond to a request for comment regarding Gee’s claim.

Democrats mount ‘huge undertaking’

While the Democrats have thrown their support behind Guy in their efforts to keep Grossbard from office, the dynamic of dueling write-in candidates persists.

Volunteers have knocked on more than 7,000 doors in support of Guy, Southfield Democratic Club’s Person said. The Michigan Democratic Party has also invested in mailers and digital campaign materials for her election, Hertel said.

Mayor Siver claimed the local Democratic Club initially said it would support Hogue, but then switched to Guy a few days later.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m sorry. I’m not going to go back on my word to Coretta Hogue. I wish Wynett Guy every success, but I am backing Coretta,'” Siver said.

Person said Hogue “didn’t have any money” and wanted the club to “do the heavy lifting for her,” which contributed to the club’s decision.

Hogue said she believes “people have personal gains that they’re seeking” in their decision to support Guy but did not elaborate when asked what those were. She also pointed out that she was the only person running against Grossbard who wasn’t kicked off the ballot.

“It’s been a dirty campaign,” Hogue said. “I think that it’s really shown in how people are choosing to support and endorse and are overlooking qualifications.”

Like Grossbard, Hogue said she would get the City Council meeting minutes up to date. She also claimed integrity needs to be brought back to the office.

Grossbard’s Gee called Hogue a “valid and viable candidate.”

The result is that defeating Grossbard is “a huge undertaking” for the Democrats, Morrow said.

“It would have probably been beneficial if everybody was on the same page and wanted to go after Gabi, that one of the two write-in candidates would have pulled out,” Morrow said. “That would have been an easier task to take on.”

By Jennifer Pignolet, MediaNews Group

After a few easy prompts to get them started, Michele Malesyzk warns her daughter: This next one’s going to be tough.

“ANG,” says Maleszyk, emphasizing the three sounds in the one blended sound found in words like “pang” or “angry.”

Sitting atop a barstool at their kitchen countertop, 8-year-old Grace Zinczuk sticks her left index finger into a tray of sand in front of her and traces out the letters that make the sound. “A-N-G,” she writes.

Having properly matched the letters to the sound, Grace gives the tray a shake, and the black and green grains of sand fall flat again, ready for her next set of letters.

Grace, a third grader, practices these lessons with her mother most days after school in addition to her usual homework in a bid to fill a hole in Grace’s foundational literacy skills. Grace has dyslexia, a learning disability that makes reading and writing difficult, especially without explicit, direct instruction on the mechanics of reading. The hole in Grace’s literary skills exists, Malesyzk said, because of the reading curriculum used by Troy Public Schools, where Grace attended kindergarten through second grade.

Troy’s curriculum has received years of criticism, locally, across the state and the country, for its gaps in how it teaches students — especially ones with dyslexia — to learn to read. The Troy district defended its approach by noting its third graders have high reading scores on the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, with 67.9% proficiency compared with the state’s overall third grade English language arts proficiency of 38.9%.

But districts with the same or similar programs across Michigan are soon going to be forced to adopt new ways — at least in part.

The state of Michigan last year approved two new literacy laws aimed at districts like Troy that have been using programs that are not aligned with what’s known as the “science of reading.” Many districts across Michigan have already moved in that direction, focusing on equipping students with skills to “decode” words they don’t know.

School districts will have to screen children for signs of dyslexia, address lagging students’ needs with intervention methods approved by the state, and involve parents in the process of catching up students who are behind. They will also have to provide training to teachers in the science of reading.

The literacy laws’ supporters said the new requirements are a significant step toward moving Michigan’s stubbornly low literacy rates, while still balancing the state’s tradition of local control, especially in schools. But some are worried the law doesn’t go far enough.

‘I would have tried to guess the word’

While her parents have read to her regularly since she was a baby, Grace struggled to learn to read. She particularly didn’t love chapter books.

“Sometimes I didn’t really read a page,” Grace said. If she got stuck on a word she couldn’t figure out? “I would have tried to guess the word.”

Maleszyk grew up in Troy and attended Troy schools. When her family moved back to the area, she said, they chose Troy for the community and the schools.

Maleszyk, a former teacher in older elementary school grades, said she didn’t research the school’s reading curriculum when deciding where to move. She wishes she had.

Troy uses a reading curriculum called Units of Study, authored by Lucy Calkins, from the Teacher’s College at Columbia University. In the past few years, Columbia has distanced itself from the program, dissolving its professional development support efforts for the curriculum. The program, once beloved for its literature-rich materials and goal of building a love of reading in young children, has faced intense scrutiny for its gaps in explicit instruction, especially around phonics.

Some of the curriculum has been updated to include a stronger phonics piece, but multiple states with mandates to use the science of reading have not approved Calkins’ program for use, including Ohio and Tennessee.

The Troy district said in an email that it will comply with all Michigan laws, but did not commit to moving away from Calkins’ program. The district touted its high overall reading rates in third grade and noted that a review of the English language arts curriculum will begin next year.

“As part of this process, we will evaluate a variety of evidence-based resources,” director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives Kendra Montante said. “While committed to continuous improvement, the district’s literacy program is comprehensive with instruction and intervention systems fully aligned to Michigan standards.”

In June, the school board approved the purchase of Calkins’ Units of Study writing program.

Two board members dissented, saying they were aware of the criticism of Units of Study. Board member Stephanie Zendler said then the district “must begin to align all literacy instruction with the science of reading.”

“Recent revisions to the program have attempted to incorporate some of these things, but these changes still fall short of what is required for a comprehensive, research-aligned literacy framework that works for all of our students, in particular, our most at-risk learners,” Zendler said. “Adopting a curriculum that does not fully reflect this work would be a step backward at a time when we need to accelerate learning recovery and close achievement gaps.”

Last year’s test scores showed a significant achievement gap between students who are economically disadvantaged and those with disabilities. The district also had a significant racial disparity in third-grade reading proficiency. About 38% of Black students tested proficient, compared with 70% of White students and 73% of Asian students. White and Asian students make up 83% of the school’s third graders.

Board member Vital Anne, who voted for the adoption, said at the meeting she heard the concerns and was aware of the upcoming literacy laws, but that she was comfortable with the curriculum updates and that they had support from Troy’s teachers.

“No curriculum ever is perfect or complete,” Anne said.

Maleszyk said she could see the curriculum was not working for Grace.

“She would sometimes cry in the morning, not want to go to school,” Maleszyk said.

After spending over $10,000 on tutoring, buying materials to help tutor her at home and hiring an advocate to push for additional services through the Troy schools, she pulled Grace out of the district this fall. Three months in at her private Catholic school, Grace is receiving three 30-minute sessions a week to rebuild the foundational skills she missed, Maleszyk said. She loves chapter books now, especially ones about ponies and magic.

“I’m thinking like, wow, this is so much better,” Grace said.

Maleszyk said she worries that districts like Troy will continue to do a “workaround” of the law. She reached out to the Michigan Department of Education to ask how its officials would enforce the law.

“They told me that they’re going to rely on parents like me,” she said.

DeNesha Rawls-Smith, literacy unit manager at the Michigan Department of Education, emphasized that the new literacy laws are just that — laws.

“If you have a child that is not performing, then they are entitled to intervention, no matter how well your school is doing,” Rawls-Smith said. “So I would encourage them to sit down with parents and make the changes needed for that child, because that’s what the law requires. If I can’t appeal to your humanity, I’m going to appeal to what the law says.”

Even successful districts, she said, are “only as successful as your most challenging student, or your student that is having the most challenges, or your teacher that is having the most challenges.”

“I think if one child is not reading, that’s a cause for us to pause and look at what we’re doing,” Rawls-Smith said. “And we don’t have any districts … that have 100% proficiency.”

Michigan avoids full mandates

About a decade ago, when state Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, was a member of the state House, a mother told him about having to fight her son’s public school to get him the help he needed after being diagnosed with dyslexia.

“Her message to me was, ‘You know, not every kid’s gonna have the resources and the parent with the time and the ability to fight this fight,'” Irwin said. “‘And this is wrong. And you know, do you know anything about the science of reading, and do you know anything about dyslexia? Maybe you should.'”

The science of reading includes five main components: phonemic awareness (sounds), phonics (the connection between letters and sounds), fluency (reading text accurately), vocabulary (knowing the meaning of words), and comprehension (understanding what’s been read). It teaches students skills to figure out words they don’t know by attacking the word directly, sounding it out or using their fingers to tap out the sounds as they say them.

Previous methods of teaching, known as “whole language” or “balanced literacy,” have focused less on the explicit teaching of reading, and more on the exposure to books, and encouraging other ways of figuring out words, like looking at the pictures or other words around the one a student doesn’t know. Critics have said balanced literacy often leads more to memorization than actual reading.

Irwin and a group of literacy advocates tried over a period of years to pass legislation that would require schools to do more not just for students with dyslexia, but also those who may just need more support to learn to read.

“We tried to make this a bill that would promote literacy broadly, not just a bill that was focused on how to help kids who have characteristics of dyslexia,” he said.

In October 2024, the Michigan Legislature passed two new literacy laws, aimed at spurring growth just as new test scores showed the state ranking 44th in the nation in fourth grade reading. The laws updated what was formerly known as the Read by Grade Three Law.

The first law, Public Act 146, requires the Michigan Department of Education to create a list of high-quality instructional materials aligned with the science of reading. It also requires school districts to screen students three times a year for signs of dyslexia or any struggle to read. Districts must use a state-approved program to do the screening and support the student through intervention. Both must align with the science of reading.

The law also requires training for all teachers that hits on seven aspects of teaching reading, although no specific program or a set number of hours was required. Districts must also notify parents if a student is showing signs of struggling to read, including challenges with spelling or letter and sound recognition. The majority of the law does not take effect until fall 2027.

The second law, Public Act 147, addresses teacher training programs, requiring that future teachers receive training in the science of reading.

In the last three years, 26 states have passed laws around the science of reading, according to APM Reports. They have used a series of tools to help either strongly encourage or require districts to move away from balanced literacy programs.

Some states have opted for more stick than carrot, legislating a mandate that districts must use a curriculum vetted by their departments of education and rooted in the science of reading.

Michigan steered away from such mandates — more carrot, less stick. The state offered funding for new programs, and to use the funding, districts had to adopt from an approved list. But there is no law fully stopping districts from using a balanced literacy program, even alongside, for example, an early literacy phonics program.

Troy received state grant money to adopt UFLI, a phonics program for students in grades K-2.

rwin said Michigan could have tried to go the way of a full curriculum mandate, but a commitment to being a local-control state made that untenable.

“We need to win this battle on literacy through changing culture, through demonstrating that the right methods work,” Irwin said. “And I think that’s always going to be more important than the statutory hammer.”

But even those who strongly support the new law are worried it won’t be enough.

“It’s a problem,” Ann Arbor Public Schools board member Susan Wald-Schmidt said. “There are no teeth in this bill to say they have to do it.”

Wald-Schmidt, who worked closely with Irwin and others on the bill, said she heard from a teacher in another state — one that does have a mandate — that their district still was finding ways around the law. Even in states with “mandates,” she said, if there isn’t a penalty, there will be those unmotivated to change.

LETRS training eye-opening

David Pelc, a Romulus School District reading interventionist, created a network to support teachers. Pelc is the founder and administrator of a Facebook group called “Michigan’s Science of Reading-What I Should Have Learned in College.” It has over 4,300 members.

Teachers, parents and administrators across the state post questions, resources, strategies and trainings, providing the support that, in some cases, districts have not provided.

Pelc said before the COVID pandemic, he knew the reading strategies, especially for struggling readers, weren’t working. He looked for a new way and found people online talking about the science of reading.

“People were kind of grabbing little parts and pieces,” he said.

Once he saw the difference it made in his own students, he wanted to help pull all those pieces together and help teachers learn the baseline knowledge they need to know to teach reading.

“I’m always looking at like, ‘Why don’t they know this?’ you know?” Pelc said. “But then I’m like, I didn’t know that. How did I find out? And it’s a lot of just kind of discovering, which takes a long time, and wastes a lot of time.”

Pelc said he was encouraged to see the new literacy laws. But without proper training, not just on the science of reading but any new curriculum a district adopts, it won’t be successful, he said.

Pelc said as more districts begin to support teachers through the transition, more are looking to go deeper still. Michigan is recommending, but not requiring, all teachers who work with young students or who teach English at any age to take an intensive, 60-hour course called LETRS as a way to meet the state training requirement.

Some districts, like Detroit Public Schools Community District, have found ways to incentivize teachers to take it, paying them a $5,000 bonus. (“Don’t tell me that,” Pelc said, noting he took the training for free.)

Pelc said it was eye-opening, but he knows of some teachers who started the training and dropped out because it was difficult and time-consuming.

“I really don’t know what the answer is,” he said. “I feel like there’s got to be a way to teach this in an easier, more structured way, like to roll it out so everyone is sold on it and believes in it, you know?”

Jeff Cobb, director of government affairs for EdTrust Midwest, said the training for teachers is the key to the science of reading reaching all students, even without a mandate.

“Understand that science of reading is based in science, and it’s actually evidenced, proven, and it’s not just opinion,” Cobb said. “It’s curriculum, and it’s interventions that are that are based on things that work.”

The science of reading has been credited with what’s known in education circles as the “Southern surge,” as traditionally red states such as Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi — which has its own “Mississippi Miracle” slogan — find success in turning around stubbornly low reading rates. Cobb noted that in Michigan, efforts to pass the legislation were bipartisan.

“It seemed to bring people from both sides of the aisle together,” Cobb said. “And let’s face it, that’s very unusual in this political climate.”

One former Troy parent moved her family to the South, in part because of the literacy laws.

Tracy Owens said she fought for her son, who had dyslexia, to receive more services at his school in Troy. She, too, initially moved to Troy for the schools, believing they were the best.

“I realized a lot of kids were getting tutoring, and I was like, you know, we can’t afford a couple thousand dollars a month to send our kids in for tutoring,” Owens said.

When they moved to Georgia, testing showed that her daughter, a third grader who had gone to school in Troy up to that point, was reading at a level between kindergarten and first grade. Owens said she sent the results to the Troy school board.

“It’s hard for me because I’m like — I knew something was wrong,” Owens said. “… I maybe would have caught it when it was earlier, if I would have pushed a little harder.”

By Max Reinhart, MediaNews Group

The total number of vehicle crashes in southeast Michigan dropped in 2024, even as fatalities from those crashes climbed, newly released data shows.

The statistics, compiled by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), indicate a need for increased focus on major contributing factors like lane departures, impaired driving and problematic intersections, SEMCOG officials said.

“The overall decline in crashes and continued reduction in speeding-related fatalities represent a meaningful win for safety in Southeast Michigan,” said Amy O’Leary, executive director of SEMCOG. “These gains reflect the dedication of our local, regional, state, and federal partners who work every day to make our roads safer.

“Still, the persistence of high-severity crashes reminds us that our work is far from done. Together, we remain committed to advancing and supporting a transportation system where no loss of life is acceptable,” O’Leary said.

According to SEMCOG’s Quick Facts report, there were 129,583 total crashes across the organization’s seven-county area last year. That’s a 1.4% decrease from 131,448 crashes in 2023 and below the 10-year average of 133,511 crashes per year. It also marked the first decline in total crashes across the region since 2020.

However, there were 402 fatalities on Southeast Michigan’s roadways last year, 14 more than in 2023 and the fifth-highest yearly total in the past decade, according to SEMCOG’s findings.

The data also shows that while serious injuries from crashes were down 3% in 2024 (2,211 compared to 2,276 in 2023), that figure is the third-highest in the past 10 years.

In analyzing data regarding contributing factors, SEMCOG identified lane departures, impaired driving and intersections among the top causes for fatal and serious injury crashes.

There were 723 collisions resulting in either death or severe injury last year in which lane departure was a factor. About 39% of fatal crashes and 26% of serious injury crashes in southeast Michigan in 2024 involved drivers drifting from their marked lane.

Crashes that involved driver impairment decreased overall in 2024, hitting a 10-year low of 3,918. However, SEMCOG reported, impairment was still a top factor in traffic deaths, accounting for 36% of traffic fatalities.

The organization reported that there were 397 serious injuries and 145 fatalities linked to driver impairment last year, representing slight increases from 2023 (395 injuries and 141 deaths).

Grievous crashes at intersections across southeast Michigan jumped notably in 2024, the report found. There were 125 deaths in vehicle crashes at intersections (31% of all traffic fatalities), which was the first increase in fatal crashes at intersections since 2020, SEMCOG’s data shows. There were also 912 serious injuries in crashes at intersections (41% of all such crashes), which marks a 10-year high.

SEMCOG data shows that the most dangerous intersections in southeast Michigan last year were Drahner and Lapeer roads in Oxford Township as well as Metropolitan Parkway and Utica Road in Clinton Township. Both those locations were the site of seven fatal or serious injury crashes.

There was only one such crash at Greenfield and Plymouth roads in Detroit, but that intersection continues to have the highest rate of injury/fatal crashes over the past five years (2.8 per year), according to SEMCOG.

Other notable findings from the SEMCOG report:

• 2024 was a particularly deadly year for motorcyclists with 71 fatalities, a 25% jump from 57 in 2024 and the highest total since 2015.
• Total crashes involving pedestrians dropped to 1,180 in 2024 from 1,216 in 2023, the first decrease in that statistic in four years. Some 78 pedestrians died in crashes last year in southeast Michigan, down from 97 in 2023 and the second-lowest total in the past decade.
• Speeding decreased as a factor in fatal and serious injury crashes for the third straight year. There were 392 such crashes in 2021, 365 in 2022, 322 in 2021 and 300 in 2024.
• Crashes involving bicyclists increased for the third straight year (875 total in 2024) but bicyclist fatalities (seven) dropped to the lowest rate since 2021.

mreinhart@detroitnews.com

 

By Beth LeBlanc, Chad Livengood, Melissa Nann Burke, Grant Schwab, MediaNews Group

After vowing to bring state employees back to Lansing, the Legislature’s actual written instructions included in this year’s spending plan leaves much of the decision-making on remote work up to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer‘s administration, as it has been for the past several years.

The so-called boilerplate language in the state budget bill requires state departments to “optimize” in-person work, to monitor remote workers and ensure all state employees comply with Office of State Employer standards.

But it leaves those standards up to Whitmer’s administration, which has allowed state workers to operate under a patchwork of remote work policies that differ by agency since the governor sent them home in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Additionally, the provisions in the budget require state buildings to have about 80% occupancy, without defining how that occupancy would be measured. Currently, the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget measures building occupancy by available square footage versus the amount of square footage allocated to an agency or tenant.

In other words, an increased occupancy rate, under the current definition, does not necessarily mean more individuals in a building.

More: Amid remote work scrutiny, Michigan refuses to release state office building occupancy data

House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, had been an outspoken critic of the Whitmer administration’s post-pandemic in-person work requirements, vowing in April to “bring the state workers back to work” through a state budget mandate. One Republican-controlled House committee held a blistering hearing about the issue in May.

When asked about the budget’s work requirements last week, Hall said through a spokesman that the language included in the budget stems from “productive conversations” between Hall and Whitmer about how to get employees back from the office.

While the speaker believes the language represents progress, “the House will be monitoring that progress over the next few weeks to see how it plays out,” said Gideon D’Assandro, a spokesman for Hall.

D’Assandro referred questions on specifics to the governor’s team.

The Department of Technology Management and Budget said it is “constantly evaluating our state-owned buildings and leased footprint.”

“That work will continue as we implement the new boilerplate,” spokeswoman Laura Wotruba said.

The Office of State Employer, when asked about the possibility of new work requirements, did not answer directly.

“The Office of the State Employer is currently reviewing the budget recently signed into law by Gov. Whitmer and will provide information and appropriate guidance to our department and agency partners in the near future,” the office’s spokeswoman, Lauren Leeds, said.

The vagueness of the budget language prompted the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce to formally ask for clarification last week on when workers might return to the capital city. The letter from the chamber’s president and CEO, Tim Daman, seeks a clear timeline for the implementation of return-to-work policies and a clear indication of how occupancy will be measured.

“As the chamber continues to collaborate with state agencies and business partners to strengthen Michigan’s capital region economy, clear communication about the policy’s timing and application will help ensure businesses are prepared to support increased workforce activity downtown,” Daman wrote.

Will autism funding be restored?

The Autism Alliance of Michigan laid off 18 employees last week who worked in their autism navigator program, helping thousands of families find services for their children on the spectrum, said Colleen Allen, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization.

The Autism Alliance’s $2 million appropriation in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was swept up in targeted spending cuts as lawmakers sought to find funds for a roughly $1.8 billion annual road repair increase.

Allen said the layoffs amounted to half of the organization’s staff and will result in the remaining autism navigator staff being able to serve 1,000 families annually instead of 4,000.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signaled her support for restoring the $2 million in a year-end spending bill.

“The governor included funding for the Autism Alliance in her executive recommendation and would support restoring the funding,” Whitmer spokesman Bobby Leddy said.

But Allen said she couldn’t take a chance of not being able to make payroll in the coming monts if lawmakers don’t come through with promises to restore the funding.

In an Oct. 8 interview, House Speaker Matt Hall said he’s unsure if lawmakers will be able to restore the $2 million program.

“I don’t see a vehicle to do that,” Hall said of restoring the funding. “I don’t think that we wanted it out. I think that essentially there wasn’t enough money left to pay for it.”

The Kalamazoo County Republican characterized the decision to cut the autism navigator program as “an oversight.”

“I think it was also an oversight because I don’t know that anyone intended for it to happen,” Hall told The News.

Hall also labeled the $2 million line-item as “pork,” a description Allen took exception with.

“We’re not an earmark,” Allen said. “We’re embedded in the MDHHS budget.”

Clerks oppose ranked choice voting

County clerks across the state voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose a ballot initiative that would allow for ranked choice voting in Michigan.

The Michigan Association of County Clerks’ rare public rebuke of a ballot initiative was based on concerns over the effect RankMiVote’s voting initiative would have on ballot length, voter confusion, audits and recounts and delayed results.

“We support the rights of voters to amend the state constitution through the initiative process. And as county clerks, it is our duty to implement all election requirements, including this one, if enacted,” Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum said in a statement. “But we feel that this proposal, as written, will have unintended consequences for Michigan elections.”

More: Backers of ranked choice voting want proposal on Michigan ballot despite Trump opposition

Ghalib to get ambassadorship hearing

Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib is scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday morning, about seven months after President Donald Trump nominated him to be ambassador to Kuwait.

The hearing comes after New Hampshire U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, last month said the panel’s chairman, Republican Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, had agreed to postpone consideration of Ghalib’s nomination as senators await more details about Ghalib’s background.

Ghalib’s nomination has prompted criticism from groups accusing him of antisemitism and of being anti-Israel. But Ghalib earlier this month said he had received a call from Trump, who “renewed” his support for Ghalib, despite the pushback to his nomination.

Last year, the mayor endorsed Trump for president and campaigned with him in Hamtramck in October at a critical juncture in the 2024 election when the Republican nominee was trying to win over Arab American voters in battleground Michigan.

Groups devoted to fighting antisemitism have come out strongly against Trump’s pick of Ghalib.

They have highlighted Ghalib’s support for the movement to boycott, divest and impose sanctions on Israel and called him a “denier” of sexual violence by the militant group Hamas in its 2023 attack on Israel ― an apparent reference to Ghalib’s remarks at a protest following the Oct. 7 attack.

Both the Anti-Defamation League and the grassroots group StopAntisemitism called on Trump to withdraw the nomination months ago, with the ADL saying it “strongly” opposes the pick. The American Jewish Committee expressed similar concerns.

McClain, Slotkin on No Kings rallies

Republicans in Congress spent the last week deriding the No Kings protests against the Trump administration as the “I Hate America” rallies, and suggesting that Democratic lawmakers were only trying to keep the government shutdown until after the protests.

“I hope after they have the ‘I hate America’ rally on Saturday that some reasonable Democrats will stop being ruled by their Marxist left-wing arm of their party and come to their senses and open up the government for the American people,” said U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain of Bruce Township, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Holly led a group of Democratic members of Congress last week, pushing back against the narrative. The group, which served in the military or, like Slotkin, in national security roles, called on veterans and others to show up “patriotically” and protest peacefully at their local No Kings rally on Saturday.

“We are all watching what President Trump is doing with the uniform military, using it to police American streets. … We’ve seen this authoritarian playbook before in too many other countries,” Slotkin and the others said in a montage video.

“As people who have served, we think it’s important that we say something. … Let’s exercise our freedoms and make clear that this is out of a deep sense of patriotism, love of country and collective desire to make our country better. … Because this is our country, and we need to fight for it, because America … has no king.”

Appearing in the video with Slotkin were Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of Arizona and U.S. Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Pat Ryan of New York, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire.

Reps: Pay federal law enforcement

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Holland, led a group of lawmakers in writing to the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget to encourage efforts to pay federal law enforcement during the government shutdown after the administration previously reprogrammed funds to ensure troops wouldn’t miss a paycheck last week.

The shutdown is in its third week, with most civilian federal employees scheduled to miss their first paycheck Oct. 24.

“Federal law enforcement are currently performing dangerous, mission-critical work without pay—including Border Patrol, ICE agents, CBP officers, DEA, Secret Service, Federal Air Marshals, and Transportation Security Officers,” Huizenga wrote.

“This is especially true in this climate of increasingly hateful rhetoric and violence directed at these officers — from the recent sniper assault on an ICE facility in Dallas to the nationwide harassment, endangerment, and doxxing of federal agents by extremist groups like Antifa, and by cartels placing assassination bounties on law enforcement officials.”

The letter was also signed by Reps. Tom Barrett of Charlotte and John James of Shelby Township, among others.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, last week introduced legislation in Congress to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees during government shutdowns.

Former candidate endorses in 10th District Dem primary

Days after posting the top quarterly fundraising haul in a suburban Detroit Democratic congressional primary, attorney Eric Chung won the endorsement of a one-time opponent.

Chung, of Sterling Heights, is one of three Democratic hopefuls looking to replace James after the twice-elected GOP lawmaker’s term expires at the end of 2026. James is running for governor of Michigan instead of seeking reelection to Congress.

Alex Hawkins of Rochester, an Army veteran and former congressional fellow for then-Rep. Slotkin, recently dropped out of the race. He will instead challenge GOP state Rep. Mark Tisdel of Rochester Hills for a seat in the state Legislature.

“I’ve gotten to know Eric Chung over the course of this campaign, and I’m proud to endorse him for Congress in Michigan’s 10th District. Eric’s the real deal,” Hawkins said in a statement.

He continued: “(Chung) shows up, listens, and fights for people instead of playing politics. At a time when so many are tired of career politicians and empty promises, Eric brings honesty, integrity, and a deep commitment to serving our communities. I’m proud to stand with him in this race and look forward to working alongside him to deliver real results for Michigan.”

Hawkins chose Chung over former special victims prosecutor Christina Hines of Warren and Pontiac Mayor Tim Greimel.

“I am honored to have Alex’s endorsement,” said Chung, a former U.S. Commerce Department attorney during the Biden administration. “A veteran and a community leader, Alex understands what it means to lead with integrity and purpose. I am looking forward to working with him to build a brighter future for workers and families in Macomb and Oakland County and across Michigan.”

Tweet of the Week

The Insider report’s “Tweet of the Week,” recognizing a social media post that was worthy of attention or, possibly, just a laugh, from the previous week, goes to Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox.

The former attorney general had a bone to pick with the way the recent state budget was portrayed when the actual numbers told a different story.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com

mburke@detroitnews.com

gschwab@detroitnews.com

 

By Max Bryan and Craig Mauger, MediaNews Group

Nearly 100 “No Kings” rallies throughout Michigan on Saturday brought thousands of demonstrators to the streets and spurred a war of words between local officials in the country’s two major political parties.

The cross-country rally initially organized in opposition to President Donald Trump’s birthday parade in June returned Saturday to Metro Detroit, Lansing and the Upper Peninsula in response to moves including sending immigration agents into cities, pushing for the redrawing of congressional maps to favor Republicans and “gutting health care,” according to the rally website.

The rallies were held as the federal government is shut down amidst a fight between Republicans and Democrats over Medicaid policy, and after Trump’s attempts to send National Guard troops into Chicago and Portland, Ore. to reduce crime. Trump has also sent an influx of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into Chicago to arrest undocumented immigrants.

In Oakland County’s Ferndale, the No Kings rally was on Woodward Avenue between Cambourne and Albany streets, where hundreds of demonstrators lined each side of the thoroughfare and the median and waved signs at traffic. Motorists honked their horns as they passed by, prompting cheers from the crowd.

Beth McGraw held a sign with her father’s picture from his service in the Navy with the words “My dad fought for freedom, not fascism.” McGraw said her father served on one of the ships that bombarded the Germans in the allied invasion of Normandy.

McGraw said today’s political landscape is “a slap in the face” to her father.

“We’re barreling into fascism if we’re not already there yet, the way that there’s no checks and balances anymore,” she said. “It’s almost like everybody forgot their civics classes.”

Demonstrator Michael Bachman had a sign with playing cards showing four poker hands, none of which had kings.

Bachman said the protesters were exercising their constitutional right to peacefully assemble, noting that tea party members publicly demonstrated against the Affordable Care Act in the early 2010s.

“The shoe’s on the other foot now,” he said. “We have the right to protest.”

Ahead of the rallies Saturday, the Oakland County Republican Party claimed that “affiliates” of the No Kings rallies “have a well-documented history of fueling division and unrest in our communities.” The party’s news release listed the Communist Party USA, the Freedom Socialist Party and the Democratic Socialists of America as affiliates, though none of these groups are listed as partners on the No Kings website.

“The Oakland County Republican Party stands for law and order, and we reject the radical and violent tactics that have become the hallmark of the No Kings movement and its extremist sponsors,” Chairman Vance Patrick said in the release.

The release also asked anyone with “intelligence or information regarding Antifa domestic terrorism activity” to report it to the FBI, referencing the leftist group recently designated by the Trump administration as “a militarist, anarchist enterprise.”

In June, confrontations at the No Kings rallies were isolated and the protests were largely peaceful.

Police in Los Angeles, where protests over federal immigration enforcement raids erupted the week prior and sparked demonstrations across the country, used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the formal event ended. Officers in Portland also fired tear gas and projectiles to disperse a crowd that protested in front of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building well into the evening.

In a prepared statement, members of the Oakland County Democratic Party said they were “deeply disturbed” by the local Republican Party’s statement.

“Their statement, cloaked in the language of safety, instead fans the flames of division and fear by mischaracterizing peaceful civic mobilizations as threats and by implying that those who exercise their constitutional rights should be treated as suspects,” the statement reads. “At a moment when our democracy demands leadership rooted in truth and responsibility, this kind of rhetoric is not only reckless, it is dangerous.”

State leaders had opinions of Saturday’s demonstrations as well. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Curtis Hertel praised them and said demonstrators are making clear that “the power belongs to the people.”

“Today’s marches are a peaceful demonstration of patriotism in the face of a Republican Party that is more interested in Trump’s power grabs and passing tax cuts for billionaires than serving the American people,” Hertel said in a prepared statement.

State Republican Party Chairman Jim Runestad had an unfavorable view of the demonstrations, calling them “a canard” that gives credence to the idea that Trump will take citizens’ rights away. Runestad said presidents have the right to federalize law enforcement when they see fit, and used Dwight Eisenhower sending troops into Little Rock, Ark., during school integration as an example.

Runestad said accusations of Trump acting in a “totalitarian” manner are a deflection on the part of the Democrats in the wake of the federal government shutdown. Republican leaders are refusing to negotiate on an end to the shutdown until a short-term funding bill to reopen the government is passed, while Democrats say they won’t agree without guarantees on extending health insurance subsidies.

“They’re frustrated with the shutdown, and they want to cast all the blame on the Republicans, and this thing is just a big canard pretending that President Trump is the dictator-in-chief when Biden went after conservative groups in every way he possibly could, and there never was a peep out of them on any of that,” Runestad said.

In Lansing, demonstrators crowded outside of the Michigan Capitol for the event, marking one of largest rallies on the Capitol lawn this year.

Among them was 78-year-old Bob McVeigh of Dimondale. He carried multiple signs, including one that said, “Nobody paid me to be here. I just hate Trump.”

The crowd chanted things like, “Lock him up,” referring to the Republican president.

“We’ve got to do what we can to save the country,” McVeigh said, as he stood on the Capitol lawn.

Speakers at the Lansing event frequently focused on immigration and criticized the deportation efforts of the Trump administration.

Rick Martinez, 66, of Potterville, who described himself as a lifelong Democrat, contended Republicans had been “stagnant” in the face of Trump’s actions and said Trump had been “jailing his enemies.”

“We just need to make sure that we have a good democracy here,” Martinez said.

In Detroit, demonstrators brought their signs to Roosevelt Park, where they heard speakers give calls to action.

Sharon Jeter, who stood in the crowd with an American flag, said she marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. when he visited Detroit in the 1960s. She said she came to the rally “to save America.”

“I’ve seen so much happen, and so many things that were really bad, improve. And now we’re supposed to go back? We’re supposed to go in our corners and be quiet? I don’t think so,” said Jeter.

By Julia Cardi, MediaNews Group

Mourners who gathered in Fenton on Saturday to remember the life of Thelma Armstrong, 54, a victim of the September attack on a Mormon church in Grand Blanc Township, remembered her as a warm, loving person who had a deep devotion to her family and her faith.

Armstrong’s friends and family, who knew her as “Yia Yia,” said she lit up a room with her sunny personality, loved the colors pink and red and had a strong work ethic. She raised two children, Charne’ Lichtenberg and Damon Du Bruyn, on her own and had three grandchildren.

Her son, Damon, said during the memorial service the “world has lost a little bit of joy and a little bit of fire” with his mother’s passing.

“I think the thing that will stay with me forever is just my mom’s kindness. And she never knew how to hold a grudge,” he said.

Armstrong was worshiping at the Grand Blanc Township Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sept. 28 when Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of Burton rammed his pickup truck into the side of the church, shot at congregants and set the building on fire, authorities said.

Two people died from the gunfire, eight were wounded and two bodies were discovered in the rubble of the church, The victims’ ages ranged from 6 to 78 years old. Police shot and killed Sanford at the scene.

Mourners, some dressed in red, filled a chapel in the Sharp Funeral Home in Fenton on Saturday. Pink, red and white flowers surrounded two photos of Armstrong.

Armstrong was born on May 8, 1971, in Klerksdorp, South Africa, according to her online obituary. She immigrated to the U.S. in 2019 to be near her grandchildren, her son-in-law said in remarks at her service.

“She had endured so many trials in her life, and she knew what it was to struggle,” said her son-in-law, Shane Lichtenberg. “And yet none of us knew that, because she shouldered it so well and she had a smile on her face no matter what happened in her life.”

She converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2011, but Armstrong had always been religious, her obituary said. Her daughter said she felt immediately connected to missionaries who came to her door because of their name tags reading “Jesus Christ.” The bonds she built with them earned her the nickname “Missionary Mother.” She taught a class for 5-year-olds at the Grand Blanc Township church.

In South Africa, Armstrong managed a local grocery store in Klerksdorp called Food Zone. After she moved to the U.S., she worked as a quality technician at American Axle.

Speakers said she was always proud of her children, and loved when her daughter picked out her clothes and helped her do her hair. But she considered everyone family, according to her obituary.

Armstrong’s daughter, Charne’ Lichtenberg, shared one of her favorite stories about her mother. On her seventh birthday, her mother told her she had a surprise. Excited about the possibility of a Barbie doll, Lichtenberg was disappointed to see a figure of Jesus in her hand instead − not knowing she would come to appreciate the gift later.

“But what I know now as an adult that − of course I didn’t know at the time as a 7-year-old girl − is that she had placed the biggest gift in my hand that day, and that was the gift of knowing my savior, Jesus Christ,” Lictenberg said.

By Craig Mauger, MediaNews Group

Michigan’s new budget will channel $203 million toward increasing the compensation of public school employees, a move supporters are hailing as a win for the state’s teachers.

The Republican-led House and Democratic-controlled Senate approved the new annual funding proposal for state operations early Friday morning. It is expected to be signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the coming days.

Embedded within one of the bills was a provision to repurpose $203 million that had been previously allocated to provide financial assistance to educators who were repaying student loans, but which had gone unused.

Now, the dollars will be given to schools “to increase compensation” for employees and the pay bumps must be on top of “any existing compensation negotiated in a collective bargaining agreement” between a school district and union representing educators or support staff, according to the budget blueprint.

 

Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, said the $225 million student loan forgiveness program, authorized in 2023, didn’t work as he intended and he wanted the dollars to now be used for financial relief for school employees who are facing rising health care costs.

“It was important to put more money back in the pockets of our educators,” Camilleri said.

In addition to teachers, the new initiative will benefit a wide array of school employees covered by union contracts, including librarians, counselors, social workers, custodians, bus drivers and literacy coaches, according to the bill.

Camilleri, a former teacher and the top Senate Democrat on the K-12 budget, said it will be up to districts and local unions to negotiate how the money will be handed out.

There will likely be one-time payments to staff at some point this school year, Camilleri said.

Somewhere around 381,000 people work for K-12 schools in Michigan, according to state data. It’s not clear how many of them would qualify for the new compensation. If they all did, which is not likely, and everyone got the same amount, an individual would receive $532.

“It should be a good one-time bonus,” Camilleri said.

The Michigan Education Association, which represents school staff in many districts across the state, touted the $203 million allocation in a statement on the budget Friday.

“Most critically, it provides $200 million in funding to directly put money in the paychecks of public school employees — whose pay increases are being consumed by skyrocketing out-of-pocket health insurance costs,” said Chandra Madafferi, president and CEO of the state’s largest teacher union.

By Melissa Nann Burke, MediaNews Group

The Grand Blanc community has set up an official fund to benefit the victims, families and first-responders affected by Sunday’s mass shooting and fire that destroyed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Grand Blanc Township.

The Victim Compassion Fund is hosted by the ELGA Credit Union Foundation for Impact in collaboration with Grand Blanc Township, the township’s police department and the Latter-day Saints Church, which many people know as the Mormon church.

The intent of the fund is to help victims of Sunday’s tragedy, their families, and the injured, as well as first-responders and others with needs, including paying medical bills, financial support, and counseling, organizers said.

“We are going to make sure that the people that actually receive this money are victims of the situation here in Grand Blanc Township,” Township Supervisor Scott Bennett said Friday.

“We had 37 different agencies respond to the fire, so we want to make sure that, whether it’s counseling services or if they need medical bills paid, what have you, we want to be here for them,” Bennett added.

“We have families where the parents can’t work right now because of injury or just being afraid to leave their homes. We want ot make sure we take care of them, as well.”

A committee comprising representatives from the LDS Church, the township and the police department will determine how to distribute the funds based on financial need and the available resources. Those who want to seek financial support from the fund should contact the church or the township at (810) 424-2692 or email assist@gbtgov.com.

“We said, let’s do this where people know it’s safe, and it’s trusted. ELGA Credit Union is a trusted source in Genesee County and beyond here, and people know that,” said Cheryl Sclater, president of the ELGA Credit Union Foundation for Impact.

“As the needs come in, we will fill them, and that’s how it’s going to work. There’s been a few side fundraisers that have been out there in our community, and those people are coming back and giving the money to this fund, so that it actually goes out to victims of this tragedy.”

The LDS church is pointing to the fund as the recommended place for the community to contribute to help victims of the disaster, both to help church members and others, said Greg Geiger, communications director for the LDS Church in Southeast Michigan.

“None of the money will go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One-hundred percent of the proceeds will go to victims of this tragedy,” said Geiger, who noted there are no fees associated with the fund.

“We appreciate and acknowledge their effort in trying to help the community.”

Geiger added that the LDS Church is not seeking or accepting funds from any organization to rebuild the church in Grand Blanc Township.

The impetus for the coordinated fundraising effort was, in part, to dissuade scammers, fraudulent fundraisers, and GoFundMe efforts that began circulating in the wake of Sunday’s fire. Community leaders wanted to establish a fund that could be trusted to support the who truly need help, they said.

“This is going to go far beyond even the physical and the health part. It will go on for a while with people who need that support financially for any type of therapy that they might need,” Sclater said.

“There will be a short grant process to have people please explain your needs. … But we want to get this money out. The people in this community have a heart, and they have come together like you can’t even imagine, to gift. We have had people out of state gifting, and it’s pretty amazing.”

Sclater didn’t have an estimated total available as of Friday afternoon, but said people can donate online or visit any EGLA branch in person to donate. She is working with the Mott Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, which will accept some of the larger donations to the cause, she said.

She acknowledged that a number of victims’ families have set up GoFundMe accounts, and she stressed the Victim Compassion Fund is entirely separate.

“We are simply that vehicle to give our community a safe place to give back, because they don’t know what else they can do, and they want to give,” Sclater said. “We are that safe haven where they know their dollars are going to go out and be deployed.”

By Myesha Johnson, MediaNews Group

The Michigan Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved a $157 million natural gas rate increase for Consumers Energy that 1.8 million residential customers will see on their bills starting Nov. 1.

Customers’ monthly bills will rise by an average of $6.44, or 8.1%. Those affected are in areas from Michigan’s Thumb and portions of southeast Michigan to mid-Michigan stretching from Battle Creek and Kalamazoo to Midland and Standish in the north.

In making its case for the rate increase, Consumers said the incremental rate revenue would be used to replace “10,000 vintage service lines” directly connected to homes and businesses; install remote control valves used to manage “unexpected conditions”; update gas delivery hubs known as “city gates” to ensure safe gas flow.

Consumers Energy originally requested a rate increase of $248 million in December 2024, but later revised it to $217 million. The increase approved Tuesday carries a return on common equity of 9.8% and an overall rate of return of 5.99%.

Amy Bandyk, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, said in an email the approximately $90 million cut from Consumers’ original request should have been larger: “Michigan ratepayers cannot afford the expanding investments into the gas system that our utilities are planning over coming decades.”

In a report released by the Citizens Utility Board this year, the organization says Michigan’s gas utilities including Consumers Energy, DTE Energy and SEMCO Energy Gas Company have tripled their infrastructure investments over the past decade. The combined annual capital expenditures of all three utilities went from $578 million in 2013 to $1.74 billion in 2023.

Bandyk also raised concern with the commission reducing Consumers’ return on equity by 0.1-percentage points, to 9.8%.

“While CUB is pleased the Commission reduced Consumers gas’s return on equity from 9.9% to 9.8%, that is still a higher rate of profit than the 9.7% that is a more typical return on equity for gas utilities based on national averages. Return on equity is essentially the part of the ratepayer bill that goes toward profit for the utility’s shareholders,” Bandyk said.

“A problem with this high return on equity is that it encourages the utility to keep building more gas infrastructure in order to collect a profit for shareholders, despite Michigan’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately move away from gas in the long-term.”

Dan Scripps, chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, said the return-on-equity cut was “modest” and “in line” with DTE Energy’s return on equity of 9.8% adopted in its most recent rate case.

“We feel this appropriately balances the interests of the company and its customers, as required by Michigan law and a long line of court precedent. One significant issue in our deliberations was competing evidence on the record that showed the current return on investment in the company’s proposed ROE were above industry peers, while at the same time, there was evidence on the record showing that average ROEs had increased in the last year due to macroeconomic factors as well as changes among the peer group.

“And so it was in balancing those competing evidentiary points that we found a modest decrease in the ROE was appropriate, but not as much as recommended by staff, the Attorney General and other parties and ultimately recommended by the administrative law judge,” Scripps said.

Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office said in a release Tuesday that she urged the MPSC to reduce the rate hike to $75.5 million.

“It is disappointing that the MPSC approved a rate hike far above not only my office’s recommendation, but even beyond its own judge’s finding that only $142 million was justified,” Nessel said in the release.

The public service commission’s decision supports a “careful and thoughtful balance between the modernization of gas infrastructure, the clean energy transition and the need to ensure affordability for customers,” said Commissioner Shaquila Myers.

In June, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel intervened in Consumers Energy’s request for a $436 million annual electric rate increase, three months after a separate rate hike was approved in March.

And on Sept. 12, DTE filed a notice with the MPSC of its intent to apply for a to-be-determined rate hike for natural gas customers — less than a year after getting approval to collect an additional $113 million from ratepayers.

By Kara Berg, MediaNews Group

Hussein Murray’s brutal death last fall at his Rochester Hills home was not an accident, Assistant Prosecutor John Pietrofesa said Tuesday.

It was not a coincidence that Carlos Hernandez and Joshua Zuazo ended up Oct. 10 and Oct. 11 at Murray’s Rochester Hills home, Pietrofesa said during opening statements in Oakland County Circuit Court for Zuazo and Hernandez’s jury trial.

“This was not random, this was not an accident, it was not a coincidence they showed up at his house,” Pietrofesa said. “This was targeted and it was very well-planned.”

Murray, 72, who went by Sam, had his jaw and neck bones broken in a way where the assailants would have applied significant, sustained pressure to his neck, the medical examiner testified at the preliminary examination in December.

But Hernandez’s attorney Paulette Loftin said killing Murray was never part of the plan, and Hernandez did not take part in Murray’s fatal beating.

“It will be clear to you Mr. Hernandez was one of those individuals in that house on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11,” Loftin said. “The unfortunate death of Mr. Murray was never part of the plan, never even part of the discussion. It will be clear to you Mr. Hernandez did not take part in the beating of Mr. Murray.”

She said prosecutors would not be able to prove Hernandez’s intention was the premeditated murder of Murray.

Hernandez and Zuazo are charged with first-degree murder and two counts of unlawful imprisonment for Murray’s death. The men tried to have their trials separated, but Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Yasmine Poles denied their request in March.

Murray was the owner of Gold & Glitter Jewelry in Hamtramck. Police have said they suspect Murray was targeted in connection to his business.

Only opening statements for Hernandez’s jury took place Tuesday; openings for Zuazo’s jury will take place Wednesday morning.

Hernandez and Zuazo showed up at about 10 p.m. Oct. 10, posing as DTE workers who were checking out houses after a reported gas leak, Pietrofesa said.

Murray told them to leave and Hernandez told him they’d be back the next day, he said.

When they came back Oct. 11, Pietrofesa said this time Hernandez and Zuazo managed to talk their way into the house, saying they wanted to check the basement gas hookup.

Murray led Zuazo and Hernandez downstairs. He was never seen alive again, Pietrofesa said.

When the two men came back upstairs, Murray was not with them, Pietrofesa said. Zuazo had blood on his shirt.

Hernandez allegedly asked Murray’s wife, Linda, about money, a safe and jewels, but was told she didn’t have that inside the house, Pietrofesa said. All she had was costume jewelry, she told them.

When Linda saw the blood on Zuazo’s shirt, she started screaming. Hernandez hit her in the face, then shoved her up against the wall, Pietrofesa said. He bound her with duct tape, then both Hernandez and Zuazo ransacked the house before fleeing.

“When police arrive … you’ll see how brutally Sam was demolished,” Pietrofesa said.

When Hernandez was arrested in Louisiana, police found two pairs of shoes with Murray’s blood on them and a size 5 XL t-shirt with Murray’s blood on it.

Hernandez had been to Murray’s jewelry and pawn shops prior to Murray’s murder, Pietrofesa said. When he came to the pawn shop in February 2024 to pick up some items he had pawned, he asked to meet with Murray.

Hernandez and Zuazo face up to life in prison if they’re convicted.

By Max Reinhart, MediaNews Group

The owner of a Troy medical facility where a 5-year-old boy died in a hyperbaric chamber explosion was sent to jail Tuesday, reportedly for failing to meet the conditions of her release on bond.

According to online Oakland County Jail inmate information, Tamela Peterson, who faces felony charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death in January, was booked into the jail Tuesday and will be released Wednesday.

Peterson, 58, was released from police custody in April after posting a $2 million bond. However, she returned to 52-4 District Court in Troy on Tuesday for a hearing related to a bond violation, according to online court records.

There, she told Judge Maureen M. McGinnis that she sold a firearm that she had possessed rather than surrendering it to the court, per the conditions of her bond, according to a WDIV-TV (Channel 4) report.

Peterson’s attorney, Thomas W. Cranmer, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Five-year-old Thomas Cooper died Jan. 31 at the Oxford Center in Troy after the hyperbaric chamber in which he was being treated for sleep apnea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder suddenly exploded, attorneys for the boy’s family said.

In addition to Peterson, the center’s safety director, Jeffrey Mosteller, and its primary manager, Gary Marken, also are charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter. If convicted of murder, they face up to life in prison. Aleta Moffitt, who worked at the center and operated the chamber, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false information on a medical record.

All four are accused of disregarding safety protocols and failing to follow the manufacturer’s recommended guidelines for hyperbaric treatment, according to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, which is handling the case.

Last week, attorneys for Cooper’s family announced a more than $100 million lawsuit against the four suspects, as well as the chamber’s manufacturer, Anaheim, California-based Sechrist Industries Inc., and Office Ventures Troy I LLC, which owns the Troy property where the Oxford Center operated. The center’s nonprofit is also named in the litigation.

Attorneys say the defendants failed to explain the potential dangers of the treatment to the boy’s family. They also allege that the Oxford Center deceitfully sold hyperbaric treatment plans for more than 100 conditions although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only approved it for treatment of 13 conditions, which does not include ADHD or sleep apnea.

By Max Reinhart, MediaNews Group

An Oakland County man is accused of using artificial intelligence to create pornographic images of a woman he was following on social media, then threatening to release them and assault her if she didn’t give him attention, a federal complaint claims.

Joshua Stilman, 36, of Commerce Township is accused by the FBI of interstate extortion and cyberstalking, according to a complaint filed last week in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan.

The victim is not named in the complaint but is described as a “social media influencer with close to 100,000 Instagram followers.”

In March, she allegedly received several explicit messages on Instagram from someone using the screenname FriendBlender, including AI-generated nude images of herself, according to court documents.

She initially tried to diffuse the situation with humor but FriendBlender eventually became more vulgar and threatened to release the images publicly if she did not respond to him, the lawsuit said. He also made threats against her safety, implying he would sexually assault her unless she responded.

“I wish you’d respond to some of my questions,” he said in one message, the FBI alleged. “I really don’t want to resort to posting things online … I’m not going to expect you to talk to me everyday or even that often. But I want to know some naughty things about you.”

In one message, FriendBlender sent his victim a link to a Google Drive collection of more AI-generated nude photos of her. However, according to the complaint, the link also displayed the name “Josh Stilman” in association with the Google account. The woman found that someone named Josh Stilman was following her Instagram account and had previously messaged her using an account with the screenname ThisDIYGuy.

According to court documents, the alleged victim then sent Stilman a message, asking, “Does your wife know you are messaging me.” He then allegedly blocked her from both of his Instagram accounts and deleted the Google-based photo album, as well as his LinkedIn page.

The influencer also contacted other women who have said Stilman threatened them, some as early as 2019, according to the complaint. One alleged victim said Stilman had posted pornographic videos of her online without her consent.

After she contacted law enforcement, investigators were able to allegedly link Stilman to the FriendBlender and ThisDIYGuy Instagram accounts and found that on several occasions he had visited websites that are used to create AI-generated pornography, the complaint said.

Since the incident, the influencer has removed identifying details about her life from her social media accounts and has started carrying a weapon due to fears about her safety, according to authorities.

According to online court records, Stilman made an initial appearance Tuesday before Magistrate Judge Anthony P. Patti and he was released after posting a $10,000 bond. A preliminary examination is scheduled for 1 p.m. Oct. 14.

Stilman’s attorney, Bradley J. Friendman, didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

mreinhart@detroitnews.com