Doctors for Pope Francis say he is responding well to treatment but is not yet out of danger, the Vatican News service reported on Friday.

Francis is recovering from pneumonia and his doctors at Rome's Gemelli Hospital say he is not in danger of death, but hes also not fully out of danger.

Doctors reported that Francis is sitting up and doing work from the hospital and they believe he will be able to leave the hospital at some point. Doctors did not give an exact timetable on when he could be released, but they expected Francis to remain in the hospital through all of next week.

Doctors also cautioned that the pope would likely continue having chronic respiratory issues following his release.

Dr. Sergio Alfieri said that one concern doctors have is that the pope is at risk of sepsis due to germs circulating through the hospital. 

The 88-year-old pope developed pneumonia in both lungs. He has canceled all public appearances over the last week while undergoing treatment.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Hamas will pay the "full price" for returning the body of a person who was not believed to be an Israeli hostage.

Hamas returned the bodies of two child hostages on Thursday, but the third body was not the boys' mother, Shiri Bibas, as expected, the Israeli military said.

Hamas described the situation as a mix-up and an error, pledging to investigate what happened.

The Bibas family was abducted during an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The two boys were 4 years old and 10 months old. Yarden Bibas, the husband of Shiri, was released alive earlier this month.

An Israeli ministry spokesperson said the bodies of the two children were evaluated and determined to have been murdered, not killed in an Israeli airstrike as Hamas claimed.

The bodies were returned as the first phase of the ceasefire was set to wind down. The next steps remain unclear despite Hamas saying remains committed to the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel.

Phase two of the ceasefire was supposed to include a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in exchange for the release of remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Israel was also expected to free Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile, Arab nations are meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss alternative plans for Gaza, pushing back against a proposal from President Donald Trump. The guest list is believed to include Egypt, Jordan and Gulf countries. They are set to hold an emergency Arab League summit on March 4 to coordinate a regional response to Trump's plan, which aimed to displace Palestinians from Gaza while redeveloping the enclave.

Hey, you're busy we get it.

We know a lot happens throughout the week, and you may not catch all of our stories here at WXYZ. So we've decided to gather the most talked-about stories from the past week all in one place that you can check out during your free time over the weekend.

Have a story idea or tip? Feel free to let us know using the contact form below.

Here are the big stories from the week beginning Feb. 17.

A vicious cycle. Detroits 'KARENs' rescue dogs from cold, say the city must do more

Detroits 'KARENs' rescue dogs from cold, say the city must to do more

This week once again saw below-zero wind chills in metro Detroit, something that we also saw a few weeks ago.

During that time, we showed you the sad truth, that in freezing temperatures, dogs across the city are tied up with heavy chains and in some cases, dying.

However, the story doesn't end there. Many of you wanted to know how this is legal. It's not.

In January, we went out with KAREN (K9 Animal Rescue Emergency Network System) as they went around Detroit in search of dogs. We went out again with them this month, and they showed us dogs are still being chained up outside.

All year long, there are dogs illegally chained, emaciated, freezing to death. So many of you have asked, "what is going on?" and wondered how it's legal.

"Its a vicious cycle. Here we are two weeks later, nothing has changed," Rzewnicki said.

In Detroit, it is illegal to have a dog on a steel chain, or any tether, other than a coated steel cable. It is illegal to have a dog on a tether that is not at least three times the length of the dog. It is illegal to have a dog tethered for more than three hours per day.

Yet, we were with the KARENS as they visited two dogs one quite pregnant illegally chained weeks after they said they called Detroit Animal Care and Control.

Rzewnicki and Melanie Thomas tell me that Detroit Animal Care and Control (DACC) informed them they did come out a few weeks ago and the owner took the dogs inside. But since then, they have checked in to see the dogs living in the same conditions.

"Theres no reason that these follow-ups are not getting done. You cant tell me you have that many calls," Thomas said.

We took these concerns directly to Crystal Perkins, the director of Detroit's General Services department, which oversees DACC.

"This dog right here as you can see is pretty pregnant," our Sarah Michals showed her.

"Ill have to investigate to see what happened," Perkins said.

"Does the city feel they have adequate staff to respond to these calls?" Sarah asked.

"So we do follow up. We cant go to a house every single day, as you know, we can only go to educate," Perkins said. "We can go to educate, we can go out today, we can go out in three days and theyve made the corrections, but who is to say they didn't revert back to their old ways?"

Not clearing snow off your car could cost you $100 during frigid cold days in metro Detroit

Not clearing snow off your car could cost you $100 during frigid cold days in metro Detroit

As much of our area received several inches of snow these last couple of weeks, there's a troubling trend: many drivers are hitting the road without properly clearing the snow off of their cars. What many drivers may not realize is that this practice can lead to legal repercussions.

A snow brush will be your best friend to help you not only clear snow from your car, but it can also save you from a $100 ticket.

Snow-covered cars seem to be everywhere, especially after a winter storm like the ones we saw over the weekend.

"Clean your car before you do anything. Before you drive it," said Alb Azzal.

"It's a little dangerous. It flies off in huge chunks," said Scott Randall.

According to state law here in Michigan, it's against the law to drive with snow on your car, and if you don't clear it, you could face a $100 fine. That means snow cannot be covering your vehicle's windows or lights. Snow also has to be removed from hood even if you're short and can't reach the roof of your car or you don't have a brush.

Jessica English is breaking barriers and innovating Detroit's People Mover

Jessica English breaking barriers and innovating Detroit's People Mover

Jessica English is breaking barriers one construction project at a time. A native of Detroit, she says the latest People Mover project was not only about her but also about building up her community and the next generation.

These rail cars have been rounding across Metro Detroit since 1987. Now, Detroiter Jessica English is a part of keeping that legacy going.

I am Detroit, born and raised. I went to Cass Tech and my community means a lot to me," English said. "I knew that building something that, like generations can be a part of later on down the road was exactly what I wanted to do."

As Capital Project Manager, English was in charge of the People Mover's latest multi-million dollar track improvement project.

I would not have had a successful project if it was not for my team," English said. We're all like very happy and fulfilled that we were able to turn over such a successful project on time and on budget. It definitely did. This was probably one of the tightest schedules I've ever worked with.

She's representation in an industry dominated by men. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2023, woman made up around 11 percent of the construction workforce, and even less than that were Black women.

"I think we have a little ways to go to become a little more inclusive, but I'm really proud of the progress that everyone is making," English said.

Growing up on construction sites with her Dad, English didn't see a lot of women. That's why she values being visible and highlighting the importance of Diversity and Inclusion.

"We've come a long ways, for sure, having more black women presence on job sites and things like that," English said. I find it extremely important to go to schools. I attend a lot of different panels and things like that, to show little girls that you have it in you.

As she reflects on Black History Month, she's really grateful for her past and where her family came from.

3 people injured on popular Ann Arbor sledding hill; Man who broke arm urges caution

3 people injured on popular Ann Arbor sledding hill; Man who broke arm urges caution

Several Michiganders were ready for some winter fun this week, but instead, they ended up in the hospital. Over about 24 hours, three people, including a child, were reportedly injured while sledding at a popular Ann Arbor hill.

The injuries, which included skull fractures, spinal injuries, concussions, and broken limbs, happened at Veterans Memorial Park, prompting calls to 911.

I turned to the guy next to me and said, 'hey, call 911and my wife, please,' said Noah Harrington.

Harrington said he saw a jump at the bottom of the hill that, at first, didn't look too bad.

Harrington broke his arm and now has to have surgery to begin his healing process.

He said he knew right away that it was broken.

"Thankfully there were a lot of people around," he said.

All of the injuries on the hill were apparently tied to the snow-packed jump built by other sledders.

Harrington tells me he understands the hill is large and can be dangerous, but he believes some signage acknowledging the dangers of jumps could have helped prevent his injury.

And a sign is now up. Parks manager for the City of Ann Arbor, Josh Landefeld, said while everyone sleds at their own risk, they are asking sledders to be conscious and courteous of others trying to enjoy the hills, too.

'Sense of pride.' How Black auto workers drove the industry and UAW to new heights

'Sense of pride.' How Black auto workers drove the industry and UAW to new heights

We know Detroit is the backbone of the auto industry, and many people have been able to provide for their families because of the industry.

This rings especially true for African Americans. According to data, Black workers have historically represented a large portion of the auto industry.

I really have a different sense of pride when I walk into my place of employment, be at the plant or be it at the local hall," Lynda Jackson said.

The job at Chrysler was also special because her parents were both autoworkers.

Her father, David Garner, started working for Chrysler right after he moved to Detroit from Alabama in the 1960s. Her mother, Diane, worked at Ford.

So being in that type of family environment, you know, they're taking me to the Labor Day parades, they're taking me to the union meetings, they're taking me to the picket lines and you know, so I got to see all of this at an early age," Jackson said.

So to see the progression of the UAW seeing their first African American president, continuing to have more African Americans and other minorities on the executive board of the UAW, I think that shows a lot of progress within our organization," she added.

For decades, many Black families in metro Detroit have relied on the auto industry as a source of income.

Meadow Brook kicks off giving initiative to help restore windows damaged in vandalism case

Meadow Brook launches giving initiative to restore windows broken by vandal

After someone purposely broke two of Meadow Brook Halls historic stained glass windows earlier this month, the estate is kicking off a new initiative, asking the community to help get them restored to their original splendor.

Meadow Brook Hall Executive Director Bill Matt said the windows were broken during the early hours of February 4. The suspect reportedly kicked in one window and smashed another with a tool.

"It's kind of a mix of grief and horror, how anybody, an adult, could damage a National Historic Landmark," said Matt.

So, this week, the Meadow Brook team is launching The 1929 Club. This philanthropic monthly giving club, a nod to the year Meadow Brook was founded, aims to have people commit to giving $19.29 a month to support the cultural institution and restore the stained glass windows.

Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett has pledged to be the first member of the club.

"As Mayor of Rochester Hills, I take great pride in the unique gems that make our community special and one of those is certainly Meadow Brook Hall, our nationally recognized historic venue located right down the street," said Barnett in a statement. "After the vandalism, we want to get Meadow Brook Hall looking beautiful and back on its feet as quickly as possible.

According to Meadow Brook, it will cost $35,000 to replace the windows, which depicted scenes of the arts and are at the top of the estates ballroom. While Meadow Brook does have insurance, we're told the deductible was much higher than the cost of the damage. Meadow Brook was also recently approved for a grant to help with window restoration, but Matt says the recent vandalism was not factored into that cost.

Inside CARE House, the nonprofit helping the 3 Pontiac kids abandoned in squalor

Going inside CARE House, where the abandoned Pontiac children are being treated

The three children allegedly abandoned for years in Pontiac have been receiving treatment at CARE House of Oakland County, according to the sheriffs office.

The bright, warm building is a stark contrast to the filth and grime the children spent almost five years abandoned in.

Blythe Tyler is the president and CEO. She explained how the organization partners with authorities.

Law enforcement first calls us and sets up the interview, so that that child can come to a safe place and be able to tell their experience," she said.

At CARE House, children are given a safe space to pick out a stuffed animal, play and share their trauma. Its the first step in working through years of abuse.

If you see something, say something. It can take as little as one person speaking up to rescue a child.

If you know a child who is being neglected or abused, you can make a report to the state by calling 855-444-3911 and find more info at this link.

We're continuing to follow a community-led push to preserve green space in the Village of Romeo.

The nonprofit Green Space Romeo said it has raised over $600,000 in donations and pledges to purchase property from Romeo Community Schools.

However, the district will be looking for potential developers and others interested in buying the property.

Preservation is why Susan Kane, who's lived in Romeo for decades, has been supporting the grassroots effort to buy property from the district and turn it into a green space.

Weve lost so much of our open spaces out here. All of our farms and that have been bought up and subdivisions put in them and theres not going to be any open land, so why not preserve what we have for the future?" Kane said.

We first told you about the group's plan in the fall when they were raising money to submit a bid. Their bid of $605,000 was rejected. A for sale sign is now up on the property, making it clear the process is open to anyone else who wants to buy.

Watch below: Major effort under way to transform old Romeo Middle School

Major effort under way to transform old Romeo Middle School

Its a little discouraging of course, but from then weve just pulled ourselves up from our bootstraps and decided to get back to work," Elizabeth Miller said.

The nonprofit has gotten nearly 300 responses on their latest survey about how they should move forward. They have started a petition and are not giving up.

We believe this is still possible but its not without hurdles. We will not be able to compete financially with the developers, but what we do have that they dont have is that we have a community that really believes in this space," Miller said.

Community members not involved in the process are paying attention.

I'm excited to see what they do with the schoo, where the school used to be," James Akers said. "To see about housing or a park or anything really. I think it would good for this place. I just want them to do something good with the space really."

I think there are a lot of buildings around here and it is growing, so I think it should just be a space where people can go hang out in a park. A lot of kids are here. So I just think it should be left how it is," Sophia Romine said.

We reached out to the school board for an interview. They sent us a statement, saying in part, "The School District desires the proposed development to be neighborhood/family friendly and requires all Proposals to include a concept plan."

All bids are due by March 14, and Green Space Romeo is preparing for the next board meeting on Monday.

Where Your Voice Matters

Ford is recalling about 240,000 Explorer and Lincoln Aviator SUVs due to a problem with seat belt anchors that were improperly secured.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a loose seat belt or seat belt buckle may not properly restrain an occupant during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Ford said it is not aware of any reports of accident or injury related to the defective seat belt assemblies.

The Explorers and Aviators in question are model years 2020 and 2021. The recall includes about 216,000 Explorers and 24,000 Aviators.

Owners of the vehicles in question are expected to be notified by Ford in late March and will be instructed to take their vehicles into a Ford or Lincoln dealer for inspection. If the anchor bolts are found to be improperly secured, the components will be replaced for free.

Owners can contact Ford customer service at 866-436-7332 with a recall number of 25S09.

They can also contact the NHTSA vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236 or go online to nhtsa.gov.

Tuesday Musicale of Greater Pontiac welcomes the public to a concert performed by the 2025 student award winners of the Rosamond Haeberle and Dora Dawson musical competitions, at 3 p.m. March 9, in the Sanctuary of the Central United Methodist Church, 3882 Highland Road, Waterford Twp. The concert will feature Trinity Fan, pianist and Brendan Callies, cellist.

A part of Musicale’s mission is to support student musicians in the world of music and aid monetarily to fund their musical education. This is a free admission concert and it promises to be an exceptional afternoon of outstanding music.

Sandra DeRemer announced the Rosamond Haeberle $4,000 piano award winner is Trinity Fan. Fan made her first Weil Recital-Carnegie Hall appearance at the age of 8 as a grand winner of the NLPA International Young Artists Competition, and has been a top prize winner of numerous competitions since then. In 2022 Trinity was a finalist in the Spotlight International Piano Competition where she also won the Audience Award. Previously, she studied with Edward Auer at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as a Founders Scholar and was a recipient of the Music Faculty Award as well as a great many scholarships. Aside from performing, she has a love for teaching. At the University of Michigan, she studies with Christopher Harding and jazz piano with Andy Mine. She is currently a Graduate Student Instructor at U of M’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance and teaches at the SMTD Piano Pedagogy Laboratory Program. As a composer, Trinity was awarded Second Prize in the 2024 MTNA National Composition Competition for her piece “Reminiscence.” Fan plans to use her $4,000 award to complete her education at the University of Michigan and anticipates graduating with the degree: Master of Music Piano Performance and Pedagogy.

Mary Ann LaMonte will introduce Brendan Callies, winner of the $4,000 Dora Dawson award. Callies is a cellist currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at Wayne State University. He has been a featured soloist in the Wayne State University Orchestra and is a regular member of the International Symphony in Sarnia, Canada. Callies is a substitute musician for the New World Symphony in Florida as well as the Lansing and Dearborn Symphonies in Michigan. He has performed in Detroit with pop and jazz musicians such as the prominent bandleader and saxophonist De’Sean Jones, who leads a pop/jazz/techno/rock fusion group called the Urban Art Orchestra. Callies has also premiered new works by eminent composers such as Errollyn Wallen. Callies first began taking lessons seven years ago while in eighth grade and now at Wayne State, he studies with Una O’Riodan. After graduation he plans to continue his education by applying for graduate school. When informed that he had won the Tuesday Musicale Dora Dawson award, he immediately began searching for a new bow to purchase with his winnings.

Following the concert there will be refreshments available. Tuesday Musicale of Greater Pontiac is affiliated with the National and Michigan Federation of Music Clubs. Find information about Tuesday Musicale on Facebook or visit https://tuesdaymusicaleofgreaterpontiac.org or contact Mary Ann LaMonte (248) 673-8187.

By Shannon Heffernan for The Marshall Project

Just before the 2024 presidential election, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said that if former President Donald Trump won, he would get back into the “deportation business.” Now, the suburban Ohio sheriff has set aside 250 to 300 beds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detainees—around a third of Butler County Jail’s capacity, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, and a boon to the county’s revenue.

Overwhelming evidence shows immigrants are less likely to commit crime than people born in the U.S. Sheriff Jones himself concedes that immigrants are not more prone to crime. However, he has echoed Trump’s immigration rhetoric and vowed to do his part to enforce Trump’s plans to deport undocumented immigrants. “I believe in American citizens first. People who have blood and sweat into this country have fought for it, them first. These other countries aren’t first. We are,” Jones told WLWT.

The detention part of the “deportation business” could be a profitable one for Butler County, The Marshall Project reports. In 2024, the county made over $6.7 million renting jail beds to other local and federal government agencies, including the U.S. Marshals and the Bureau of Prisons. Even before Trump’s re-election, Butler County budgeted for an increase in that revenue to an estimated $8.5 million in 2025, according to the Journal-News.

A county commissioner offered support for the sheriff’s plans to rent more beds to ICE: “Obviously, the more prisoners we have, the more revenue it produces,” Commissioner Don Dixon said.

Butler County isn’t the only entity that could see revenue rise with the deportation of immigrants.

Trump’s plans will require building a massive nationwide infrastructure, including centers to detain people awaiting deportation, contracts to provide food and health care services during their incarceration, and planes to fly them out of the country.

The Biden administration has already laid the groundwork for deportations by extending private detention contracts. Still, Trump will face significant financial, legal, and logistical limitations in building or expanding any kind of deportation infrastructure. But even if he only partially delivers on his promises, the financial and human impacts could be significant.

Since the election, there has been a lot of attention on how many for-profit companies, especially private prisons, stand to rake in big profits from mass deportations. Some have already seen their stock prices skyrocket. But local governments may also assist Trump, for both political and financial reasons.

As The New York Times reported last month, it would be nearly impossible for Trump to execute his immigration plans without cooperation from local law enforcement.

Local law enforcement officers can check people’s immigration statuses after an arrest and pass them along to federal officials. And The New Yorker recently described how the Trump administration might make it so even more people who are arrested locally may face deportation proceedings.

The job of detaining immigrants, though, is where local governments most clearly stand to profit. County jails may rent beds to ICE, expanding detention capacity. Local governments can also sign intergovernmental agreements to provide detention for ICE, and then subcontract to private companies to actually run the jails — essentially acting as middlemen between private jails and the federal government. That allows ICE to bypass rules about documentation and competitive contracting, according to a government report.

Local jails are the most common type of detention facility that ICE uses, according to a recent report from Vera, an advocacy organization working to end mass incarceration. These kinds of agreements already exist under the Biden administration, but could expand under Trump’s deportation plans.

A 2022 report from the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal public policy institute, found that local governments sometimes use jail space to generate income, by building “jails that are bigger than they need with the expectation of selling the extra space.”

In some cases, immigrant detention is filling voids left by declining prison and jail populations.

In Louisiana, more than a dozen facilities closed after the state passed laws reducing mandatory minimums and increasing chances for parole. But some buildings were quickly repurposed to house migrants. The complex interplay between state, federal and local governments and also between public and private entities often makes oversight and accountability difficult, according to Bloomberg News. The journalistic investigation looked specifically at Louisiana’s Winn Correctional Center, which is run by the private company LaSalle Corrections.

“The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections owns the facility,” reporters at Bloomberg wrote. “The Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office leases the property from the state. The sheriff’s office then signs a contract with the federal government to allow the facility to be used for ICE detainees. Finally, LaSalle Corrections is subcontracted to handle day-to-day operations.”

When lawyers with an advocacy organization tried to get records to investigate troubling allegations of abuse, each agency insisted someone else was responsible for keeping them.

While such arrangements may grow under Trump, there is already a long history of local jails playing a role in immigration detention. “The Migrant’s Jail,” a recently published book by Brianna Nofil, shows how these practices stretch back to the 1920’s and ’30s. “By the end of the 20th century, sheriffs are funding city emergency services, buying new police technologies, and eliminating personal property tax off of migrant incarceration revenue,” Nofil told Princeton University Press.

The conditions of those jails were often inhumane. According to Nofil, in 1925, a grand jury found the situation at a Galveston, Texas jail so terrible, it declared it “a crime against humanity.”

Problems with poor conditions continue today. In August, Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey wrote a letter to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, raising concerns about deficient medical care and allegations of staff violence at Plymouth County Correctional Facility. But since then, the county has signed a new contract that more than doubles the jail’s revenue, according to The Boston Globe, “paying the sheriff’s office $215 per detainee per day.”

Some states have taken action to limit how much local governments can contract with ICE, but have met resistance for financial reasons. Illinois passed a law banning ICE detention in 2021, but two counties sued the state. In court records, Kankakee County Sheriff Michael Downey said the county’s contract with ICE generated $16 million over four years, which paid for many aspects of local government. Losing the contract would lead to a need to increase taxes, cut budgets, and lay off staff, the sheriff testified. A federal judge ruled against the counties.

Stacy Suh, Program Director at Detention Watch Network, an advocacy group that opposes immigration detention, told me that these kinds of incentives are perverse. Suh also argued that prisons and jails don’t always deliver the jobs or economic boons towns hope for.

“We’re very concerned that this detention expansion is happening—both through local governments that are struggling with shrinking budgets, or private prison corporations that are looking to profit,” Suh said.

This story was produced by The Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system, and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

The City of Detroit will get more than $3 million in recreational marijuana tax revenue, the State of Michigan announced on Friday.

The Michigan Department of Treasury announced that 108 cities, 36 villages, 80 townships, 74 counties and four tribes will receive payments as part of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act.

The City of Detroit has 54 licenses and will get more than $3.1 million in tax revneue.

"Starting this week, my team will begin to distribute adult-use marijuana payments to Michigans local units of government and tribal partners," State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks said. "The dollars received from the adult-use marijuana taxes and fees go toward schools, roads and back into Michigans neighborhoods. Local entities and tribes can spend these dollars however they deem fit for their needs."

For last year, there was more than $331 million available for distribution from the state's 10% tax. Nearly $100 million went to municipalities, $116 million went to the School Aid Fund and $116 million to the Michigan Transportation Fund.

Here's the breakdown by county in metro Detroit

Wayne - $5,007,664.76 Oakland - $2,911,433 Macomb - $1,455,716.50 Monroe - $1,164,573 Washtenaw - $2,620,289.70 Lenawee - $1,048,115.88 St. Clair - $349,371.96

You can see the breakdown by municipality below

2024 Adult Use Marijuana Distributions by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit on Scribd

By BRUCE SCHREINER

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The scramble to fill Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in Kentucky began as soon as the long-serving Republican lawmaker revealed he won’t seek reelection in 2026.

Former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron jumped into the campaign Thursday, looking for a political comeback after losing his bid for governor in 2023. Elsewhere in the GOP, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr signaled he would announce his plans soon and said he’s been encouraged by his support as he considers a Senate run. Businessman Nate Morris has signaled his strong interest in the Senate race, too.

Another prominent Kentucky Republican, U.S. Rep. James Comer, will not run for the Senate next year but is “strongly considering” a run for governor in 2027, a Comer spokesman said.

Although the prize is a Senate seat that will be open for the first time in more than 40 years, leading Kentucky Democrats did not rush to embrace the challenge in a state that has turned solidly Republican in recent years. The two Democrats holding statewide office — Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman — signaled Thursday that they won’t enter the Senate race.

McConnell announced to his Senate colleagues on Thursday that he will retire when his current seventh term ends.

The longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, McConnell relinquished his leadership post after the November 2024 election. His departure will mark the loss of a powerful advocate who steered large amounts of federal money to Kentucky. But his popularity with Republicans back home sagged after his relationship with President Donald Trump cratered.

Some Kentuckians worried that his departure would mean a loss of influence for the state.

“Someone will serve in his seat, but they will not step into his shoes in terms of seniority that he has built as the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history,” GOP political consultant T.J. Litafik said.

A top legislative Democrat, state House Minority Floor Leader Pamela Stevenson, recently filed to raise money for the Senate race. She would become the state’s first Black U.S. senator if she were to win.

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination won’t have history on their side. The last Democrat to win a Senate race in the Bluegrass State was Wendell Ford in 1992.

Meanwhile, jockeying on the Republican side after McConnell’s announcement previewed what looks to be a bumpy primary. Sniping began after Cameron signaled his Senate intentions by posting on X: “Kentucky, it’s time for a new generation of leadership in the U.S. Senate. Let’s do this.”

That provoked a bare-knuckled response from Barr’s camp. Barr spokesman Tyler Staker said Cameron had “embarrassed” Trump and the GOP by losing the governor’s race to Beshear. Staker added the party needs “proven winners,” perhaps foreshadowing Barr’s pitch for a coveted Trump endorsement.

Cameron, who also would become the state’s first Black U.S. senator if he won, fired back, saying, “You get outside of his district, nobody knows who Andy Barr is.”

Cameron told The Associated Press that he’s in the race to succeed his one-time mentor, having formerly worked as McConnell’s legal counsel. He has been planning a political comeback since his defeat in 2023. He said his values align with Kentucky voters and touted his support for Trump.

“Serving in the Senate, I’m going to make sure I stand up for the ‘America First’ agenda and the values of Kentucky,” Cameron told the AP in a phone interview Thursday evening.

A presidential endorsement, if it’s forthcoming, could tip the scales in bright red Kentucky.

“If Trump endorses, it would likely — very likely — be determinative,” said Scott Jennings, a Republican political strategist. “His influence in the party is unquestionable and Kentucky Republicans would respond to his judgment for sure.”

Things could change, of course. The party in the White House typically loses ground in midterm elections. A downward shift in the economy or any negative impact of tariffs on bourbon and other Kentucky-made products could diminish the value of Trump’s endorsement with some Kentuckians. Republicans in Washington are weighing potential cuts to Medicaid, a health care lifeline for many people in Kentucky.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said the now-open Kentucky Senate seat in 2026 would create “an additional defensive headache” for national Republicans.

Trump has previous ties with both Cameron and Barr. He endorsed Cameron’s run for governor about 11 months before the 2023 gubernatorial primary. Cameron never looked back in winning the nomination but lost to Beshear, who won a second term. In 2018, Trump gave Barr a boost by campaigning for him when the congressman faced a tough Democratic challenge in a closely watched House race.

Meanwhile, Morris has cast himself as a political outsider. While Cameron and Barr jockeyed behind the scenes while awaiting McConnell’s decision on the 2026 race, Morris bluntly said it was time for McConnell to retire. He ripped into the senator for opposing a trio of Trump nominations, and accused his potential GOP rivals of lacking the backbone to speak out about the McConnell votes.

“Anyone afraid to upset the establishment will undoubtedly be too cowardly to deliver real, conservative results for the American people,” Morris said in a recent Kentucky newspaper op-ed.

BERLIN (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance has criticized Germany’s free speech laws during an appearance at a conservative gathering outside Washington, linking the country’s limits against hate speech to American troops stationed there.

German law sets restrictions on free speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial and any glorification of the country’s Nazi past.

The limits are an effort to curb extremism and incitement, and have led to authorities policing the internet for hate speech and arresting the people allegedly posting, and reposting, such comments.

“There are thousands upon thousands of American troops in Germany today. Do you think that the American taxpayer is going to stand for that, if you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting a mean tweet? Of course they’re not,” Vance told activists gathered Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

There are nearly 84,000 U.S. service members in the European Theater, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The figure fluctuates, however, and has increased since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war on Feb. 24, 2022.

The U.S. military is stationed throughout Germany, according to U.S. European Command, including at Ramstein Air Base. A count of U.S. service members in Germany wasn’t immediately available on Friday.

Vance’s remarks followed his speech earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference, where he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy and free speech across the continent. His comments were met with rebukes from multiple European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“Obviously we’re going to continue to have important alliances with Europe,” Vance told CPAC moderator Mercedes Schlapp. “But I really do think the strength of those alliances is doing to depend on whether we take our societies in the right direction.”

Vance then claimed that “Germany’s entire defense is subsidized by the American taxpayers.”

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MICHAEL CASEY

BOSTON (AP) — A court battle resumed Friday over the Trump administration’s drastic cuts in medical research funding that many scientists say will endanger patients and delay new lifesaving discoveries.

A federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the cuts from taking effect earlier this month in response to separate lawsuits filed by a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions nationwide.

The new National Institutes of Health policy would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars to cover so-called indirect expenses of studying Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease and a host of other illnesses — anything from clinical trials of new treatments to basic lab research that is the foundation for discoveries. Now U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, must decide whether to extend the temporary restraining order blocking those cuts.

The states and research groups say such a move is illegal, pointing to bipartisan congressional action during President Donald Trump’s first term to prohibit it.

“Yet here we are again,” attorneys argued in a court motion, saying the NIH is “in open defiance” of what Congress decreed.

Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, tried unsuccessfully to block the NIH cut during an overnight Senate budget debate, saying it “violates bipartisan appropriations law. I should know, I helped author that provision. And Republicans should know – they worked with me to pass it.”

In court Friday, Trump administration attorney Brian Lea argued the issue is “broad discretion power of the executive branch” in how to allocate funds.

The administration also claims Kelley’s courtroom isn’t the proper venue to arbitrate claims of breach of contract and that states and researchers haven’t shown the cuts will cause “an irreparable injury.”

The NIH, the main funder of biomedical research, awarded about $35 billion in grants to research groups last year. The total is divided into “direct” costs – covering researchers’ salaries and laboratory supplies – and “indirect” costs, the administrative and facility costs needed to support that work.

The Trump administration had dismissed those expenses as “overhead” but universities and hospitals argue they’re far more critical. They can include such things as electricity to operate sophisticated machinery, hazardous waste disposal, staff who ensure researchers follow safety rules and janitorial workers.

Different projects require different resources. Labs that handle dangerous viruses, for example, require more expensive safety precautions than a simpler experiment. So currently each grant’s amount of indirect costs is negotiated with NIH, some of them small while others reaching 50% or more of the total grant.

If the new policy stands, indirect costs would be capped at 15% immediately, for already awarded grants and new ones. NIH calculated that would save the agency $4 billion a year.

A motion filed earlier this week cited a long list of examples of immediate harm in blue states and red states. They included the possibility of ending some clinical trials of treatments at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, that could leave “a population of patients with no viable alternative.”

Officials at Johns Hopkins University were more blunt, saying the cut would end or require significantly scaling back research projects potentially including some of the 600 NIH-funded studies open to Hopkins patients.

“The care, treatments and medical breakthroughs provided to them and their families are not ‘overhead,’” university president Ron Daniels and Hopkins Medicine CEO Theodore DeWeese wrote to employees.

Attorneys also argued the cuts would harm state economies. The University of Florida would need to cut “critical research staffing” by about 45 people, while construction of a new research facility in Detroit expected to create nearly 500 new jobs could be paused or even abandoned, they wrote.

“Implementing this 15% cap will mean the abrupt loss of hundreds of millions of dollars that are already committed to employing tens of thousands of researchers and other workers, putting a halt to countless lifesaving health research and cutting-edge technology initiatives,” the lawsuit said.

Neergaard reported from Washington.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By MICHAEL CASEY

A federal judge will on Friday consider a request to further block President Donald Trump ’s administration from freezing trillions of dollars of grants and loans that fund everything from clean energy programs to bridge repairs to emergency shelters.

U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island, who already approved a temporary restraining order on the funding freeze, is hearing a request for a permanent injunction from nearly two dozen Democrat states. If approved, it would be the first order since the Trump administration announced a sweeping pause on federal aid, stirring up a wave of confusion and anxiety across the United States.

“The confusion caused by the Federal Funding Freeze itself constitutes immediate harm by impeding planning, wasting resources to mitigate potential impacts, and unnecessarily stopping work,” the states wrote. “Without the timely disbursement of this funding, the Plaintiff States will be unable to provide these essential services for residents, pay public employees, satisfy obligations, and carry on the important business of government.”

A second lawsuit over the funding freeze by groups representing thousands of nonprofits and small businesses is being heard by U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington, D.C. AliKhan is also considering a request to issue a preliminary injunction.

In their court documents in the Rhode Island case, the states listed a litany of programs that are still waiting for federal funds or some clarity on whether the money is going to be delivered.

The funding impacted includes billions of dollars that would fund rooftop solar power in low-income neighborhoods; billions of dollars that subsidize low- and moderate-income households’ purchase and installation of electric heat pump water heaters; billions of dollars for greenhouse gas reduction programs; and hundreds of millions of dollars for bridge projects, including $220 million in federal grant funding for the replacement of Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge, a critical span that nearly 100,000 vehicles each day.

Last month, the White House said it would temporarily halt federal funding to ensure that the payments complied with Trump’s orders barring diversity programs. The Republican president wants to increase fossil fuel production, remove protections for transgender people and end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

The administration rescinded the memo outlining its planned funding freeze, but many state governments, universities and nonprofits have argued federal agencies continue to block funding for a range of programs.

Earlier this month, McConnell, who is based in Rhode Island and was nominated by President Barack Obama, ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal spending. Federal money remained tied up even after his Jan. 31 order blocking a planned halt on federal spending, he found.

“These pauses in funding violate the plain text of the (temporary restraining order),” McConnell wrote. “The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country.”

The government argues its move to freeze funds is legal and says the request for a preliminary injunction is moot since the memo from the Office of Management and Budget has been rescinded. They also argue the states are exaggerating the impact of the freeze.

“Plaintiffs here seek to portray the Executive Branch’s actions in extreme terms, as imposing an indefinite pause on all federal funding,” the administration wrote. “In reality, this case is about something far more modest — the Executive’s ability to instruct agencies to temporarily pause discrete categories of funding, to the extent doing so is consistent with their underlying statutory authorities, to ensure that such funding aligns with a new Administration’s priorities.”

A Canadian singer who performed "O Canada" prior to the start of Thursday's 4 Nations Face-Off championship game changed one of the lyrics in an apparent protest.

Chantal Kreviazuk modified the line "all of us command" to "that only us command" in an apparent response to President Donald Trump's proposal to turn Canada into the 51st U.S. state. The line "all of us command" had been added to the Canadian national anthem in 2018 to replace the lyric "all thy sons command."

Before Thursday's game, Kreviazuk said she sang "all thy sons command" instead of the amended lyrics.

"During soundcheck I sang the wrong words, 'in all thy sons command,' out of habit, and when I analyzed the new line I thought, wow this could mean something so pertinent to our country in this moment with a change in just two words, three syllables," she said. "I didnt dream that such an effect would be had by deciding to go out there and do it. But it really felt like the right thing to do."

RELATED STORY | Trudeau jabs Trump proposal after Canada's comeback win over Team USA

Thursday's battle between Team USA and Canada was the second time in a week the countries' top hockey players met on the ice. When the two teams squared off in Montreal on Saturday, a smattering of boos could be heard during the U.S. anthem. Likewise, some booing came during the Canadian anthem from American fans.

After the U.S. won on Canadian soil on Saturday, Canada returned the favor on Thursday, toppling Team USA 3-2 in overtime to claim the 4 Nations Face-Off crown.

After Thursday's championship game, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to take a shot at President Trump in a social media post.

"You cant take our country and you cant take our game," he said.

RELATED STORY | Proposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico paused after countries agree to tougher border security measures

Following the game, Kreviazuk, a native of Winnipeg, said she received love and support for her protest.

"The anthem is not a lawful document; it is an expression of the collective, and it changes from time to time when the moment demands it should. So yes, in this very peculiar and potentially consequential moment, I truly believe that we must stand up, use our voices, and try to protect ourselves," she said.

An Alabama city suspended its entire police department Thursday after most of its officers were indicted on corruption charges brought to light in part by the overdose death of a dispatcher.

The move came a day after a grand jury indicted five Hanceville Police Department officers, including the chief, and one of their spouses, citing a “rampant culture of corruption” and recommending that the entire force be abolished.

Jim Sawyer, mayor of the 3,200-population city about 45 miles north of Birmingham, temporarily handed law enforcement duties over to the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office, placing all department employees on leave as of 5 p.m. Thursday.

Chief Jason Marlin, 51, was charged with two counts of failure to report ethics crime and tampering with evidence, reported WBRC.

Charges against Cody Alan Kelso, 33; Jason Scott Wilbanks, 37; William Andrew Shellnutt, 39, and Eric Michael Kelso, 44, included evidence tampering, distribution of controlled substances, and a variety of other felonies. Kelso’s wife, 63-year-old Donna Reid Kelso, faced similar charges.

Especially concerning was the “unfettered access” people had to the department’s evidence room, Cullman District Attorney Champ Crocker said in a news conference Wednesday, illustrating his point with photos of a hole in the wall and a green broomstick that people would use to force the door open.

Such access may well have led to the death of 49-year-old dispatcher Christopher Michael Willingham, who had been found in his office on Aug. 23, 2024. The Cullman County Coroner’s Office ruled his death accidental, caused by a toxic combination of fentanyl, gabapentin, diazepam, amphetamine, carisoprodol and methocarbamol, according to WBRC.

The grand jury called his death a “direct result of Hanceville Police Department’s negligence, lack of procedure, general incompetence, and disregard of human life.”

“With these indictments, these officers find themselves on the opposite end of the laws they were sworn to uphold,” Crocker said Wednesday in announcing the indictments, calling it “a sad day for law enforcement, but at the same time it is a good day for the rule of law.”

With News Wire Services

Social media has been buzzing with the possibility of American taxpayers getting a check from the money Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency claims it's saving the country.

But how much would DOGE actually have to recoup for the 79 million tax-paying households to get the proposed $5,000 checks? Let's do the math! 79 million $5,000 = $395 billion.

RELATED STORY | What do senators think of a potential 'DOGE dividend?

Nearly $400 billion in savings. That's how much DOGE would have to save for each taxpayer to receive the $5,000 checks and that's without any of the savings going to pay down the nation's debt, which many lawmakers have said they want to do with the money.

President Donald Trump appeared open to a plan to send checks to taxpayers, however, he suggested returning 20% of the DOGE savings to Americans. So, under Trump's plan, DOGE would need to save $1.975 trillion for Americans to receive $5,000 checks.

For perspective, that's more than the entire federal discretionary budget, which covers everything from defense to education to transportation, combined.

RELATED STORY | Trump backs direct payments to Americans from savings generated by DOGE

DOGE claims it has already saved Americans $55 billion, but the number has been disputed because errors are consistently spotted in their accounting. For instance, DOGE claimed it saved $8 billion after canceling an Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract. However, the amount of that contract was actually worth $8 million.

Whether Americans should expect to see any check from DOGE savings is still highly speculative, so it's probably not a good idea to plan on spending that money before you have the cash in your hand.

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk appeared at a conservative gathering outside Washington waving a chainsaw in the air, showing openness to auditing the Federal Reserve and accusing Democrats of “treason.”

Musk, the Tesla CEO who has become perhaps President Donald Trump’s most influential adviser, spoke Thursday about his crusade to cut government spending and downsize the federal workforce with the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The entrepreneur was first announced earlier that day as a speaker, drawing huge cheers from activists gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Before his appearance, he met with Argentine President Javier Milei, who has been frequently praised by Musk and popularized the power tool while campaigning in 2023 and proposing slashing public spending.

After Musk appeared onstage, wearing shades and his trademark black “Make America Great Again” hat, he said Milei had a gift for him. The Argentine leader then walked onstage with the red chainsaw and passed it to Musk. The chainsaw was engraved with Milei’s slogan, “Viva la libertad, carajo,” which is Spanish for “Long live liberty, damn it.”

“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” he said.

Musk slammed the previous Biden administration for its immigration policies, specifically naming an app that was used by nearly 1 million people to be allowed into the U.S. on two-year permits with eligibility to work. He accused Biden and Democrats of doing that as an “investment” to get more support in swing states.

“A lot of people don’t quite appreciate that this was an actual real scam at scale to tilt the scales of democracy in America,” Musk said before Newsmax host Rob Schmitt asked him, “Treason?”

Musk responded, “Treason.”

When Schmitt asked him if he would consider auditing the Federal Reserve, Musk responded, “Yeah, sure, while we’re at it.”

“Waste is pretty much everywhere,” Musk said.

The billionaire joked that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has told him he is worried about his security and said he was open to ideas on how to improve his safety measures.

“President Bukele from El Salvador, who managed to put in prison like a hundred thousand murderous thugs, and he called me. ‘I am worried about your security,’” he said the Central American leader told him. “I’m like, ‘Dude, you are worried about my security?’”

When asked to describe what is like inside his mind, Musk replied: “My mind is a storm. It’s a storm.”

Steve Bannon, a popular Trump ally who once served as his chief strategist, followed Musk’s appearance and acknowledged he was not the evening’s top attraction as he took the stage to a far less enthusiastic reception.

“How did I draw the card to follow Elon Musk?” Bannon asked about a man he has frequently criticized as insufficiently loyal to Trump. “C’mon man! You bring out the world’s wealthiest guy, Superman. I’m supposed to follow it? I’m just a crazy Irishman!”

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed from New York.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — An idea first proposed on social media has bubbled up to the White House and received President Donald Trump’s enthusiastic endorsement: Take some of the savings from billionaire Elon Musk’s drive to cut government spending and return it to taxpayers.

“I love it,” Trump said late Wednesday on Air Force One, when asked about the proposal.

If Musk’s target of $2 trillion in spending cuts is achieved by next year, supporters of the idea say that about one-fifth of those funds could be distributed to taxpaying households in checks of about $5,000.

But before you start planning for a windfall, budget experts say such huge savings — nearly one-third of the federal government’s annual spending — are highly unlikely. And sending out a round of checks — similar to the stimulus payments distributed by Trump and then President Joe Biden during the pandemic — could fuel inflation, economists warn, though White House officials dismiss that concern.

With the annual budget deficit at $1.8 trillion last year and Trump proposing extensive tax cuts, there will also be significant pressure to use all the savings to reduce that deficit, rather than pass on part of it.

Here’s what to know about the proposal:

Where is this coming from?

James Fishback, founder of investment firm Azoria Partners which he launched at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, promoted the idea Tuesday on X, formerly known as Twitter, prompting Musk to respond that he would “check with the president.” Fishback said there have also been “behind the scenes” conversations about the issue with White House officials.

Musk has estimated that his Department of Government Efficiency has cut $55 billion so far — a tiny fraction of the $6.8 trillion federal budget. But DOGE’s public statements so far haven’t verified the presumed savings, and its claims that tens of millions of dead people are fraudulently receiving Social Security have been disproven.

Fishback supports having the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determine how much DOGE saved. If DOGE cuts $500 billion by July 2026, he said, then the checks would be $1,250, rather than $5,000.

“We uncovered enormous waste, fraud and abuse,” Fishback said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And we are going to make good and pay restitution and then rewrite the social contract between the taxpayer and the federal government.”

Fishback supports sending out checks, rather than using all the money to reduce the deficit, because it would encourage Americans to seek out wasteful government spending “in their communities, and report it to DOGE.”

When am I going to get my check?

OK, let’s slow down. According to the proposal, DOGE must first complete its work, slated to be done by July 2026. Once that happens, one-fifth of any savings could be distributed later that year to the roughly 79 million households that pay income taxes. About 40% of Americans don’t pay such taxes, so they wouldn’t get a check.

How much can DOGE really save?

Color most economists and budget experts skeptical that its focus on “waste, fraud, and abuse” can actually reduce government spending by much. Budget-cutters from both parties have sought to eliminate “waste” — which doesn’t have much of a political constituency — for decades, with little success in reducing the deficit.

One of the biggest moves by the Trump administration so far has been to fire tens of thousands of government workers, but such changes aren’t likely to produce big savings.

“Only a small share of total spending goes to federal employees,” said Douglas Elmendorf, former director of the Congressional Budget Office. “The big money is in federal benefits and in federal taxes and those are not in DOGE’s purview.”

In November, John DiIulio Jr., a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in an essay for the Brookings Institution that “eliminating the entire federal civilian workforce would leave in place about 95% of all federal spending and the $34 trillion national debt.’’ DiIulio noted that government contractors and nonprofits that receive government funds now employ three times as many people as the federal government’s 2.2 million employees.

It’s also not clear how much in savings can be achieved without Congress codifying it in law.

“Firing someone doesn’t save money until Congress comes back and reduces the appropriation for that employee’s agency,” Elmendorf said. “If you fire somebody but leave the appropriation where it is, then … that money can be spent on something else. So DOGE can’t really achieve savings until there’s legislative change as well.”

Wouldn’t another round of government checks contribute to higher inflation?

Trump and his economists blame Biden’s $1,400 stimulus checks, distributed in the spring of 2021, for fueling the worst spike in inflation in four decades. Yet they maintain that sending checks stemming from reduced government spending wouldn’t boost inflation.

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said Thursday that since the money would have been spent by the government anyway, having it spent by consumers would be a wash. Biden and Trump’s stimulus checks during the pandemic were deficit-financed, which can be more inflationary.

But Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Yale Budget Lab, and an economist in the Biden White House, said that more government checks are “the last thing we need economically right now.”

The U.S. unemployment rate is now much lower than in 2021, Tedeschi said, which means that businesses could struggle to hire enough workers to meet the additional demand created by a round of checks. Worker shortages can push up prices.

Yet some Democrats agree with Hassett, but for different reasons.

“I can’t imagine they’d be inflationary because I can’t imagine they’d be big enough,’’ said Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.

Kamarck, who worked with Vice President Al Gore to cut government waste in the Clinton administration, dismissed the DOGE dividend as “ridiculous.”

“There’s no money there, and certainly not enough money to make a big contribution to taxpayers,” she said. “The guy just says things,” she added, referring to Musk.

HopCat announced this week it will open a location in Southgate later this year, the 11th location in the state.

Project BarFly, which operates HopCat and Stella's Lounge, said the new location will open at 15231 Trenton Rd. at the intersection of Trenton and Eureka.

We couldnt be more thrilled to open our doors in Southgate, Project barFly CEO Craig Stage said in a statement. Were excited to bring our love for craft beer and comfort food to this amazing community and create a space where everyone feels welcome. We cant wait to meet our neighbors, share great moments, and become a go-to spot in Southgate.

It will open in the former space of Old Chicago. The 6,700 square foot restaurant will accommodate up to 220 guests with an open floor plan, have 40+ craft beers, a full-service bar, an outdoor patio and more.

The company is looking to hire 100 employees at the new location, and they're looking for managers now.

It's expected to open this summer.

On Feb. 25, 1946, Gov. Harry Kelly signed Public Act 9 into law, creating the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund (MVTF) from $50 million in post-World War II reserve funds.

Since then, the MVTF has helped veterans of every wartime era overcome unexpected expenses ranging from utility bills to home repairs to mortgage assistance and get back on their feet financially.

The Emergency Grant Program is intended to help veterans overcome an unforeseen situation causing a temporary or short-term financial emergency or hardship that a grant will resolve and for which the applicant can demonstrate the ability to meet future expenses.

Beginning December 2021, peacetime-era veterans 65 years and older are now eligible for emergency assistance as part of the MVTF’s 65+ Peacetime Program. The program allows veterans who served in a peacetime era, have at least 180 days of service, and were discharged under honorable conditions to apply for emergency assistance. A person is eligible to apply any time during the year in which they turn 65.

To apply for emergency funds from the MVTF, veterans should contact the MVTF county committee serving the county where they reside.

Oakland County Veterans’ Services has been providing Oakland County veterans and their families with professional veterans benefits advocacy and assistance for more than 60 years.

They have a staff of highly trained and accredited Veterans’ Benefits Counselors who are dedicated to ensuring that the sacrifices of our nation’s veterans are recognized and that they and their families receive all veterans benefits to which they are entitled. The Oakland County Veterans’ Services team’s mission is to obtain the maximum veteran benefits available to veterans and their families, while making the process as simple and understandable as possible.

For more information, visit www.oakgov.com/government/veterans/benefits-services or call the Pontiac office at 248-858-0785, or the Troy/South Oakland office at 248-655-1250.

Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency staff available to attend veterans events

Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency (MVAA) staff members are available to attend and/or speak at events for veterans or events that involve veteran issues. To request MVAA staff to speak at an event, participate on a panel or present a session, staff a booth or table, provide brochures and information on health care, education, employment and other topics concerning veterans, or to have a veteran-focused event added to the MVAA website, fill out the event invitation form at: www.michigan.gov/mvaa/forms/event-invitation. For more information, visit www.michigan.gov/mvaa/about-us/request-event.

Upcoming events

• Oxford American Legion Post 108 to host Euchre from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24 and from noon to 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27 and Fish dinners from noon to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at 130 Drahner Road, Oxford. For more information, call 248-628-9081.

• Royal Oak American Legion Post 253 to host Taco Tuesday at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25 and Friday Night-Swedish Meatballs at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at 1505 N. Main St. For more information, call 248-546-0490.

• Oxford American Legion Post 108 to host Chef’s Choice Buffet from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 130 Drahner Road, Oxford. For more information, call 248-628-9081.

• Clarkston American Legion Post 377 to host Bingo from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25 and a Fish Fry from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at 4819 Mary Sue Ave. For more information, call 248-673-9301.

• Milford American Legion Post 216 to host Burger Nite from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, at 510 W. Commerce Road, Milford. For more information, call 248-684-9919.

• Berkley American Legion Post 374 to host Pancake Platter Feast from 9 a.m. to noon, Sunday, March 2, and Music Trivia at 7 p.m. Thursday Feb. 27, at 2079 W. Twelve Mile Road, Berkley. Breakfast cost for adults-from $10, under 12-from $5. Beverages available to purchase. For more information, call 248-542-7668.

The Oakland Press is interested in all veterans events in Oakland County. Please send info in the body of an email with subject line “Veterans Affairs” to Sharon Longman at sslstart@aol.com. Allow two weeks’ notice for scheduled events and include a phone number for readers to call for more information.