Hey!! I did it.

I bought a house in Detroit. And it wouldn’t have happened without your support of Detroit one million.

The trust you have in my reporting is something I don’t take for granted. From the bottom of my heart, I’ve appreciated you putting your hard earned money toward my community news project.

Many days and nights I’ve wondered how I would ever save the money to put a down payment on a house. These days, young people are burdened with monthly living expenses far exceeding 30% of their monthly income. Combined with stagnant wages, we aren’t making enough to save unless you live with roommates or parents.

I’m glad I was able to opt into the former a year and a half ago as opposed to the latter.

Though, I do appreciate my parents for always offering a place to go. Sometimes it feels like I can’t go back to Midland. I was faced with doing so in 2020, as I graduated college at the start of a global pandemic and didn’t have an apartment starting an internship at MLive at the same time.

Zoë Jackson, a reporter at Minneapolis Star Tribune, offered me her old Kalamazoo apartment. A month later, my friend Brady Pigot offered me his bed. After that, I was forced to pack my belongings in a storage unit and sleep at the Wesley United Methodist Church on WMU’s campus until late August.

Staying in one place has always been challenging.

In 2024, the developer who purchased the late Joel Landy’s portfolio told me he couldn’t prevent the property management company he first retained to operate his new acquisition from kicking me out. It felt like retribution after I began reporting on the future of the historic Cass Corridor properties.

Good thing — I couldn’t afford to stay. Rates increased after new ownership took over.

Living with a roommate began in August of 2024, the same week I was laid off by Axios. I began saving every penny I could around then.

I can’t help but laugh that it wasn’t the half a billion dollar company I once worked for that made purchasing my first home possible. It was hundreds of individuals seeking a more honest source on what’s happening in the city and across Michigan.

It was you.

I want to thank you for continuing to support my work at Michigan Chronicle, which celebrates its 90th anniversary as Michigan’s longest continuously operating Black newspaper. I’m honored to have a byline there and see my name in a print news product again.

Readers know they can find copies of the Michigan Chronicle on news stands everywhere across the city, even in the most forgotten neighborhoods. It only felt right to move to one myself.

I’m the newest resident of Yorkshire Woods, a far Eastside community near Outer Drive-Hayes north of Morningside and East English Village. Mose Primus, the president of the community organization, tells me his neighborhood has its struggles but is coming up. We met at a city meeting last month part of the Denby/Whittier framework plan at the Heilmann Recreation Center. He says the area was mostly an afterthought until recently.

While I’ve appreciated the congratulatory reactions from whom I’ve already shared my news of first time homeownership, I can’t help but share the most thought provoking response I received so far from a man named Trey.

Trey is a Detroit police officer who told me he works out of the 9th Precinct.

Driving around my new neighborhood days before moving in, I met Trey after rolling my car window down to talk to him and his female partner inside of a white DPD squad car parked outside of someone’s garage on the corner of the street.

Trey was friendly and seemed eager to have a conversation.

“I just bought a house here, are you assigned to patrol this neighborhood?” I asked.

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A year after launching Detroit one million, I’m grateful to the people who have encouraged me and the readers who have felt compelled to subscribe.

To the paying subscribers, there aren’t many words I could put here that properly describe how much I am grateful for your support. It’s supported truly independent local journalism in a time when newspapers are closing at an emergency-level rate.

I’ve hoped to fill a void left by the diminished resources of the daily newspapers, which are leaving communities without reporters asking questions on their behalf and holding local leaders accountable.

I hope you allow me to continue doing that here and continue supporting my journalism at Michigan Chronicle far into the new year and many years beyond.

It’s been a year since I published the first scoop to this website revealing Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield attended a Trump themed holiday party.

Since then, we’ve brought you stories on Detroit City Council, the state Legislature and what’s happening within your community.

Your continued support has helped my life tremendously. I owe every one of you a huge thank you. The career in journalism I have worked so hard to build for myself has continued thanks to your encouragement. It’s a surreal experience every time one of you stops me at Planet Fitness, Marcus Market or somewhere in Midtown to express your appreciation for my writing.

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What’s up faithful subscriber gang, this holiday I wanted to extend a deep thank you fro the bottom of my heart for supporting Detroit one million.

Your financial support this year allowed me to pay my DTE bill, repairs to my 15 year old Honda Civic, the chicken parmesan from Rocco’s, the hot bar at Detroit People’s Food Co-Op and plenty of chai tea latte’s from Babo.

I’m spending this holiday on Ferry Street listening to Vince Guaraldi Trio’s ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas.’

The Fred Hill Drill Team made their return to the Thanksgiving Parade just as I was walking by the frigid scene yesterday across from Whole Foods.

The group of Detroit Athletic Club members apparently trained for months to do this.

Read more about them from Natalie Davies in the Detroit Free Press.

I’m disappointed to have missed The Big Heads, whose appearance in a visually compelling New York Times story this week was a hit among the people I follow on Instagram.

Read: Detroit Has Its Own Thanksgiving Parade. The City Gets Bigheaded About It.

Photographer Nic Antaya, who has worked with the NYT, among other national publications, tells me the paper is going all in on pushing the production of short video, like the made for social media clips of the Detroit parade characters.

Three second clips posted to Instagram show people inside the Papier-mâché heads of Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Miguel Cabrera, singing, dancing and swinging for the fences.

Listening to Navy Blue and YT

I had been so invested in the Detroit municipal election that I forgot to listen to new music.

Glad to report I discovered UK rapper YT after my friend and artist Mykel Andre put me on last week.

We were having a conversation about which Skepta songs we know all the words to (“Shutdown” and “It Ain’t Safe”) when Mykel told me that UK drill rappers are making Milwaukee hood jerk music now.

I clicked the Lancey Foux-assisted “Black & Tan” music video that incorporates Y2k special effects and 3-D graphics that look like SkullCandy earbuds commercials from the 2000s.

The “Oi” sound effect, also the name of his album, is littered throughout the project, as is audio of women telling YT which songs to play and why they like them.

“Can you play the, ‘Like a baddie I just pulled up Louis purse?’” a woman asks before YT’s autotuned voice belts out the words in the same cadence.

YT continues the tradition at the start of one of his most recent singles, “All Da Same.”

Across the pond, Navy Blue’s ‘The Sword and The Soaring’ builds on a world constructed for the past five years by Sage Elsesser’s hardships he channels through poetic lines.

On The Soaring, a range of producers lent themselves to piano-led instrumentals sometimes without drums or a hook.

At times, Elsesser’s lyrics tow from profound to vapid, such as, “Looking high and low when I was high and low,” on “Illusions” — a line that made me laugh when I first heard it.

Elsesser is hard to read.

Performing at El Club earlier this year over Memorial Day weekend, Elsesser stopped the show more than twice to scold somebody’s drunk uncle who he pleaded to stop yelling during his verses.

It did not appear he was enjoying his set until toward the end, when he invited two fans who knew the lyrics to every song on stage. Despite the belligerent audience member (who was waiting to see Boldy James perform later that night) Elsesser stayed and met with fans after his performance.

It’s one of the reasons he’s one of my favorite artists over the past few years.

Spongebob-Adidas release brings joy to my 12-year-old self

Remember when we were like 14 and every single sneaker release meant something?

Adidas is making me feel like a kid again with this special edition capsule ahead of the new Spongebob movie in theaters Dec. 19.

The shiny leather Stan Smith is supposed to be Spongebob’s actual shoes, while the Patrick Star Superstars come with a pink canvass midsole and laces that resemble his floral shorts.

The packaging for both models comes with driver’s licenses; Spongebob’s license says “rejected,” of course. The boxes are made to look like Patrick’s rock and a pineapple under the sea.

One of these pairs, or something on the Carhartt WIP Black Friday sale would make a great Christmas gift for your loved one.

Mamdani MI Michigan

Michigan doesn’t have a Zohran Mamdani, but is does have a bunch of candidates for governor and U.S. Senate now centering affordability in their campaign pitch.

I noticed another Mamdani-inspired campaign tactic being deployed last week: snappy, color graded vertical video made for social media clips.

Here’s one from Mike Duggan’s campaign for governor.

Duggan and Mamdani aren’t similar politically, but what is interesting about the gubernatorial candidate’s last two videos is he is using the “take what works” approach, no matter where it’s from. Duggan, an independent after leaving as a moderate upset with the left of the party last year, believes that approach has been successful in Detroit.

However, the most interesting revelation of me pointing out Duggan is making Mamdani-style campaign videos was the interjection from the pro-Cuomo CityDeskNYC bot. The automated account defended (at times, embarrassingly) former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo throughout his campaign which was defeated by nearly nine percentage points on Election Day.

“Duggan actually delivered jobs and stability— something Mamdani’s never even pretended to care about. While Detroit rebuilt, Mamdani turned NYC into a DSA daycare; rent freezes collapsing housing stock, NYCHA rotting under actvist councils, and cops demoralized by defund rhetoric. Duggan’s record? Real leadership. Mamandi’s? A TikTok revolution that leaves taxpayers holding the bill. Detroit’s population grew under competence. NYC’s bleeding out under slogans,” the automated bot replied to my post.

(Mamdani is not yet the mayor of New York.)

Did the pro-Duggan rhetoric come built into the bot? Because if not, it appears Duggan and Cuomo have similar forces working on their behalf.

The Detroit mayor appeared in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett beside JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon the day after Election Day.

“There was a lot of young people very energized, clearly dissatisfied people want change,” Duggan said. “And now you have a new mayor who has a chance to deliver change. I think he ought to be judged on what he does.”

Dimon poured cold water on Mamdani’s vision, saying, “at some point the Army’s got to execute. And, you know, competent execution of rational policy works. We can all have the same vision: lift up society, make the schools better, but then you better execute. I’ve seen a lot of people, when it comes to the execution part they fall down so flat it doesn’t matter where their heart is.”

Dimon didn’t answer Burnett when she asked whether he could see himself sitting next to Mamdani in an interview like he was sitting beside Duggan.

JPMorgan Chase invested heavily in Detroit’s low income housing and job training programs.

Is a Detroit developer being honest about his relationship with Jeffery Epstein?

A website that came across my timeline created by web developers Riley Walz and Luke Igel cloned Gmail to show you logged in as Jeffery Epstein.

It’s called Jmail.world.

It took a while to load at first. But when I did, I entered “Kafka.”

The results reveal the Core City developer and his dad’s emails with Epstein uncovered by the House Oversight Committee which released the documents released last week.

The latest batch of emails show Philip Kafka telling Epstein in 2016 how he “convinced a lesbian woman, older, to consider Trump.”

The emails contradict Kafka’s claims to BridgeDetroit, in which he downplayed the relationship between himself and the pedophile at the center of one of the world’s biggest news stories.

“My father was one of, it now seems, hundreds of people who were asked to write something on his behalf. I met Epstein once and only once, when I was fifteen for about thirty minutes, asked him some questions about his career, and never talked to him again. That half-hour is the entirety of the story,” Kafka said in the statement.

The letter Kafka’s father wrote Epstein was filled with sexually vulgar accounts of Epstein’s parents conceiving the financier.

The most recent emails released by House Democrats show Kafka sent an email jokingly advocating the convicted sex offender to run for president.

“Epstein 2016!” Kafka said, replying to an email from his dad criticizing Hillary Clinton.

“I don’t know words strong enough to encapsulate how thoroughly unconscionable I find Epstein to have been. His abuse and exploitation of young women; his disgusting lifestyle and utter lack of respect for people – he got exactly what he deserved.”

Terry Kafka, who I’m told is a frequent guest of the restaurants at the development, defended Epstein in a character statement when he faced allegations of abusing underage girls in 2007, claiming, among other things, that Epstein also spent “a good amount of time” with Philip Kafka when Philip was 19 years old.

Epstein avoided federal charges in exchange for registering as a registered sex-offender.

Kafka said that the half an hour is the entirety of his story, but the emails from nine years ago suggest otherwise.

Terry Kafka, who appeared in his underwear with Epstein in a photo that surfaced earlier this year, told an advertising publication in November 2016 that his plan after selling his Texas advertising company was to transition into small real estate projects.

His son’s development in Core City is framed by non-local media of reshaping the surrounding intersection of Grand River and Warren. Since 2016, Philip Kafka has acquired 25 acres and 70,000 square feet of previously abandoned buildings.

Critics say Kafka’s presence isn’t affecting the people living there. The average income in Core City is $22,963, according to census data.

In response to criticism over the price of his menu-items, Kafka last year reduced some prices. Kafka justifies charging $1.80 for one carrot (you can get a 1 lb bag of them for less at most grocery stores) by giving out “a lot” of free ones.

“There’s never been anything about it to attract me,” long-time resident Willie Campbell told BridgeDetroit’s Jena Brooker last year. Campbell is a 70-year resident and the executive director of the nonprofit Core City Neighborhoods.

“It seems outrageous that [Cafe Prince] would charge so much,” he said.

Niether Philip Kafka or his dad replied to requests for comment.

A trip to Chicago was the inspiration behind Nneka Ezeanya’s 313 Spelling Bee.

Hundreds of Detroiters attended her first two spelling bees this summer, with a third Halloween-themed contest happening Friday evening at Olympia Skateshop’s new store in Milwaukee Junction.

The spelling bee I had the pleasure of attending near Boston Edison last month was packed with passionate readers and writers thanks to a viral TikTok posted by her sister, Chinelo Ezeanya. The bookworms, wordsmiths and poets I met said they were motivated to come after seeing the flyer on social media.

“The family is involved and very helpful,” Ezeanya told me Thursday. “I got my younger sister who is a social media head to make videos — that’s our collaboration. She has a great vision and she executes it well.”

The idea was created earlier this year when Ezeanya saw a flyer for an adult spelling bee while walking around Chicago, and imagined hosting her own in Detroit.

“My friend was like, ‘No that’s lame,’” she said.

Ezeanya did it anyway.

“I want to thank the first group that came out because they pushed me to have another event” Ezeanya said, adding that the demand for more is the only reason she planned another.

At the second spelling bee under the gazebo at Gordon Park across from the Congregation, spellers asked for repeats, for a word’s definition or to hear it in a sentence, just like spelling competitions you’ve watched on television.

People in attendance, sitting in lawn chairs and blankets in the grass, cheered on their friends who advanced until the final three spellers. Some laughed at their own failed attempts to spell along with contestants.

The promotion video for the event received more than 27 thousand likes on TikTok.

“My sister made a post on TikTok and said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to blow up.’ I opened the app and there’s thousands of likes and comments — we got 180 RSVPs on Partiful.”

The viral clip caught the attention of Partiful staff, who came to the September spelling bee to offer gifts and prizes for participants.

Michael Hirsch’s recap of the gathering has more than 10 thousand likes, with a comment section filled with praise for community, heart emojis and one person saying the video nearly made them cry. Attendees I talked to were mostly language lovers, but some spectators told me they just wanted to be part of something wholesome and fun.

The successful spelling of prestidigitation by Bill “Dollar Dollar,” the winner of the September contest, drew a similar reaction online as it did in person. (Watch below)

Ezeanya, a public health official with the state, says she has always had a love for words.

"I’m Nigerian — stereotypically, my parents were really big into academia and I fed into it as a kid,” Ezeanya said. “My dad is a fan of the literary arts, he walks around with books wrapped up in rubber bands to keep bookmarks from falling out so he doesn’t lose his place. He’s always been writing in them. He has a nice collection of books and he annotates them with sticky notes.”

Ezeanya says her mom, who sat front row for the Gordon Park event, is big into writing as well.

On Saturdays Ezeanya works with a national nonprofit, MindsMatter, where she helps assist Detroit students seeking higher education.

“We meet and help kids with their school application process; looking at transcripts, writing recommendation letters, helping them secure scholarships,” she said. “It’s nice, I really enjoy it and it’s why I keep going back.”

The third installment of the 313 Spelling Bee — the Spelling Bee for Adults: Spooky Edition — is 7pm at Olympia Skateshop (626 Harper Ave. Suite F) Friday, Oct. 24.

There are over 120 RSVPs on Partiful, with 30 spellers set to compete. Halloween costumes are encouraged.

A brand ambassador with Partiful, the invitation app, reached out again with plans to supply a special grand prize for the winner, Ezeanya said.

She says to watch out for more events. Eventually the goal is to partner with a bookstore or even the Detroit Public Library for one of the spelling bees.

“That was my safe haven growing up,” she said.

“I’m very grateful for the amount of love we’ve gotten in such a sort amount of time,” Ezeanya told me. “It warms my heart people want to come together to enjoy the joys of spelling. That people are coming together socially and professionally — it’s surreal.”

Howdy, folks. Hope you’ve been well since the last time I’ve written directly to you like this — I know it’s been a minute.

Shoutout to Tobias Harris, who was seated sipping on an iced cortado with oat milk, when I walked into Babo. He’s really proud of his down payment assistance program he created in partnership with the Michigan Housing State Housing Authority.

Harris, whose brother played at Eastern Michigan, was aware of local political figures and the talk surrounding them. He said instead of waiting for politicians, he decided to launch the Tobias Harris Homeownership Initiative to make homeownership more accessible to Detroiters.

Thanks for the Twitter follow, Tobias!

I owe another big thanks for such a huge response to my exclusive reporting that revealed Philip Kafa, a developer and landlord in Detroit’s Core City neighborhood, spent time with sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein as a teenager.

Documents released by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform included an overtly sexual letter from Kafka’s father, Terry Kafka, in Epstein’s 50th birthday book.

The letter from 2003 recounts how Philip viewed Epstein as a role model.

Kafka sent a statement to BridgeDetroit that contradict the letters his dad sent a West Palm Beach court in 2007 defending Epstein, the notorious pedophile and longtime friend of his father.

Kafka said in a statement to BridgeDetroit that his father and Epstein were childhood friends, only talking a “handful of times” after high school.

“My father was one of, it now seems, hundreds of people who were asked to write something on his behalf. I met Epstein once and only once, when I was fifteen for about thirty minutes, asked him some questions about his career, and never talked to him again. That half-hour is the entirety of the story,” Kafka said in the statement.

Terry Kafka told a Dallas ABC affiliate the entry in Epstein’s book was written at Ghislaine Maxwell’s request and is “out of character” for him.

“I don’t know words strong enough to encapsulate how thoroughly unconscionable I find Epstein to have been. His abuse and exploitation of young women; his disgusting lifestyle and utter lack of respect for people – he got exactly what he deserved.”

But Terry told a court in 2007 that Epstein had spent a good amount of one-on-one time with Philip when he was 19-year-old and struggling in school.

At the time, Kafka was defending Epstein, his childhood freind from federal charges. He avoided the charges by pleading guilty to soliciting minors for prostitution in a non-prosecution deal by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Kafka’s dad, who I’m told is a visitor to the restaurants within the development his son owns, even took a picture with Epstein and other friends in his underwear.

Kafka is behind the Core City lot that includes Periodicals, PUMA, BARDA, Olu & Company, Lady of the House and Cafe Prince, which Kafka owns.

He deleted his Twitter account shortly after my story was published, and removed the ability to comment on his Instagram account after several accounts left messages alluding to my story.

None of the restaurants which pay Kafka rent each month cared to comment for my story, though whoever operates BARDA’s Instagram account responded to one commenters: “We are concerned about how this might affect our employees and their families, none of whom have any connection to this situation. We strongly condemn the criminal behavior of Jeffery Epstein and anyone involved in those actions.”

Here’s what else is going on:

State lawmakers increase pot tax for roads in budget deal

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the leaders of both legislative chambers say they have come to a tentative agreement on how to fund the state of Michigan through next year.

Lawmakers in Lansing say they’ve prevented a state shutdown that would have had implications affecting Detroit (like staffing at Belle Isle)

House Speaker Matt Hall on Thursday said changes to corporate income tax revenues and sales tax on gas, plus an increase to the state marijuana tax (which will be set at 24%) will create $1.5-1.8 billion per year in additional road funding.

It’s half of the $3 billion Hall initially proposed.

Read more from Paul Egan: Michigan budget deal expected to dedicate more than $1.5B extra to road and bridge repairs

The marijuana tax, which adds a 10% excise tax and a 6% sales tax, increase targets the wholesale price of weed sold to retail stores.

The House Fiscal Agency estimates the increase will generate about $420 million per year directed into a “Neighborhood Road Fund” to repair roads and bridges.

Politicos and electeds in Lansing were expecting a government shutdown as leaders of the House and Senate appeared not to be making any progress toward an agreement on how to fund the state in the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

Had Republican and Democratic leaders not reached a deal, all government functions would have come to a halt. School administrators have been forced to start the school year without state resources.

Details of the deal have yet to be announced, but Hall is declaring victory in meeting Republican calls to draw back spending. Hall said Thursday this year’s budget would likely be smaller than the current fiscal year’s allocations for public K-12 schools.

Rage baiters target Dearborn after mayor tells protestor, ‘You’re not welcome here’

In Dearborn, Mayor Abdullah Hammoud angered racists online when he defended Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani from a well-known anti-Arab agitator upset the city is naming a street sign in his honor.

“You’re an Islamophobe. And although you live here, I want you to know as mayor you are not welcome here," Hammoud told Ted Barham from his seat at council on Sept. 9. “The day you move out of the city will be the day I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city.”

The owners of highly followed social media accounts like LibsofTikTok, Laura Loomer and Matt Walsh, who suggest America’s founding father’s would have opposed Muslim elected officials, made Hammoud’s comments viral.

“Is this America?” Walsh asked his 3.9 million followers. “If the entire country resembles Dearborn in 50 years, in what sense will America still exist?”

In another post, Walsh says, “Dearborn is building an Islamic capital right in the middle of American heartland. And nobody is doing anything to stop it.”

Hammoud explained why he met Barham’s public comment with such passion during a city meeting this week.

“We put into practice the ideal that people of all backgrounds, of all faiths, and of all beliefs can live peacefully and respectfully as neighbors, as classmates, as business owners, and as congregants,” Hammoud said. “That is why we have long been mislabeled and targeted, long before the sensationalized headlines of this past week. For decades, people have been intent on dividing and disparaging our city.”

You won’t regret dining in at Detroit Pho and Crab

I recently became aware of this Vietnamese restaurant in Warren, Detroit Pho & Crab, which specializes in exactly what its name suggests.

The family owned spot has you covered whether you’re in the mood for a huge bowl of Pho, popular Chinese American dishes like Orange and General Tso’s Chicken, or a bag of steamed seafood (pictured above and below).

You can build your own crab boil but there are a number of $30 specials that I can’t find on their online menu. You can view those menus here.

The restaurant even lets you put seafood, like a lobster tail, into its bowls of Pho.

The best part of sitting at the restaurant Sunday night was watching families laugh and clank their beer mugs in toast. Staff combined tables to accommodate the Vietnamese family sitting next to me, where two men at the end of the table argued over who would pay the bill in their second language.

You can always order takeout, but it’s those human moments that make a meal worth writing about.

Editor’s note: Some of the language in this article is offensive.

Detroit developer Philip Kafka spent a good amount of one-on-one time with sexual trafficker Jeffery Epstein when he was 19, according to a letter penned by Kafka’s father, who was a childhood friend of the disgraced pedophile.

Terry Kafka, who is also referred to as “Johnny Boy” Kafka, of Dallas, TX, appears on one of the first pages of Epstein’s “birthday book.”

The documents inside Epstein’s 50th birthday book were released under House Oversight subpoena this week.

An internet search reveals a documented relationship between Kafka and Epstein.

“From the time we were junior high school students, when it seemed I was always in need of math and science tutoring until today, when I frequently call upon him for business advice, Jeffery has always dropped what he was doing to listen and help,” Terry Kafka wrote in a a document prepared by Epstein’s defense from the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office.

Kafka wrote that Epstein had spent “a good amount of one-on-one time with my 19 year old son Philip to help him sort out academic problems he was having.”

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The kind of Democrat that votes in Detroit, an overwhelmingly Democratic city, aren’t usually the Democratic Socialist type.

Sure, socialists have been elected in Detroit’s past (see Ken Cockrel, Shiela Murphy and Justin Ravitz in the 70s and 80s), but ask Black power brokers what they think of Zohran Mamdani or Rashida Tlaib — you’re likely to get an answer that sounds like it’s coming from Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams.

True Blue Democrats dominate here — though Republicans did gain 19,667 voters in the city of Detroit during the last election — and for good reason.

Black Democrats from Detroit fought hard for leadership positions in Congress and recognition by the Democratic establishment that they have since earned.

I overheard U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, telling Black voters she shook hands with at the state convention back in February they’re the “backbone” of the Democratic Party. Stevens, viewed as Michigan’s moderate U.S. Senate candidate, on Monday earned the support of Michigan’s first Black House Speaker, Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit.

Tate is a moderate, who wasn’t able to bring together the progressive and conservative wing of his caucus on legislation that required a Democratic majority in the final days of session. He told me in May was running for U.S. Senate, despite an already crowded field, to ensure Detroiters voices were heard during the election cycle.

He dropped his bid 89 days after announcing.

From ‘ugly words’ to effective tool

It makes sense that Black voters in Detroit are loyal to the party’s establishment.

Since the historical shift of the African American voting bloc from the Republican to the Democratic Party, which historians say began in the 1930s and cemented after the Civil Rights movement, Black voters gained tremendous influence within the party.

It was after all, Black Democrat Rep. Jim Clyburn’s vote of confidence that pushed former President Joe Biden past Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic primary election in South Carolina and subsequent primaries across the country.

In November, Detroiters will elect a new Democratic mayor; A megachurch pastor or a much younger city council president whose dad is also a pastor — and so is she.

And in two council districts (D6, D7), Black and Hispanic voters will decide what kind of Democrat they want to represent them.

Their options? Two Democratic Socialists in their mid-30s, or two corporate-backed state legislators in their late-50s and early-60s.

The two leftists are Denzel McCampbell of District 7, and incumbent council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero of District 6. The two state legislators are Reps. Tyrone Carter and Karen Whitsett.

“Democratic Socialist or Progressive had become ugly words in the Democratic Party,” Santiago-Romero told me after Mamdani’s primary victory in June.

Santiago-Romero was elected in 2021, promising to be a progressive champion and representative of Southwest Detroit’s majority Spanish-speaking community. She told me in an interview that DSA leaders are encouraging candidate members to be proud of the values that come with the title of Democratic Socialist.

Perhaps its easier to hold the title as Democratic Party popularity hit record lows.

The most recent election suggests it is losing key parts of its base. Republicans saw huge gains among young people, Black and Latino Americans in the last presidential election.

The Democratic establishment received another blow earlier this year in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist back-bencher assemblyman, defeated Andrew Cuomo, a former governor.

The day after Mamdani’s primary win, McCampbell, a former city charter commissioner and communications director for Tlaib, told me Mamdani succeeded because he focused on delivering direct needs.

A changing city

“What we saw in New York City is a campaign talked about housing, transportation and just making things affordable for folks to live, that’s what my city council campaign has been about and it’s been receptive,” McCampbell said.

Two months later, McCampbell pulled off the surprise of Detroit’s municipal primary, defeating State Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, a lawmaker with deep roots in District 7, where she currently represents in the state House.

He took 34% of the vote to Whitsett’s 33%. McCampbell also finished nine percentage points above District 7 candidate Regina Ross, who lost to outgoing council member Fred Durhal III by dozens of votes in 2021.

Cara Tobe, a national organizer with Democratic Socialists of America, told me Democratic Socialists powered McCampbell’s win.

“We ran their field and phone banking operation and handled a lot of their volunteer outreach, and in general were a key part of his strategy team,” Tobe said of McCampbell’s campaign. “We made over 23,000 dials to the district, and knocked over 16,000 doors. He’s been a member for years.”

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The signature act of former President Joe Biden was his passage of the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) in 2021, which included more than $13 billion in infrastructure funding for Michigan.

The funds have paid for lead line replacement, improvements to roads and bridges, expanding access to high-speed internet and increasing climate resilience.

But does anyone know any that’s happening?

I texted four of my friends (people under 30) who vote but aren’t paid to follow politics everyday. None of them knew what the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is, or who’s behind it.

“The BIL is strengthening communities in every corner of the state, helping them attract good-paying jobs, bolster their infrastructure, win additional investments, and improve quality of life,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration said in a press release from 2024 updating the progress.

The state created a Michigan Infrastructure Investment Tracker to view the projects happening in your neighborhood.

There are also these Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signs.

Michigan and a number of other states allowed special provisions to install these signs marking high profile BIL projects with Biden campaign-esque slogans like “Building a Better America” or “Investing in America.”

Some of the signs, like one in SW Detroit and another on the east side, even identify President Joe Biden above the patriotic slogan.

First-term President Donald Trump getting his signature on relief checks in 2020 during the pandemic proved to be a massive political winner four years later when voters I talked to for this story published in the Detroit Free Press.

A person Kamala Harris’ campaign offered to speak with me for the story acknowledged he too initially believed the checks, signed by the president, were the sole work of Trump.

Neither the stimulus checks, nor the infrastructure funds happened without bipartisan approval in Congress. However, colloquial language exists for the stimulus checks (Trump checks, Trump bucks, etc.) in a way it does not for the the largest investment in American infrastructure in nearly a century.

Read more: Congress sent checks, Trump took credit. He's reaping the political reward 4 years later

Read more

I met a woman who became a teenager inside an California internment camp at the inaugural Chinatown Block Party celebrating Detroit’s Asian-American history.

Mary Kamido, born in 1929 in California, has spent most of her life in Southeast Michigan, where she worked at Ford Motor Company and was the Treasurer for the Japanese American Citizens League in Detroit.

Kamido was a child when the United States government came to take her and her family to the facility, and were instructed to only take what they could carry.

“I was 11, so I wanted to take my dolls,” she said.

I asked Kamido what she could remember from the three years she spent at the internment camp, where Japanese American families were ordered to live in an effort to combat potential espionage. The war broke out in 1942 and Kamido and her family were among the 120,000 Japanese Americans sent to concentration camps, officially referred to by the U.S. government as “relocation centers.”

“What do I remember? I remember everything,” Kamido said. “Stuff like that doesn’t go away — I could still paint a picture in my mind from the day I got there.”

“What was going on in there?” I asked.

“Nothing that anyone could pull over on me,” Kamido replied.

Her family were not spies, she says. Kamido was born and raised in Stockton, CA.

Even as an 11-year-old she knew what was happening was immoral. It wasn’t easy surviving in the camp, she said. Kamido and her family were forced to sleep on army cots, use communal washrooms and eat army food for three years.

It’s hard to understand how these camps were legal.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Japanese American removals under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution in its 1944 decision Korematsu v. United States.

On December 18, 1944, the Court ruled unanimously that the U.S. government could not continue to detain a citizen who was “concededly loyal to the United States. The ruling led to the release of Japanese Americans from camps across the country throughout the next year.

Kamido says she never understood it either. She mentioned the racism she faced working at Ford Motor Company from union members who blamed her and her family for the changing industry.

Immediately after I shook hands with Kamido and began walking back to my car, I ran into Cindy Darrah, a longtime local activist who lives on Peterboro and Second right next to the Detroit Shipping Co. restaurant.

Darrah is currently fighting to stay in her home she’s owned for decades. She’s been there since Chinese residents owned businesses in Cass Corridor, which was once a hotspot for drug deals and sex work.

She remembers when her block was a vibrant community with 10,000 residents.

The area, which is getting a $1 million streetscape improvement from a state grant provided to nonprofit Midtown Inc., has gotten nicer since the pandemic.

Apartments on Peterboro and Charlotte that were once $900 are now $2,600. And what was once an area where cheap housing was gobbled up by students and creatives has become one where faux-luxury apartments are sold to transplants with Michigan Medicine t-shirts accompanied by their parents to tour prospective apartments.

Not to mention the $3.5 million Chung’s renovation, where developer Mike Essian continues his search for three Asian restaurants to put inside the new building.

The attention on that section of Cass Corridor, spurred by the demolition of the old On Leong, Chinese Merchants Association building in 2022, is exciting, Darrah says.

She hopes she’ll be around to see it.

“They’re trying to get rid of me,” she said.

At a recent Detroit City Council meeting, Gabriela Santiago-Romero, who represents Cass Corridor in District 6, told a public commenter inquiring about Darrah that her office is doing everything possible to keep her in the home.

It needs a ton of work, but it seems like some cosmetic improvements have happened.

There’s no more fence that separates the folks that used to live in the Jefferies Housing Projects on the other side of the freeway who sit outside of Darrah’s house playing cards or selling weed. (Drive past Second Avenue and Peterboro Street across from the Grocer Farm store if you don’t know what I’m talking about.) There also doesn’t seem to be as many stray cats meandering in her front yard.

I told Darrah about my interaction with Kamido, and encouraged her to walk over to the tent where Kamido was mingling with attendees of the block party.

“We’ve got the guest of honor,” I joked as I walked past the stage where Francis Grunow of the Chinatown Vision Committee was standing. Perhaps he and I were the only ones who understood the significance of her presence at the event.

“Thanks for coming, Cindy!” Grunow said.

She either didn’t hear him or chose to save her energy instead of responding.

Darrah smiled when she introduced herself to Kamido, saying she had never met anyone who lived in an American concentration camp. Darrah told her that she used to Atlanta to participate in anti-nuclear protests in the 1980s, which focused on the widespread destruction and longterm suffering Japanese people endured after America attacked Japan with a nuke during WWII.

“Oh, thank you,” Kamido told her.

They spoke for a bit — I couldn’t make out most of their conversation, but did hear Kamido say she was surprised to hear Cass Corridor was seeing investment.

“If I were to tell my uncle that I was going to Cass and Canfield, he would’ve looked at me like I was crazy,” Kamido said.

I shook hands with Kamido after the conversation and walked Darrah back to her house.

For more insight into what life was like for Japanese Americans living in internment camps, watch Mary Kamido in this hour-long interview with the Ann Arbor Library:

Howdy, subscriber gang.

It’s been a busy past few weeks of attending mayoral forums! You can read my reporting for Michigan Chronicle here.

I wanted to catch you up on the most interesting details of a story brought to you by the two of the best watchdog reporters in Michigan, Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc.

Before that, a reminder to attend the inaugural Chinatown Block Party on Saturday, July 26 from 12-8pm, hosted by the Detroit Chinatown Vision committee.

There will be DJs playing music, Pan-Asian makers, cultural performances and a special reading from Curtis Chin, the grandson of the old Chung’s restaurant owner.

Proud disclaimer: Thanks to your financial contributions, Detroit one million is one of the event sponsors. I’m partnering with the Chinatown Vision Committee because I dreamt something like this was happening when I lived on Cass and Peterboro for three years when I first moved to Detroit.

Even though I don’t live there anymore, I felt it was important to show my support for the block that gave me so much. The memories I collected with friends and neighbors inside Pho Lucky, on the Addison rooftop or my apartment balcony at the James Scott Mansion, will stay with me forever.

In 2023, Olympia Development demolished a historic building that at one time was used as a community center by the local Asian American residents who lived in Cass Corridor in the 1970s and 80s. At a press conference ahead of the demolition, I met Richard Mui, the president of the Association of Chinese Americans and and Roland Hwang, the president of American Citizens for Justice.

Those opposing demolition, including Detroit City Council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero, said the building featured a prominent urban characteristic that could have contributed to the new District Detroit while paying homage to the area's history.

While the group was unsuccessful in saving the building, their refusal to give up on taking the area from Detroit’s “forgotten Chinatown” to a proper marker of the city’s Asian community resulted in $1 million in state funding and renewed energy to revitalize the block.

Many old and/or historic buildings throughout the Cass Corridor neighborhood have found new life. Detroit Shipping Co., The Peterboro Restaurant, Craig’s Coffee, Iconic Tattoo and 8 Degrees Plato currently make up the block. Developer Mike Essian is looking for Asian restaurants for his $3.5 million Chung’s renovation completed last year.

Vincent Chin’s name now sits above the Peterboro street signs at the corner.

A major thank you is in order to Francis Grunow for standing up for something.

And to all of you, for believing in me and my vision for a vibrant, community centered Detroit.

Unpacking Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s canceled $20 million grant under investigation by AG

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer didn’t answer when asked whether a member of her office was involved in securing a $20 million grant for businesswoman Fay Beydoun, a Democratic donor and appointee.

Attorney General Dana Nessel's office has spent more than a year investigating how the since canceled grant was doled out and what it was spent on. MEDC has tried to recover $8.2 million of the $10 million in funding Beydoun received from a grant approved by state leaders in 2022.

The News reported that Beydoun had spent the grant, in part, on a $4,500 coffeemaker, an $11,000 first-class plane ticket to Budapest, luxury furniture and a $550,000 salary for herself.

The Detroit News on Thursday asked the governor about the controversial grant during a rare press scrum in Lansing. Whitmer didn’t answer directly, but noted her recommended budget for the 2023 fiscal year did not have any direct earmarks.

Whitmer's budget proposal from Feb. 2022 included a $15 million grant program to attract overseas businesses that Beydoun championed, The News reports.

The governor’s office and MEDC have denied involvement in the grant’s creation. But reporting from Mauger and LeBlanc this month revealed MEDC did have knowledge of the project, and Beydoun’s desire for an international business accelerator program. She even met with MEDC about her idea.

“The reporting we published this week shows that the MEDC CEO Quentin Messer was touting the fact that there was money in the governor’s original budget recommendation done five months earlier because Fay Beydoun had wanted it to be there,” Mauger told Michigan Radio last week. “And it raises a whole bunch of additional questions about what did Governor Whitmer know? What did her staff know about this in February?”

The governor’s office has referred inquiries on how the grant got in the state budget to former Republican House Speaker Jason Wentworth. Wentworth was listed as the sponsor of the grant but has denied doing so.

"It’s not something that I opposed, but it’s not something that I made a priority or supported," Wentworth told The Detroit News in 2023. "I did not advocate for this.”

Beydoun, of Oakland County, sits on MEDC’s executive committee. She’s a former Michigan Democratic Party vice chair and helped raise money for Whitmer’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign. One year later, Whitmer appointed Beydoun to the MEDC board as well as the state's Commission on Middle Eastern American Affairs.

“Any individual grantee who gets money and is not lawful with it or is inappropriate with those dollars should expect to be held accountable,” Whitmer told reporters in Lansing on Thursday. “I'm glad that they are seeking to recoup the dollars… and I'm hopeful that the attorney general will help in that effort.”

Mauger says questions remain about what happened the night the budget which included the grant for the business accelerator program was finalized.

A number of local justice groups joined together outside the Reindustrialize Summit Wednesday, which is convening executives and employees of some of the leading tech, military and finance companies.

“Many of the speakers and attendees represent companies that are currently profiting off the genocide in Gaza, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s attacks on pro-Palestine protesters and immigrant workers,” said Jo Pico, of the Detroit Anti-War Committee.

Pico said in an interview that Engineers Against Apartheid found out about this Reindustrialize Summit and reached out to organize a demonstration.

“Since their whole thing is that they’re engineers who want to make tech for ethical projects instead of things like Israel’s genocide on Palestine and to deport people in the U.S.,” Pico said. “They informed us and a bunch of other groups and we decided we wanted to make it very loud and clear that Detroit does not welcome these companies here and we do not want their investments here in this city.”

Speakers inside Dan Gilbert’s new Hudson’s building where the conference is taking place include Palmer Luckey, the founder of defense contractor Anduril, Shym Sankar, CTO of software company Palantir, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, CEO of Ford Motor Company Jim Farley and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Palantir’s co-founder and current chairman Peter Thiel, wasn’t at the event, but his name was among the chants deployed in unison by protestors.

Thiel, the founder of Paypal and a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, made headlines last week when he hesitated to answer whether or not the human race should survive in an interview with the New York Times.

The coalition of justice groups included Detroit Will Breathe, Engineers Against Apartheid, the Detroit Anti-War Committee, among others. Leaders who spoke into a megaphone said defense contractor Anduril Industries and Palantir Industries are profiting off the ongoing deaths of children and innocent people in Gaza.

Since Oct. 7, Israeli attacks have killed more than 58,000 people in the region, according to local reports.

Away from the demonstration, attendees walked by, taking pictures and video. Some laughed, while others left the new building at 1250 Library St. ignored the crowd.

“For most people at these companies, it’s just indifference,” says Will, one of the founders of Engineers against Apartheid who asked to be mentioned by first name out of fear of retribution from his employer, which he said is one of the Big Three automakers. "There’s this culture of, ‘put your head down, don’t worry about it. We glorify our work, but most of us aren’t willing to engage with the consequences of it.”

Read more

I’m moderating a conversation between Detroit mayoral candidates on Wednesday and want your help.

The virtual discussion on Wednesday, July 9 is being hosted by marketing firm The Lee Group and the Michigan Black Business Alliance. The event, from 6-7pm, is set to feature council president Mary Sheffield, councilman Fred Durhal III, businessmen Joel Haashiim and John Barlow, nonprofit CEO Saunteel Jenkins, attorney Todd Perkins and activist DaNetta Simpson.

Former police chief James Craig and Triumph pastor Solomon Kinloch are also running. The primary election is Aug. 5.

Are you a Detroit business owner?

I’m interested in hearing about your interactions with the city currently interacting with the city to bring to candidates.

Are you burdened by license renewals or regulatory fees? Want to know if you’re eligible for Motor City Match or other capital grants?

Reply to this email or contact me directly at 989-488-0008 — I’ll bring your concern directly to candidates during the Small Business Matters forum.

Tomorrow’s discussion will focus on how the next administration can support small and mid-sized businesses and how entrepreneurs are shaping the future of the city.

Small business remains the most trusted institution in America, according to Gallup’s annual survey in 2024 that found 68% of Americans have a large amount of trust in their local mom and pop shops.

Currently, Mayor Mike Duggan is urging City Council to pass an ordinance to make it easier for small businesses to thrive.

Hassan Beydoun, group executive of economic development for the city and representatives from the mayor’s office spoke in favor of the proposal to extend the duration of business licenses from one to two years, among several other regulatory changes, Tuesday morning at City Council.

While the move would result in a negative fiscal impact due to a reduction of revenues for BSEED, supporters of the plan say the changes could usher in new businesses in commercial corridors that will generate additional revenues.

The forum Wednesday is hosted by the Detroit Society of Professional Journalists and the Michigan Black Business Alliance.

Moderators include myself, Mark Lee, the vice president of the Detroit SPJ chapter and president & CEO of the LEE Group and Charity Dean, the CEO of the Michigan Black Business Alliance.

You can watch here. The conversation is being broadcast live streamed on Detroit PBS.

The virtual conversation will include councilman Fred Durhal III, businessmen Joel Haashiim and John Barlow, nonprofit CEO Saunteel Jenkins, attorney Todd Perkins and activist DaNetta Simpson.

Watch here: Small Business Matters: A conversation with Detroit mayoral candidates

Read my Detroit election 2025 reports on Michigan Chronicle:

Candidates take over Light Up Livernois

Durhal pitches ‘Property Equity Tax’ to take on Detroit speculators

Some UAW members break with leadership to support Mary Sheffield for Detroit mayor

Detroit mayoral candidates: Better jobs, public transportation will attract young talent

Detroit Elections Department begins mailing absentee ballots

Jenkins drops gloves, Craig times out: Takeaways from Detroit mayoral debate

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is getting help from politicians from Detroit and across the country ahead of the city’s Democratic primary election on Tuesday.

Abraham Aiyash, a former Michigan state representative, spent last weekend in New York to support Mamdani. The NYC mayoral candidate appeared in a video Aiyash posted to social media Saturday, encouraging those in Detroit who want to help his campaign sign up to phone bank.

“We’ve made 500,000 calls so far, supporters across the country,” Mamdani told Aiyash.

A Democratic socialist, Mamdani’s is surging in the polls thanks to an army of volunteers and a social media savvy campaign.

His snappy videos featuring trendy edits and memes have taken over young people’s timelines in recent weeks.

“You can just tweet “Zohran Mamdani” and immediately get 1000 likes,” one person said.

While some Democrats ran away from Twitter to a more comfortable, less confrontational alternatives, Mamdani’s videos are going viral on the platform. Videos of the candidate walking the length of Manhattan last week, dapping up locals and running into excited supporters, was an engagement trap for fans and opponents.

“Zohran’s campaign shows us how it is possible to excite working people and their struggle when you center them and their issues not just in New York, but in urban cores all over the country,” Aiyash told me on Monday. “In Detroit, we have so much potential to make this the most affordable city in the Midwest if our leaders put people focused priorities - like affordable and accessible housing, transit, and childcare - ahead of billionaire and corporate developer interests.”

A Mamdani win in NYC’s June 24 primary election would provide a template for progressive candidates across the nation. He’s promised to lower the cost of living, make city bares fares free and build rent-stabilized new housing. Democrats in Michigan, home of America’s largest Arab American population, are watching closely.

Mamdani’s campaign is energizing the left-wing of the Democratic Party at a time when leaders are desperate for a winning strategy. Progressives received major criticism from Democratic leaders following Kamala Harris’ election loss.

The post election takeaway from older, moderate Democrats was that the championing of progressive values within the party’s mainstream tarnished its reputation. But voters left of the party blame Harris’ centrist messaging and appeals to conservatives.

Aiyash says Mamdani is a friend he’s known since he lived in NYC for a short while.

“He was the one that organized the hunger strike outside the White House in November 2023 that I participated in,” Aiyash said. “And obviously, we have similar politics.”

Aiyash decided not to run for reelection in 2024 after serving Hamtramck as Michigan’s first Arab American Majority Floor Leader. He is considering a bid for an open state Senate seat.

Mamdani would be NYC’s first Muslim mayor if elected in November.

Read more

The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press will do business separately in 2026 as the joint operating agreement (JOA) that combined their business operations together for decades is expiring at the end of this year.

While News leaders are publicly expressing optimism and a readiness for surviving on their own, senior leadership at the Free Press deferred to its parent company when asked what changes the end of the JOA might bring.

The two publishers said this week they will continue publishing daily newspapers while operating widely viewed websites.The agreement has financially sustained the two daily’s since 1989.

The end of the JOA ushers a new era for both papers.

One longtime Free Press employee described the news to me as “a dark day” in the history of journalism in Detroit.

The way they see it, “once one starts shrinking, the other follows suit.”

My conversation with fellow Midlander and Detroit News publisher Gary Miles at the annual Society of Professional Journalists banquet earlier this year revealed News leaders are confident in their ability to remain viable. Miles touted the News’ growing digital subscriber base, crediting the paper’s award-winning journalism.

On social media, Detroit News managing editor Kevin Hardy answered my question of whether the city could soon lose one of its papers as a result of the expiring agreement, responding simply, “No.”

When I asked editor Nicole Avery Nichols via email Monday how this would affect the Free Press’ future, I received this response from Gannett’s corporate communications.

“Thank you for your inquiry. Please see the below statement from a Gannett spokesperson: “The joint operating agreement between the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News is set to expire at the end of this year, and the partnership will not be renewed. The Detroit Free Press will continue to deliver essential news and content for our valued audiences and provide the best marketing solutions for our clients.”

The email also directed me to this story by Neal Rubin, which includes this statement from a Gannett spokesperson: “During this transition period, we will be working diligently to adapt our operations.”

Read more

Hey, subscriber gang!

This week in news brought me to Lansing to cover community violence intervention advocates from Detroit, Saginaw and Kalamazoo urge lawmakers for more cash.

The city’s fiscal budget passed earlier this year includes $4.4 million from the city’s general fund for CVI, but state funding for the program’s continuation depends whether both state legislative chambers will agree on spending bills.

Read more from Michigan Chronicle: Detroit Community Violence ‘Shotstoppers’ Push for More Funding in Lansing

While walking up Washington Boulevard downtown Lansing, I brought the Free Press’ Andrea Suhoori to The New Daily Bagel for her first time.

“It’s less than $6!?” Suhoori said at the counter in disblief.

Prices for standard fare Lansing food haven’t seemed to change since 2016. In Detroit, it’s at least $8 to buy any dish of substance from any establishment that’s not a Coney Island.

It might be a sad little town, but I always appreciate the cheap eats and bipartisan hospitality from House and Senate staff every time I venture over to the Capitol.

Good to see you guys!

Here’s what was happening this week:

House Republicans target “woke” universities in budget proposal

Republicans want to cut funding to “woke” universities and giving the money to “non-woke” schools.

Democrats wore their college t-shirts on the Michigan House floor Thursday, urging Republican leaders to boost their higher education funding proposals. Talk of a potential government shutdown is starting to bubble up. Lawmakers must pass a budget proposal before their July 1 deadline. The 2026 fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

House Republicans want to send $2.4 billion to state universities from the state’s $461.3 million general fund — an increase of $76.4 million or 3.3%. But overall funding for universities would decrease of $828.1 million.

In an interview with Michigan advance, House Appropriations Chair Anne Bollin, R-Brighton, said university leaders will have to be frugal.

“Maybe they ought to mind their budgets just like the rest of us. Everybody’s budget is getting tighter,” Bollin said, Ben Solis reports.

Asked about the DEI cuts and more specifically the language targeting transgender women in women’s sports — given the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals within the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act — Bollin said opposing transgender youth participating in sports is “universal.”

“Frankly, I want to get away from focusing on those parts in the bill and in our policy statements,” Bollin said. “We are talking about educating and we want everybody to feel welcome; to come in and get a good education. And, frankly, we don’t want to see boys in girls’ sports. That’s universal. I don’t want to go into the restroom with a man.”

On Friday, statewide advocacy organizations responded to the budget proposal saying it would strip hundreds of millions of dollars from school meals, transportation, retirement support, mental health and safety.

“It’s clear Michigan Republicans are hellbent on making the Betsy DeVos playbook to gut public education a reality for Michigan families and students,” advocates said in a joint statement. “By ramming through a budget that defunds many critical education services through the legislative process in less than a day, Republicans made it clear they’d rather serve the desires of their billionaire overlords than deliver needed funds and services to our public schools.”

Advocates say it’s not about fiscal responsibility, but cutting funding from public schools and “punishing school districts who don’t abide by the dangerous MAGA Republican ideology.” The groups are urging the Michigan Senate and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to reject the budget bills during budget negotiations.

Read more from Michigan Advance: House GOP slashes university operational funding, penalizes U of M and MSU for large endowments

“Republicans are attempting to deceive Michiganders by pointing to the per pupil allocation, but the devil is in the details. By taking away programs that benefit rural students, students in poverty, English language learners, and those with special education needs, students from Marquette to Monroe will be worse off as a result of this disastrous budget.”

Michigan Republicans’ $21.9 billion budget for K-12 schools passed June 11 provides more money than what was proposed by Senate Dems and Whitmer, but includes big differences in how school money would be spent.

Republicans would send more to wealthier districts and private schools under the GOP plan.

Read more from the Detroit Free Press: Michigan GOP school plan spends more, but axes free breakfast and lunch

Get a taste of the Middle East at Mink this month

Mink, one of my favorite restaurants and the best place to get oysters in Detroit, is serving a new $85 tasting menu that incorporates popular Iraqi ingredients.

The first dish, a duo of oysters, with zahidi date mignonette and amba; a fermented mango condiment popular in Iraqi cuisine.

Cobia Crudo is the second dish on the menu, pictured above, which plates sashimi-grade Cobia fish on top of Turkish olive oil, pickles, hummus and Za’atar cure.

The third dish, the Dolma Trio, features stuffed grape leaves, zucchini, clams and garlic yogurt, which was fantastic.

Fresh, bold flavored oysters are what Mink is known for. It’s tasting menu goes head to head with those from SheWolf or Freya.

I don’t go on dates anymore, but if I did, I would take you here.

Day of protests planned across Michigan

Angry Democrats and leftists atre hitting the streets Saturday in protest of President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts.

There’s a rally and march set for 1–4pm at Clark Park. U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib and council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero are expected to attend.

In Detroit, federal immigration agents arrested at least four Venezuelan migrants outside a Detroit courtroom Wednesday morning just moments after a judge dismissed their asylum cases, Koby Levin and Malachi Barrett reported.

Immigration advocates and Anti fascist activists demonstrated outside the federal courthouse Wednesday in response.

Activists at a City Council meeting on Tuesday demanded members support their resolution declaring the city of Detroit a sanctuary city that will defy Trump’s orders.

“I understand the want, but when I see majority white folks asking me to make the city a sanctuary city, they're not going to be the ones impacted when ICE comes into our communities,” Council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero told Malachi Barrett and I after council session Tuesday.

There’s a growing conversation among Black Detroiters over whether to support noncitizen migrants facing deportation, given the amount of Hispanic voters who voted for President Trump despite mass deportation efforts being the central pitch of his campaign.

I wrote about the debate for the Chronicle here.

There’s a high guy painted on the window of my old office

A fitting visual.

Kendrick Lamar ran the Detroit riverwalk yesterday just minutes before I walked to the same spot to enjoy the nice weather.

The music superstar was in Detroit Tuesday night until Wednesday afternoon for the Grand National Tour with SZA, which sold out Ford Field Tuesday.

A few lucky residents did get to see the 17x Grammy award winning artist as he completed his daily run, which he referenced on “man at the garden,” from GNX.

One of them was this woman, Naeziah, and her son Ryian.

“Kendrick Lamar just had my baby running with him and his security for so long at the riverwalk talking about come on lil man and we didn't even notice that was him til the last video lol,” Naeziah said on Instagram. “This so dope for my Baby man I can’t wait til he get older… I wish my momma can see this!”

Videos of the rapper are going viral on social media. You can imagine my disappointment last night realizing I must have just missed him around 2pm.

In videos, Kendrick is seen running with security past the Detroit River Princess, the closed off Hart Plaza staircase, the Detroit Police Department offices and the Renaissance Center.

It’s a shame he couldn’t get Hart Plaza in its full glory. Renovations of the currently fenced off area are running behind schedule.

A spokesperson for the city’s general services department told Sarah Rahal in August last year the area would be complete before summer.

The upgrades include new stairs, an improved public access, address American Disabilities Act access to the Gateway of Freedom monument. The city used $9 million in ARPA funds to improve the plaza’s amenities, including the Dodge Fountain.

I had just missed Kendrick — I saw these women wearing matching “Black Women Were Right” t-shirts boarding the People Mover as I was walking from a small protest outside the federal courthouse after Venezuelan migrants were arrested after appearing at immigration hearings.

The women who saw the rapper told Paul Johnson, who caught up to Lamar and his security guards while on his bike to get a closer look.

He posted the footage to Tik Tok Wednesday.

Howdy, subscriber gang!

Thank you for supporting my journalism here. I launched Detroit one million to give a voice to young people in Detroit.

That’s exactly what I plan to do here as I move into a new role this week with Michigan Chronicle, which will be the home of my coverage of Detroit’s Aug. 5 and Nov. 6 elections.

Read more: Detroit Mayoral Candidate James Craig Defends Donald Trump’s Military Deployment to Los Angeles

The lack of local coverage from our legacy newspapers during a pivotal election year that sets the tone for the city’s next chapter is unacceptable. This chapter of Detroit’s history must be told by people who actually care about it.

That’s why I am asking you to support my work in the Michigan Chronicle, which has championed Detroit and its residents since its founding in the 1930s.

You can show your support by sharing my articles or picking up the Chronicle’s physical edition the next time you see it in newsstands at your local grocery or liquor store.

While unabashed independent journalism will continue here, my love for great brands — and trust in Michigan Chronicle editor Jermey Allen — is the reason I accepted an opportunity to publish stories about the upcoming election in Detroit’s historic Black newspaper.

I’m partnering with Michigan Chronicle to make its brand even stronger through the same style of reporting you’ve come to know and love from me.

Outgoing mayor and candidate for governor, Mike Duggan, who told critics to judge him by the population when elected a decade ago, is declaring victory after U.S. Census Bureau estimates show Detroit growing by thousands over the last two years.

Are young people driving the resurgence? An analysis provided by Data Driven Detroit suggests there’s not enough evidence to definitively say.

There are competing visions for a city celebrating new growth after 60 years of population loss. Leaders are scrambling to ensure Detroit remains a sanctuary for Black Americans and the middle class amid revitalization efforts that have led to the displacement of many longtime residents.

Detroit one million began as an idea about what the city would look like with one million residents. I want to hear from you on what that looks like.

Here’s what you said last year when asked to envision it:

Subscribe now

Hey, subscriber gang!

Summer’s coming and I can’t wait to see all of you around Midtown, New Center and the North End — where I spend most of my time these days.

Whether it’s Friday at Babo with bartender extraordinaire Hana Berishaj, Dirty Shake for a burger with Tommy Sanchez or Dessert Oasis with all of you; I’m excited for everyone to come out of hibernation.

It was quite the week in national “news” — or whatever you want to call the immature social media exchanges between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump.

Musk accused Trump, without evidence, of being a pedophile.

Local news stories published late Thursday evening and Friday morning fared more substantive.

On Thursday, Craig Mauger published records that show how politicians and their donors utilize 501c4’s to raise money. Court records revealed wealthy business executives and large companies secretly funneled money to a fundraising account for Republican state lawmakers during the pandemic. One communication from a Republican leader to potential donors assured them “no one will know.”

And on Friday morning, Tom Perkins obtained videos of a private investigator hired to track Palestine organizers pretending to be disabled and falsely accusing a student of trying to rob him.

“The back to back news bombs from @PomTerkins and @CraigDMauger this morning further shows how powerful people in this state quietly spend ridiculous sums of money to enact their will,” Malachi Barrett said on social media Friday.

Here’s what reporters across Michigan are talking about:

Court records reveal how big money donors operate in secret

Twenty-eight donors including members of the DeVos family, a major hospital system and DTE Energy gave a combined $1.2 million to a group connected to the GOP effort to limit Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's emergency powers during the pandemic.

New reporting from Detroit News’ Craig Mauger shows what requests from lawmakers to secret donors actually look like.

Michigan Senate Republican fundraiser Heather Lombardini, a political consultant who worked with Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, sent an email to a potential donor on June, 2020, asking for $25,000, court records obtained by the News show.

Lombardi said in the message, “no one will know that you contributed.”

Michigan lawmakers allow themselves to collect millions of dollars in contributions through nonprofits that aren't required to make public the donors, nor how they spend the cash. Information about how lawmakers interact with secret donors are rarely made public.

Read more from the Detroit News: 'No one will know': Records reveal secret money flowing through Lansing

UofM private investigators track on-campus Palestinian groups

University of Michigan spent at least $800,000 on a private security firm to track students engaged in political activity across campus, according to a report from Tom Perkins.

Students tell Perkins they have frequently identified undercover investigators and confronted them. In two interactions captured by one student on video, a man who had been trailing the student pretended to be disabled, and in another, falsely accused a student of attempting to rob him.

The undercover investigators appear to work for Detroit-based City Shield, a private security group, Perkins reports.

Public spending records from the university board of regents, the school’s governing body, show the university paid at least $800,000 between June 2023 and September 2024 to City Shield’s parent company, Ameri-Shield.

Katarina Keating, a member of a local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine said being surveilled has caused her to look over her shoulder since November, when she was first followed.

“But on another level it sometimes feels comedic because it’s so insane that they have spent millions of dollars to hire some goons to follow campus activists around,” Keating said. “It’s just such a waste of money and time.”

Read the full story: University of Michigan using undercover investigators to surveil student Gaza protesters

New York Times drops new “36 Hours in Detroit” list

On Thursday, the New York Times published its latest Detroit tour guide, curated by Amy Eckert, a travel journalist based in Michigan.

Detroit Institute of Arts, The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Spirit Plaza, the Detroit RiverWalk and The Belt made the list of key attractions.

The list excludes any neighborhood stops like new developments on Kercheval or 7 Mile and Livernois’ Avenue of Fashion. However, it is a useful guide for navigating downtown for those without any need to be frugal.

Baseball’s best teams meet in Detroit

The Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs have the two best records in baseball.

Expect plenty of Cubs fans to make their way up I-94 to watch their team take on baseball’s biggest surprise this season in the three-game weekend series. First pitch on Friday is 7:10pm.

While Detroit ended its 10 year playoff drought last season, the Cubs haven’t been to the postseason since 2020.

Both teams have players who have spent time on both organizations, like Zach McKinstry, who played 47 games with the Cubs in 2022 before being traded to Detroit. Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd spent parts of eight seasons with the Tigers from 2015-21 and 2023.

Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris has ties to the Cubs as well. He served as Chicago's director of baseball operations from 2012-17 before being promoted to assistant general manager in 2018.

And slugger Javier Báez spent his first eight seasons in Chicago before signing with the Tigers in a seven year deal. Báez is having a decent season after struggling mightily in recent seasons.

The current MLB standings:

1. Detroit Tigers: 41-23

2. Chicago Cubs: 39-23

3. New York Yankees: 38-23

4. New York Mets: 39-24

5. Los Angeles Dodgers: 38-25

Transit advocates stumped some candidates for Detroit mayor Wednesday with questions related to bus driver pay, the city’s transportation budget and eliminating parking minimums for developers.

Transportation activist and taxicab driver Michael Cunningham kicked off the forum by inviting attendees to join him for a rendition of “Wheels on the bus.”

“The circle I’m around are poor and they’re trying to rise,” Cunningham said. “You can’t rise if you can’t get to work on time.”

Danetta Simpson and Joel Haashiim walked into the Wayne State building across TechTown about five minutes late.

When asked to commit to doubling the city’s department of transportation budget, Haashiim said he would double driver’s salaries, ignoring a member of the audience reminding him the question posed to each candidate was whether he supported doubling the entire department budget.

DDOT pays its drivers at $19, topping out at about $26, which has contributed to a high turnover rate, advocates said. They say it costs about $25,000 to train operators who walk away weeks later. SMART, Southeast Michigan’s regional transit system, recently increased wages to top out at around $32.

Simpson said she used to take the bus to school and work, but didn’t directly answer the question. She said she would do “everything I can to put things into the budget whatsoever.”

Before Simpson’s answers, she turned her back to the crowd to read the question off the screen.

At one point on stage, Simpson attempted to turn her phone off after it kept ringing on stage until John Barlow, sitting two chairs away, grabbed it out of James Craig’s hands to turn it off. Craig was also struggling to switch Simpson’s phone from “ring” to “silent.”

Haashiim also didn’t directly answer questions. When asked about making driver wages competitive with SMART, he said he would conduct a feasibility study, “because there’s been many attempts to help or build a better transit system. However, everyone that has been in that position has failed.”

An $800,000 downtown mobility study, called the People Mover system plan, is currently being conducted by AECOM Great Lakes.

Haashiim also stressed the need for additional revenue from the state or the federal government to improve the city’s transit system, claiming in his closing remarks he has direct connections at the White House, a line that voters have heard from Craig since he announced his campaign.

When asked about zoning laws that require developers to include a minimum amount of free parking, which advocates say inflate costs for developers which are passed along to end-users, Simpson didn’t appear aware of what was being asked.

“If you don’t keep it under control, you have people parking up in grasses, blocking sidewalks and driveways, etc,” Simpson said.

Jenkins said she would support reducing parking minimums, while Craig said he would “certainly take a look at it.”

Read more

Candidates attempted to separate themselves during the first and only proper debate scheduled between five of nine Detroit mayoral candidates last week on Mackinac Island.

While previous candidate forums have let voters in on the rhetoric deployed by each candidate leading up to the Aug. 5 primary, the debate Thursday at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual policy conference was the first chance to hear them openly challenge and disagree with each other.

Most of the hostility from other candidates was directed at Detroit City Council president Mary Sheffield and Triumph Church pastor Rev. Solomon Kinloch.

Detroit Regional Chamber CEO Sandy Baruah said before candidates appeared on stage that the chamber was planning to do the debate in Detroit but there was so much interest that they found a way.

Attorney and mayoral candidate Todd Perkins, who paid his own way onto the island to watch the debate from the audience told reporters after the debate he still hadn’t heard from Detroit Regional Chamber leaders as to why he was left out of the debate.

The debate was held on the Grand Hotel lawn in a tent Buruah called the “civility tent,” as the annual conference’s theme this year promoted debate moderators Stephen Henderson and Nolan Finley’s new book.

Meet the candidates

Former police Chief James Craig asks voters to judge him on the eight years he spent as police chief, saying he would continue to focus on neighborhood policing to lower the city’s homicide rate. As a Republican, he says he would leverage his relationship with the White Hosue to bring additional federal dollars to the city.

Council member Fred Durhal III leans on his experience as a legislator in Lansing and as the chair of the city’s budget and finance committee. Durhal says the city’s next mayor will need relationships with lawmakers in the state legislature to bring meaningful policy changes to take the city to the next level, like policy tax reform.

Nonprofit CEO Saunteel Jenkins said the city needs a mayor who will be ready on day one. She believes what sets her a part is that she has executive and legislative experience. As the CEO of The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW) and the former city council president, Jenkins says she would bring all stakeholders together as mayor to continue the city’s growth.

Pastor Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. believes the city’s growth has been unequal and that career politicians have abandoned the needs of the most vulnerable. He invokes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when asked how he would juggle his preaching duties as mayor: “We got to operate with fierce urgency and stop waiting on other people to do it and stand up and do it ourselves — if they could’ve done it, they would’ve done it.”

City Council president Mary Sheffield says the city needs to foster a more business friendly environment to ensure its continued economic growth. She believes in a holistic approach to government where the city works not just for business, but for people: “Both can coexist at the same time.”

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