THREE RIVERS, MI — Ashley Steel had just parked outside Applebee’s, 1330 W. Broadway St., for her 4 p.m. shift when she saw the roof of Menards and a sea of debris fly into the air.
Within seconds, a reported tornado had descended on Steel, before she could run inside the restaurant.
“I was going to die,” Steel told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette about the thoughts running through her mind. “I closed my eyes and just kept screaming… I felt sticks, I felt the trees.”
As the skies cleared, people emerged to overturned cars, downed power lines, scraps of metal and varying other debris along West Broadway Street.
Roads were blocked by a tangle of downed power lines.
Three Rivers Health Emergency Room, a Holiday Inn Express and Menards were among businesses that sustained significant damage.
The Menards at 1001 Warner Drive had partially collapsed with large chunks of the roof, brick walls and front entrance missing.
One resident said the entrance to the emergency room at 701 South Health Parkway was blocked by debris. Employees at the emergency room declined to comment on the damage.
Hospital employees were set to drive home in vehicles caked with dirt. Instead of glass windows, their cars had gaping holes.
Nearby trees had been uprooted.
Jonathan Baker looked outside the window of his office at Kendall Electric, 1201 W. Broadway St., when he saw a weird funnel shape and debris fly into the air.
“I think there’s a tornado at my house,” he said to his colleagues.
Within seconds there was a big gust of wind and he screamed to his colleagues to hide in the bathroom. They made it to the bathroom just before gusts of wind blew out doors and windows.
It was “chaos,” Baker said.
A spring-like storm in Three Rivers quickly escalated into a violent supercell, resulting in at least two tornado touchdowns.
Though no life-threatening injuries were reported, several individuals were treated for minor injuries, and emergency personnel are on-site managing the aftermath.
A tornado touchdown in Union City also was reported from this storm.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer activated the State Emergency Operations Center on Friday evening in response to storm and the significant damage.
Ashley Steel looks inside her totaled car, that she was stuck in during a reported tornado is seen along W. Broadway Street in Three Rivers, Mich., on Friday, March 6, 2026. ((Devin Anderson-Torrez/mlive.com/TNS)
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.
In Oakland County’s Waterford Township, concern over the use of automatic license plate readers by law enforcement agencies escalated to a 24-year-old man smashing several of the devices to bits.
Police credit one of the cameras he’s accused of breaking with helping track him down. The license plate reader, Sheriff Scott Underwood said, captured his license plate data before it was damaged.
Underwood highlighted that incident as one of many examples where the readers have assisted in solving crimes quickly, but the damaged cameras and subsequent arrest highlight the tension many communities are experiencing as local officials grapple with how and whether to use automatic license plate readers in policing.
At least 16 states have adopted policies aimed at regulating the use and retention of data collected by license plate readers, which capture pictures of vehicle license plates every time a car drives by.
A group of lawmakers led by Republican state Rep. Doug Wozniak of Shelby Township and Democratic state Rep. Jimmie Wilson of Ypsilanti are suggesting it’s time for Michigan to do the same.
“Michiganders deserve to know that new technology is being used responsibly, not in ways that invade privacy or erode public confidence,” Wozniak said in a statement announcing bipartisan bills to regulate the devices, arguing their plan would protect driver privacy and help maintain public trust in law enforcement.
Absent a statewide policy, decisions on the use of license plate readers have fallen to local law enforcement agencies and municipal governments.
In communities where license plate reader contracts are being considered, concerned residents have increasingly spoken up at public hearings about the possibility of data being used to surveil lawful activity or the possible sharing of data with federal law enforcement agencies.
At least 125 Michigan agencies contract with the Atlanta-based company Flock Safety, one of the largest providers nationwide of automatic license plate reader technology.
Law enforcement agencies using the devices tout the technology as a speedy way to help locate missing people or catch criminals, and some police groups are concerned the proposed statewide regulations as written would go too far.
“We’re not against any regulations — we just don’t want it to weaken what a good investigative tool the license plate readers are,” said Matt Saxton, executive director of the Michigan Sheriff’s Association.
HOW THE BILLS WOULD WORK
If the proposed legislation became law, the biggest change would be a restriction on how long any data collected by license plate readers is stored.
Lawmakers supporting the bills are pushing for a 14-day limit on data retention, as well as limiting use of the license plate reader system to specific law enforcement actions, including:
Finding missing peopleLocating stolen vehiclesLocating people with outstanding arrest warrantsIdentifying uninsured or unregistered vehiclesParking and tolling enforcementCriminal investigations
The legislation also calls for publicly available reports from agencies using the readers on how the data is used and would offer a path for legal recourse if a driver believes his or her data was used improperly.
State and local governments can support effective policing “while still demanding safeguards that protect civil liberties,” Wilson said in a statement announcing the bills.
“This legislation creates clear limits on how … data is collected, stored and shared, ensuring these tools are used to improve public safety, not to enable routine mass surveillance,” he continued.
In most communities with license plate readers, the devices are placed at or near major public intersections. As vehicles pass by, the reader takes a photo of the back of the car, collecting the license plate number that can be used to look up the vehicle registration.
Photos are typically stored by the contractor for 30 days, though locals can elect to keep them for more or less time. The law enforcement entity can then cross-check those images with “hot lists” of license plates connected to suspected criminals or missing people.
Critics contend that 24-hour surveillance of drivers, the vast majority of whom will never be charged with a crime, poses major privacy concerns — especially considering the 30-day standard for storing the data also means anyone with access could gain insight into a driver’s daily routines.
Saxton, the executive director of the Sheriff’s Association, said law enforcement criminal investigations or missing person searches can take longer than two weeks to complete. He’s concerned cutting the timeline short could limit the effectiveness of the tool.
“If that data was gone after 14 days, we couldn’t use that as a tool to help that family find out answers about their missing loved ones,” he said.
The proposed legislation is pending in the House Judiciary Committee and would need to earn majority support in the politically divided House and Senate to become law.
ACLU of Michigan policy strategist Gabrielle Dresner, whose organization worked closely with lawmakers on crafting the proposal, is optimistic about the chances of meaningful reform.
“In conversations we’ve had with the vast majority of the representatives, we’ve had a lot of support from both sides of the aisle … the most left of left and right of right,” she said. “It’s really a popular issue among everyone.”
WHERE THINGS STAND STATEWIDE
In the meantime, communities around the state are reaching differing conclusions about how to balance law enforcement requests with increased pushback from citizens.
After weeks of opposition from residents, Lapeer County Sheriff Scott McKenna recently pulled back a request for license plate readers.
He told county commissioners that he personally believes foregoing the readers “leaves us in a vulnerable position,” but, after taking stock of the situation, he “felt it was my duty at that point to pull it off the agenda.”
Some cities, including Bay City and Ferndale, have in recent months backed out of contracts with Flock and have reassessed their license plate reader policies or switched to a different provider in response to community concerns.
In Detroit, city council members recently requested a report on how data collected from the city’s more than 500 license plate readers is used, expressing concerns about the possibility of data sharing.
But other communities are still considering getting their own license plate readers or adding onto existing contracts as local police credit the technology with helping locate stolen vehicles, bust human trafficking rings, solve serious crimes like rapes and murders and fill coverage gaps in short-staffed departments.
Local officials in Trenton and Taylor this week considered renewing existing contracts with Flock Safety. Taylor police credit the tool with arrests in a 14-year-old’s shooting death and a sting operation involving possible child predators, among other things.
In Waterford Township, where police began using license plate readers in 2022, law enforcement was recently approved to add additional readers and Flock-powered drones to its repertoire, despite concerted pushback from locals.
After several cameras were destroyed — including the camera that led to an arrest in the crime — Underwood, the Waterford police chief, in a press release said the public is entitled to their opinions regarding the readers, but aren’t entitled to maliciously interfere.
The license plate readers “collect only images of vehicles and license plates,” he said in the release. “Those images, coupled with a number of other investigative techniques, led to a successful resolution in this case, that being the arrest of a person who committed three felonies.”
A Flock Safety license-plate, vehicle-trait recognition camera is deployed along southbound Gratiot Avenue north of Interstate 696 in Roseville.
MACOMB DAILY PHOTO
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, after mounting criticism over her leadership of the department, including the handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown and disaster response.
Trump, who said he would nominate in her place Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, made the announcement on social media on Thursday, two days after Noem faced a grilling on Capitol Hill from GOP members as well as Democrats.
Trump says he’ll make Noem a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative that he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere.
Noem, took the stage to address a Department of Homeland Security event moments after Trump’s announcement but made no immediate mention of her ouster. Instead, she read from prepared remarks, including reinforcing Trump’s message from the State of the Union last month.
Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during Trump’s second term. Noem’s departure caps a tumultuous tenure overseeing immigration enforcement tactics that have been met with protests and lawsuits.
Noem’s tenure looked increasingly short-lived after hearings in Congress this week where she faced rare but blistering criticism from Republican lawmakers. One particular point of scrutiny was a $220 million ad campaign featuring Noem that encouraged people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.
Noem told lawmakers that Trump was aware of the campaign in advance, but Trump disputed that in an interview Thursday with Reuters, saying he did not sign off on the ad campaign.
Noem has faced waves of criticism as she’s overseen Trump’s immigration crackdown, especially since the shooting deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis at the hands of immigration enforcement officers. The former South Dakota governor was also criticized over the way her department has spent billions of dollars allocated to it by Congress.
Frustrations over Noem’s execution of the Republican president’s hard-line immigration agenda — particularly her leadership after the shooting deaths of the two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — as well as her handling of disaster response, paved the way for her downfall. She faced blistering criticism from Democrats, and some Republicans, in Congress hearings this week over those issues and others.
Aside from immigration, Noem also faced criticism — including from Republicans — over the pace of emergency funding approved through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and for the Trump administration’s response to disasters.
Mullin would need to be confirmed by the Senate, but under a federal law governing executive branch vacancies, he would be allowed to serve as an acting Homeland Security secretary as long as his nomination is formally pending.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
By Hannah Fingerhut, Konstantin Toropin, and Rebecca Boone THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor was just days away from returning home to her husband and two children when a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait killed her and five other U.S. service members.
“She was almost home,” her husband, Joey Amor, said from their home in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, on Tuesday. “You don’t go to Kuwait thinking something’s going to happen, and for her to be one of the first – it hurts.”
Amor was one of four U.S. soldiers killed in the Iran war on Sunday and identified Tuesday by the Pentagon; two soldiers haven’t yet been publicly identified. The members of the Army Reserve worked in logistics and kept troops supplied with food and equipment.
They died just one day after the U.S. and Israel launched its military campaign against Iran. Iran responded by launching missiles and drones against Israel and several Gulf Arab states that host U.S. armed forces.
Those killed also included Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa, who was posthumously promoted from specialist. No other names were released.
“These men and women all bravely volunteered to defend our country, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said.
All were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, which provides food, fuel, water and ammunition, transport equipment and supplies.
“Sadly, there will likely be more, before it ends. That’s the way it is,” President Donald Trump said of deaths.
One of the youngest in his class
Coady had just told his father last week that he had been recommended for a promotion from specialist to sergeant, a rank he received posthumously.
He was one of the youngest people in his class but seemed to impress his instructors, his father Andrew Coady said Tuesday.
“He was very good at what he did,” he said.
Coady trained as an information technology specialist with the Army Reserves and was studying cybersecurity at Drake University in Des Moines. He was taking online classes while in Kuwait and wanted to become an officer.
“I still don’t fully think it’s real,” his sister Keira Coady said. “I just remember all of our conversations about what he was going to do when he came back.”
A mother of two who loved gardening
Amor, 39, was an avid gardener who enjoyed making salsa from the peppers and tomatoes in her garden with her son, a senior in high school. She also enjoyed rollerblading and bicycling with her fourth-grade daughter.
A week before the drone attack, Amor was moved off-base to a shipping container-style building that had no defenses, Joey Amor said.
“They were dispersing because they were in fear that the base they were on was going to get attacked and they felt it was safer in smaller groups in separate places,” he said.
He last spoke to her about two hours before she was killed. He said she was working long shifts and they had been messaging about her tripping and falling the night before.
“She just never responded in the morning,” he said.
A calling to serve his country
Khork was very patriotic and drawn from a young age to serving the U.S., his family said in a statement Tuesday.
He enlisted in the Army Reserve and joined Florida Southern College’s ROTC program.
“That commitment helped shape the course of his life and reflected the deep sense of duty that was always at the core of who he was,” said his mother, Donna Burhans, father, James Khork, and stepmother, Stacey Khork, in a statement.
Khork also loved history and had a degree in political science.
His family described him as “the life of the party, known for his infectious spirit, generous heart, and deep care for those who served alongside him and for everyone blessed to know him.”
One of Khork’s friends, Abbas Jaffer, posted on Facebook on Monday that he had lost the best person he had ever known.
“My best friend, best man, and brother gave his life defending our country overseas,” Jaffer said. Khork and Jaffer had been friends for more than 16 years.
A loving father and husband
Tietjens lived with his family in the Washington Terrace mobile home park in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue, Nebraska. He was married with a son, according to a Facebook page.
Tietjens earned a black belt in Philippine Combatives and Taekwondo and was “an instructor who gave his time, discipline, and leadership to others,” the Philippine Martial Arts Alliance said in a Facebook post.
On the mat and as a soldier, “he carried the same values: honor, discipline, service, and commitment to others,” the organization said.
Nebraska Gov. Gov. Pillen paid tribute to the family Tuesday.
“Noah stepped up to serve and defend the American people from foreign enemies around the world — a sacrifice we must never forget,” he wrote.
“We are holding the Tietjens family close in our hearts during this unbelievably difficult time and will keep them in our prayers,” he said.
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Boone contributed from Boise, Idaho, and Toropin from Washington. Associated Press reporters Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Ed White in Detroit; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; David Fischer in Miami and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
Keira Coady talks about her brother, Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa, outside her home, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in West Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Three U.S. service members were killed in action and five were seriously wounded, Central Command said Sunday morning, the first reported U.S. casualties in the joint attack with Israel on Iran.
The military also said several other service members suffered minor shrapnel injuries and concussions. After the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, in the operation, strikes across the Middle East continued Sunday, with Israel saying it launched a fresh wave in “the heart of Tehran” and Iran mounting attacks on Israel and across the Persian Gulf.
A strike from Iran killed at least nine people near Jerusalem, according to Israel’s national emergency service, and injured at least 28. Iran’s state broadcaster, citing figures from the Iranian Red Crescent Society, reported 201 dead and 747 injured in the country. The Washington Post could not independently verify the report.
Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and a vocal opponent of Israel and the West since coming to power in 1989, was killed in U.S.-Israeli attacks Saturday along with other top Iranian leaders.
Social media showed scenes of both grief and celebration in Iran, where the government declared 40 days of mourning and announced a temporary leadership structure.
Israeli defense officials said Sunday that their initial strikes on Iranian leaders, launched in two locations, eliminated 40 military commanders and that they would continue to dismantle Iranian military infrastructure. Iran’s retaliatory attacks included for the first time a strike against Oman, which had served as a mediator in nuclear discussions between Washington and Tehran.
People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo)
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.
On any given school day in Eastpointe, a student in special education may be working on speech skills with someone on a screen.
The student is receiving one-on-one support from a virtual speech pathologist. It’s two-on-one support if you count the paraprofessional there to escort the child, supervise them and sometimes help with exercises.
Eastpointe Community Schools Superintendent Christina A. Gibson has four virtual speech pathology providers and two in-person providers to help 149 students with speech services, including 37 pre-K students.
In a perfect world, she would prefer to have all in-person speech professionals. “This is not an ideal situation,” Gibson told Bridge. “I think the best speech services are delivered face-to-face.”
Competition for speech teachers is fierce, and demand is outpacing supply, said Gibson.
“Because the demand is there all over the country, speech pathologists can work wherever they want to,” Gibson said. “And districts don’t have choices. Our first priority is always to be compliant and to provide services to students.”
Couple that with a growing student need for speech services and you get vacancies. Some of those vacancies get filled by virtual therapists.
As of Friday, Feb. 27, Optimise, a statewide special education talent task force, listed 224 job openings for speech pathologists to work in Michigan’s public schools.
Temporary solution
In Ann Arbor, Dicken Elementary is using a virtual speech therapist after an in-person therapist resigned recently.
Andrew Cluley, an Ann Arbor Public Schools spokesperson, said the move is “temporary” and does not change students’ goals in their individualized education programs (IEPs), how often or how much speech service a student receives.
“Our intent is to ensure continuity of services during staffing shortages rather than allowing gaps in support for 27 Dicken students.”
Cluley said all speech languages services, regardless of if they are in-person or virtual, are being provided by Michigan-licensed speech language pathologists.
Ann Arbor Education Association President Fred Klein said the transition to virtual speech is a “Band-Aid, stop gap measure.”
He said he’s hopeful the district will be able to hire an in-person speech therapist but he said compensation remains a challenge in the district.
The union is negotiating a new contract with the district. More broadly, many have argued for an increase in teacher compensation to help attract and retain teachers.
Michigan ranks 44th nationwide in starting salaries, $41,645, while the average teacher pay of $69,067 ranks 19th among states, according to an analysis from the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) at Michigan State University.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear just how common virtual staffing is for special education.
Districts report job vacancy information to the state, but the Michigan Department of Education said it does not know how many special education positions are being filled by virtual contractors or employees.
MDE declined to say whether the department believes speech services should be offered in-person.
“Those types of decisions are made through an IEP developed at the local level based on the specific needs of each student,” said MDE spokesperson Bob Wheaton.
There are 215,449 students with Individualized Education Programs during the current school year, an increase of 1.8% than the previous school year.
“Whenever you’re doing any type of virtual services, you should be communicating with the family,” said Tina Lawson, vice president of the Michigan Association of Administrators of Special Education.
Bridge Michigan
“They should have a clear understanding of what is taking place. Whether that’s through an (individualized education program) discussion, or a direct phone call or some form of letter communication with the family to make sure that they understand the participation of it.”
Michigan special education teaching positions have a higher vacancy rate than other fields, according to a different analysis from EPIC.
“It’s not just vacancies, it’s also turnover,” said Tara Kilbride, associate director of EPIC, who researches the teacher workforce. “And turnover during the school year, especially, is higher in special education than other areas.”
‘Human relationships’
While virtual workers can help students individually, educators acknowledge there are some aspects that aren’t possible with someone on a screen. For example, they can’t just hop into a classroom to help a teacher out if a specific student is having a behavioral concern or needs some time to cool off.
In Potterville, the middle and high school uses a virtual social worker. Special education teacher Samantha Jean said the social worker is “amazing,” and attends IEP meetings, meets one-on-one with Jean and has helped students meet their goals.
“But then on the flip side of that is, you have those kids that really thrive on those human relationships. So I have had one student(s’) family say ‘until we have in-person, this just doesn’t benefit him. He sits there, refuses to talk.”
In response, Jean said she helps the student with his social skills.
“We have to figure out a way to give those kids the services they need,” Jean said.
Kilbride, the workforce researcher, said it’s important to consider tradeoffs.
“If the alternative is not having anyone at all, that’s obviously worse than having the virtual service provider,” Kilbride said. “If the alternative is having your existing staff spread thin or having higher caseloads, harder workloads among the special education service providers, that can also be a problem.”
Lawson, also the director of special education at Berrien RESA, said her intermediate district “would prefer in-person. It’s definitely much more beneficial for students to have that one-to-one in-person provision of services.”
Last spring, LaKesha Welch started the process of enrolling her son for first grade at Eastpointe. Welch said her son has autism and is nonverbal and hyperactive. Her son had already benefited from applied behavioral analysis therapy, and Welch hoped her son could become more independent in traditional public school. But she learned his speech services would be virtual, which Welch said she couldn’t “see that being a workable solution for my son.”
Ultimately, Welch chose for her son to enroll in L’Anse Creuse Schools, another Macomb County district.
Solutions for special education
Administrators acknowledged state efforts to increase the number of teachers and other roles that support students with disabilities.
Still, they say more should be done.
Jean wants districts and the state to ensure social workers who have never been in an education setting before have training on classroom management, verbal de-escalation skills and mandated reporting.
“Man, if I had that magic wand, it would be putting those people in those positions with the correct training behind it,” Jean said.
Gibson, of Eastpointe, said she continues to work with her local union to see if the district can provide financial incentives for hard-to-staff positions.
She also wants the state to change rules so that paraprofessionals can directly provide speech services with the guidance of speech therapists.
Staff shortages are forcing many Michigan schools to use virtual speech pathologists to language services to students. (Image from www.freepik.com)
By JON GAMBRELL, KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, JOSH BOAK and AAMER MADHANI The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, and President Donald Trump called on the Iranian public to “seize control of your destiny” by rising up against the Islamic leadership that has ruled the nation since 1979.
Some of the first strikes appeared to hit areas around the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Iranian media reported strikes nationwide. Smoke could be seen rising from the capital. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the 86-year-old leader was in his offices at the time of the strike.
“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations,” Trump said in a video announcing “major combat operations” were underway. “For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed that sweeping goal. “Our joint operation will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands,” Netanyahu said.
The strikes opened a stunning new chapter in U.S. intervention in Iran and marked the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has used military force against the Islamic Republic. They also came just weeks after Trump ordered a military operation to capture Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and bring him and his wife to New York to face federal drug conspiracy charges.
The targets included members of Iran’s leadership, according to a U.S. official and another person briefed on the attacks who both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified information on an ongoing operation. There was no immediate information on whether top officials had been killed.
Tensions have soared in recent weeks as American warships moved into the region. Trump said he wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program at a moment when the country is struggling at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests.
The immediate trigger for Saturday’s strikes appears to be the unsuccessful latest round of nuclear talks. But they also reflect the dramatic changes across the region that have left Iran’s leadership in its weakest position since the Islamic Revolution nearly half a century ago.
Israeli and American strikes last June greatly weakened Iran’s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program. A regionwide war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, has left Iran’s network of proxies across the Middle East greatly weakened. U.S. sanctions and global isolation, meanwhile, have decimated Iran’s economy.
Iran responded to the latest strikes as it had been threatening to do for months — first launching a wave of missiles and drones targeting Israel. It followed with strikes targeting U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. The United Arab Emirates and Iraq shut down their airspace.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a defiant statement, saying the country “will not hesitate” in its response. In a statement posted on X, the ministry said: “The time has come to defend the homeland and confront the enemy’s military assault.”
At least 57 people were reported killed at a girls’ school in southern Iran in the Israeli-U.S. strikes, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. At least 45 others were wounded in the attack in Minab in Iran’s Hormozgan province. The White House and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on reported strike on the school.
In an indication of the scope of the conflict, flights across the Middle East were disrupted and air defense fire thudded over Dubai, the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, Saturday afternoon. Associated Press journalists saw the aftereffects of the blast from an interceptor.
Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack on the capital of the UAE killed one person, state media said.
Attack was coordinated between Israel and US
The U.S. military has for weeks amassed forces in the region, even as U.S. and Iranian envoys held talks in Switzerland and Oman aimed at finding a diplomatic solution.
“Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined,” Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said in a post on X. Al-Busaidi, a key mediator in the nuclear talks, traveled to Washington on Friday to meet with Vice President JD Vance.
“Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this,” al-Busaidi said. “And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further.”
Israel said the operation has been planned for months between the Israeli and U.S. militaries.
Trump, in justifying the military action, claimed that Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program and plans to develop missiles to reach the U.S.
He also acknowledged that there could be American casualties, saying “that often happens in war.”
It was a notable call on Americans to brace themselves from a U.S. leader who swept into office on an “America First” platform and vowed to keep out of “forever wars” that had bogged down his recent predecessors.
Trump’s statement indicated the U.S. was striking for reasons far beyond the nuclear program, listing grievances stretching back to the beginning of the Islamic Republic following a revolution in 1979 that turned Iran from one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East into a fierce foe.
The U.S. president said he was aiming to “annihilate” the Iranian navy and destroy regional proxies supported by Tehran.
He also called on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to lay down its arms, pledging that members would be given immunity, while warning they would face “certain death” if they didn’t.
Trump had threatened military action — but held off — following Iran’s recent crackdown on protests spurred by economic grievances and evolved into a nationwide, anti-government push against the ruling clerics.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency says it confirmed more than 7,000 deaths in the crackdown and that it is investigating thousands more. The government has acknowledged more than 3,000 killed, though it has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.
Iran currently has a self-imposed limit on its ballistic missile program, limiting their range to 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles). That puts all the Mideast and some of Eastern Europe in their range.
Iran had hoped to avert a war, but maintains it has the right to enrich uranium and does not want to discuss other issues, like its long-range missile program or support for armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
The strikes could rattle global markets, particularly if Iran is able to make the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for commercial traffic. More than 14 million barrels per day of oil passed through the strait in 2025, about a third of total worldwide oil exports transported by sea.
Strikes hit targets across Iran
Iranian media reported strikes nationwide. Roads to Khamenei’s compound in downtown Tehran had been shut down by authorities as other blasts rang out across the capital.
Khamenei has not made a public appearance in recent days and wasn’t immediately seen after. During the 12-day war in June, he was believed to have been taken to a secure location away from his Tehran compound.
Targets in the Israeli campaign included Iran’s military, symbols of government and intelligence targets, according to an official briefed on the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information on the attack.
Iran retaliates
Hours after the strikes, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it launched a “first wave” of drones and missiles targeting Israel, where a nationwide warning was issued as the military said it was working to intercept incoming Iranian missiles. There was no immediate word on any damage or casualties from the ongoing attack.
Meanwhile, Bahrain said that a missile attack targeted the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in the island kingdom. Witnesses heard sirens and explosions in Kuwait, home to U.S. Army Central. Explosions could be also be heard in Qatar.
The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen vowed to resume attacks on Red Sea shipping routes and on Israel, according to two senior Houthi officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement from the Houthi leadership.
U.S. embassies or consulates in Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Israel posted on social media that they told staffers to shelter in place and recommended all Americans “do the same until further notice.”
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Toropin and Madhani reported from Washington and Boak from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Samy Magdy in Cairo, and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.
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This story has been corrected to show that IRNA reported 40 people were killed in the school strike, without specifying students.
People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo)
(Bloomberg) — The US and Israel began striking targets across Iran, with President Donald Trump urging Iranians to overthrow the government in a conflict that threatens to spiral across the oil-rich Middle East.
“The hour for your freedom is at hand,” Trump said, addressing Iranians in a video posted on Truth Social on Saturday. “When we’re finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
The military campaign could be a defining moment for Trump, risking a drawn-out regional war that leads to a surge in energy prices and American casualties ahead of mid-term elections this year. Iran quickly responded by firing missiles on Israel and US bases around the region, and countries in the Persian Gulf closed their airspace.
Israel’s military said the campaign would target “dozens of military targets,” and Iran media reported strikes on defensive and civilian sites, including more than 50 people dead in a strike on a school in Hormozgan, in the south of the country. Several large explosions were reported in the capital, Tehran.
Iran answered with a wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel and countries hosting the US military. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said all US bases and interests in the region would be targeted, including in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. Bahrain said an American base in that country had come under attack, and Qatar and the UAE said they intercepted missiles in their airspace. Blasts were heard in Dubai.
The response outweighed Iran’s retaliation to Israeli airstrikes in June — both in scale and speed — as Tehran treats the conflict as an existential threat. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held calls with counterparts in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq, according to a ministry statement, urging them to prevent the US and Israel from using their territory to attack the Islamic Republic.
The prospect of a weeks-long, regional war is a nightmare scenario for US allies in the Gulf such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They pushed hard for Iran and the US to agree a diplomatic solution to their impasse over Tehran’s nuclear activities, fearing the chaos and flight shutdowns now unfolding could hit their economies and deter tourists as well as foreign investment.
Amid the possibility of US strikes in the energy-rich region, oil prices rose last week. Brent crude increased as much as 3.2% to $73 per barrel in London on Friday, the highest intraday price since July, after gaining almost 20% in the year to date on US-Iran tensions. Oil markets are closed for the weekend.
Trump said the military operation began after Iran refused to renounce nuclear weapons, which Tehran has repeatedly said it isn’t pursuing. He’s expected to address the nation about Iran later Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The US aims to destroy the Islamic Republic’s missile inventory and industry as well as its navy, the president said. The Associated Press said at least one strike took place near the office of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iranian officials and their military capabilities are the focus of the campaign, declining to comment on whether Khamenei or President Masoud Pezeshkian are targets.
The official cited a sharp acceleration in Iran’s missile production and fortification of nuclear sites as a reason for the renewed attack.
“A short time ago, the US military began major combat operations in Iran,” Trump said. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”
“My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to US personnel in the region,” the US leader added. “Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now, we’re doing this for the future.”
The operation is expected to continue for several days, Reuters said, citing a US official it didn’t identify.
The attacks came two days after delegations from Iran and the US met in Switzerland for a third round of negotiations on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities.
What We Know About Iran’s Nuclear Program: QuickTake
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi told CBS television on Friday night there was a “breakthrough” in the negotiations, citing Iran’s agreement not to stockpile highly enriched uranium. While Iran also sounded upbeat about the trajectory of the talks, Trump responded by saying that he wasn’t happy with how they were unfolding.
The US has in recent weeks amassed its largest military buildup in decades in the Middle East, with Trump indicating more ambitious goals than the limited strikes he ordered against Iran’s atomic installations in June of last year.
In addition to demanding that Iran give up its nuclear program, he vowed to support protesters who have faced a deadly crackdown from Iranian authorities in recent months.
US officials also called on Tehran to curtail its support for proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah, as well as its missile program, which they describe as a critical threat to Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency as he announced Saturday’s strikes, and said the country expected to come under retaliatory drone and missile attacks. Sirens sounded throughout Israel, according to the military.
OPEC+ will consider the option of a larger oil supply increase when key members meet on Sunday, after the Israel strikes, according to a delegate. The group led by Saudi Arabia and Russia was expected to resume modest production increases from April after a three-month supply freeze, several delegates said earlier this week.
Trump on Friday downplayed concerns about the likelihood of oil prices spiking if he attacks Iran, saying, “I’m concerned about people’s lives. I’m concerned about long-term health for this country.”
–With assistance from John Harney, Michael Gunn, Galit Altstein, Eltaf Najafizada and Dana Khraiche.
(Updates with Iran foreign minister comment in sixth paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
A monthly On-the-Go pop-up food distribution will debut Tuesday morning at a state office in north Clinton Township.
The site is the fourth location as part of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ On-the-Go rotating-food-pantry program in partnership with Forgotten Harvest to distribute food to those in need.
“We have been able to help 850 families put food on the table through these mobile food pantries at our local offices,” said Elizabeth Hertel, MDHHS director. “In partnership with Forgotten Harvest, we are helping ensure access to healthy, nutritious food to those in need.”
On-the-Go pantries allow individuals to schedule appointments and select groceries from fresh produce to grains to proteins, state officials said. Additionally, culturally appropriate food options are offered when available – such as halal and kosher-friendly items – when serving communities with specific dietary needs, officials said.
State HHS officials plan to offer these mobile food pantries on a monthly, rotating basis on Tuesdays of each month at select MDHHS offices in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties. More than 17.5 tons of groceries have been distributed at these events so far, officials said.
The first event will take place 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 3 at the state HHS office 44777 North Gratiot Ave., Ste. A, just south of Hall Road (M-59), in Clinton Township.
A Forgotten Harvest mobile food pantry in Southeast Michigan
MICHIGAN DEPT. OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PHOTO
Individuals seeking assistant should email MDHHS-FH-Macomb@michigan.gov to make an appointment to help minimize wait times and ensure adequate food supplies, officials said.
Other sites will rotate the second, third and fourth Tuesdays of the month. Events will be held 9 a.m to 1 p.m.:
— Tuesday, March 10, at 25637 Ecorse Road in Taylor. Email MDHHS-FH-WC-Taylor@michigan.gov for an appointment.– Tuesday, March 17, at 30755 Montpelier in Madison Heights. Email MDHHS-FH-Oakland@michigan.gov for an appointment.– Tuesday, March 24, at 12140 Joseph Campau St. in Hamtramck. Email MDHHS-FH-WC-Hamtramck@michigan.gov for an appointment.
Forgotten Harvest, the state’s largest food rescue organization, has more than 65 permanent mobile pantry partners in Southeast Michigan in addition to the On-the-Go mobile pantries. To locate a food pantry, visit Forgotten Harvest’s website. Appointments to shop at Forgotten Harvest’s Community Choice Market in Oak Park can be made by calling 248-268-7756.
Additional resources can be accessed by:
— dialing 211 or visiting mi211.org/ for free, confidential assistance and referrals to local food programs and support services.
— visiting the Food Bank Council of Michigan to locate nearby food banks and learn about additional hunger relief efforts.
— going to MI Bridges to learn more about SNAP, which offers temporary food assistance to eligible families.
A volunteer hands out produce at a food pantry hosted by the Miami Heat basketball team and the Mobile Food Pantry last month in Miami.
(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
How exactly horses produce that distinctive sound — also called a neigh — has long eluded scientists.
The whinny is an unusual combination of both high and low pitched sounds, like a cross between a grunt and a squeal — that come out at the same time.
The low-pitched part wasn’t much of a mystery. It comes from air passing over bands of tissue in the voice box that make noise when they vibrate. It’s a technique similar to how humans speak and sing.
But the high-pitched piece is more puzzling. With some exceptions, larger animals have larger vocal systems and typically make lower sounds. So how do horses do it?
According to a new study, they whistle.
Researchers slid a small camera through horses’ noses to film what happened inside while they whinnied and made another common horse sound, the softer, subtler nicker. They also conducted detailed scans and blew air through the isolated voice boxes of dead horses.
The whinny’s mysterious high-pitched tones, they discovered, are a kind of whistling that starts in the horse’s voice box. Air vibrates the tissues in the voice box while an area just above contracts, leaving a small opening for the whistle to escape.
That’s different from human whistling, which we do with our mouths.
“I’d never imagined that there was a whistling component. It’s really interesting, and I can hear that now,” said Jenifer Nadeau, who studies horses at the University of Connecticut. Nadeau was not involved with the study, which was published Monday in the journal Current Biology.
A few small rodents like rats and mice whistle like this, but horses are the first known large mammal to have a knack for it. They’re also the only animals known to be able to whistle through their voice boxes while they sing.
“Knowing that a ‘whinny’ is not just a ‘whinny’ but that it is actually composed of two different fundamental frequencies that are created by two different mechanisms is exciting,” said Alisa Herbst with Rutgers University’s Equine Science Center, of the study in an email.
A big lingering question is how horses’ two-toned calls came to be. Wild Przewalski’s horses can do something similar, as can elks. But more distant horse relatives like donkeys and zebras can’t make the high-pitched sounds.
The two-toned whinnies could help horses convey multiple messages at the same time. The differently pitched neighs may help them express a more complex range of feelings when socializing, said study author Elodie Mandel-Briefer with the University of Copenhagen.
“They can express emotions in these two dimensions,” Mandel-Briefer said.
—-
Associated Press video journalist James Brooks contributed to this report.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE – A horse whinnies in a barn at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City, during a cutting horse competition, Monday, June 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Matthew Nix had driven past the brewery in Sauganash for years, but — not much of a weekday drinker — had never stopped in.
When he finally decided to meet friends at the taproom on a recent Saturday to play some cards, he found bartenders dancing on countertops, dogs wearing sweaters and the last of the beer draining from the tap. It was the farewell party for Alarmist Brewing.
“This is my first time here, first and obviously last,” said Nix, 36, a high school teacher living in the Edgewater neighborhood, about the closure.
In Illinois and across the country, breweries have been struggling as consumers seek healthier drinking habits or have a wider range of options, such as THC-infused drinks, as business costs continue to rise. Many have closed their doors, while others have redefined its meaning as a social space that offers beverage variety and events.
The number of U.S breweries closing outpaced those that opened for the second year in a row in 2025 for a net loss of 179 last year, according to preliminary 2025 data from Brewers Association, a trade group for small American brewers.
It stands in stark contrast from a decade ago — a golden age — for craft brewers when the number of breweries opening was about 10 times higher than those closing, according to Matt Gacioch, staff economist at Brewers Association.
One industry challenge is that Americans are now drinking less. A 2025 Gallup poll showed that only 54% of U.S. adults said they consume alcohol — the lowest percentage in 90 years.
Figures are even lower among young adults with only 50% reporting that they drink alcohol. These numbers fall in line with healthier drinking trends like “sober curious” and “Dry January,” which seek mindful and moderate drinking.
On top of drinking less, consumers are also seeking wider beverage options from nonalcoholic drinks to hard seltzers, which adds pressure for traditional craft breweries specializing in beer.
Sports and music arena United Center is expected to start selling THC-infused drinks Señorita and Rythm at its stands this month — apparently the largest U.S. arena to do so.
“Bringing Señorita and Rythm to the United Center reflects a simple truth: Consumers want nonalcoholic options, and leading venues are responding,” Ben Kovler, Rythm, Inc. chairman and interim CEO, said in a statement last month.
Other music venues that sell cannabis-derived drinks are the Salt Shed, Riviera, Ramova Theatre and Thalia Hall, taking up coveted beverage shelf space.
“There’s just so much more competition in terms of consumer attention and physical retail space,” Gacioch said. “There’s this whole world of other options.”
Rising business expenses and the cost of goods like aluminum have also contributed to the strain, particularly after the pandemic.
“You have the increased cost of just about everything,” said Andrew Heritage, chief economist at the Beer Institute, noting the increase in operating costs, rent and labor.
Some Chicago breweries were unable to recover, with Lo Rez Brewing in the Pilsen neighborhood closing its doors in 2023 in what cofounder Dave Dahl called a “pandemic casualty.” Another staple in the craft industry, Metropolitan Brewing, one of Chicago’s oldest, closed in 2023 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Most recently, award-winning Alarmist Brewing closed on Feb. 1 after years of struggling with falling business after the pandemic.
“The bottom line is we’re just not selling,” said Alarmist owner Gary Gulley. “It just never recovered since COVID.”
Alarmist Brewing owner Gary Gulley, center, receives a hug from Keith Willert at the Sauganash neighborhood brewery and taproom in Chicago, Jan. 31, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Illinois lost over 30 breweries in two years after 2020, falling to 218 total breweries, according to data from the Beer Institute. By 2024, the number of Illinois breweries rebounded to 251.
Some breweries have adapted to create third spaces, a place to mingle and play trivia with friends — and pups.
“I like a place where you can bring your dog, you can bring a book,” Nix said, likening these breweries to social spaces where you can play card games.
One brewery that has been bolstering events and activities is Maplewood Brewery and Distillery in the Logan Square neighborhood. The decade-old brewery holds events like its upcoming Pulaski Day Party to celebrate its Pulaski pilsner, trivia nights and beer festivals to cultivate brand loyalty.
“We have our core brand that we make, but we’re always coming out with something new and fun … that’s helped us out,” said Paul Megalis, co-owner and CFO of Maplewood Brewery.
Their expansive beverage options include ready-to-drink rum punch cocktails, in-house coffee liqueurs for espresso martini lovers and seasonal beer concoctions.
“We’ve essentially been a beverage company since Day 1, and so we’ve always had a diversified portfolio. I mean, we just hustle,” Megalis said.
They plan to open a second location in Glen Ellyn slated for this spring.
Despite the changing tides in the craft beer business, experts believe craft breweries are evolving not disappearing.
“Craft beer industry is nothing if not creative,” Gacioch said.
A woman drinks a beer in a packed taproom at Alarmist Brewing, in Chicago’s Sauganash neighborhood on Jan. 31, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
A Pontiac teen accused of shooting to death a Warren teen in January is scheduled for a preliminary exam in late March where evidence will be presented for a judge to determine if there’s probable cause to advance the case to Oakland County Circuit Court for possible trial.
Kqualin Isaac Douglas, 19, is charged with second-degree homicide for the death of Cornelius Traves Murphy Jr., 19, whose body was discovered on Jan. 8 near a home in the 100 block of North Jessie Street in Pontiac. A caller had reported seeing a man lying in a field and not breathing, the sheriff’s office said.
The man — subsequently identified as Murphy — had been shot in the chest, the sheriff’s office said.
Kqualin Douglas booking photo
Investigators said the shooting happened Jan. 7. Douglas turned himself in to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office a few weeks later.
The preliminary exam is scheduled for March 30 before 50th District Judge Ronda Fowlkes Gross.
Along with second-degree homicide, Douglas is charged with tampering with evidence, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. He’s held in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $300,000.
As stated in his obituary, Murphy was the son of Cornelius T. Murphy, Sr. and Chantell Hunter. He’s also survived by eight siblings, and several other relatives and friends.
Sheriff Michael Bouchard is worried about people who want to keep tabs on federal agents for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the U.S. Border Patrol in Oakland County.
There’s confusion between the federal agents in masks and unmarked cars and undercover sheriff’s deputies assigned to the narcotics enforcement or fugitive apprehension teams, he said.
“We’ve had people show up at these high-risk (sheriff’s) raids … running up with their phones and trying to insert themselves, thinking it’s ICE,” he said. “But it’s a very dangerous situation. If a suspect opens fire, the (people with phones) would be in the middle of it.”
Deputies working undercover must wear masks and use unmarked cars for their own safety and the safety of anyone who helped them as part of a criminal investigation, Bouchard said, adding that suspects would recognize an unmasked undercover officer, make the connection with the person who helped the officer, endangering their lives.
Police dispatchers get calls every week from residents who think ICE agents were at a mall, a school or other location, “but that never happened,” he said.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard. (Peg McNichol/MediaNews Group)
Those are just a few things people don’t understand about the difference between deputies’ and ICE activities.
Another, he said, is that deputies don’t work with ICE.
“The U.S. Supreme Court held that immigration is under federal authority and it’s a federal government job,” he said. “We don’t have the authority, nor do we want the authority, to arrest someone simply for being in this country illegally. But if they’re in our custody and suspected of a crime, we will alert ICE.”
Bouchard said ICE agents would be informed when that person would be released from custody, but if federal agents are not present at that time the person would go free.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald issued a statement last week opposing the presence of ICE in the county.
She reminded people that basic constitutional rights include “the right to be free from unlawful arrest, regardless of immigration status.”
McDonald said she expected any legal violations by federal, local or county officers to be “fully and transparently investigated by independent authorities.”
Facebook video
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. (FILE)
Federal agents do not have absolute immunity from prosecution, according to the think tank Brennan Center for Justice, which has offices in New York and Washington D.C., however federal officials can impede state or local investigations.
After the shooting deaths of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents, federal officials opposed an investigation by Minnesota officials and would not share information with the state. Deaths during law-enforcement incidents are typically investigated by a separate, independent law-enforcement agency.
A criminal case has advanced for a Royal Oak man charged with felonious assault and other crimes for allegedly crashing his vehicle multiple times into another — with infant occupants — and then fleeing the scene.
The case against Brian Robert Bock, 54, was bound over to Oakland County Circuit Court on Thursday at the conclusion of a preliminary exam in Troy’s 52-4 District Court.
According to police, on Feb. 3 a woman reported that she was rear-ended while stopped at a red light at Big Beaver and Crooks roads; her car was then struck by the same vehicle multiple times before it went on the road’s shoulder to get around her and drove away.
No injuries were reported, police said.
Brian Bock booking photo (Troy Police Dept.)
After reviewing dash camera video from a witness, police caught up with Bock in a vehicle with heavy front-end crash damage — then arrested him.
Along with felonious assault, Bock is charged with malicious destruction of personal property valued at more than $1,000 but less than $20,000, reckless driving and failure to stop at the scene of a property damage accident. He’s held in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $50,000.
Bock is scheduled for arraignment in the higher court on March 10.
For the MDOP charge, Bock could face up to five years in prison and a hefty fine if convicted. Felonious assault is punishable by up to four years in prison and/or a $2,000 fine; the other crimes he’s charged with are misdemeanors.
A 76-year-old man was arraigned Tuesday morning on multiple charges in connection with the non-fatal shootings of a woman and man in West Bloomfield last Saturday.
At arraignment before 48th District Judge Diane D’Agostini, bond was set at $3 million for Fawzi George Kased of West Bloomfield, charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder, discharging a firearm in or at a building, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and four counts of felony firearms.
Assault with intent to murder carries the highest penalty, up to life in prison.
The victims are reportedly recovering from their injuries. The shootings were targeted and not random, according to West Bloomfield Police Chief Dale Young.
Police spotted the suspect — later identified as Kased — while he was driving. He was pulled over and exited the car while holding a rifle, but dropped it when ordered to by officers, police said.
As previously reported, the case unfolded shortly before 9 a.m. when a resident of the Thornberry Apartments — near Maple and Farmington roads — contacted police and said another resident of the apartment complex tried unsuccessfully to force their way in the apartment with an object that looked like a stick. A few minutes later as officers began searching the area for the suspect, police received another call from someone who identified themselves as a family member of an employee at the Maple View liquor store on Maple Road just east of Farmington Road, reporting that the employee had been shot and was driving himself to the hospital. While officers were enroute to the hospital, additional calls came in from residents of the Thornberry Apartment complex, reporting gunshots in the area.
Kased’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 5 for a probable cause conference. A preliminary exam is scheduled for a week later, both to be held before Judge Marc Barron.
The Oakland Press has reached out to police for additional information, including the possible connection between the victims and Kased, and what may have prompted the shootings. Continued coverage of the case is planned.
Stoney Creek dismissed girls basketball head coach Columbus Williams, who was in his third season with the program, on Monday.
The move, effectively immediately, also sees the majority of his staff let go, with the exception of freshman coach Joey Tocco, son of Dakota boys hoops head coach Paul Tocco.
From a distance, it’s an out-of-the-blue firing considering the Cougars are 16-4 overall and in most scenarios would be favored to win a district title this season were they not looking at a final against Utica Eisenhower, one of just 14 teams above them in Division 1 MPR. But sources told The Oakland Press that even though it wasn’t the only incident that may have led to his dismissal, the Cougars’ most recent game, a 48-29 loss at Rochester last Friday, Feb. 20, was likely a tipping point.
By the end of the weekend, a number of area coaches said they had viewed or shared footage of that game, which was (and remains) available to stream on the NFHS Network. At least a handful of technical fouls were assessed to the Cougars in the defeat — some to players or the bench, and others to coaches, including Williams, who was eventually ejected.
Stoney was at the free-throw line trailing just 34-27 with 3:53 remaining in that game when officials appear to issue a technical, and video shows one Rochester High administrator escorting out what looks to be a Cougars’ parent or fan. In a sequence that followed less than 10 game seconds later, the same administrator is seen giving Williams a similar directive after some degree of confrontation.
Players were notified of Williams’ dismissal on Monday afternoon in a meeting where they were able to ask questions and voice any concerns, and families of those in the program were also sent a statement later in the day. Part of that statement read, “At Stoney Creek, educational athletics are an integral extension of the classroom. Our mission is to maintain a student-centered, caring community with high expectations for conduct and sportsmanship.
“Following the incident at this past Friday’s Varsity game, we have determined that a change in leadership is necessary to uphold these standards.”
All of the Cougars’ previous losses this season have been to teams that range from very good to elite (Goodrich, South Lyon East, Clarkston), but emotions were probably high because of the repercussions of losing to Rochester. If Stoney Creek had won, it would have split a share of the OAA Red title no matter the result of Tuesday’s final league game at West Bloomfield.
Instead, if defending champion Clarkston wins at Rochester on Tuesday, the Wolves will also be 8-2 in the league and share the crown with whoever wins between the Lakers and Cougars. Stoney had been in the driver’s seat after it’d split its meetings with Clarkston, including a win in Rochester Hills, and also beat the Lakers at home back on Jan. 29.
Stoney Creek athletic director Todd Negoshian, a longtime boys hoops head coach at North Farmington before stepping down and taking his new post this year in Rochester Hills, will assume the interim role of head coach for the Cougars for the remainder of their season, at which point the vacant job will be posted.
Williams, who was in his first varsity head coaching role after most recently serving as an assistant at Utica Ford, compiled an overall 52-18 record with the Cougars. In his first year with the Cougars, he guided them to a 20-6 record that included a district title and the program’s first regional championship.
Columbus Williams, right, talks to Stoney Creek players during a 41-38 win over West Bloomfield on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Rochester Hills. Williams was dismissed as head coach of the program on Monday. (BRYAN EVERSON - MediaNews Group)
A Troy woman is facing a charge of first-degree child abuse after a 13-month old child suffered serious brain damage, allegedly while in her care, officials said.
An arraignment is pending for Swapna Hari, 44. The complaint was filed on Feb. 24 in 52-4 District Court for the alleged Sept. 3, 2025 incident.
The crime is punishable by up to life in prison.
According to the prosecutor’s office, Hari claimed the infant fell backward while eating and started choking. The infant was hospitalized with severe head trauma and brain damage.
The prosecutor’s office said the injuries suffered are inconsistent with a backward fall or choking.
“In a single moment, this healthy and happy 13-month-old child suffered a life-changing injury, allegedly at the hands of this defendant,” Prosecutor Karen McDonald stated in a news release. “Our office sees too many cases of childhood brain injuries caused by abusers. These are physical injuries that often never heal completely. It’s heartbreaking and horrifying to learn a caregiver would harm a child instead of protecting them.”
The Oakland Press will report further on this case as additional information becomes available.
A Lake Orion High School special education teacher is the Region 9 Teacher of the Year for the 2026-27 school year.
Erik Meerschaert, who was named the Oakland County High School Teacher of the Year in 2024-25, is one of 10 regional educators selected and now a finalist for the Michigan Teacher of the Year.
“We celebrate not only an exceptional educator, but a true champion for students,” said Superintendent Heidi Mercer. “Erik represents the heart of our district—dedicated, innovative, and unwavering in their commitment to helping every child succeed.”
A graduate of Western Michigan University, Meerschaert joined the district in 2019.
“Erik has been a dynamic force in engaging students through meaningful classroom activities and hands-on learning experiences,” said Lake Orion High School Principal Dan Haas. “His approach emphasizes active participation, ensuring that every student, regardless of ability, feels included and motivated. Erik serves as a role model by fostering an environment where students are encouraged to challenge themselves while being supported every step of the way.”
Erik Meerschaert is now a finalist for the 2026-27 Michigan Teacher of the Year.
photo courtesy MDE
The case against a Royal Oak man accused of fatally shooting a maintenance worker outside an apartment complex was bound over Friday to Oakland County Circuit Court for possible trial.
The alleged killer, Nathaniel Rockwell, 33, faces charges of first-degree premeditated murder and three firearms-related crimes in connection with the July 31, 2025 fatal shooting of Gregory Hill, 65, of Southfield. The case was advanced after Rockwell waived his right to a preliminary exam in 44th District Court.
Nathaniel Rockwell (Royal Oak Police Dept.)
According to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, prior to the shooting, Rockwell — a tenant at the Devon Park apartment complex — received an eviction notice due to multiple incidents with firearms. He allegedly confronted building management and another tenant who had reported him, got into an argument and then retrieved a gun from his vehicle and began firing at Hill. Hill was shot approximately 11 times at close range, the prosecutor’s office said.
Hill was working at the time of the shooting, the prosecutor’s office said.
As stated in his obituary, Hill was a General Motors retiree who continued working as a part-time maintenance worker at apartment complexes. “Known as everyone’s mechanic and go-to handyman, Gregory’s hard working spirit and skillful hands touched the lives of many….Those who knew him will remember his discipline, unwavering consideration for others, and steadfast reliability — qualities that defined his life. He was deeply loving and dependable, connecting effortlessly with both pets and babies, who were always drawn to his warmth,” the obituary states.
Hill was married and had two daughters.
Rockwell is held in the Oakland County Jail, denied bond. Arraignment in the higher court is scheduled for March 2 before Judge Daniel O’Brien.
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