Two men have been charged with alleged terrorism-related crimes after federal authorities made arrests and seized weapons last week from a storage unit in Inkster and a home in Dearborn. 

According to a 72-page criminal complaint unsealed in federal court, the men had allegedly scouted areas in Ferndale. The individuals were charged with allegedly receiving and transferring guns and ammunition for terrorism. 

FBI Director Kash Patel announced arrests on Friday but no further details were provided then. Over the weekend, Michigan defense lawyer Amir Makled, representing one of the detainees, disputed the FBI allegations. 

Additional headlines from Monday, November 3, 2025

Detroit voters  

Detroit’s mayoral candidates are in the final hours of their campaign before voters choose the city’s first new mayor in a dozen years. The election features the Reverend Solomon Kinloch against long-time City Council President Mary Sheffield. 

Kinloch argues Detroit officials like Sheffield have not done enough to fight poverty or extend development from the city’s core business districts to its outer neighborhoods. “And the question becomes: do you to move forward with a manager and an administrator that wants to maintain the status quo and look out for downtown, and forget about the rest of the town?”

Sheffield counters that programs she initiated helped Detroit move past bankruptcy and lure new investment across the city. 

Sheffield says she will push for more affordable housing, better schools and safer streets in Detroit’s neighborhoods. 

– Reporting by Quinn Klinefelter

The Department of Elections and the Department of Transportation will provide free bus rides in Detroit tomorrow to encourage people to vote. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Dearborn wards

Dearborn voters will vote on Proposal 1, deciding whether they want wards in the city.

Dr. Ronald Stockton, a professor emeritus of Political Science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, says creating wards is challenging, as many people may run for office within each district. “So it’s not as if a ward can just have a bunch of leaders get together and say, ‘Okay, this is our nominee.’ That’s not the way it’s going to work.” 

Each ward would represent about 15,700 people. If passed, the changes would create seven-districted city council and two at-large seats. Opponents say it would create division in the city of 110,000 people.

Organizers of the group Dearborn Wants Wards say districted elections will reduce barriers for people to run for office and allow for better representation. If passed, the changes will not go into effect until 2029. 

Dearborn WORKS

Officials joined the city’s first business opening under the Dearborn WORKS program on Friday. Sewing Your Life is a new sewing school on Dearborn’s Southend opened by a graduate of the program “Dearborn Women’s Opportunity to Realize their Knowledge and Skills” or Dearborn WORKS. The initiative is a joint effort by the City of Dearborn and the Arab American Women’s Business Council (AAWBC), aiming to empower and train local women entrepreneurs. 

Owner Nasim Alghuzzy will be teaching free sewing classes for up to 50 women at a brick-and-mortar training school as part of the grant program. After completing the free training, she can operate as a for-profit business. Applicants for the free courses can sign up at Dearborn.gov/BusinessResources. Classes begin Nov. 17th. 

ICE – Center Line

Rising Voices organizers are asking the city of Center Line not to train local law enforcement to act as immigration officers for ICE. The city stopped using the program in 2012, which led to racial profiling and lawsuits.

The Asian American-focused nonprofit community advocacy organization is asking the city and police to rescind any potential agreement. 

If there is something happening in your neighborhood that you think we should know about, drop us a line at DetroitEveningReport@wdet.org. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. 

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The group Dearborn Wants Wards has been pushing for districted elections in Dearborn. The measure is now officially on the ballot as Proposal 1 in the general election in November. 

Mona Mawari is a community organizer for the Dearborn Wants Wards.  She says the group had to go to court after submitting more than 8,000 signatures for the petition.  

“To ensure that the the proposal was going to be on the ballot in November, we had followed up with the city multiple times and weren’t getting a clear answer and a clear response.”

Mawari says Dearborn Wants Wards volunteers are campaigning door-to-door and organizing town halls and phone banks to spread the word about the measure. The group says districted elections would provide better representation for the city’s east and south sides.    

Additional headlines from Monday, August 22, 2025

 Neighborhood Business Lab 

ProsperUs Detroit and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services or ACCESS are hosting a Neighborhood Business Lab in October. The team will provide business insights to area residents.

The neighborhood lab takes place in two time slots: on October 1st from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. OR 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the ACCESS Hamtramck office, 9301 Joseph Campau Avenue in Hamtramck.

Light refreshments will be provided. 

Dearborn’s Esper Library to be Children’s Exploration and STEAM center 

Dearborn is creating a state-of-the-art children’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics or STEAM Center. It will be located at the city’s Esper Library at 12929 Warren Avenue.

The library will offer robotics, music, art, and engineering activities. It will also include hands-on STEAM discovery zones, technology and a podcast studio. 

Construction began this past weekend. 

Detroit Fire Dept. Appoints Jamal Mickles as chief 

Detroit Executive Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms, has appointed Captain Jamal Mickles as the Chief of the Detroit Fire Department Training Division.

Mickles has 20 years of experience. He began his work with the department through the DFD’s Fire Cadet Program. He was assigned to Engine 51, later serving at Engine 57, Ladder 14, Ladder 26 and the Fire Investigation Division, before becoming a fire instructor and training leader.

Mickles served as a Lieutenant at the academy, overseeing the firefight apprenticeship program which gives Detroiters a pathway to a career in public safety. He also rebuilt the Regional Training Center gym which was used to train more than 200 firefighters across Michigan. Last year as captain, Mickles launched the DFD Paramedic Training Program to train firefighters to deliver advanced pre-hospital medical care. 

He is replacing Chief Alfie Green, who retired after 34 years with the Detroit Fire Department. 

If there is something happening in your neighborhood that you think we should know about, drop us a line at DetroitEveningReport@wdet.org. 

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More than 6,000 signatures have been collected by a group seeking to change Dearborn’s city council format from an at-large body to holding district-based council elections.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Dearborn Wants Wards filed the petition with the Dearborn City Clerk’s Office on June 18. If the language is approved, the city would have council members per district and only two at-large seats, for a total of nine council members.

If the language is approved, the city would have council members per district and only two at-large seats, for a total of nine council members. 

Campaign spokesperson Mona Mawari says the changes are overdue and necessary for equal representation of the city’s east and south sides. 

“So most of the seats are won by folks from the west side; and the East End has only one person on city council, and the South End has none,” she said. “So that’s when I decided to create this campaign where we will be going to change the structure of city council to a more equitable structure.”

If all the signatures are certified and election language is approved, voters in Dearborn will see the measure on their ballot in November.

Changes to the city council and charter commission would go into effect in 2029.

Other headlines for Monday, June 30, 2025:

• A series of bills were introduced in the state Senate that aim to make renting more accessible. The bills would cap rental application fees at $25, eliminate junk fees that occur after a lease is signed, and seal eviction records.
• The city of Dearborn will be increasing its police presence this Fourth of July weekend to combat a rise in illegal fireworks usage. Parents of children caught mishandling and using illegal fireworks will also receive citations as well. Police are reminding residents that fireworks are only allowed on private property from 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. between June 29 and July 5.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.