Detroit Free Press
ENGINEERS WORK WITH A-LISTERS
Ford Motor engineer Tim Smith thought little of it when his bosses asked him earlier this year to consult with some representatives from Artists Equity — the studio founded by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon — about the creation of Raptor. Smith and a team...
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Bars’ fans serve boos to City Council member
Hundreds of fiery residents and business owners raised concerns about a new Detroit City Council member’s requests for information on whether bars and restaurants along Kercheval Avenue comply with city regulations. The requests can be received only as...
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Experts put U.S.-made auto-sales’ tumble in Canada in perspective
It’s no secret that tariffs have taken a toll on the auto industry, but new data from JD Power Canada revealed exactly how auto tariffs are impacting the number of U.S.-made cars — not limited to the Detroit Three — sold in Canada, as duty-free...
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Next RenCen proposal: Big bucks and nonprofit
Businessman Dan Gilbert pledged $1 billion to create a new nonprofit to redevelop and run the Renaissance Center and east riverfront. The news comes amid an ongoing $2.2 billion effort, proposed by h Bedrock and General Motors, to tear down the two...
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After the race, couple’s ‘marriage-thon’ was on
The race itself didn’t go quite as planned for Kelly Hudson and Lucas Woodward, but you wouldn’t know it from the smiles on their faces as they crossed the finish line together at Sunday’s Detroit Free Press Marathon. After 26.2 miles h and more than...
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KEEPING IT IN STRIDE AFTER A GOOD RUN
Andy Bowman of Ferndale celebrates with his wife, Sydney Devore Bowman, after crossing the finish line to win the men’s category of the 49th annual Detroit Free Press Marathon presented by MSU Federal Credit Union on Oct. 18. About 30,000 people took...
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Will voters let districts tap into this revenue stream?
A crucial funding source that most school districts in the state have counted on for decades appears to be losing its reliability. Three school districts in Oakland County – Ferndale, Oxford and Waterford – are asking voters to approve nonhomestead...
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Two Flock factions forming in Michigan
On Tuesday morning Oct. 13, Inkster officials gathered in the City Council chambers to explain that they are all-in on Flock camera technology as part of what they call Safe City Inkster. “This program represents our ongoing commitment to modernizing...
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It may surprise you how many are unable to read
Three times a week, James Samuel sits in a room at the Harper Woods Public Library and reads aloud to a tutor. On this day, the 67-year-old made his way through passages of the Gospel of Luke, occasionally needing help. When he got stuck, his tutor...
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Black women answer call, help out Detroit food co-op
The call was answered on Saturday, Oct. 10, at Detroit People’s Food Co-op. BLK GRL Conglomerate founder Torie Anderson-Lloyd urged metro Detroiters to visit the cooperative, Black-led grocery store on the city’s north end, after it disclosed recent...
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HOPE BLOOMS IN THE DESERT
Lots of big things have gone off in the desert. The Ten Commandments. The Dead Sea Scrolls. The first nuclear explosion. On Sunday, Oct. 11, in an entirely different desert, the Detroit Lions discovered where their bottom was, then made a critical...
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167K Michiganders fell off fed food assistance
More than 167,000 Michiganders — including over 53,000 children — fell off of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since last summer, in large part, policy experts say, because of new work rules and more red tape.h In June 2025, before...
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WHERE COFFEE IS MADE AND CONFIDENCE IS BUILT
It was all for Ally Sabra. Then it became a “therapeutic place” for many. That is how 22year-old h Ally’s mom, Faten Sabra, describes The Snug Mug, a coffee shop in Garden City that has people with special needs in mind. “Ally was born with cognitive...
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AG taking aim at biggest health insurer in the state
For years, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan operated an illegal monopoly, violating state and federal antitrust and consumer protection laws to drive up health insurance premiums while limiting reimbursements to medical providers and making it more...
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PIKE’S ULTIMATE FATE IS FAR FROM CERTAIN
With the news that Christa Pike is conscious, talking and making a “medically unprecedented” recovery following her botched execution, Tennessee is now facing a critical question: Will the state try to kill her again? “Against all odds, Christa Pike...
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OCT. 7 TURNS VICTIMS’ KIN INTO CANDIDATES
TEL AVIV – One was inspired by her son’s last stand trying to fight off attackers rampaging through a kibbutz, an Israeli community. Another by her son’s final words as militants tossed grenades into a bomb shelter packed with fleeing revelers from a...
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Will fewer rules bring more headaches?
Callie Graham, 44, loves her job teaching a Head Start pre-K classroom in Reed City, a rural community in northwest Michigan. Graham’s favorite part is watching her 4-yearolds grow from bundles of anxiety, horrified their parents are leaving them, into...
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UNPLUGGED
When Jeff Garner first noticed the black poles with the solar panels mounted to them along the roads near his Milford Township home, he didn’t know what they were. “I thought maybe they were boosters for your phone or something,” he said. The...
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RECORD NUMBER OF PEOPLE HAVE LEFT ICE AMID ITS HIRING SPREE
Flush with cash to fulfill President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began a hiring spree last year that more than doubled its number of agents and officers. In the first half of this year, nearly 3,000...
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Michigan schools prep for threat management
Every K-12 school in Michigan is required to have a team in place by Oct. 1 to assess and manage students who may pose a threat of violence. The team includes a school administrator, mental health professional and law enforcement official tasked with...
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Charges in crash that created conflict
Niraj Warikoo A woman is facing a couple of misdemeanors in a car crash in Detroit that sparked some tensions between Black and Arab American residents in Wayne County after a mob allegedly threatened a woman injured in the accident. But a man of Arab...
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Victims remembered, and progress celebrated
One year ago during Sunday morning services, Bishop Jeffrey Schaub and his family were in their chapel in Grand Blanc Township when a 40-year-old man rammed his truck into the building, started shooting and set it on fire, killing four and injuring...
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Historic Blue Bird Inn is rising like a phoenix
Behind the weathered blue facade of the Blue Bird Inn, construction crews are rebuilding one of Detroit’s most storied jazz landmarks. The legendary west-side club at 5021 Tireman Ave., where generations of jazz musicians once performed and where...
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Business good for in-house hair stylist at Stellantis
Stellantis’ North American headquarters in Auburn Hills is teeming with experts: There are engineers who can extract the last drop of horsepower out of twoliter engines; designers who can draft vehicle mock-ups by hand; physicists who could calculate...
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Chief Bettison offers support to family of slain Chipotle worker
Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison stood beside the family of slain Jaquoya Wix and wondered what the woman’s last thoughts were before she was stabbed to death in the alley behind the downtown Chipotle where she worked. “Was she thinking about her...
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ACCESS’ effort turning ‘heartbreak into action’
Standing in front of a three-story, 53,000-square-foot building in Dearborn, the leader of the largest Arab American nonprofit in Michigan gestured toward the new facility, proclaiming that help was on the way for those suffering from substance abuse...
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Ranked schools are all over the map in Michigan
Several Michigan universities and colleges’ rankings dropped in the latest edition of the U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of the nation’s best four-year schools. There was a lot of movement in the 2027 rankings, U.S. News said, which it...
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‘WHY HER?’
With red, swollen eyes, Alicya Wix looked at the fire in front of her in the backyard of her St. Clair Shores home and struggled to comprehend that it was started for her sister. They’d been to so many Native American gatherings around a fire together,...
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‘Let’s take the trash out of grocery stores’
A group of independent retailers in Michigan is looking to make a major fundamental change to Michigan’s 50-year-old bottle and can, 10cent deposit redemption program: no longer returning the beverage containers to the stores where they are...
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Detroit students test out shoes for Kids Marathon
More than 800 young people from across metro Detroit and beyond will hit the pavement over the next month to run or walk most of a marathon. They’ll log 25.2 miles by Friday, Oct. 17, before running the final mile the next day and reaching the finish...
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LIONS’ LOSS TO BILLS EASY TO SEE COMING
They can’t be surprised. They had to see this coming. The way a fishing boat captain sees dark storm clouds coming. The way a desert nomad sees a swirling sandstorm coming. A road game on three days’ rest? Against one of the NFL’s best teams, certainly...
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Wings’ Horcoff wants to look forward, not back
Shawn Horcoff didn’t shed much light on the biggest story surrounding the Detroit Red Wings, but he was more open on other topics. Horcoff, 47, has been handling daily duties since h the Wings made a change in the role in mid-July, removing Steve...
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ROOM FOR 1 (BUYER): LIONS DEN FOR SALE
Dan Foster’s basement would be a paradise for any Detroit Lions fan. h The staircase, walls and furniture are decked floor-to-ceiling in Honolulu Blue and silver, almost as if the floor is wearing a home uniform. The walls are covered in signed...
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El-Sayed rips Trump over ‘slap in the face’
LANSING — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul ElSayed on Sept. 15 denounced as “a huge capitulation” President Donald Trump’s statement that he would be OK with China building automobiles in the U.S. “If I’m the Big Three right now, I’m pissed off...
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WINNING WAS EVERYTHING
The quarterback took the snap, checked off his options, felt the pressure, and lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone, a ball in the air to win it, a ball in the air to gut the Detroit Lions’ season opener, a ball in the air to send 65,000 Ford...
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Seriously ill ICE detainees released while in hospitals
Jose Chajon-Raxon’s casket was carried on the back of a pickup truck through his hometown of San Juan Sacatepéquez, Guatemala. An American flag covered the casket – a symbol of the country where the 39-year-old immigrant had sought a future, and where...
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Ford plans to invest $1B in factory in Louisville
Ford Motor Co. is investing $1 billion in one of its most important factories that assembles the biggest profit makers at the company. Ford said on Sept. 10 that the money will go to Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Kentucky, to build a...
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Michiganders memorialize 9/11 a quarter-century later
On 9/11, Americans will gather to fulfill a promise that they made to the nearly 3,000 people who died that day: Never forget. In Michigan, that means groups are planning to hold remembrances on Friday, Sept. 11, in places as varied as the War...
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Whitmer continues push against Straits pipeline, proposals
Calling Enbridge’s continued operation of 73-year-old oil and gas pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac a “ticking time bomb,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has renewed her appeal to the Canadian oil transport giant to cease operation of its Line 5 in the...
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Some put politics aside for less pain at the pump
President Trump didn’t win the Detroit vote during the 2024 election, but he’s sure scoring points at the corner of Harper and Cadieux, where a Trump-promoted gas station is selling fuel for 50 cents a gallon cheaper than the guys across the...
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When the COVID-19 pandemic forced in-person classroom instruction to go virtual, students suddenly needed to have their own laptops or tablets in order to interact with teachers and complete assignments. Most states used federal pandemic funding to...
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Some skewer Birmingham’s new sign as out of place
Birmingham – a tony, Oakland County suburb that boasts of upscale boutiques and a “walkable downtown” – is one of the latest metro Detroit municipalities to put up expensive signs to create so-called gateways. Yet many people are starting to wonder if...
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Across region and state, road to recovery begins
Repeated bouts of severe weather that hammered southern Michigan for days showed signs of beginning to ease Friday afternoon, Sept. 4. But the storms’ aftermath, and the ordeal they caused for hundreds of thousands of residents, was far from over. DTE...
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Welcome aboard: 1910 Boblo boat is now open for tours
More than 100 years ago, the SS Ste. Claire began taking passengers from Detroit to the Boblo Island amusement park. Now, it’s offering to take passengers on a trip through time. Starting Thursday, Sept. h 3, members of the public are able to board...
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U.S. pounds Iran, Tehran hits bases
WASHINGTON – Iranians and their Arab neighbors feared a return of war on Sept. 2 after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July, with U.S. forces striking Iran’s southern coast and Iran firing at American bases across the...
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‘In my view, this is the best job in the country’
The University of Michigan Board of Regents made it official, voting to name C. Cybele Raver, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Vanderbilt University, as the school’s 17th president. At a special meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 1, in...
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Parton corn maze: Tribute becomes Michigan memorial
GRAND RAPIDS — Only in America, where royalty is determined not by birth but hard work and luck, can a corn field become a memorial fit for a queen. Here, 61⁄2 acres cut into a maze form the contours of Dolly Parton’s face. People from all over West...
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Lansing area woman, 81, is oldest to thru-hike Appalachian Trail
CARSON CITY – Betty Kellenberger doesn’t remember the name of the novel that, in one sentence, summed up everything she is. It wasn’t a very good book, she said. In fact, “it was just an awful thing, just a random book that I picked up,” Kellenberger...
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HER ARTISTIC VISION BRINGS IN VISITORS
Kyle Bowles always dreamed of being an artist. At 23, her quirky, vibrant and viral art and personality fill family restaurants and have brought a bustling backyard shopping mall made of sheds to fruition in her Michigan Thumb town, where fewer than...
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Glacier collapse may have triggered flood
The volume and speed of the wall of mud, boulders and debris that rushed more than 60 miles down a river through Nepal on Aug. 26 shocked even experienced researchers who study mountains, glaciers and waterways in the Himalayas. “The force of this...
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PARTS AND PARCELS NOW SENT BY DRONE
At a car dealership across Michigan Avenue from a massive Ford automotive plant, a small box was placed inside a compartment on the top side of a drone sitting still in a parking lot. Moments later, a man standing nearby told the h crowd, “We’re good...
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Labor Day getaways are ranked, and MI does well
If you are going away for the upcoming Labor Day weekend, expect the trip to be more expensive − with more traffic than last year, with AAA Auto Club finding that the cost of fuel, plane tickets and hotel rooms has all increased. Gasoline prices may...
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Across the region, students have returned to classroom
Jasmine Ng had mixed feelings about starting her junior year Monday morning at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills. She was excited to arrive with all her siblings — her little sister, who’s at Stoney Creek, too, and her little brother, who’s...
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Backlash roils against Blue Cross policy move
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is changing how it covers mental and behavioral health services, saying that as of March 1, it will no longer cover counselors, therapists and social workers with limited or provisional licenses as well as temporary...
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Butterfly species pulled back from brink of extinction
The Poweshiek skipperling, a small prairie butterfly, was once so abundant across the Midwest and Plains, scientists doing nature inventories didn’t bother to count them, said Tamara Smith, a biologist with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “It was just...
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JD Power awards Cadillac top prize for in-vehicle tech
Cadillac secured top honors in owner satisfaction with in-vehicle technology, usurping five-time winner Genesis, in JD Power’s 2026 U.S. Tech Experience Index Study, released Aug. 20. h The index is based on a survey of new 2026 model year vehicle...
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Detroiters speak out on RenCen proposal
JC Reindl General Motors’ and Bedrock’s plan for redeveloping Detroit’s Renaissance Center and upgrading the nearby riverfront received substantial critiquing and criticism on Aug. 18 during the first major public meeting on the $1.6 billion-plus...
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A riverfront Ferris wheel? RenCen plan taking shape
The $1.6 billion-plus plan for redeveloping Detroit’s increasingly desolate Renaissance Center and then building a unique amenity-packed riverfront park next to it is making an official public debut this week. General Motors and Dan Gilbert’s real...
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Hungarian teen grateful after surgery in Michigan
Aliz Cservenak can breathe through her nose, an act most of us don’t even notice and probably take for granted. The 13-year-old will enter sixth grade in September in her native Hungary, where she has friends and where she likes to go shopping and to...
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Gunman ID’d in Up North killing spree
A critically wounded 13-year-old girl, shot multiple times by a Lake City man on a shooting spree in northern Michigan that left three other family members dead in the girl’s home, was able to call 911, alert authorities and identify the shooter as...
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Dream Cruising with a stunner
It’s not easy for a 2025-model vehicle to turn heads on a weekend when Woodward Avenue is packed with classic cars, collectibles and one-off passion projects, but the 810-horsepower, $107,215 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 3 I drove Aug. 13 did just that. The...
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U.S. SKYWATCHERS GET PARTIAL VIEW OF ECLIPSE
A rare celestial spectacle played out across the Northern Hemisphere on Aug. 12 as the moon passed directly between the Earth and sun, casting a total solar eclipse across parts of Europe. While the eclipse’s path of totality stayed overseas, millions...
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Woodward Dream Cruise revved, ready
It’s Dream Cruise week, the summer week when our neighbors and people from across the country and around the world gather along 16-odd miles of Woodward Avenue to celebrate the art, science and industry that have defined Detroit and Michigan for more...
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Military bases delay toxic PFAS cleanup
It’s been almost five years since Brandi and Brad Hyatt found out the well at their home next to an Army base in Washington is contaminated with “forever chemicals.” They started using bottled water for everything h from making coffee to rinsing off...
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TRUMP’S TARIFFS
In March 2025, the top executives at Detroit’s automakers scrambled to get ahead of what they feared would cripple their companies: President Donald Trump’s much talked-about tariffs. As the Detroit h Free Press reported, the companies’ CEOs and...
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‘DO A BURNOUT. IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!’
Pontiac may be the best place to spend your birthday. That is, if you’re a 9year-old who loves muscle cars — or if you’re turning any age, really — and you agree with the sentiment. The ultimate celebration for the birthday kid, Jamel Grant Jr., was to...
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GIBBS BACK IN HUDDLE AGAIN
Mere minutes after Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing proclaimed Jahmyr Gibbs’ value as an engaged teammate during his eight-day “hold-in” over a contract extension, the star running back took it a step further when he slipped on his...
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Ford’s new truck’s name: Fathom
Jamie L. LaReau Ford Motor Co.’s engineers spent nine months considering hundreds of names for the first allelectric midsize pickup to be built on Ford’s new Universal Electric Vehicle platform using the company’s new assembly tree manufacturing...
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El-Sayed beats Stevens for Dems’ nomination
Eking out a narrow but significant win for U.S. progressives and making a national name for himself, former health director Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination to Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and her centrist...
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National spotlight on Michigan Senate seat
The race to fill an open Michigan seat in the U.S. Senate was attracting national attention and tens of millions of dollars in advertising spending as Michigan voters cast ballots Aug. 4 in a primary election marked by strong early voting...
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NEW TIRES NEW STORE
Detroit’s New Center area is getting a new storefront that will offer vehicle service as well as be a hangout for car enthusiasts. Goodyear Tire is opening its first “retail concept store” in Detroit, to be located at 3075 E. Grand Blvd., down the...
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HORSES TO HOUSES
Cranes and construction crews dominate the landscape where Northville Downs racetrack once stood. But amid the dust and the noise, residents are moving into new homes in the massive redevelopment taking shape, just steps from downtown Northville. The...
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High-profile dome nears completion
ABOVE: A new and high-profile video dome in downtown Detroit is ready to open in September. Cosm Detroit, an immersive entertainment venue for watching live sports and movies, announced that it will have its public grand opening on Sept. 10, showing...
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GOP lawmakers seize on Fauci diary
Republican lawmakers have seized upon Dr. Anthony Fauci’s personal diary in making renewed attacks against the immunologist who became the public face of the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic – most recently, upbraiding him at a July 29 Senate...
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‘AFFORDABLE’ WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Jessica Caldwell talks to lots of journalists. It’s part of her role as head of insights at car-shopping research site Edmunds.com, answering questions about a range of automotive topics. But if there’s one issue that comes up more than others,...
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BORDER BASH
Seeing a highway sign that “all border crossings” were open as I drove toward downtown Detroit signaled that Monday, July 27, was a day of note. Sometimes you get used to the status quo, and in metro Detroit, the status quo had been all border...
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