By JAMES POLLARD and LINLEY SANDERS The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Most Americans aren’t making end-of-year charitable giving plans, according to the results of a new AP-NORC poll, despite the many fundraising appeals made by nonprofits that rely on donation surges in the calendar’s final month to reach budget targets.

The survey, which was conducted in early December by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that about half U.S. adults say they’ve already made their charitable contributions for 2025. Just 18% say they’ve donated and will donate again before the year is over. Only 6% report they haven’t given yet but will do so by December’s end. The rest, 30%, haven’t donated and don’t plan to.

Everyday donors faced competing priorities this year. President Donald Trump’s social services grant cuts, severe foreign aid rollbacks and November SNAP benefits freeze — plus natural disasters like Los Angeles’ historically destructive wildfires — left no shortage of urgent causes in need of heightened support. Trump’s tax and spending legislation offered an extra incentive to give, too; most tax filers will see a new charitable deduction of up to $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for married couples.

But weaker income gains and steep price inflation meant that lower-income households had less money to redistribute. Other surveys have also found a yearslong decline in the number of individuals who give.

December still serves as a “very important deadline” for donors, according to Dianne Chipps Bailey, managing director of Bank of America’s Philanthropic Solutions division. She cited estimates from the National Philanthropic Trust that nearly one-third of annual giving happens in the final month.

“December 31 does provide a target to make sure that they’ve given what they intended to give before the year is over,” Bailey said.

Few donate on GivingTuesday

Perhaps no day is more consequential for fundraisers than GivingTuesday. Beginning as a hashtag in 2012, the well-known celebration of generosity now sees many nonprofits leverage the attention to solicit donations on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Americans donated an estimated $4 billion to nonprofits this most recent GivingTuesday.

But Americans were much more likely to make a Black Friday purchase than a GivingTuesday gift this year. Just under half say they bought something for Black Friday, according to the poll, compared to about 1 in 10 who say they donated to a charity for GivingTuesday.

“Black Friday gets the lion’s share of things,” said Oakley Graham, a 32-year-old from Missouri. “And then you’ve got GivingTuesday a couple days later. Most people have probably spent all their spending money at that point.”

Graham said his family has “definitely tightened the financial belt” in recent years. He and his wife are dealing with student loan debts now that the Trump administration suspended their repayment plan. Their two young children are always growing out of their clothes. It’s good if there’s anything left for savings.

He still tries to help out his neighbors — from handiwork to Salvation Army clothing donations.

“Not that I’m not willing to give here and there,” he said. “But it seems like it’s pretty tough to find the extra funds.”

Checkout charity proves more popular

Another avenue for nudging Americans to give is more widely used, even if individual donations are small. The AP-NORC poll found that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they donated to a charity when checking out at a store this year.

Graham is among those who reported giving at the cash register. As an outdoorsy person who enjoys hunting and fishing when he can, he said he is “always susceptible to giving for conservation.” He said he likely rounded up once or twice at Bass Pro Shops for that reason.

“With the finances, I don’t do a lot of buying these days. But a couple cents here or there is like — I can do that,” he said. “It doesn’t sound like much. But I know if everybody did it would make a difference.”

The poll found that older adults — those over 60 — are more likely than Americans overall to donate at store checkouts.

One Texas architect’s unusual process for year-end donations

About one-quarter of Americans plan to donate in the last weeks of the year, and Chuck Dietrick is one of them. The 69-year-old architect applies what he calls a “shotgun approach” as the year comes to a close.

He and his wife give monthly to Valley Hope, a nonprofit addiction services provider where their son did inpatient rehab. And then there are eight or so organizations that they support with end-of-the-year gifts.

“We’re doing our own thing,” he said. “I don’t do Black Friday or Cyber Monday, either … So, I don’t do the GivingTuesday thing.”

Dietrick estimates their household donated somewhere between $501 and $2,500. The Dallas-Fort Worth area couple mostly contributes to organizations that have touched their lives or those of their friends.

There’s the Florida hospice that Dietrick said did a “super job” caring for his mother. He has relatives and friends who served in the military, so he also gives to the Disabled American Veterans and the Wounded Warrior Project.

“I would rather give a smaller amount of money to a variety of institutions that I care about rather than giving a big chunk of money to one,” he explained.

Giving plans went unaffected by federal funding cuts or the shutdown

Most 2025 donors say the amount they gave wasn’t affected much by this year’s federal funding cuts or the government shutdown, according to the AP-NORC poll, although about 3 in 10 say those situations did impact the charities they chose to support.

The survey suggests that, while private donors mobilized millions to fill funding gaps and hunger relief groups saw donation totals spike last month, many Americans did not respond with their pocketbooks to the nonprofit sector’s newfound pressures this year.

Jeannine Disviscour, a 63-year-old Baltimore teacher, is among 2025 donors who say the cuts prompted them to give more.

“I did not donate on GivingTuesday,” she said. “But I did donate that week because I was feeling the need to support organizations that I felt might not continue to get the support they needed to get to be successful.”

She estimates her household gave between $501 and $2,500. That included support for National Public Radio. Congress eliminated $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting this summer, leaving hundreds of NPR stations with some sort of budget hole. She said she wanted to ensure journalism reached news deserts where residents have few media options.

Living in an area that is home to many refugees, Disviscour also donated her time and money to the Asylee Women Enterprise. She said the local nonprofit helps asylum-seekers and other forced migrants find food, shelter, clothing, transportation and language classes.

“There is a gap in funding and there’s more need than ever,” she said. “And I wanted to step up. And it’s in my community.”

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Sanders reported from Washington.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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The AP-NORC poll of 1,146 adults was conducted Dec. 4-8 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

By Charles E. Ramirez, cramirez@detroitnews.com

The Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills is waiving the admission fee to its museum through Jan. 2.

Officials for the center said they are offering free general admission to encourage reflection, learning, and community engagement during the holiday season, and especially after a mass shooting during a Hanukkah celebration last week in Australia.

“In the wake of the antisemitic attack in Australia, we’re again reminded how hate left unchecked can escalate to violence,” Eli Mayerfeld, the center’s CEO, said in a statement Friday. “We remain committed to educating, engaging, and empowering people of all backgrounds to stand up against hatred. If the cost of admission has ever been a barrier, we hope this opportunity encourages everyone to visit.”

The center invites visitors to explore its redesigned core exhibit, which centers on the personal experiences of Holocaust victims and survivors, many of whom rebuilt their lives in Michigan. It features immersive video testimony, archival footage, and artifacts to bring personal stories to the forefront and preserve these voices for future generations. The redesigned exhibit opened in early 2024.

The museum’s hours of operation are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. Special programming, including additional public tours and survivor presentations, is held daily between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. The center is closed on Saturday.

Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for senior citizens and college students, and $5 for students with identification.

Located at 28123 Orchard Lake Road north of 12 Mile Road, the Zekelman Holocaust Center was founded in 1984 and receives about 100,000 visitors annually.

By JONATHAN J. COOPER and SEJAL GOVINDARAO The Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — When Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest convention reached its halfway point, Erika Kirk tried to put a smiling face on things.

“Say what you want about AmFest, but it’s definitely not boring,” said Kirk, who has led the influential conservative organization since her husband Charlie was assassinated in September. “Feels like a Thanksgiving dinner where your family’s hashing out the family business.”

That’s one way to put it.

Some of the biggest names in conservative media took turns torching each other on the main stage, spending more time targeting right-wing rivals than their left-wing opponents.

The feuds could ultimately define the boundaries of the Republican Party and determine the future of President Donald Trump’s fractious coalition, which appears primed for more schisms in the months and years ahead.

Here are some of the most notable moments from the four-day conference.

Shapiro torches podcasters

Ben Shapiro, co-founder of the conservative media outlet Daily Wire, set the tone with the first speech after Erika Kirk opened the convention. He attacked fellow commentators in deeply personal terms, saying some of the right’s most popular figures are morally bankrupt.

Candace Owens “has been vomiting all sorts of hideous and conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years,” he said.

Megyn Kelly is “guilty of cowardice” because she’s refused to condemn Owens for spreading unsubstantiated theories about Kirk’s death.

And Tucker Carlson’s decision to host antisemite Nick Fuentes on his podcast was “an act of moral imbecility.”

Shapiro’s targets hit back

Barely an hour later, Carlson took the same stage and mocked Shapiro’s attempt to “deplatform and denounce” people who disagree with him.

“I watched it,” he said. “I laughed.”

Others had their chance the next night.

“Ben Shapiro is like a cancer, and that cancer spreads,” said Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser.

Kelly belittled Shapiro as a marginal figure in the conservative movement and said their friendship is over.

“I resent that he thinks he’s in a position to decide who must say what, to whom, and when,” Kelly said.

Owens, who has spread unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk’s death, wasn’t welcome at the convention. But she responded on her podcast, calling Shapiro a “miserable imp.”

A schism over Israel and antisemitism

Israel came up repeatedly during the conference.

Some on the right have questioned whether the Republican Party’s historically steadfast support for Israel conflicts with Trump’s “America First” platform. Carlson criticized civilian deaths in Gaza in remarks that wouldn’t have been out of place in progressive circles.

Some attendees dug deep into history, highlighting Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty off the Sinai Peninsula in 1967. Israel said it mistook the ship for an Egyptian vessel during the Six Day War, while critics have argued that it was a deliberate strike.

Bannon accused Shapiro, who is Jewish, and others who staunchly support Israel of being part of “the Israel first crowd.” Kelly said criticism from Shapiro and Bari Weiss, the newly installed head of CBS News, “is about Israel.”

Vance gets a helpful endorsement

Erika Kirk pledged Turning Point’s support for Vice President JD Vance to be the next Republican presidential nominee.

“We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible,” she said on the first night of the convention. Vance would be the 48th president if he takes office after Trump.

Turning Point is a major force on the right, with a massive volunteer network around the country that can be especially helpful in early primary states.

Vance was close with Charlie Kirk, whose backing helped enable his rapid political rise. The vice president is scheduled to close out the convention as the final speaker on Sunday.

MAHA teams up with MAGA

The Make America Healthy Again movement had a big presence at Turning Point, signaling its quick rise in the right-wing ecosystem.

MAHA is spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy, who leads the Department of Health and Human Services. However, there has been friction with other parts of the Make America Great Again coalition, particularly when it comes to rolling back environmental regulations.

Wellness influencer Alex Clark, whose podcast is sponsored by Turning Point, asked the crowd whether the Environmental Protection Agency is “with us or against us?”

“Big chemical, big ag and big food are trying to split MAGA from MAHA so things can go back to business as usual, but we don’t want that, do we?” Clark said.

Clark and others have asked for Trump to fire EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who responded by reaching out to MAHA activists. The EPA also said it would release a MAHA agenda for the agency.

“The Trump EPA wants to partner with the MAHA community and make sure everyone has a seat at the table,” EPA press secretary Carolyn Holran said in response to Clark’s speech.

By JONATHAN J. COOPER and SEJAL GOVINDARAO The Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — The next presidential election is three years away, but Turning Point USA already knows it wants Vice President JD Vance as the Republican nominee.

Erika Kirk, leader of the powerful conservative youth organization, endorsed him on opening night of its annual AmericaFest convention, drawing cheers from the crowd.

But the four-day gathering revealed more peril than promise for Vance or any other potential successor to President Donald Trump, and the tensions on display foreshadow the treacherous waters that they will need to navigate in the coming years. The “Make America Great Again” movement is fracturing as Republicans begin considering a future without Trump, and there is no clear path to holding his coalition together as different factions jockey for influence.

“Who gets to run it after?” asked commentator Tucker Carlson in his speech at the conference. “Who gets the machinery when the president exits the scene?”

Vance, who has not said whether he will run for president, is Turning Point’s closing speaker Sunday, appearing at the end of a lineup that includes U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Donald Trump Jr.

Turning Point backs Vance for president

Erika Kirk, who took over as Turning Point’s leader when her husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated, said Thursday that the group wanted Vance “elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible.” The next president will be the 48th in U.S. history.

Turning Point is a major force on the right, with a nationwide volunteer network that can be especially helpful in early primary states, when candidates rely on grassroots energy to build momentum.

The endorsement carried “at least a little bit of weight” for 20 year-old Kiara Wagner, who traveled from Toms River, New Jersey, for the conference.

“If someone like Erika can support JD Vance, then I can too,” Wagner said.

Vance was close with Charlie Kirk. After Kirk’s assassination on a college campus in Utah, the vice president flew out on Air Force Two to collect Kirk’s remains and bring them home to Arizona. The vice president helped uniformed service members carry the casket to the plane.

A post-Trump Republican Party?

The Republican Party’s identity has been intertwined with Trump for a decade. Now that he is constitutionally ineligible to run for reelection, the party is starting to ponder a future without him at the helm.

So far, it looks like settling that question will require a lot of fighting among conservatives. Turning Point featured arguments about antisemitism, Israel and environmental regulations, not to mention rivalries between leading commentators.

Carlson said the idea of a Republican “civil war” was “totally fake.”

“There are people who are mad at JD Vance, and they’re stirring up a lot of this in order to make sure he doesn’t get the nomination,” he said. Carlson describe Vance as “the one person” who subscribes to the “core idea of the Trump coalition,” which Carlson said was “America first.”

Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet framed the discord as a healthy debate about the future of the movement, an uncomfortable but necessary process of finding consensus.

“We’re not hive-minded commies,” he wrote on X. “Let it play out.”

Vance appeared to have the edge as far as Turning Point attendees are concerned.

“It has to be JD Vance because he has been so awesome when it comes to literally any question,” said Tomas Morales, a videographer from Los Angeles. He said “there’s no other choice.”

Trump has not chosen a successor, though he has spoken highly of both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, even suggesting they could form a future Republican ticket. Rubio has said he would support Vance.

Asked in August whether Vance was the “heir apparent,” Trump said “most likely.”

“It’s too early, obviously, to talk about it, but certainly he’s doing a great job, and he would be probably favorite at this point,” he said.

Any talk of future campaigns is complicated by Trump’s occasional musings about seeking a third term.

“I’m not allowed to run,” he told reporters during a trip to Asia in October. “It’s too bad.”

The Powerball jackpot now stands at an estimated $1.6 billion, making it one of the largest lottery prizes in U.S. history, Powerball officials said Sunday.

No ticket matched all six winning numbers on Saturday — white balls 4, 5, 28, 52, 69 and red Powerball 20. That sets up the fifth-largest U.S. jackpot ever for Monday’s drawing, according to a news release from Powerball.

The biggest U.S. jackpot was $2.04 billion in 2022. The winner bought the ticket in California and opted for a lump-sum payment of $997.6 million.

The odds of winning Monday’s jackpot, which is the fourth-largest in Powerball history, are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball.

The winner can opt for a lump-sum payment estimated at $735.3 million or an annuitized prize estimated at $1.6 billion. Both prize options are before taxes.

The annuity option offers one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year, Powerball said.

Powerball is available in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is overseen by the Multi-State Lottery Association, a nonprofit group made up of state lotteries. Profits from ticket sales are used by states to support public education and other services.

By Kate BradyThe Washington Post

MARIENBERG, Germany – In a workshop tucked into the rolling hills of eastern Germany’s Ore Mountains, rows of wooden soldiers stood at attention. Their red coats gleamed and their square-jawed mouths – designed to crack nuts but mostly decorative – formed the trademark stiff grin of Steinbach Nutcrackers.

For decades, these handmade figures have sailed across the Atlantic and into American homes, filling mantels and collectors’ shelves and appearing in countless Christmas card photos. Alongside gingerbread houses and fir trees with all the trimmings, they are one of the most recognizable German exports of the holiday season.

This year, however, tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump have given the stern-faced ornaments a new reason to grimace: About 95 percent of sales by the family-founded manufacturer, Steinbach Volkskunst, come from the United States and the company’s most reliable market has become its biggest bureaucratic headache.

Under a deal between Trump and the European Union reached earlier this year, most exports to the U.S. are subject to a 15 percent tariff. Separately, the Trump administration also ended the “de minimis” exemption – a rule that had allowed small parcels under $800 to enter duty-free.

The move was aimed at curbing low-cost imports from Chinese e-commerce giants such as Temu and Shein. But for niche businesses that rely on direct-to-consumer shipments, like Steinbach, that change hit even harder than 15 percent tariff.

“The biggest concern wasn’t price – it was instability,” CEO Rico Paul said, standing in front of a glass cabinet filled with colorful nutcrackers. “Policies changed depending on political mood. For us, planning ahead is essential. One day, the rules were one way, the next day they changed.”

For six months after Trump’s inauguration, confusion reigned. Initially, the president threatened tariffs of 30 percent or more on most goods, prompting the E.U. to ready plans for retaliation. The deal on 15 percent tariffs, reached in late July, ended that uncertainty.

But in late August, Trump issued an executive order ending the “de minimis” exemption, meaning a slew of new paperwork and bureaucracy.

Costs rose and delays mounted as Customs and Border Protection grappled to keep up with the surge in new parcels requiring clearance. With the holiday season approaching, Steinbach faced the possibility of its nutcrackers getting stuck in customs warehouses.

More than half of Steinbach’s business comes from online orders shipped directly to American doorsteps, and customers soon felt the increase. Prices are up roughly 25 percent compared to last year, because of the tariffs and customs costs, as well as rising wages.

“In the United States, our name is extremely well known,” Paul said. “We’re practically synonymous with the word nutcracker.” The outsize U.S. demand for Steinbach products, he added, “was always an advantage – until the tariff dispute.”

American affection for Steinbach’s products seems undiminished by the price increases. “We were worried Americans wouldn’t pay more,” Paul said, pulling up a fresh order from Monticello, Florida, on his phone. “But the loyalty is incredible. They’re still buying, even if it’s more expensive.”

That loyalty stretches back to the 1950s, when U.S. service members stationed in postwar Germany discovered the nutcrackers and brought them home as souvenirs. They quickly became a cultural shorthand for authentic European Christmas.

The nutcracker legacy itself is older. In Saxony’s Ore Mountain region, miners began carving these wooden figures in the 1600s, meant to bring protection and keep evil spirits at bay during the darkest months of winter.

French author Alexandre Dumas’ adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” later inspired Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet “The Nutcracker.” The ballet, initially a flop in Russia, became an American holiday institution in the mid-20th century – catapulting the nutcracker to global fame as a Christmas icon.

On a late November morning at the Steinbach factory, about 40 artisans carved, sanded and painted wooden limbs, while sewing machines upstairs stitched miniature outfits. Outside, snow settled on fir branches as workers packaged the finished products for their long journey.

One detail is new: a bright yellow sticker on every box, addressed to the person who will decide if the toy enters the United States smoothly: “Dear U.S. Customs Officer,” it says, “Thank you for keeping the trade flowing.”

It may be wishful thinking. In October, U.S. news outlets reported that thousands of packages had stalled in customs hubs under the new rules. Some carriers reportedly disposed of abandoned shipments.

“Because of changes to U.S. import regulations, we are seeing many packages that are unable to clear customs due to missing or incomplete information,” UPS, the shipping company, said in a statement. “Our goal is to speed every package to its destination, while complying with federal customs regulations.”

In late November, UPS said that its brokerage team was clearing more than 90 percent of packages on the first day – but not without complications.

Still, Steinbach nutcrackers continue to sell well, particularly those with pop culture and political themes.

Last year, Steinbach introduced a pair of nutcrackers dubbed “Republican” and “Democrat,” bearing more than a passing resemblance to Trump and Kamala Harris. The Republican model sold out before Election Day.

Prices for the smallest nutcrackers start at about $150, while the largest and most intricate figures cost more than $700. Alongside traditional soldiers and Santas, Steinbach has embraced the American appetite for nutcrackers in all forms, including Star Wars stormtroopers, “Wizard of Oz” characters and even Pope Leo XIV.

But the tariffs and customs delays have prompted Steinbach to seek a work-around. “We are building a warehouse in Pennsylvania and hiring staff,” Paul said.

The nutcrackers will still be made in Germany – local craftsmanship remains a central selling point – but pre-shipping and storing finished goods in the United States stands to insulate the business from further regulatory whiplash. The tariffs and additional costs of maintaining and staffing the warehouse will be passed on to customers, but the move should eliminate paperwork and delays for shipments to individual buyers.

Steinbach is not alone. Across Germany, exporters large and small are recalculating.

“The escalation of U.S. import duties – now effectively averaging 15 percent on key industrial goods – has hit Germany particularly hard,” said Andreas Baur, foreign trade expert at the Munich-based Institute for Economic Research. “If you take January to September and compare it to the previous year, we have a decline [in exports] of about 8 percent, and for cars around 14 percent.”

But beyond automakers, chemical giants and heavy industrial goods, the regulatory shift has quietly reshaped the fate of artisans whose exports trade more in memories than volume.

On the outskirts of Dresden, a 90-minute drive northeast of the nutcracker workshop, the sweet smell of raisins and butter filled Bäckerei Gnauck in the district of Ottendorf-Okrilla.

Bäckerei Gnauck is one of about 100 bakeries permitted to bake true Dresdner Christstollen – a dense fruitcake that is tightly regulated by the Dresden Stollen Protection Association.

Here too, the lifting of the de minimis rule has left fifth-generation baker Marlon Gnauck kneading frustration into this year’s cake loaves.

Stollen, another German Christmas tradition that has gone global, has deep roots in and around Dresden, where it first appeared in the 14th century as a simple, butter-free loaf made under strict Advent fasting rules.

That changed in 1491, when Pope Innocent VIII issued the “Butter Letter,” allowing bakers to enrich the dough. Spices, candied fruit and almonds followed and, by the 18th century, Dresden bakers were presenting enormous loaves to royalty, securing the bread’s vaunted holiday status.

Today, mass-produced versions fill German supermarkets, but only a small group of certified bakeries may call their loaves Dresdner Stollen. Dotted with raisins, and carefully folded together before being baked and doused in confectioners sugar, Stollen is supposed to represent the image of a swaddled baby Jesus.

Every holiday season since 1999, Gnauck, a fifth-generation baker in his family, has shipped some of his stollen to Americans – half as corporate gifts, he estimates, and a quarter to families with German ancestry.

He has enjoyed hearing from happy customers, even those who make him wince with their “American innovations” such as toasting stollen or spreading it with peanut butter.

“Just a good slice of stollen, with a cup of coffee – that’s it, ” he said. “That’s how it should be enjoyed.”

But now a single two-kilogram shipment, with postage and duties, costs more than $170, he said as he attached the required documents to parcels bound for Dorchester, Massachusetts; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Houston.

“You’re looking at paying between $60 and $70 in import charges for a two-kilo stollen,” Gnauck said. “The product costs 50 euros [about $59]. Shipping is almost another 50. And then roughly $70 of customs and administrative fees.”

Only about 2 percent of Gnauck’s sales are to the United States, but the time required for paperwork and the additional costs for longtime customers have tainted the festive cheer. Gnauck’s verdict: “The Grinch lives in the White House,” he said. “Because what he’s actually doing is completely ruining the gifts.”

In October, after the first seasonal orders were shipped across the Atlantic, Gnauck temporarily stopped shipping to the U.S. after customers complained about unpredictable costs.

“We called the next 50 customers who had placed an order,” he said. “A quarter of them canceled. Another quarter of them reduced their order to a 1 kg, and the rest said they’d pay no matter what.”

Sending stollen to America was never economically logical, he said. “It was emotional. A gesture. And now that gesture is expensive.”

Some Dresden bakeries have stopped exporting to the United States altogether. But like Paul, the Steinbach CEO, Gnauck isn’t ready to quit. Both men said they simply want one thing from Trump: predictability.

Paul said a limited-edition nutcracker resembling Trump at the Resolute Desk – with a price tag of $399 – has nearly sold out. “The president is sitting at his desk and is signing a declaration, granting the Steinbach company duty-free status for all eternity,” he quipped.

For now, that remains fantasy: a wooden wish for stability in a season built on nostalgia – and customs logistics.

Garo Danayan learned what it’s like to have an extra $1,000 to spend at Christmas on Wednesday.

“It’s already spent,” he joked. The Huntington Woods resident won the top prize, a $1,000 check, by entering Oakland County’s annual Local Gems contest. For the third year, the county’s economic development department invited people to take selfies at local businesses and share the images with the county to enter a random drawing for cash prizes. Genisys Credit Union supplied the cash.

More than 1,000 people submitted contest entries from some of the county’s estimated 35,000 small businesses.

Danayan took his selfie at a Ferndale gift store, The Rocket, where Local Gem winners were announced on Wednesday.

The Rocket’s owner, Eli Morrissey, said he was grateful for people who spend money locally and have supported his shop for 12 years.

“We need to save our brick-and-mortar businesses,” Morrissey said. “They are the character of our communities … I appreciate the support so much.”

Bret Rasegan of Rochester Hills won $500 for his selfie at McCauley Chiropractic in Rochester and Julie Decker of Oak Park won $250 with her selfie at The Vintage Farmhouse in Holly.

County Executive Dave Coulter said he was very proud of small businesses for all they do to support the community.”

Small businesses, he said, “give back to the community in a way Amazon never could.”

A 39-year-old man is facing criminal charges for allegedly killing his mother who was found dead in her bed at the home they shared in Holly.

James Robert Hall is accused of strangling and suffocating Kristine Lynn Hall, 59, inside a residence on Ash Street late last month. A man who identified himself as Kristine Hall’s brother reportedly located her body when he went to the home to check on her on Nov. 25. According to Holly police, the brother said the victim allowed her son to move in with her several months ago, was afraid of him and slept with her bedroom door locked.

James Hall allegedly fled the home after stealing his mother’s car, jewelry and cash from the home, then reportedly called his father and admitted to the murder, police said. He was subsequently arrested in Kalamazoo and also allegedly admitted to police there that he had killed his mother.

James Hall was arraigned Dec. 10 in 52-2 District Court on charges of first-degree homicide, unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle and larceny in a building. He’s held in the Oakland County Jail, denied bond.

When he was still in custody in the Kalamazoo jail, Holly police investigators interviewed him and he reportedly again confessed to the murder. As stated in a news release from the Holly Police Department, James Hall told them that on Nov. 24 his mother called him into her bedroom and “began scolding him for his life choices and for not amounting to anything, which he said she was always telling him. Hall stated that he became tired of hearing it, climbed on top of her, and used a pillow to smother her to death.”

His arrest came after a party store clerk in Kalamazoo called police because he was overheard on a phone call stating he was thinking of killing himself, Holly police said. Kalamazoo officers located James Hall  in his mother’s stolen vehicle in the store’s parking lot.

As further reported by police, James Hall had rented a room in Kalamazoo and had been using the stolen money at a local casino prior to his arrest.

He was arraigned Nov. 26 in 52-2 District Court on an outstanding warrant for breaking and entering, and held in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $100,000. Arraignment on the charges related to the slaying happened two weeks later.

“James Hall was angry his mother was parenting him…so he killed her,” Holly Police Chief Jerry Narsh stated in the news release.. He took the life that gave him life. Then he took her money, her jewelry and her vehicle because he was challenged on his life choices. Then he went to a casino.”

Hall’s next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 23 for a probable cause conference before 52-2 District Judge Joseph Fabrizio. A preliminary exam is scheduled for a week later.

By Max Reinhart, mreinhart@detroitnews.com

A Florida-based lending firm is suing a Michigan organization that administers retirement plans for government employees, claiming it deceptively convinced them to contribute tens of millions of dollars to an ill-fated coffee-growing venture in Hawaii.

In the lawsuit, filed Monday in a court in Polk County, Florida, AgAmerica alleges that between 2022 and 2024, the Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Michigan (MERS) conspired with associated firms to get millions of dollars in loans to correct a long list of construction issues and sanitation violations at their Kona Hills coffee plantation.

AgAmerica claims it was led to believe the money would be used strictly to buy and grow coffee trees.

“… Instead of using the funds for the approved purpose of planting and developing coffee trees, they used a significant amount of the financing to redress the undisclosed … issues and violations of Hawaiian law,” the complaint states.

MERS CEO Kerrie Vanden Bosch called AgAmerica’s allegations “baseless and without merit.”

“While this specific investment experienced a loss, it was more than offset by strong gains in other private market investments,” Vanden Bosch said in an email to The News. “… We are confident that the facts will come to light through the court process. We remain dedicated to our mission and to the long-term financial security of those who serve Michigan’s communities.”

MERS manages pension funds for cities, counties and townships in Michigan.

According to AgAmerica, MERS was at the top of the corporate hierarchy managing the Kona Hills project. MERS allegedly oversaw Domain Capital Advisors, a private equity firm, which oversaw Kona Capital, which ran operations at the Kona Hills coffee plantation, located in the Holualoa area in Hawaii County, on the state’s largest island.

In 2021 and 2022, before the defendants sought funding from AgAmerica, Hawaii’s state public works and health departments visited the Kona project site, where inspectors found issues with flooding and drainage, as well as sanitation violations, including illegal cesspools and wastewater discharges onto the ground, the suit alleges.

Other issues at the site included environmental, legal, permitting, stormwater, wastewater, flooding and construction concerns, according to the complaint.

The issues needed to be corrected for the project to move forward. Fixing everything would cost about $16 million, AgAmerica claims.

When Domain came to AgAmerica to seek a loan, the company provided misleading financial projections that did not account for the extensive problems with the site, the suit claims. AgAmerica said MERS had knowledge of the violations as well.

Based on the allegedly fraudulent information provided, AgAmerica issued an almost $30 million loan.

The problems at the site in Hawaii weren’t disclosed to AgAmerica until MERS terminated Domain as the asset manager for the Kona Hills project and replaced them with Ospraie Real Assets, according to the complaint. Officials with Ospraie told the lender that the project was in dire financial straits due to the problems.

AgAmerica then approved a second tranche of more than $10 million to try and salvage its investment.

In January 2025, the lender learned there were serious problems with the coffee harvest and it would take tens of millions of additional dollars to make Kona Hills successful, according to the lawsuit. MERS and Osparie then dropped out of the project, Kona defaulted on its loans and AgAmerica foreclosed on the property.

Officials at Domain did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Efforts to reach other defendants weren’t immediately successful.

MERS manages more than $16 billion in plan assets, the complaint states. According to the company’s website, it administers retirement plans for more than 150,000 government employees from more than 1,000 Michigan municipalities.

Kona Hills, established in 2016, owns and operates about 1,983 acres of coffee plantations in Hawaii, having started planting coffee trees around 2018, according to the complaint.

Mark McCormick of California and Carolyn Seabolt of Georgia also are named as defendants in the suit. McCormick is identified in the lawsuit as the president and CEO of Kamco Land Co., another defendant which allegedly helped manage operations at the plantation; Seabolt is named as chief operating officer of Domain.

The lawsuit accuses MERS and the other defendants of fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, as well as conspiracy.

AgAmerica is seeking a jury trial and judgment for an unspecified amount in damages.

By Craig Mauger, cmauger@detroitnews.com

A Michigan judge ruled against marijuana businesses in the state Monday, rejecting their arguments that a new 24% wholesale tax on their products, imposed by the Legislature as part of a road-funding deal, should be immediately blocked.

The Michigan Cannabis Industry Association has contended that the new tax should have required supermajority support from lawmakers during votes in October, which it didn’t get, because the policy amends a ballot proposal that voters approved in 2018 to legalize recreational marijuana and set a 10% tax on retail sales.

However, Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel said in her 28-page decision Monday that the new wholesale tax bill was “consistent” with the text of the ballot proposal, which recognized “other taxes.”

“Plaintiffs have not met the stiff burden of demonstrating that they will likely succeed on the merits,” Patel wrote of not granting a preliminary injunction against the new law.

For now, her ruling allows the new 24% tax to go into effect Jan. 1.

But it wasn’t an outright victory for the Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration.

Patel said there “remain questions of fact” whether the 24% wholesale excise tax interferes with the purposes of the 2018 ballot proposal. Patel noted the businesses had argued that voters “purposefully selected the 10% excise tax on retail sales to keep retail prices reasonable” and to diminish the illicit market.

“Discovery will be required to develop the evidence needed to support the parties’ positions in this regard,” Patel wrote, rejecting the state’s pursuit of a summary judgment against the businesses on the matter.

Patel set a scheduling conference for Jan. 13 but referenced “the high likelihood that both parties will seek an appeal to the Court of Appeals.” Whitmer appointed Patel to the Court of Appeals in 2022.

In reaction to the decision, Rose Tantraphol, spokeswoman for the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association, said the organization plans a “swift appeal.”

“We don’t believe the Court of Claims made the right call,” Tantraphol said. “While we are deeply frustrated by this ruling, I can tell you this: The fight is far from over.”

The wholesale tax was at the center of a road-funding compromise that ended a months-long budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the Capitol in October.

The nonpartisan Michigan House Fiscal Agency has projected the wholesale marijuana tax would create about $420 million in additional revenue for roads annually.

Under the state Constitution, to amend a voter-approved policy, three-fourths of the lawmakers in the House and Senate would have to support the change. While the new wholesale tax wasn’t added directly to the voter-approved law, the lawyers argued the tax’s passage effectively amended it.

The 24% new tax didn’t get three-fourths support in the House or Senate. In the Senate, only 19 of the 37 lawmakers supported it.

The Michigan Cannabis Industry Association represents about 400 licensed marijuana businesses. Last year, Michigan’s recreational marijuana retail sales came in at about $3.2 billion, according to monthly reports from the Cannabis Regulatory Agency.

By Charles E. Ramirez, cramirez@detroitnews.com

A meteorite was spotted over northern Michigan’s sky on Sunday, according to a company that chases storms and follows the weather.

The fireball was seen over Michigan at about 6 p.m., Michigan Storm Chasers said Sunday on its Facebook page and on X. The southwestern Michigan company also shared video of the shooting star captured by its network of weather- and sky-watching cameras.

Company officials said the meteorite was part of the Geminids meteor shower visible this week.

The Geminids meteor shower peaks in mid-December every year, according to NASA. Its meteors first began appearing in the mid-1800s, and the shower is one of the major ones seen annually.

During its peak, 120 Geminid meteors can be seen per hour under perfect conditions, NASA said. The Geminids are bright and fast meteors and tend to be yellow in color.

Michigan Storm Chasers officials also said the object broke apart over the area between Traverse City and Gaylord.

“Our weather camera network of now 90+ cameras doesn’t let anything sneak by,” the company boasted. “At least ten of our cameras tonight (some live on our YouTube channel 24/7) caught the meteorite as it approximately broke apart somewhere over the Kalkaska county region.”

The American Meteor Society in the State of New York said it received 81 reports about a fireball seen over Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ontario, Canada, and Tamil Nadu, India on Sunday.

This isn’t the first time reports of meteorites created a buzz around Michigan.

A meteor about the size of a cargo van flew over southeast Michigan in January 2018. Meteorite hunters found bits of the space rock on a frozen lake near Hamburg, Michigan. Some of them were taken to the Field Museum in Chicago to be examined by scientists.

By Melissa Nann Burke, mburke@detroitnews.com

A compromise draft of the annual defense policy bill released late Sunday maintains authorization to spend $14 million for infrastructure upgrades at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County ahead of the arrival of two new airframes, the F-15EX fighters and KC-46 tankers.

The provision had been included in version of the National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate in October. The House is expected to take up the compromise text Thursday or Friday.

The $14 million is allocated to provide $9 million for design of the runway improvements needed at the Harrison Township base, $2.8 million for taxiway “alpha” improvements and $2.4 million for the “bravo” runway improvements design, according to the bill text. The runway work is part of a realignment project at Selfridge estimated to cost $124 million.

Democratic Sens. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township and Elissa Slotkin of Holly secured the funding over the summer as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The text also includes $4.4 million for the Camp Grayling All-Domain Warfighting Training Complex.

The broader National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 includes an $8 billion increase in the Pentagon’s topline budget, a 3.8% pay raise for military members, puts limits on future troop reductions in Europe and South Korea and authorizes $400 million for Ukraine security assistance, according to bill summaries.

The authorization for funding at Selfridge follows President Donald Trump’s directive earlier this year for the Air Force to send 21 F-15EX aircraft to Selfridge starting in 2028 to replace the aging A-10 Thunderbolt II squadron that is set to be retired at the base on Lake St. Clair northeast of Detroit.

Trump in doing so overruled the Air Force in a gesture that the president said should “save this place.”

The NDAA compromise prohibits the Air Force from retiring the “Warthog” Thunderbolt II “early” in fiscal 2026, including those at Selfridge ― something that Michigan’s delegation had pushed for in a letter this fall to leaders of the Armed Services panels.

The lawmakers’ aim in retaining the provision in NDAA is to minimize the gap between the time when the A-10s will roll out of Selfridge and the replacement flying mission, F-15EX fighters, is supposed to arrive in 2028 in an effort to maintain the workforce of pilots and maintenance staff for the aircraft.

Led by U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, a Charlotte Republican, Michigan lawmakers in late October wrote in the letter asking for the NDAA to use the Senate’s language that required the Air Force to maintain a minimum fleet size of 162 A-10 aircraft and prohibited the early retirement of the A-10s without the approval of Congress.

“This would basically do a transition between the two (platforms) without a significant or sizable gap between them,” Barrett told The Detroit News of the effort in October. “And that’s the big issue we’re trying to stop. Now that we have the commitment for the new F-15EX aircraft, we don’t want the A-10s to go dormant early and present a gap.”

The lawmakers have fretted that a gap of a year or two between flying missions would potentially see the staff at Selfridge devoted to pilot training, maintenance and other tasks reassigned or placed elsewhere without the aircraft at the base.

Idaho’s congressional delegation also joined the Michigan delegation’s letter, including GOP Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, whose state hosts an A-10 squadron at Gowen Field that is set to be replaced with F-16s.

The Air Force has long planned to divest the aging A-10 Thunderbolt fleet to spend instead on next-generation aircraft. The Maryland Air National Guard, based in eastern Baltimore County, deactivated its last remaining A-10s in September, sending most to a boneyard in Arizona and two to Selfridge in Harrison Township.

A general picked to serve as the next chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, Kenneth S. Wilsbach, this fall reiterated the Pentagon’s plans to send a squadron of F-15EX fighter aircraft to Selfridge on time in 2028, assuming the required infrastructure upgrades are complete.

Wilsbach said the Air Force would have to train the new crews and maintenance personnel as they transition from the A-10 to the F-15EX, a process that could take six to 18 months.

“So we’ll have to work on that timing,” Wilsbach said at the time.

Michigan’s delegation and state officials lobbied for over a decade for a fighter mission to replace the A-10 Thunderbolt II squadron at Selfridge.

Multiple reports of larcenies from unlocked vehicles parked in Bloomfield Township were reported during the overnight hours from Dec. 4 to Dec. 5, officials said.

Purses, computers, shopping bags full of merchandise, and other personal property were reported stolen from eight vehicles, according to Bloomfield Township police. All the vehicles had been left unlocked in driveways, police said.

While an investigation continues, the Bloomfield Township Police Department said the community’s support is needed to thwart any more would-be thieves.

Residents are strongly urged to remove all valuables from inside their cars, keep them locked and don’t leave keys inside when they aren’t occupied.

Teen found stabbed at Royal Oak Township hotel

An investigation is underway into the stabbing of a 14-year-old boy Saturday night in Royal Oak Township.

As of Monday morning, officials hadn’t announced any arrest in the case.

According to Michigan State Police, troopers responded to the American Inn & Suites at 11000 W. Eight Mile Road just before 10:30 pm. Dec. 6 after the assault was reported. Troopers administered first-aid to the victim including applying a tourniquet to the victim’s leg, where he had been stabbed. The teen was then transported to an area hospital.

Troopers contacted his mother and brought her to the hospital, MSP stated.

MSP Lt. Mike Shaw requested further information from the public as investigators work to develop leads to the suspect.

“Anyone who has information on this incident is asked to call the Metro North Post at 248-584-5740 or Crime Stoppers at 800-SPEAKUP,” Shaw stated on X.

By Craig Mauger, cmauger@detroitnews.com

Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall said Friday he’s considering pursuing a new state commission or fee schedules to limit what hospitals can charge for their services, as part of a bid to lower health care costs.

The Kalamazoo County Republican made the comments during an appearance on WKAR’s “Off The Record” overtime segment while discussing his caucus’s priorities for the upcoming year. The speaker referenced the Michigan Public Service Commission, which currently gets to approve or alter rate increases proposed by gas and electric utilities that have monopolies within their service territories.

“I am looking at potentially proposing a new … public service commission, but for the hospitals, to regulate their price increases,” Hall said.

He added later, “We might need fee schedules.”

Hall’s comments came amid reports of rising health care costs nationwide and a push by some political candidates to focus on lowering medical bills and insurance premiums paid by their constituents. However, a new government panel to intervene in hospitals’ financial decision-making would represent a significant change for an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents.

Annual health spending in the U.S. increased by 62% from about $3 trillion in 2014 to about $4.9 trillion in 2023, according to data tracked by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, said Friday that his group “is always willing to engage in discussions that can improve affordability and reduce government intervention.”

“Hospitals remain committed to addressing rising healthcare costs,” Peters said. ”Insurance premiums are ultimately determined by insurance companies, not hospitals, while independent analyses show that prescription drug costs and administrative expenses are driving insurance premium inflation.”

The website of McLaren Health Care, which has 12 hospitals, describes billing, costs and charges as “very complex.”

“The price a patient sees on their hospital bill reflects not just the specific care team who treated them, but also overall operational costs that keep the hospital running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” the McLaren website says.

The Detroit News reported in October that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan was hiking its small group insurance premiums an average of 12.4% next year for its Blue Care Network HMO plans. In the individual market, state regulators allowed Blue Cross to hike its premiums by 24%, as three insurers stopped selling so-called “Obamacare” plans in Michigan.

In an interview in October, Tricia Keith, Blue Cross’s CEO, referenced a study by the RAND Corp. that concluded hospital mergers gave the health systems more negotiating power with insurers, increased patient volume for services, reduced competition and contributed to increased health care spending.

“We are concerned with (hospital) consolidation because there are a number of studies that have come out and shown — the RAND study, for instance — that hospital consolidation does drive up prices,” Keith said.

More: Q&A: Blue Cross CEO Tricia Keith on what’s driving double-digit health insurance increases

During his public television interview on Friday, Hall said something has to be done to lower health care costs.

“We see these big Taj Mahals they’re building,” Hall said of new facilities built by Michigan hospital systems. “I’m just saying it’s out of control.”

Some hospital executives, including Henry Ford Health CEO Bob Riney, have defended new medical facilities. Henry Ford Health is currently erecting a new $2.2 billion hospital across West Grand Boulevard from its flagship Detroit hospital, where the tower dates back to 1915.

“I would ask people to think about the inefficiencies in the design of a building that was designed to be a hospital over 100 years ago,” Riney said. “… If anyone has shown a great use of a building for a hundred-plus years, it’s us.”

More: Q&A: Henry Ford Health executives defend rising costs of care, new Detroit hospital

Democrats in the Michigan Senate have approved bills to create a new state board with the power to study prescription drug costs and set maximum caps on prices if they’re determined to be too expensive for patients.

The Senate voted in favor of those bills in April, but the Republican-controlled House has not acted on them.

Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, said the ideas Hall floated Friday seemed somewhat similar to the Senate’s plan for the Prescription Drug Affordability Board.

“We have a great plan that’s sitting in the House chamber and that’s been sitting there for many months,” Camilleri said.

Camilleri added that Hall has continued to attack Michigan’s hospitals. In September, Hall called for the ouster of Brian Peters, the leader of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, after the group criticized the House GOP’s budget plan.

A 25-year-old Mt. Pleasant man is jailed in Livingston County on a $1 million bond, accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a home as his stalking of a juvenile escalated into an attack on their home.

Authorities in Brighton Township were first alerted at 9:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28, after several bottles of flammable materials were thrown at a house on Burson Drive, igniting fires, the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday, Dec. 5.

Within less than a day, Mt. Pleasant police officers had the suspect in custody in mid-Michigan and he was being transported to the Livington County Jail, awaiting criminal charges in the county just northwest of Metro Detroit.

Now, Alex Buley-Neumar is being held in the downstate jail on a $1 million bond, facing four felony criminal charges.

On Monday, Dec. 1, he was arraigned in the 53rd District Court on charges of the manufacture/possession of a Molotov cocktail causing damage, a potential 20-year felony; aggravated stalking of a minor, which carries up to 10 years in prison; using a computer to commit a crime, also a 10-year felony; and accosting a child for immoral purposes, a four-year felony.

When emergency responders arrived at the Burson Drive home in a residential neighborhood, the fires had been extinguished by “alert neighbors… preventing what could have been a catastrophic outcome,” the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office said in its statement. The home is about an hour-and-40 minute minute drive from Mt. Pleasant.

Deputies found evidence of the incendiary devices and documented the fire damage. Investigators when learned the violence was connected to “an ongoing stalking and harassment case involving a juvenile victim over social media platforms.”

And the suspect was identified, prompting sheriff’s detectives to work overnight with police investigators and officers in locating him.

By 3 p.m. the next day, Saturday, Nov. 29, Buley-Neumar was being taken into custody without incident by Mt. Pleasant officers, the sheriff’s office said.

Sheriff’s officials also wanted to remind parents and families “to get involved and be aware of what their are doing on social media and who they are talking to.”

The sheriff’s office did not provide an age or gender of the stalking victim.

Buley-Neumar is due back in court for an 8 a.m. Dec. 9 hearing for a probable cause conference before Judge Shauna Murphy. A preliminary examination is scheduled at this time for Dec. 16.

He was represented by a court-appointed attorney at the arraignment and has requested one for the ongoing case, according to court records.

By Max Bryan, mbruan@detroitnews.com

Birmingham has filed a lawsuit in Oakland Circuit Court to block the sale of The Community House after its nonprofit operator announced plans to cease in-house operations in 2026.

The Community House Association announced Nov. 3 that operations in its 1930 building at 380 Bates St. will not be required as the association transitions into the Birmingham Area Community Foundation, which will provide scholarships for students and support for smaller area nonprofits. The association said in the announcement that the new owners of the building are “yet to be determined” but that current operations would cease July 1, 2026.

In response, the city filed a lawsuit on Nov. 25 “to enforce deed restrictions” that it alleges require the building “to be held exclusively as a community center for use by the residents.”

“(A sale) would permanently deprive the residents of the City of Birmingham of a unique civic and charitable asset intended for their benefit,” including 33 full-time and 16 part-time employees, the facility’s childcare program, event rentals and programs, the lawsuit reads.

The association executed a trust in 1930 to be held for the building and its operations. The trust prohibited a sale or transfer to a private interest if the association were to be dissolved, the lawsuit states.

In response to a 1989 petition to modernize the trust, the state required the association to hold The Community House in accordance with the 1930 trust. It required them to convey the land and any construction on the property to the city if The Community House were to be dissolved, the lawsuit states.

The city claims in its lawsuit that The Community House must be transitioned into either “a Birmingham charitable, benevolent, or educational organization” chosen by nearly all of the trustees or given back to the city to be used as a nonprofit community center.

Alison Gaudreau, president of The Community House, said that the organization communicated to the city could submit an offer for the building but “responded by filing a lawsuit.”

In a statement to The Detroit News, Gaudreau acknowledged there are “strong emotions” about The Community House’s future.

“There are many assumptions being made about what is happening with the sale of the building,” said Gaudreau in a statement. “We agree with the city that the building should be used for charitable purposes and those are the only conversations we are having with potential buyers. We are only speaking with non-profit organizations who would continue to use this space to benefit the community.”

The city asks in the lawsuit for Oakland County Circuit Court to issue an injunction between The Community House and its potential sale on grounds that it would violate deed restrictions and court orders.

“A private sale would permanently terminate the property’s nearly 100-year role as a public, nonprofit community center and would irreversibly extinguish the public’s beneficial interest, which is harm that cannot be remedied by monetary damages or subsequent litigation,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit was filed eight days after Birmingham Mayor Clinton Baller announced at a city commissioners’ meeting that the commission “will use each and every available means” to keep the building “a community asset.” The commission was scheduled to discuss the city’s lawsuit in closed session during its Monday meeting.

For more than a century, The Community House has hosted debates, served as a gathering place and has provided programs, events and partnerships with other nonprofits. a lawsuit on Nov. 25 “to enforce deed restrictions” that it alleges require the building “to be held exclusively as a community center for use by the residents.”

By Jennifer Pignolet, jpignolet@detroitnews.com

The three newest additions to the Detroit Zoo are working on their roars.

The zoo on Monday announced the birth of three healthy African lion cubs to 9-year-old lioness mom Amirah and dad Kalu.

“As a first-time mom, she has been wonderfully calm, attentive and nurturing, spending her days bonding closely with her little ones in a cozy, quiet den,” the Detroti Zoo said in an announcement.

A fourth cub was stillborn, the statement said, a “natural part of life for many wild species.”

The healthy cubs were born Nov. 23 and 24.

“African lions are vulnerable to extinction and endangered in some regions due to habitat loss, declining prey, disease and human-wildlife conflict,” the zoo said. “Welcoming these cubs is not only heartwarming — it’s a meaningful milestone in the Detroit Zoo’s commitment to conservation and the future of this iconic species.”

Amirah and her cubs will remain in their den away from the public for the time being, the zoo said. The other members of the pride, Kalu and Asha, will be free to roam in and out of their outdoor habitat during this period. The zoo said it anticipates it will be a few months before guests are able to view the cubs, when they are more mobile and able to roam larger spaces.

“We can’t wait to share more updates, photos and milestones as this joyful new chapter unfolds!” the zoo said.

The announcement comes less than a week after the zoo announced the birth of a baby giraffe.

Detectives with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office are seeking the public’s help in finding a Pontiac teen who didn’t return home from school on Nov. 21 and hasn’t been seen by his family since.then, officials said.

Jahlon Christopher Hamilton, 15, has had contact with his mother through text messages since he went missing, the sheriff’s office said, but she doesn’t know his whereabouts. He has reportedly stated that he’ll return home, but hasn’t, the sheriff’s office said. She believes he’s somewhere in Pontiac.

Jahlon is a student at  Arts and Tech Academy — his last known whereabouts. He’s 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighs 140 pounds, and has brown eyes and black hair. Anyone who may have seen Jahlon Hamilton or knows his whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 248-858-4950.

Detroiter shot dead outside Southfield hotel; second fatal shooting in Oakland County over the weekend

2 Southfield fires on Sunday leave 1 dead, several others burned out of homes