Free read, March 24-28: Jenkins responds to Sheffield's criticism, Tigers strip Comerica Park's nostalgia
Here's what I was paying attention to this week
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The Heat and Warmth Fund CEO and mayoral candidate Saunteel Jenkins on Thursday addressed City Council President Mary Sheffield’s criticism of the way she left city council more than 10 years ago. Sheffield’s comments last month were captured on a video I obtained and published.
Jenkins told Frankie Darcell on her iHeartRadio show that Sheffield ambushed her.
“Her comments were not only disrespectful and inappropriate, they were inaccurate,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said she was scheduled to be at a Detroit senior home, while Sheffield was not.
“…(Jenkins) did not receive the votes to become the (city council) president, one month later, she left the city at the worst of times during the bankruptcy and left to go work as a CEO,” Sheffield told the room. “You were in the middle of a bankruptcy, going through the worst of times.”
Jenkins took exception with the way her exit from city council was described and said her exit from the city was 11 months later than Sheffield suggested.
“In November of 2014, a recruiter called me about a job which I turned down twice. The third time she called me I said, ‘Let’s talk about this,’” Jenkins said. “At that point almost a year into the second term, not a month, we were coming out of bankruptcy and we had a plan of adjustment. We had a financial review committee that was coming on board and the map for the next 10 years in the city’s history had already been laid out.”
She left city council to become CEO of THAW, “a place that helped my family when I was in high school,” Jenkins told Darcell. “An opportunity came to serve in a different way and I did it.”
The nonprofit leader said she was open and transparent about the way she left city council at the time.
She told Darcell the city needs a mature leader who conducts themselves with dignity and respect.
“It is not the way to lead, it is not the way I will ever lead and by the way my mother was in that audience as well. My mother was disrespected, I’ll just leave it there.”
I ran into Jenkins in Midtown Friday, where she told me Sheffield got in her mother’s face the night the video was captured.
Sheffield didn’t return my request for comment the night of the incident last month.
Here’s what else you should know happened this week:
Tigers remove dirt path, ‘Tigers’ sign at Comerica Park
Changes at Comerica Park aren’t going over well with fans.
Tigers brass heeded requests from players to remove the nostalgic dirt path leading up to the pitchers mound, called the “keyhole.” Comerica Park was the only big league park with the historic feature for the last 25 years.
The front office also decided to remove the script Tigers sign above the big screen.
“The Tigers sign that previously sat atop the videoboard at Comerica Park had reached its mechanical end of life,” the team told the Free Press, noting that with the new video board, the sign reverted back “to its original display of the ballpark’s name.”
The biggest new thing at Comerica Park this year is the addition of a luxury “Home Plate Club,” similar to the Motor City or Rehmann Club at Little Caesars Arena. If ticket prices there are comparable, working class families will likely be priced out from sitting behind home plate.
Food, drink and parking is included as part of the tickets for the new seating.
Tony Paul of the Detroit News reports the most expensive package as part of the new seating area will top $100,000 for two seats for a full season tickets. They are not yet sold out, Paul said.
I’m told by a Tigers ticket sales employee a corporate sponsor could be coming to the new luxury club behind home plate. The team also said the underground club won’t be ready for fans on Opening Day.
Detroit election fraud activists take Lansing
Republican activists Ramon Jackson and 180 Church Pastor Lorenzo Sewell testified before the House Election Integrity Committee Tuesday alleging criminal activity.
Sewell, who spoke at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, has been gaining traction in Republican circles in Michigan. He’s leading a conservative movement out of his Northwest Detroit church.
Jackson and Sewell have alleged systemic voter fraud in Detroit’s election systems, including documentation of what they argue are fraudulent absentee ballots being cast. They recently led a delegation of more than 80 Detroit residents to Washington, D.C., to discuss their concerns with Republican lawmakers willing to listen.
Detroit City Council members have been less open to hearing them out when they show up to council session to air concerns during public comment. Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson have also dismissed the claims.
“They eventually just stopped returning our calls,” Jackson said. “They refuse to take action.”
House Speaker Pro Tem Rachelle Smit, the Republican chair of the House Election Integrity Committee, invited the Detroit Republicans and suggested Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel investigate the claims.
“Tellingly, rather than investigating Jackson and Sewell’s claims and working with the activists to improve Michigan elections, Benson and Nessel have opposed their efforts in a federal lawsuit,” Smit said in a statement.
Wall Street analyst on tariff impact: ‘Tesla wins, Detroit bleeds’
Wall Street analysts are saying Elon Musk’s Tesla is the biggest winner of President Donald Trump’s auto tariff, CNBC’s Alex Harring reports.
Trump on Wednesday announced all cars not made in the U.S. would be hit with a 25% tariff next week. The news sent shares of major American car producers in diverging directions in Thursday’s trading, Harring writes:
“So far, multiple analysts see Elon Musk’s electric vehicle giant as a relative beneficiary given its domestic production. The stock rose modestly after rallying during the session.
“Tesla wins, Detroit bleeds,” wrote Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska Thursday in a letter to clients.
Roeska called Tesla the “clear structural winner” of the policy, adding that it has a localized market share and is “better insulated” from trade risk. On the other hand, he said Ford and General Motors could see declines of up to 30% in earnings before interest and taxes this year.
“For everyone else, this is a margin reset and real drag on near-term earnings power,” Roeska said of companies besides Tesla.
Read more: Wall Street analysts say Elon Musk is the clear auto tariff winner: ‘Tesla wins, Detroit bleeds’
DOGE says MDHHS lost nearly $400 million
The Department of Government Efficiency website shows more than $390 million in federal grants to Michigan’s state health agency have been discontinued, Kate Wells of Michigan Public reports.
The DOGE site doesn’t say which state programs were being funded by the grants, which are presumably part of the more than $11 billion in federal health and human services grant cuts this week.
DOGE is an effort to cut government spending led by billionaire Elon Musk, a major donor to President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
The governor’s office, nor the state health department has commented on the cuts. A MDHHS spokesperson told Wells in an email, “As soon as I have something, I will send your way.”
The governor’s office says they’re going to let the department of health and human services, “speak on this on behalf of the administration.”
Read the full story: Michigan health department appears to lose $390 million in grant funds, according to DOGE
University of Michigan ends DEI across campus
The University of Michigan announced it has ended its multi-million dollar diversity, equity and inclusion effort.
University officials said Thursday the school would shift the resources to increase investments in student-facing programs, such as financial aid, mental health resources, pre-professional counseling and other efforts that strengthen community, promote a sense of belonging and expand accessibility.
The move comes as President Donald Trump is threatening to cut federal funding to universities that don’t comply with his executive orders banning diversity efforts.
“These decisions have not been made lightly. We recognize the changes are significant and will be challenging for many of us, especially those whose lives and careers have been enriched by and dedicated to programs that are now pivoting,” said in an email, signed by President Santa J. Ono and other university leaders.
Fox 2: Students react to the University of Michigan's plan to dismantle DEI programs