Free read, Jan. 13-17: How to buy Aaliyah barbie, Whitsett on Fox News, Rio's return
Here's what I was paying attention to this week
Hey gang!
Another week of Detroit one million in the books. I’m so grateful you’re along for this ride!
Become a paid subscriber if you haven’t yet. Free subscribers are missing out on original reporting you won’t read in the Detroit News or Free Press. Well, maybe a month later.
As city officials try to shut down $1,000 overnight parking rates ahead of the Lions’ home playoff game Saturday, I’ve got a compelling parking lot story of my own I’m excited to share in the coming days. Stay tuned!
This is the last free read of President Joe Biden’s administration. How are you feeling?
Nervous? Excited? Personally, I’m ready to continue holding leaders accountable.
Here’s what I was paying attention to this week:
You can still get the Aaliyah Barbie doll on Ebay
A barbie doll honoring the late Detroit singer Aaliyah sold out immediately after going on sale Thursday on the Mattel website.
The doll is being resold for about $150 on Ebay.
An account I follow on Instagram, sleepingongems, posted this commercial for her self-titled classic (major artists used to do that). I’d never seen it before.
Yet another example of how Aaliyah was truly ahead of her time.
Whitsett rails against Dems on Fox News
Detroit Democratic state Rep. Karen Whitsett says there’s no point to join Democrats in caucus.
Whitsett says Democrats urged her to show up and vote no on bills she disagreed with, but didn’t want to become a scapegoat for Democrats.
“Well, that sounds great in theory, but when you have a bill that says for homeless people and I vote no on that bill, the only thing people are going to see is me voting no, again it’s homeless people. When actually the bill entails tent cities… No one else knows that — they just see you voting no for homeless people.”
Whitsett said her meeting with President Donald Trump in 2020 to champion alternative COVID treatments was “a lot easier, more enjoyable” than her meeting with Biden.
“He helped me raise over $840,000 for my district,” Whitsett said on Fox.
Whitsett says she’s going to run to replace Fred Durhal III in Detroit city council’s newly redrawn District 7. Will Whitsett’s embrace of Republican rhetoric affect her chances to win a city council race?
She’s broken from Democrats on a number of issues, but says she won’t switch parties.
“My district wouldn’t go for that,” she told me over the phone last month.
Feds close city council corruption probe
Federal investigations targeting former council member Janeé Ayers and councilman Scott Benson have closed, Detroit News’ Robert Snell reported Wednesday.
FBI agents raided Detroit city hall and the homes of the council members in 2021. Benson and Ayers’ homes were searched after federal prosecutors charged council member Andre Spivey with conspiracy to commit bribery.
Spivey was sentenced to two years in federal prison for taking $36,000 in bribes.
The status of the larger investigation, which focused on the city’s towing operations and allegations that city employees received bribes, remains unclear.
Rio’s homecoming concert
I wrote about Rio Da Yung Og’s homecoming show Sunday, his first since being released from prison for Metro Times.
Artists on stage said it was his first real concert of his career. The Flint rapper is one the biggest Michigan artists since the pandemic, and his fans came to prove it. They knew all the words to songs he released just days prior.
The show featured sets from a number of Detroit rappers in what felt like our own version of Kendrick Lamar’s “Pop Out” show last year.
Read my dispatch from the show via Metro Times.
Pistons “enter the chat”
National media is finally talking about Detroit basketball in a positive way.
The Pistons are one game above .500 through 42 games. The NBA on TNT guys are discussing Cade’s All-Star chances while Funny Marco and Bleacher Report are featuring him in nine-minute sketch videos perfect for clipping to social media.
The Pistons’ win Monday against the Knicks catapulted their presence on ESPN segments and national podcasts.
Can they keep it up? We’ll see.
They host Lions fan Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns Saturday at LCA at 4pm before the Lions game at 8pm.