The Detroit Lions entered the second evening of the 2025 NFL Draft having clear needs at defensive end and along the offensive line.

In the second round, Detroit made the decision to trade up to the No. 57 position. In a deal with the Broncos, the Lions traded pick No. 60 and No. 130 in exchange for pick No. 57 and 230.

With their second selection, general manager Brad Holmes targeted offensive lineman Tate Ratledge.

Last season for the Georgia Bulldogs, the talented offensive lineman had a 74.4 overall offensive grade and a 74.7 run-blocking grade via Pro Football Focus.

According to NFL draft analyst Dane Brugler, “Overall, Ratledge is a self-described ‘dirtbag’ with the contact power, competitive edge and functional movement skills to match up against NFL defensive linemen. He should compete for a starting role as a rookie and has the necessary tools for a decade-long pro career, if he stays healthy.”

The Lions return four of their five starters, with the exception being Kevin Zeitler. The veteran guard departed Detroit to sign a one-year contract with the Tennessee Titans.

Ratledge could compete for a starting job immediately along with Christian Mahogany, who started two games last season as a rookie.

Detroit took the opportunity on the first day to address the need along the interior of the defensive line. The expectation is Alim McNeill will miss the start of the regular season and will not be rushed back to action.

On the first night of the draft, Holmes claimed the class of edge rushers was solid and there could be a player available near where the team was selecting in the second-round.

Detroit added defensive line help with its first selection of the 2025 NFL draft, adding Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams with the 28th overall selection. Williams profiles as an early down run-stuffer with the potential to develop as a serious pass-rush threat.

Barring any trades, Detroit will make their next selection later in the evening in the third-round (No. 102).

 

Lions 2025 Draft Selections

Round 1, pick 28: Tyleik Williams, DT, Ohio State

Round 2, pick 57: Tate Ratledge, OL, Georgia

Remaining Picks

Round 3, pick 102

Round 6, pick 196

Round 7, pick 228

Round 7, pick 230

Round 7, pick 244

This article was produced by the staff at Detroit Lions On SI. For more, visit si.com/nfl/lions

ALLEN PARK — Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson doesn’t want to set the bar too high for the Detroit Lions’ newest draft pick.

But he kind of did anyway.

After Lions general manager Brad Holmes compared Tyleik Williams, the 28th pick in Thursday night’s NFL Draft, to Alim McNeill, Johnson said Williams’ traits remind him of someone else: Future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Aaron Donald.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he’s Aaron Donald, but his movements skills, like to be able to change directions — Aaron Donald’s really good at doing what we call a jab-olé, inside-outside, and then he can go power,” Johnson said Friday on a conference call with local reporters. “I think Tyleik’s got the same kind of movement because he can go power, he can go finesse if given the opportunity.

“Aaron Donald’s in a league by himself. I don’t want to put that pressure on Tyleik going into the league. But there are some things that he does — Aaron Donald does real easy, and Tyleik has that same kind of movement skills. But Aaron Donald’s a really special player. I don’t think there’s many guys like him.”

Put another way: You can go a long time without seeing a 6-foot-3, 334-pound tackle who moves quite like Williams does. Which is why, even though Williams was more of a run-stuffer in college, there seems to be a high level of confidence from all parties that he’ll be able to become a legitimate pass rusher in the NFL.

“Two things that jump right off the bat is his initial quickness off the ball, and for a big guy to be able to bend and turn corners like he does, it’s just unprecedented. You just don’t do that very easily,” Johnson said, adding that his first impression of Williams was watching him run a 4.9-second 40-yard dash at 340 pounds.

“His get-off is real wicked, and he’s got strong, violent hands, and he understands the pass sets and the run sets. I think that’s really important recognition of what he sees, and Tyleik is really one of the best players I’ve seen to be able to do that. … But his twitch, man, it’s God-given. He had it and he used it to his advantage.”

Amidst yet another round of discussions about whether Holmes could have gotten his first-round pick (in this case, Williams) later in the draft, Williams said the Buffalo Bills’ front office told him they were going to take him with the 30th pick if he was still on the board.

“They kind of told me if I was there, they wanted me,” Williams said.

Besides his athleticism being off the charts for a man of his size, Johnson called him a “very high-character guy” who will endear himself to teammates through his personality and the way he studies the game.

“He has a way of picking up (the offense’s) signals. Zoro could be left, or Cowboy could be right. He would understand exactly where the ball is going. He’d start telling the guys, ‘It’s going right, it’s going right. It’s going left, it’s going left,’” Johnson recalled. “He would come to the sideline and say, ‘Coach, here’s their signals. Here’s their calls. Here’s their run-game calls.’ … He wants to know where the ball is going.”

In an era where college players transfer schools like they’re changing lanes on the freeway, Williams played all four seasons for the Buckeyes, finally achieving the ultimate goal of winning the national title this past January.

While there couldn’t have been many Lions fans who were happy to see Williams’ Buckeyes win the national title, his championship pedigree is undoubtedly a bonus for his next team, which is also on the cusp of greatness. Williams brought it in the postseason, recording 13 pressures over four College Football Playoff games with 14 tackles (three for loss).

“I’ve been through hard games — of course, it’s not the same as the NFL,” Williams acknowledged during his visit to Allen Park on Friday. “I’ve played Texas, Notre Dame, Oregon — I’ve played all those top teams who have these top players. I’ve gone against these guys my whole college career and I’ve had great games against all of them.”

Johnson said Williams got better as the lights got brighter.

“That’s the thing about Tyleik I love about him. He’ll come to the sideline and he’ll have a moment when I see it, and say, ‘It’s time to go, man, it’s time to open the game,’” Johnson said. “He’s done it in so many different big games.”

Williams must admit that feeling welcome in the state of Michigan will take some getting used to. After spending four seasons at Ohio State, Williams is ready to leave behind his disdain for that state up north.

“I’ve learned to hate this state for the last four years, but getting drafted here, I’m just happy. I can put all that behind me. Of course, it’s still the team up north — I’m still not going to say it,” Williams said.

“But I’m just happy I’m here.”

By all accounts, the Lions should be extremely happy he’s here, too.

10 Mile Road

10 Mile Road between Ryan Road and Lorraine Avenue in Warren and Center Line. One lane of traffic will be maintained in each direction. Turning movements from 10 Mile Road onto intersecting roads will be restricted at times with flagging operations in place. Starting April 28, 10 Mile Road will be closed at the railroad crossing between Garden Court and Liberal Street. Sherwood Avenue will be closed at 10 Mile Road.  Access to residential and business properties will be maintained throughout the duration of the project.  Project consists of road rehabilitation between Ryan Road and Sherwood Avenue and road reconstruction between Sherwood Avenue and Lorraine Avenue. Drivers are encouraged to follow posted detours and seek alternate routes when possible. Project duration through November.

18 Mile Road Bridge

18 Mile Road Bridge over the Plumbrook Drain in Sterling Heights. 18 Mile Road between Van Dyke Avenue and Mound Road will be closed to through traffic. Access to all residential and business properties will be maintained throughout the duration of the project. Drivers are encouraged to follow the posted detour and seek alternate routes. Project consists of removal and replacement of the existing bridge deck with a new concrete deck, steel painting, full depth road construction, guardrail and restoration work. Project duration is anticipated to be through June.

34 Mile Road Bridge

34 Mile Road Bridge over Highbank Creek between Armada Ridge Road and Russ Road. 34 Mile Road will be closed to thru traffic between Armada Ridge Road and Russ Road due to bridge replacement. Drivers are encouraged to follow posted detours and seek alternate routes when possible. Project duration is through August.

Clinton River Trail

Due to a washout on the Clinton River Trail in Rochester, the trail has been closed west of the Macomb Orchard Trail and Dequindre Road. Follow the posted detour route.

Dequindre Road, Shelby Twp.

The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) is continuing to work on the second phase of infrastructure improvements in the area of Dequindre Road between Hamlin Road and Avon Road and Dequindre Road between 23 Mile Road and 24 Mile Road is expected to be closed through fall. The Clinton River Trail and Macomb Orchard Trail between Letica Drive and 24 Mile Road will be closed. Drivers are encouraged to follow the posted detours and seek alternate routes when possible. Project consists of installation of new 96-inch water transmission main and is part of GLWA project. Project duration through Dec. 31. 

Garfield Road

Garfield Road between 14 Mile and 15 Mile roads in Fraser. Northbound traffic will be maintained on the southbound lanes of Garfield Road. Southbound traffic on Garfield Road will be detoured to Utica Road.  The eastbound right turn lane and westbound left turn lane of 15 Mile Road will be closed at Garfield Road. The westbound left turn lane from Klein Road to Garfield Road will be closed. Drivers are encouraged to follow the posted detours and seek alternate routes when possible. Project consists of road reconstruction and duration is through August.

South River Road Bridge

South River Road Bridge over the channel to Lake St. Clair east of Lakeshore Drive in Harrison Township. South River Road will remain open to traffic, but there are alternative boat launch locations available in Macomb County.  A temporary bridge structure will be in place. Project consists of bridge replacement. Project duration will be through August.

M-3 (Gratiot)

In Macomb County, northbound and southbound M-3 will be closed at Cotton Road from 9-10 a.m. Saturday i 15 minute increments for utility work.

In Wayne County, northbound M-3 from Burns Street to I-94 will have one lane open until May 3 for concrete repair.

I-275

In Wayne County, northbound I-275 ramp to eastbound I-96 will be closed from 6 a.m. Monday until late June for reconstruction.

In Wayne County, southbound I-275 ramp to eastbound I-96 will be closed from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday for pavement markings.

In Wayne County, northbound I-275 ramp to westbound M-14 will be closed for construction through Nov. 15.

I-696

In Oakland County, westbound I-696 from Southfield Road to Lahser Road will have two lanes open until late July for bridge repair.

In Oakland County, eastbound I-696 from I-275 to Orchard Lake will have three lanes open until early May for joint sealing, barrier wall work.

Eastbound I-696 will be closed from M-10 to I-75 for road reconstruction through Nov. 15, 2026.

I-75

In Oakland County, southbound I-75  from Saginaw/Dixie/Exit 106 to Belford Road will have one lane open until 5 a.m. Monday for culvert.

In Oakland County, southbound Saginaw/Dixie Highway ramp to southbound I-75 will abe closed until 5 a.m. Monday for culvert.

In Oakland County, northbound and southbound I-75/M-24 connector to northbound M-24 will have one ramp lane open from Monday until May 5 for culvert repair.

In Oakland County, eastbound and westbound I-75 BL/Square Lake will be closed from M-1/Woodward to Opdyke will be closed intermittently from 7-9 a.m. Saturday for cable crossing.

In Oakland County, southbound I-75 from I-696 to John R. will have two lanes open  from 7 a.m.-noon Saturday for pavement work.

In Wayne County, southbound I-75 ramp to Springwells will be closed from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday for fencing/finishing work.

In Wayne County, northbound and southbound I-75, Rouge River Bridge, Fort/Schaefer to Dearborn Street will have one lane open intermittently  from 9 p.m. Monday until 5 a.m. Tuesday for bridge work.

In Wayne County, southbound Schaefer ramp to northbound I-75 will be closed from 9 p.m. Monday until 5 a.m. Tuesday for bridge work.

In Oakland and Genesee counties, southbound I-75 will have two lanes open from Holly to M-15/Ortonville for pavement marking/barrier wall placement for traffic shift until early November.

In Oakland County, southbound I-75 ramps to and from northbound and southbound US-24/Dixie Highway will be closed until early November for for pavement marking/barrier wall placement for traffic shift.

In Oakland County, eastbound and westbound Grange Hall ramp to southbound I-75 will be closed for pavement marking/barrier wall placement for traffic shift until early November.

In Oakland County, southbound I-75 ramps to and from Holly Road will be closed for  pavement marking/barrier wall placement for traffic shift until early November.

In Wayne County, northbound I-75 service drive from Wilde Street to Waterman Street will have one lane open until mid-May for watermain work.

In Oakland County, northbound Dixie Highway/Saginaw Road ramp to I-75 will be closed until early November for construction.

In Oakland County, eastbound and westbound East Holly ramp to northbound I-75 will be closed  until early November for construction.

I-75 from M-15 to Genesee county line will have two lanes open until 7 p.m. Nov. 3.

I-94

In Wayne County, westbound I-94 will be closed from Ecorse Road to Middlebelt from 2-10 a.m. Sunday for utility crossing.

In Wayne County, eastbound I-94 from Middlebelt to Ecorse Road will have two lanes open from 1 a.m. noon Sunday for utility work.

In Wayne County, the Ecorse ramp to westbound I-94 will be closed from 2-10 a.m. Sunday for utility work.

In Wayne County, eastbound I-94 from Moross to Allard will have one lane open from 8-11 a.m. Saturday for bridge work.

In Wayne County, westbound I-94 from Allard to Moross will have one lane open from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday for bridge work.

In Wayne County, eastbound I-94 ramp to US-24/Telegraph will have one ramp lane open  through late April for maintenance.

In Wayne County, eastbound I-94 will have two lanes open from Middlebelt to Ecorse from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. daily through May 4 for median utility work.

I-96

In Wayne County, eastbound I-96 ramp to Newburgh will be closed from 6 a.m. Monday until late June for reconstruction.

In Wayne County, eastbound Schoolcraft Road at Newburgh will have one lane open  from 6 a.m. Monday through late June for reconstruction.

M-10 (Lodge)

In Wayne County, northbound M-10 from I-75 to I-94 will have one lane open until 8 p.m. Sunday for bridge work.

In Wayne County, southbound M-10 from I-94 to I-75 will have one lane open until 8 p.m. Saturday for bridge work.

In Wayne County, southbound M-10 ramp to Larned will be closed until late May for bridge work.

M-14

In Wayne County, northbound and southbound Edward N Hines Drive will be closed at M-14 from 4 a.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Wednesday for bridge work.

M-14/I-96

In Wayne County, eastbound M-14/I-96 will have one lane open from Sheldon to Newburgh until September for bridge rehabilitation and road and ramp reconstruction.

M-15 (Ortonville)

In Oakland County, southbound M-15 ramp to southbound I-75 will be closed  until early November for temporary markings/barrier wall.

M-59

In Oakland County, westbound M-59/Highland, Teggerdine to Pontiac Lake  Road will have one lane open from until late April for curb/gutter work.

M-85 (Fort Street)

In Wayne County, northbound Schaefer/M-85 ramp to northbound I-75 will be closed from 9 p.m. Monday until 5 a.m. Tuesday for bridge work.

M-97 (Groesbeck)

In Wayne County, southbound M-97 will have one lane open from State Fair Street to Seven Mile Road from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Saturday through May 9 for gas main work.

M-102 (8 Mile Road)

In Oakland and Wayne counties, westbound M-102 will have two lanes open from Southfield Road to Lahser Road until June.

M-153 (Ford Road)

In Wayne County, westbound M-153/Ford Road from M-39/Southfield to Evergreen will have three lanes open until 5 p.m. Saturday for drainage work.

In Wayne County, westbound M-153/Ford ramp closed to northbound M-39/Southfield until 4 p.m. Saturday for drainage work.

US-12 (Michigan)

In Wayne County, westbound US-12 BR will be closed west of Denton from 6 a.m. Monday until mid-May for road repair.

In Wayne County, eastbound and westbound US-12 BR will have one lane open from Denton to Rawsonville until mid-May for road repair.

US-24 (Telegraph)

In Oakland County, southbound US-24 from M-59/Huron to Voorheis will have two lanes open  from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through May 1 for gas main work.

— MediaNews Group staff

A developer of the proposed mixed-use project on the former Kmart headquarters in Troy hinted this week that the project may be dead.

“I’m a little bit fit to be tied. Maybe we’ll see you again and maybe we won’t,” said Nate Forbes, managing partner of The Forbes Co., after the city’s Planning Commission postponed a decision Tuesday, April 22, that would have moved the project forward.

Through a spokesperson, the company declined further comment.

The commission voted 7-1 to postpone a decision on a concept development plan for the site.

Commission member Toby Buechner cast the dissenting vote.

“I want it to go through, so I’m saying, ‘No,’ ” he said.

The Forbes Co. is partnering with Stuart Frankel Development Co. on the project at the former Kmart Corp. headquarters on Big Beaver Road at Coolidge Highway. The sprawling building was demolished in late 2023 and early 2024 after sitting vacant for 17 years.

Several commission members said the plans as submitted by the partnership, Forbes Frankel Troy Ventures, were not specific enough.

The partnership proposed up to 750 residential units, 500,000 square feet of office and 300,000 square feet of retail space, as well as a 250-room hotel.

“There has to be a little bit more specificity on the uses for us,” said commission Chairwoman Marianna Perakis. “For me, it’s a total free-for-all,” she said of the submitted plans.

She said she wanted to know, at the least, the minimum amount of the development to be dedicated to residential use.

“We don’t have a clear picture” of the entire development, said commission member Jayalakshmi Malalahalli. She said she wanted more assurance that the retail portion would not include uses such as drive-through establishments.

“We’re going to have to have a little bit of faith in each other,” Forbes said, adding that his company owns the Somerset Collection shopping center next to the site, and the new development would follow the same standards on aesthetics and type of uses allowed.

He said the new development would be “very Cranbrook-esque,” with high-quality brick, stone and metal used.

The Forbes Frankel partnership first appeared before the Planning Commission about eight months ago, and made several changes, such as increasing the size of a park on the site, he said.

The Forbes Co. bought the vacant Kmart site in 2009 for $17.5 million. The company has been paying taxes, cutting the grass and providing security on the site since then, and wanted to move forward on the new development, Nate Forbes said at the meeting.

The Forbes Frankel partnership paid for the demolition, according to a release from the city.

The headquarters opened in the early 1970s. It closed in 2006, when Kmart merged with Sears Holdings Corp. and moved most operations in Troy to the Sears headquarters in a Chicago suburb.

The University of Michigan bought about 11 acres of the roughly 40-acre site for a multi-speciality health facility that would provide diagnostic and therapeutic services and ambulatory surgery.

Michigan Medicine, the health arm of UM, said in a release last year that it plans to expand clinical services and increase patient access in Oakland County.

Under the Michigan Constitution, UM is exempt from local zoning ordinances. Its portion of the development can not be reviewed by the  city, but plans do have to abide by state laws governing fire codes and other safety regulations.

University regents recently approved the schematic design. The 224,000-square-foot, four-story building is expected to open in spring 2027, according to a release from Michigan Medicine.

No trial in child pornography case for Troy man

Oakland County development project receives $131 million brownfield incentive from state

The Aug. 5 primary ballot in some communities reflects an increase in interest in running for local office.

In Pontiac, for example, six candidates have filed to run for mayor, up from five in 2021. In Southfield, three candidates are running for mayor.

Pontiac

Six filed for the Pontiac mayor’s seat being vacated by Mayor Tim Greimel, who is running for the District 10 Congressional House seat.

Pontiac’s mayoral candidates:

•  Gill Garrett, Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy and former school board president.

•  Mark E. Holland, Sr., a former city councilman and former deputy mayor who ran for the District 9 commission seat in 2017 and for Pontiac’s school board in 2012.

•  Mike McGuinness. Current city councilman and board president.

•  Deirdre Waterman, former two-term Pontiac mayor.

•  Kermit Williams, Oakland Forward’s executive director and former city councilman and board president.

•  Wendell Woods, former teacher

Three are running for Pontiac’s new at-large council seat: Adrian Austin, Marcus Bowman; Rev. William Parker, Jr., an incumbent councilman; and Sennel K. Threlkeld, an Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy who works in Pontiac.

Sixth District candidates are Cassandra Bradford, Regina K. Campbell and Troy F. Craft. Craft is currently a Pontiac school board trustee.

Southfield

Long-time Mayor Ken Siver has two opponents for the next 4-year term: Sylvia Jordan who has served 17 years on the council and has previously run for the mayor’s seat, Ryan Foster, who has run for council twice, state senator once and last year campaigned for Congress.

By ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is poised to crack down on leaks of information to the news media, authorizing prosecutors to issue subpoenas to news organizations as part of leak investigations, serve search warrants when appropriate and force journalists to testify about their sources.

New regulations, announced by Attorney General Pam Bondi in a memo to the workforce obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, rescind a Biden administration policy that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations — a practice long decried by news organizations and press freedom groups.

The new regulations assert that news organizations must respond to subpoenas “when authorized at the appropriate level of the Department of Justice” and also allow for prosecutors to use court orders and search warrants to “compel production of information and testimony by and relating to the news media.”

The memo says members of the press are “presumptively entitled to advance notice of such investigative activities,” and subpoenas are to be “narrowly drawn.” Warrants must also include “protocols designed to limit the scope of intrusion into potentially protected materials or newsgathering activities,” the memo states.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people,” Bondi wrote.

The regulations come as the Trump administration has complained about a series of news stories that have pulled back the curtain on internal decision-making, intelligence assessments and the activities of prominent officials such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said Wednesday that she was making a trio of referrals to the Justice Department over disclosures to the media.

The policy that Bondi is rescinding was created in 2021 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in the wake of revelations that the Justice Department officials ls alerted reporters at three news organizations — The Washington Post, CNN and The New York Times — that their phone records had been obtained in the final year of the Trump administration.

The new regulations from Garland marked a startling reversal concerning a practice that has persisted across multiple presidential administrations. The Obama Justice Department, under then-Attorney General Eric Holder, alerted The Associated Press in 2013 that it had secretly obtained two months of phone records of reporters and editors in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into newsgathering activities.

After blowback, Holder announced a revised set of guidelines for leak investigations, including requiring the authorization of the highest levels of the department before subpoenas for news media records could be issued.

But the department preserved its prerogative to seize journalists’ records, and the recent disclosures to the news media organizations show that the practice continued in the Trump Justice Department as part of multiple investigations.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from implementing an executive order that a labor union says would cancel collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled that a key part of President Donald Trump’s March 27 order can’t be enforced at roughly three dozen agencies and departments where employees are represented by the National Treasury Employees Union.

The union, which represents nearly 160,000 federal government employees workers, sued to challenge Trump’s order. The union said it would lose more than half of its revenue and over two-thirds of its membership if the judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction.

Friedman said he would issue an opinion in several days to explain his two-page order. The ruling isn’t the final word in the lawsuit. He gave the attorneys until May 2 to submit a proposal for how the case should proceed.

Some agencies, including the FBI, are exempt from a law requiring federal agencies to bargain with labor organizations over employment matters. Presidents can apply the exemption to agencies that have a “primary function” of performing intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative or national security work.

But no president before Trump tried to use the national security exemption to exclude an entire cabinet-level agency from the law’s requirements, according to the employees’ union. It said Trump’s order is designed to facilitate mass firings and exact “political vengeance” against federal unions opposed to his agenda.

“The President’s use of the Statute’s narrow national security exemption to undo the bulk of the Statute’s coverage is plainly at odds with Congress’s expressed intent,” union attorneys wrote.

Government lawyers argued that the court order requested by the union would interfere with the president’s duty to ensure federal workers are prepared to help protect national security.

“It is vital that agencies with a primary purpose of national security are responsive and accountable to the American people.” Justice Department attorneys wrote.

The IRS is the largest bargaining unit represented by the National Treasury Employees Union. A day after Trump signed his order, the administration sued a union chapter in Kentucky to seek a ruling that it can terminate the collective bargaining agreement for the IRS.

The union says the administration has “effectively conceded” that its members don’t do national security work. The union members affected by the executive order also include employees of the Health and Human Services Department, the Energy Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Communications Commission.

The union said it will lose approximately $25 million in dues revenue over the next year. Some agencies, it says, already have stopped deducting union dues from employees’ pay.

“In the absence of preliminary injunctive relief, NTEU may no longer be able to exist in a manner that is meaningful to the federal workers for whom it fights,” union lawyers wrote.

Government attorneys argued that the courts typically defer to the president’s judgment on national security matters.

“Executive actions that are facially valid — that is, within the lawful authority of the executive — are entitled to a presumption of regularity,” they wrote.

Early voting starts Saturday for a handful of Oakland County communities with measures on the Tuesday, May 6, ballot.

Voters can cast ballots in person on Election Day, early at municipal sites or by absentee ballot.

There will be no county-run central voting site for this election at Waterford Oaks County Park.

Early voting hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through May 4. Thursday’s early voting hours are noon to 8 p.m.

Election day hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. All absentee ballots must be returned to the municipal clerk’s office by 8 p.m. on election day.

Clawson

Voters will decide two city charter amendments.

Proposal 1, if approved, would maintain the city council at four members plus the mayor. If the proposal is defeated, the council will expand to six seats plus the mayor, as stated in the city charter approved in 2023.

Proposal 2, if approved, would set terms of office for the city council members to four years, with elections every two years. If defeated, the three candidates with the most votes win 4-year terms and the candidate with the fourth highest vote wins a 2-year term of office.

Early voters can cast their ballots at the Troy Community Center, (use the east entrance), 3179 Livernois Road in Troy.

Ferndale

City voters will be asked to approve a 10-year, 5.4 millage to replace money lost through the Headlee Act rollbacks. If approved, the city would receive nearly $5.4 million starting in 2026.

Taxes on a property with a state-equalized value of $150,000 would increase by $174 a year, or $14.52 each month.

Voters in the Ferndale public school district will decide a 30-year, $114.8 million bond question. The money would be used to pay for additions and renovations to Ferndale’s middle/high school buildings as well as for new equipment, furniture and upgrading fine art spaces and athletic fields and improved technology.

The district serves Ferndale, Oak Park Precinct 9 and Precinct 10, Pleasant Ridge, and Royal Oak Township Precinct 1.

Early voters can cast their ballots at the Hazel Park Community Center, 620 W. Woodward Heights Blvd. in Hazel Park or Oak Park Community Center, 14300 Oak Park Blvd. in Oak Park.

Madison Heights

Voters in Madison Heights’ Lamphere school district – those living in Precincts 5 through 9 – will decide a 30-year, $85 million bond proposal.

If approved, the bond will increase property taxes on a home with a state-equalized value of $200,000 by $415.00 a year or $34.58 each month.

The district will use the money for remodeling facilities, buying new equipment and furniture, upgrading playgrounds, athletic fields and adding secure entrances at school buildings. A gym will be added to the high school and district technology will be upgraded, including equipment for the middle-school robotics program.

Early voters can cast their ballots at the Leo Mahany/Harold Meininger Senior Community Center, 3500 Marais Ave. in Royal Oak.

Learn more at https://www.oakgov.com/government/clerk-register-of-deeds/elections-voting/voter-information or contact your municipal clerk’s office.

By HOLLY RAMER

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Nineteen states that refused to comply with a Trump administration directive aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public schools went a step further Friday, filing a federal lawsuit challenging what they consider an illegal threat to cut federal funding.

The lawsuit filed in Massachusetts by Democratic attorneys general seeks to block the Department of Education from withholding money based on its April 3 directive ordering states to certify their compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.” States also were told to gather signatures from local school systems certifying their compliance by April 24.

Instead, the plaintiffs informed the government that they stand by their prior certifications of compliance with the law but refuse to abandon policies that promote equal access to education.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are legal efforts that help students feel safe, supported and respected. The Trump administration’s threats to withhold critical education funding due to the use of these initiatives are not only unlawful, but harmful to our children, families, and schools,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.

The new lawsuit comes a day after judges in three states ruled against the Trump administration in separate but related cases.

A Maryland judge postponed the effective date of a Feb. 14 memo in which the education department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race. A judge in Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary injunction against the April certification letter. And in New Hampshire, a judge ruled that the department can not enforce either document against the plaintiffs in that case, which includes one of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions.

All three lawsuits argue that the guidance limits academic freedom and is so vague that it leaves schools and educators in limbo about what they may do, such as whether voluntary student groups for minority students are still allowed.

The new lawsuit accuses the administration of imperiling more than $13.8 billion, including money used to serve students with disabilities.

“Plaintiffs are left with an impossible choice: either certify compliance with an ambiguous and unconstitutional federal directive — threatening to chill polices, programs and speech – or risk losing indispensable funds that serve their most vulnerable student populations,” the lawsuit states.

In addition to Campbell, the plaintiffs are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The education department did not respond to a request for comment Friday. President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Linda McMahon, has warned of potential funding cuts if states do not return the certification forms.

In a Tuesday interview on the Fox Business Network, McMahon said that states that refuse to sign could “risk some defunding in their districts.” The purpose of the form is “to make sure there’s no discrimination that’s happening in any of the schools,” she said.

ALLEN PARK — As the first round of the NFL Draft rolled on, Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph was busy making his own dreams come true on the second floor of the team’s facility in Allen Park.

He officially put pen to paper on a contract that made him the highest-paid safety in NFL history. Naturally, he couldn’t stop smiling.

“It’s a great day,” Joseph said while strolling to the podium in Detroit’s media room, donning a custom suit with his nickname, “Zuper,” on the lining.

Three years ago this weekend, Joseph heard his name called as a third-round pick out of Illinois. All he’s done since then is lead the NFL with 17 interceptions, the most in the league during that span. The lucrative four-year, $86 million deal, which keeps Joseph in Detroit through 2029, is well deserved.

But while he tends to make those interceptions look easy, getting here was anything but.

“It didn’t happen quick. It wasn’t quick. I would say it took its time, but it was perfect timing, honestly. I knew it was going to take a minute, but I knew I just had to stay the course like how I’ve been doing all my life,” Joseph said. “Just staying down, being humble, keeping my faith. As I always said, God got me. So whenever I have hard times, I just pray, man. And I just keep my faith. Me doing that got me to this opportunity right here.”

Joseph was drafted when the Lions were coming off a 3-13-1 season. Over the last three years, he’s been a pivotal piece of two division titles and an NFC Championship appearance. His timely turnovers have swung many games over his career, particularly last season, when he led the league with nine picks and earned First Team All-Pro honors.

As he fielded questions Thursday night, he proved once again that he is a Lion through and through.

“Honestly, the money never motivated me. I do this because I love it,” Joseph said. “Of course, it’s a bonus. Don’t get me wrong. It comes with it, but I really play this game because I love it, man. I just have a certain passion for this game. I feel like I could never let go.”

Dating back to last offseason, the Lions have inked several homegrown talents to top-of-market deals (or close to it): Offensive tackle Penei Sewell (four years, $112 million), wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (four years, $120 million) and defensive tackle Alim McNeill (four years, $97 million).

Now, Joseph turns his attention to bigger goals, both personal and team-oriented. If the Lions do achieve the ultimate prize during Joseph’s tenure, he’s going to be a big reason why.

“I want to be the best. I need to be the best. I need to put on that gold (Hall of Fame) jacket. I feel like it’s just everything I’ve worked for all my life,” Joseph said. “I just feel like that gold jacket, you mix that with a Super Bowl … that’s just a great little mix right there. You can never take that away from me. So that’s just two things that I really want to go for.

“The Super Bowl for my team, as a teammate, and as a player for the Lions, and just to put on that gold jacket one day and be recognized for all my talent.”

He’s certainly off to a good start.

Today is Monday, April 21, the 111th day of 2025. There are 254 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 21, 2016, Prince, one of the most inventive and influential musicians of modern times, was found dead at his home in suburban Minneapolis from an accidental fentanyl overdose; he was 57.

Also on this date:

In 1836, an army of Texans, led by Sam Houston, defeated the Mexican Army, led by Antonio López de Santa Anna, in the Battle of San Jacinto, the final battle of the Texas Revolution.

In 1910, author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died in Redding, Connecticut, at age 74.

In 1918, German Air Force pilot Manfred von Richthofen, nicknamed “The Red Baron,” was killed at age 25 after being shot during a World War I air battle over Vaux-sur-Somme, France.

In 1930, fire broke out inside the overcrowded Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, killing 322 inmates in the deadliest prison disaster in U.S. history.

In 1975, with Communist forces closing in, South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned after nearly 10 years in office, fleeing the country five days later.

In 1980, Rosie Ruiz was the first woman to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon, but was later exposed as having cheated by entering the racecourse less than 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) before the finish line. (Canadian Jacqueline Gareau was named the actual winner of the women’s race.)

In 2015, an Egyptian criminal court sentenced ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison over the killing of protesters in 2012. (Morsi collapsed and died during trial on espionage charges in June 2019.)

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor-comedian-filmmaker Elaine May is 93.
• Author-activist Sister Helen Prejean is 86.
• Singer Iggy Pop is 78.
• Actor Patti LuPone is 76.
• Actor Tony Danza is 74.
• Actor Andie MacDowell is 67.
• Musician Robert Smith (The Cure) is 66.
• Actor Rob Riggle is 55.
• Actor James McAvoy is 46.
• Former NFL quarterback Tony Romo is 45.
• Actor Gugu Mbatha-Raw is 42.

ANN ARBOR — Michigan’s Fred Richard and Paul Juda finished first and second in the all-around and Wolverines team total of 332.224 edged them past five-time defending champion Stanford (332.961) on Saturday to win their first NCAA men’s gymnastics title since 2014.

Juda, the individual champion on the parallel bars with a score of 14.200 and host Michigan’s last competitor of the day, scored a 13.966 on the vault to clinch the program’s seventh national title. The Wolverines finished second, 5.635 points behind Stanford, at the 2024 championships.

Oklahoma finished third with 327.891, ahead of Nebraska (326.222), Penn State (317.258) and Illinois was sixth with 316.293. Penn State and Oklahoma each hold a record 12 national titles.

Stanford’s Asher Hong took home the individual title in the floor exercise (14.600) and defended his crown with a score of 14.433 on the rings. Patrick Hoopes of Air Force scored a 14.833 to win the horse championship, Ohio State’s Kameron Nelson (14.633) won the vault title and Emre Dodanli claimed the high bar championship for Oklahoma with a score of (13.833).

Richard and Juda won bronze medals for Team USA at the Paris Olympics.

DETROIT – Tarik Skubal didn’t want anyone to misinterpret the somber nature of the clubhouse or lose perspective about what’s been going on with this Tigers baseball team.

“We won three out of four,” Skubal reminded everyone after a tough, 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Royals Sunday. “I think the vibe you have in here right now is that we just lost. But look at this series. Winning three our of four is a very positive thing. And we’ve won a lot of series this year. We have to continue doing that and it starts tomorrow against the Padres.”

Contributing to the subdued Easter Sunday vibe, too, was that slugger Kerry Carpenter was pulled from the game in the top of the ninth inning with an apparent right hamstring injury.

“Injuries always suck,” Skubal said. “Hopefully it’s nothing. He’s a big part of our lineup…hopefully it’s nothing serious. Let’s pray for the best.”

Manager AJ Hinch said Carpenter felt something in the hamstring after legging out an infield single in the seventh inning. He would’ve batted third in the bottom of the ninth had he been able to stay in the game.

Carpenter was sent for tests after the game and was not available to comment.

“All losses are tough to swallow,” Hinch said. “This was a winnable game. We put ourselves in position and probably could’ve tacked on and created a little more space. But they did a good job of battling back.”

What stings, too, is that the Tigers contributed to their own demise. The Royals tied the game in the top of the eighth with an unearned run, created by a Javier Baez throwing error. And the Royals won it in the 10th, scoring the free runner without the benefit of a hit.

“You mix up any other sequence of events in the 10th and they don’t score a run,” said reliever Tyler Holton who set down six straight hitters in two innings and still got charged with the loss. “They did a good job of getting (the free runner) over and hitting something deep enough to get him in.

“I struck out the last guy. Wish I’d struck out one of the first two.”

The free runner was Drew Waters, whom Holton struck out to end the ninth. Waters advanced to third on a ground out to second by Jonathan India and scored on sacrifice fly to left by Bobby Witt, Jr.

The loss prevented the Tigers not only from the sweep, but also from getting a little slice of history. A win would have made them the first Tigers team in 83 years to start a season 9-1 at home. Not even the champion 1984 team, with a 35-5 start, did that.

They used a Royals’ misplay to break a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the seventh and then returned the favor in the top of the eighth.

Gleyber Torres was on first with one out when first baseman Salvador Perez fielded Carpenter’s ground ball. Both the pitcher, lefty Daniel Lynch, and second baseman Makail Garcia went to cover the base and Perez threw the ball right between them.

t was scored a single and Carpenter, even though he tweaked his hamstring, stayed in the game at that point. Zach McKinstry, whose two-hit RBI single in the fifth tied the game 2-2, was up next. Hinch, with right-handed hitter Andy Ibanez available off his bench, stuck with the lefty-lefty matchup.

“They would’ve brought (righty John) Schreiber in for Ibanez,” Hinch explained. “So the two matchups were a sidearm, nasty righty at 94 mph on Andy or Z-Mac, who has defended himself against a lot of guys. Credit to Z-Mac for giving us the option to hang in there.”

McKinstry, now 7 for 17 against lefties this season, responded with the RBI knock, his third hit of the game.

They missed a chance to expand the lead when Schreiber, the former Tiger and downriver native, got Riley Greene to hit into a 3-2-3 double-play with the bases loaded ending the seventh.

The Tigers gave the lead back in the top of the eighth. With Tommy Kahnle pitching, Baez, playing third base, made an errant throw to first on a ground ball by Witt Jr., a two-base error. One out later, another former Tiger, Mark Canha cashed it in with an RBI single.

The pesky Royals offense made it a short outing for Skubal, too, something they have done to him before. They grind out at-bats, scratch out a few singles and just be a general nuisance. They worked a couple of long innings, pushed his pitch-count up and got him out of the game in five innings. That alone is a win for most teams.

“That’s a good team over there,” Skubal said. “They fouled off a ton of pitches, even good pitches and were able to push some stuff the other way. I gave up seven singles and it seemed like all of them were to the right side. Clearly that was their approach and one through nine they were able to execute it.

“That hard to do and they were able to do it.”

At one point, after Waters blooped a second opposite-field single, Skubal had to joke with him.

“I’ll give you one, but not two,” Skubal said, laughing. “And you saw Salvy (Perez) in the dugout. He was laughing, holding up two fingers.”

The Royals pushed across two runs in the second inning, stringing four singles, including a two-strike RBI single by lefty-swinging Vinnie Pasquantino.

It was just the fifth hit and first RBI Skubal has allowed to a left-handed hitter this season.

“They came out with an incredible team approach against him,” Hinch said. “They were conceding one side of the field (the pull side). They were conceding a lot to create some action on the bases. They did a good job of staying on his fastball and his changeup, fighting off pitches while still working everything toward right field.

“Tarik continued to try and disrupt their timing but not a ton was taking them off their plan.”

Skubal still did a lot of Skubal-like things. He pounded the strike zone (18 of 23 first-pitch strikes), got 12 swings and misses (eight with his changeup on 23 swings) and 21 called strikes.

“That team made me make a bunch of good pitches and they were able to put the bat on some mistakes,” Skubal said. “That’s what that team does. They’re really good.”

He was asked, in hindsight, knowing they were going to be committed to an opposite-field attack plan, what he might’ve done differently to counteract it.

“I probably wouldn’t tell you guys,” he said. “Those are conversations I’ve already had. I think you can see with their swings and stuff. I just need to be better at executing pitches when I know that’s what’s going on.”

Fair enough.

 

DETROIT – Entering play Sunday, the Tigers were the only team in baseball to boast four starting pitchers with ERAs under 3.00. They were also one of the few to not have a pitcher make a single start on the traditional four days of rest.

Cause and effect?

Probably not. But the extra rest between starts has not been accidental.

“The goal is to routinely give guys extra rest this season,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game. “And that’s been on purpose. It’s been designed and it’s been somewhat of a gift from the schedule with the off days early in the year.”

It’s why Keider Montero was called up last week to enlarge the rotation to six. It’s why Montero will get a second start Monday against the Padres.

“One of the things I said when Keider got here was we wanted to give the rotation an extra day,” Hinch said. “When we decided to push to get him a second appearance, we had the opportunity to insert him whenever we wanted to.”

They chose to insert him Monday, a decision at least partially impacted by Casey Mize’s strong seven-inning win Saturday. If the bullpen, already taxed and an arm short, had to pick up multiple innings Saturday, Hinch could have kept Jack Flaherty in place on Monday – figuring with Tarik Skubal (Sunday) and Flaherty going back-to-back, the bullpen could get back on track.

“We are going to continue to do this,” Hinch said. “Just being aware of our whole rotation and being proactive on that as opposed to waiting and being reactive. This has evolved into being the best plan to gain the most in terms of rest and recovery.”

It’s not an exact science, of course, but there is some correlation between the extra rest and performance gains.

“Opinions on that vary,” Hinch said. “The information that comes with that can vary pitcher to pitcher. But generally speaking, recovery is the hardest thing to gauge. We’re a sport that thrives on routine. And the everyday component and the history of the game will tell us that these guys like to pitch routinely every five days.

“The rest and recovery information will tell you that stuff is just a little bit better when you get more rest.”

The data gets a little fuzzy, though, when the extra day of rest turns into two and three days of extra rest. Then it becomes a rust vs. rest argument.

“The best laid plans will get messed up by Mother Nature or odd games or uncontrollable circumstances,” Hinch said. “We targeted this part of the schedule because this is the longest stretch of games in the month of April (23 games in 24 days).

“You need to be adaptable and balance the proactive approach with the fatigue and soreness that come with the rigors of the season, and inevitably it comes at a different time for each pitcher. So it may not be the blanket, ‘everybody gets an extra day of rest’ when we chose to do it again.”

Welcome Bailey Horn

There’s been somewhat of a disconnect with Tigers’ newest reliever, lefty Bailey Horn, between the quality of his stuff and the results.

And neither Hinch nor Horn hesitated when asked for the cause of this disconnect.

“Strike zone,” Hinch said.

“Get in the zone,” Horn said. “Attack the hitters starting with strike one and stay on top of them. Compete in the zone and don’t nibble.”

The 27-year-old, who debuted with the Red Sox last season, has a power arm (95 mph with his fastball) and an 82-mph sweeper. And when he’s working ahead in the count he can be menacing.

Too often, though, he has not been in the zone. He had an 11.4% walk rated in 18 innings with the Red Sox last season and he walked eight in 8.1 innings at Triple-A Toledo this year. He also posted 11 strikeouts.

“If you look across his stuff, there is a lot to like,” Hinch said. “The power, the ability to manipulate the ball and get it to move — there’s a lot he can offer. The difference between Triple-A and the big leagues for him is the strike zone. He’s got to be a reliable strike-thrower and keep his outings condensed to impact the competition.

“The execution is going to be game-changer if we can get him in the zone.”

The Tigers liked his stuff enough to acquire him twice. They claimed him off waivers last November, released him in January, and re-acquired him for cash from St. Louis on March 13.

He was asked if the command issues were a function of trust or mechanics.

“Maybe a mixture of both at times,” he said. “It’s execution. Just executing pitches in the zone.”

Old friend alert

Look who was batting cleanup for the Royals Sunday.

Mark Canha, who was among the Tigers’ roster purge at the trade deadline last season, was activated off the injured list by the Royals, completing what has been an odd stretch for him.

A free agent this winter, he sat waiting until Feb. 24 when the Brewers signed him to a minor-league contract. Then on March 22, he was traded to Kansas City.

“Yeah, the wait was a lot longer than I expected,” he said. “But I knew it would work out in the end and it did. And here I am. Happy camper.”

Canha got off to a hot start with the Royals, going 5 for 14 with a pair of doubles. But he went on the injured list on April 9 with an abductor strain.

Like most, Canha was locked in to the Tigers’ run at the end of last season.

“That was an incredible run,” he said. “Hats off to them. I was pulling for them. I was texting the guys in the playoffs, like, ‘All right, let’s go.’ Sending them encouraging texts. It was fun to watch.”

Canha, in his return to the lineup, got the pleasure of facing reigning Cy Young winning Tarik Skubal. Back on Aug. 31, 2021, when Canha was playing for Oakland, he homered and doubled off Skubal at Comerica Park.

The legitimacy of the homer has been a topic of banter between the two, since the right-handed hitting Canha snuck his home run inside the right-field foul pole.

Around the horn

Spencer Torkelson entered play Sunday leading the American League with 14 extra-base hits. He also had four game-winning RBI on his early-season resume.

… Utility player Matt Vierling (rotator cuff) took an intense round of fielding drills at third base before the game with infield coach Joey Cora. The expectation is, barring setback, he could start his rehab assignment as soon as the end of next week.

… Skubal, over his last 17 starts at Comerica Park before Sunday, had an 11-1 record with a 1.88 ERA.

NEW YORK — Cade Cunningham used a screen from Isaiah Stewart and instantly crossed over Karl-Anthony Towns, who was a bit slow to step up in help defense. The move created an open lane for Cunningham, who finished the play with a two-handed dunk at the 4:05 mark of the third quarter.

His basket was a part of the 19 points the Detroit Pistons scored during the final six minutes of the period, which resulted in a 91-83 lead against the New York Knicks entering the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s playoff game.

“It was a lot of fun being out there — I enjoyed it a lot,” Cunningham said. “I think the whole group enjoyed it. It was loud in there. It was rocking, so those are the best games to play in.”

Cunningham’s dunk was arguably his best play during his playoff debut Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. However, his double-double performance of 21 points and 12 assists wasn’t enough, as the Pistons sustained a 123-112 Game 1 loss to the Knicks.

Cunningham walked off the court dejected after the Pistons gave up 40 points in the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ comeback win, but he remained grateful for the overall experience.

“Playing our game, battling on the boards, playing with pace, and getting stops, those are the many things that clicked for us,” Cunningham said. “At the end [we] just got to clean up the little things. … It was a solid game through three quarters, but the fourth quarter comes, and there are things we’ll clean up.”

As the player who led Detroit to a 3-1 regular-season record against New York, Cunningham understood that he would be the primary objective of the Knicks’ defensive strategy during their best-of-seven series.

He entered the game with an understanding of how they would defend him. He knew the Knicks would send multiple bodies to force the ball out of his hands. Every time he came off a screen, an extra defender would step up to seal an open lane to the basket.

New York assigned various players to guard Cunningham throughout the night, but Knicks small forward OG Anunoby took the lead as the primary defender. At times, Anunoby’s aggressive defense made it challenging for Cunningham to catch the ball while forcing him into several tough shot attempts.

“OG, he’s a hell of a player,” said Knicks guard Josh Hart. “Defensively, we have faith in him to guard anybody. We’re all locked in and dialed into him. He’s a good player, but OG loves those kinds of matchups, especially in the playoffs, where you can be physical; he’s a physical guy, being able to get through screens and those kinds of things. We need his offense obviously, but more importantly, his defense every game.”

With Anunoby at the helm, Cunningham finished the night shooting 8-of-21 from the field, including one made 3-pointer, and committed six turnovers. Three of his giveaways accounted for the six turnovers the Pistons committed as a whole during their fourth-quarter collapse.

After a subpar debut, the All-Star guard vows to learn and adjust from his mistakes ahead of their Game 2 matchup. His most significant lessons came from acknowledging his lack of ball security and making a commitment to improving his decision-making and overall play on both ends of the floor.

Cunningham’s crossover and dunk late in the third quarter were among a few plays when he gave a glimpse into the player who averaged 30.8 points per game against the Knicks during the regular season. He is determined to regain form in an attempt to help the Pistons end their nine-game playoff losing streak come Monday night.

“This was definitely a learning experience,” Cunningham said. “It was something I’ve never been a part of. But also, I did not treat it like it was a different game. I tried to approach it like a regular game, read what the defense gives me and exploit it. At the end of the day, it’s basketball…

“We’re excited. I’m excited for this series to keep going. I’m ready for Game 2.”

The Pistons and Knicks will meet for Game 2 on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. in New York. FanDuel Sports Network and TNT will carry the game.

DETROIT — Instead of preparing for Game 1 of the playoffs on Saturday, the Red Wings were packing for the summer and saying their goodbyes.

It’s become a familiar routine. This is the ninth consecutive year the Wings are outside of the playoff picture, the second-longest streak currently in the NHL (Buffalo is at a record 14) and the fourth longest all-time in the NHL.

You could sense the frustration Saturday and the disappointment is mounting.

“We can’t make excuses anymore,” forward Alex DeBrincat said. “It’s time to take that next step and be a competitor. We have to do it.”

The Wings never were able to sustain the sort of positive traction that would have produced a playoff season.

They started slowly, and a 13-17-4 record at the Christmas break forced general manager Steve Yzerman to fire Derek Lalonde and hire Todd McLellan.

The Wings immediately surged. They had two seven-game win streaks and were in playoff position at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament break. But going 9-13-2 to end the season, including another miserable March (4-10-0), sent the Wings home again in mid-April.

“It’s not fun. You want to get ready to play Game 1 right now and that didn’t happen,” forward Lucas Raymond said. “Everyone is disappointed. We put ourselves before the 4 Nations break to be in a good spot coming back and making a good push for it. It didn’t click for us.”

Raymond completed his fourth NHL season and has yet to make the playoffs.

“You grow up playing hockey, and you play to win, whether that’s a Pee-Wee tournament or whatever it is,” Raymond said. “You’re always used to playing those games and not being able to do that is frustrating. Not fun at all.

“Everyone is determined to change that, and we want to take next step very soon.”

There were positives. The injection of youth and contribution by players such as Marco Kasper, Elmer Soderblom, Jonatan Berggren, Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson — along with more help next season — gives considerable hope for the future. Players like Moritz Seider, Dylan Larkin, Raymond and DeBrincat are still very much in the prime of their careers.

Plus, McLellan will have a full training camp to incorporate his systems, which the Wings believe will be a major plus.

“Todd is real good coach and I’ve been very impressed with him,” said Larkin, the Wings’ captain. “(Having) training camp with our group, our young guys and our core with him, it could be very valuable. Todd will really help turn this around here.”

Larkin, 28, made the playoffs his rookie season (2015-16) and has yet to return. The Waterford native admits it’s been “difficult.”

“(It’s) something I think about a lot, think about it every day for a long time during days. But that doesn’t do any good and you have to go out and play and win hockey games,” Larkin said. “We came up five or six wins short this year.”

The swoon in March, for basically the third consecutive year, will be on the Wings’ minds. Once the losing started and the momentum was going away, they couldn’t turn it around.

“It’s something we can’t figure out,” Seider said. “We’re always engaged. We’re dialed in. But we just couldn’t get it done. That hurt us. We were in it, and after March it was tough to look at the standings. I don’t really have an explanation.”

Playing hurt

Larkin played all 82 games this season but admitted Saturday he returned from the 4 Nations tournament — in which he was one of Team USA’s best players — with injuries.

“I picked up a couple injuries there and that’s just what it is. There were times I didn’t feel good and was playing hurt and I wasn’t able to do some things, a lot of things I wanted to,” Larkin said. “But I still went out there and tried my best. It is another disappointing year. I did play all 82 games, but I would have liked to be more effective in a lot of them.”

Larkin had 30 goals and 40 assists but was off the point-per-game pace he was near, or at, the last three seasons.

Larkin didn’t think any sort of surgeries would be needed for his injuries before adding he doesn’t “know yet.”

Ice chips

Patrick Kane, a prospective unrestricted free agent, would like to return to the Wings.

“I’ll take some time to think, but overall I’ve really enjoyed my time here,” Kane said. “It’s a great place to continue to my career and play and there are a lot of things about the organization that have helped me, not only with my (hip) injury but find a good role within the team and play. There’s definitely some mutual interest coming back and continuing on here.”

… Soderblom, who has been battling an undisclosed injury, expects to play for Grand Rapids in the AHL playoffs.

“If my injury gets back to 100%, I’ll be down there,” Soderblom said.

… Potential UFAs goaltender Alex Lyon and defenseman Jeff Petry both said they haven’t given much thought yet to what their futures hold. Petry, 37, is 19 games short of 1,000 for his career and is planning on playing next season.

Petry disclosed he had abdominal surgery the second half of this season, which limited him to 44 games.

… Andrew Copp (shoulder surgery) said he’ll be completely healthy for the start of September training camp.

Ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft (April 24-26 in Green Bay), we’ll be taking a position-by-position look at the Detroit Lions‘ roster and how the team’s needs can be met on draft weekend. Today: Secondary.

Current roster outlook

The Lions have steadily fixed their secondary over the last few seasons. After years of it being a deficiency, the safety tandem of All-Pro Kerby Joseph and Pro Bowler Brian Branch proved to be one of the best, if not the best, in the NFL last season.

Joseph became eligible for a contract extension this offseason and is entering the final year of his deal; next offseason, Branch will be in the same position. Should Detroit bring them both back, it’s possible that the duo will end up as some of the highest-paid safeties in the league (with each deal worth upward of $20 million annually).

Though that position looks strong, Detroit bid farewell to Ifeatu Melifonwu in free agency. When healthy, Melifonwu’s combination of size and speed made him a dangerous player in three-safety looks, with his blitzing ability among the best on the team, so there’s a role up for grabs there. Entering the draft, the Lions’ safety depth is comprised of Loren Strickland, Erick Hallett II and Morice Norris. It’d be prudent to start backfilling at this position at the draft to make some decisions down the road a bit easier.

At cornerback, the team is in good shape. Terrion Arnold, the No. 24 pick in last year’s draft, steadily improved over his rookie season and is a top candidate to take the biggest leap in 2025. Opposite of Arnold, the team ensured the departure of Carlton Davis III wouldn’t sting too badly by signing veteran DJ Reed, a player of similar caliber, from the New York Jets in free agency.

The Lions added another cornerback in last year’s draft, Ennis Rakestraw Jr., with the 60th pick. He was a standout in training camp but dealt with injuries all of last season and missed out on a starting opportunity in Week 2 that could have led to a prominent role in the defense for the rest of his rookie campaign. Rakestraw is expected to challenge Amik Robertson, who’s entering the final season of his two-year agreement, for the starting nickel cornerback job next season.

Khalil Dorsey, one of the team’s best gunners on punt coverage, is also back for another season and will serve as a reliable depth option alongside returning defensive back Stantley Thomas-Oliver and two free agency signings, Avonte Maddox and Rock Ya-Sin.

Level of need: Low-medium

Detroit has up-and-coming talent all over its secondary, but will face some extreme financial commitments because of it in the next few seasons. If the Lions hope to get cheaper in the defensive backfield, it’d be wise to start adding that talent in the near future. Given the track record of Lions general manager Brad Holmes, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Lions add a cornerback or safety (or both) early in this draft.

At the top

This year’s cornerback group features the draft’s most tantalizing prospect, two-way star and reigning Heisman winner Travis Hunter (Colorado). It’s expected that he’ll be gone within the first few picks, most likely to the Cleveland Browns at No. 2. Behind him, Jahdae Barron (Texas), who picked off five passes last year, and Will Johnson (Michigan) are projected to be the next two cornerbacks off the board, with both of those guys having the potential to be top-15 picks.

From there, the top of the board has a lot of variance. West Bloomfield’s Maxwell Hairston (Kentucky) has been climbing up draft boards since the NFL Combine and could sneak into the back half of the first round. Shavon Revel (East Carolina), who had his 2024 season ended by a torn ACL, is also a late climber with first-round potential. Other potential first-rounders include Trey Amos (Ole Miss), Azareye’h Thomas (Florida State) and Benjamin Morrison (Notre Dame).

At safety, there are really only two prospects with first-round buzz entering next week: Malaki Starks (Georgia), who fits the do-it-all mold of a player like Branch, and Nick Emmanwori (South Carolina). Most mock drafts have Starks as the first safety off the board, with some even believing he could be a top-10 pick. But as we’ve seen with top safeties over the years, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see him slip to the end of the first round, making him available for the Lions, or into Day 2 altogether. Emmanwori (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) is one of the draft’s best athletes; he recorded a 4.38 in the 40, a 43-inch vertical jump and an 11-foot-6 broad jump and makes good use of it in his versatile game.

Teams who could be after a DB in Round 1

Cleveland Browns (No. 2), New York Jets (7), Carolina Panthers (8), New Orleans Saints (9), San Francisco 49ers (11), Miami Dolphins (13), Arizona Cardinals (16), Cincinnati Bengals (17), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (19), Green Bay Packers (23), Minnesota Vikings (24), Los Angeles Rams (26), Baltimore Ravens (27), Washington Commanders (29), Buffalo Bills (30)

Crystal Ball: Star-studded 2019 opener provided clear 2025 draft preview

Down the board

If the Lions happen to address other positions on the field during the draft’s early stages, there will be several intriguing options to help aid the defensive backfield in Days 2 and 3.

The consensus is that Xavier Watts (Notre Dame), tied for second in interceptions (six) last year, is the third-best safety in the draft; he’s an option for the Lions on Day 2. Penn State has a pair of safeties that are expected to be gone by the middle rounds, Kevin Winston Jr. and Detroit native Jaylen Reed (Detroit King). Andrew Mukuba (Texas) was one of the best coverage safeties in the nation last season (tied-fourth with five interceptions) and has Day 2 potential. Lathan Ransom (Ohio State) and Malachi Moore (Alabama), two other middle-round guys, were solid run defenders and could help fill the void left by Melifonwu (not that Detroit will be trying to find a one-for-one replacement for that “need”). R.J. Mickens (Clemson) is an attractive late-round option with good coverage ability.

Among the cornerbacks expected to be available on Days 2 and 3, Cobee Bryant (Kansas) stands out as a player with the mental makeup Detroit is looking for; he’s a willing run defender and snagged four interceptions last season. Nohl Williams (Cal), who led the nation in interceptions (seven), and Jacob Parrish (Kansas State) could easily find their way to Detroit in the earlier rounds.

Denzel Burke (Ohio State) was at one time thought of as a possible first- or second-rounder in last year’s draft, but after returning for a title-winning season with the Buckeyes, his stock has slipped; he enters the draft as a late-Day 2, early-Day 3 guy. Western Michigan is putting a lengthy cornerback into the draft in Bilhal Kone (6-foot-2), who had six pass breakups and an interception last year.

Time to target

It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Lions grab a falling safety at the back end of the first round, but if Detroit does add to the secondary, our best guess is that it’ll come on Day 3 (or even late on Day 2), when there will be plenty of gems to mine. Cornerbacks (and to a lesser extent, safeties) tend to be similar to receivers in the sense that there’s always a “voluminous” (as Holmes would put it) supply of potential contributors down the board.

By Hannah Mackay, The Detroit News

A search warrant affidavit for the West Bloomfield home where three siblings died in a fire in February revealed that the first 911 call came from the family’s 16-year-old daughter, who told authorities, “there’s no way for us to get out.”

The affidavit sheds new light on the Feb. 2 fire that killed Hannah, Jeremiah, and Jacob Oliora, ages 16, 14, and 12, and why the siblings, one of whom had nonverbal autism, weren’t able to escape.

The investigation into the fire, meanwhile, is ongoing, according to West Bloomfield police. The West Bloomfield police and fire departments have denied Freedom of Information acts requests related to the fire and its investigation.

Police executed a search warrant at the Oliora home on Feb. 4. No findings have been submitted to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, according to Police Chief Dale Young.

According to the affidavit, Hannah told 911 dispatchers that the fire started in the living room. Authorities haven’t revealed what caused the blaze.

After the fire, police interviewed the parents, Don and Liz Oliora, the next day and learned that Jeremiah had been diagnosed with nonverbal autism. He’d previously attempted to climb out of a second-story window of the home on Pembury Lane and left the home unsupervised through the front door. He was found in their neighborhood by a passerby, according to the documents.

To prevent similar incidents from happening again, the parents told police they installed window locks and an interior front door lock. The key to unlock the front door was kept in a lockbox inside, near the home’s garage. Only the parents and their oldest daughter had access to the lockbox, according to court documents.

Hannah’s initial 911 call came in around 8:05 p.m. on Feb. 2. Her father had left the home around 2:40 p.m. to work for DoorDash, and her mother left at the same time for work as a nurse, according to the documents.

At 7:10 p.m., Hannah called her father to ask about the family’s dinner plans. She told her father that she would start cooking hamburgers for her and her brothers, and her dad said he would come home after completing a few more DoorDash stops.

Liz was working when she was told about the fire by a neighbor and the police. She told police that her three children were inside and that she was on her way home, and called her husband to alert him at 8:27 p.m.

When police arrived on the scene of the fire and learned about the children trapped inside the home, they attempted to extinguish the flames in the back of the house but couldn’t.

Firefighters then arrived and were able to enter the home and extract the kids. One was found right behind the front door, while another was in an upstairs bathroom, according to the documents.

Hannah and Jeremiah were taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital, while Jacob was taken to Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield, but all three succumbed to their injuries.

An autopsy by the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that Jacob’s preliminary cause of death was accidental and due to smoke and soot inhalation, according to the court documents. Autopsies for his brother and sister had not been conducted when the search warrant affidavit was filed.

When firefighters entered the home, they could hear the ignitor of the gas stove clicking, according to the documents.

hmackay@detroitnews.com

By Henry Larweh, KFF Health News

Fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid driving the nation’s high drug overdose rates, is also caught up in another increasingly serious problem: misinformation.

False and misleading narratives on social media, in news reports, and even in popular television dramas suggesting people can overdose from touching fentanyl — rather than ingesting it — are now informing policy and spending decisions.

In an episode of the CBS cop drama “Blue Bloods,” for instance, Detective Maria Baez becomes comatose after accidentally touching powdered fentanyl. In another drama, “S.W.A.T.,” Sgt. Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson warns his co-workers: “You touch the pure stuff without wearing gloves, say good night.”

While fentanyl-related deaths have drastically risen over the past decade, no evidence suggests any resulted from incidentally touching or inhaling it, and little to no evidence that any resulted from consuming it in marijuana products. (Recent data indicates that fentanyl-related deaths have begun to drop.)

There is also almost no evidence that law enforcement personnel are at heightened risk of accidental overdoses due to such exposures. Still, there is a steady stream of reports — which generally turn out to be false — of officers allegedly becoming ill after handling fentanyl.

“It’s only in the TV dramas” where that happens, said Brandon del Pozo, a retired Burlington, Vermont, police chief who researches policing and public health policies and practices at Brown University.

In fact, fentanyl overdoses are commonly caused by ingesting the drug illicitly as a pill or powder. And most accidental exposures occur when people who use drugs, even those who do not use opioids, unknowingly consume fentanyl because it is so often used to “cut” street drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

Despite what scientific evidence suggests about fentanyl and its risks, misinformation can persist in public discourse and among first responders on the front lines of the crisis. Daniel Meloy, a senior community engagement specialist at the drug recovery organizations Operation 2 Save Lives and QRT National, said he thinks of misinformation as “more of an unknown than it is an anxiety or a fear.”

“We’re experiencing it often before the information” can be understood and shared by public health and addiction medicine practitioners, Meloy said.

Some state and local governments are investing money from their share of the billions in opioid settlement funds in efforts to protect first responders from purported risks perpetuated through fentanyl misinformation.

In 2022 and 2023, 19 cities, towns, and counties across eight states used settlement funds to purchase drug detection devices for law enforcement agencies, spending just over $1 million altogether. Two mass spectrometers were purchased for at least $136,000 for the Greeley, Colorado, police department, “to protect those who are tasked with handling those substances.”

Del Pozo, the retired police chief, said fentanyl is present in most illicit opioids found at the scene of an arrest. But that “doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money on fentanyl detection for officer safety,” he said. If that spending decision is motivated by officer safety concerns, then it’s “misspent money,” del Pozo said.

Fentanyl misinformation is affecting policy in other ways, too.

Florida, for instance, has on the books a law that makes it a second-degree felony to cause an overdose or bodily injury to a first responder through this kind of secondhand fentanyl exposure. Similar legislation has been considered by states such as Tennessee and West Virginia, the latter stipulating a penalty of 15 years to life imprisonment if the exposure results in death.

Public health advocates worry these laws will make people shy away from seeking help for people who are overdosing.

“A lot of people leave overdose scenes because they don’t want to interact with police,” said Erin Russell, a principal with Health Management Associates, a health care industry research and consulting firm. Florida does include a caveat in its statute that any person “acting in good faith” to seek medical assistance for someone they believe to be overdosing “may not” be arrested, charged, or prosecuted.

And even when public policy is crafted to protect first responders as well as regular people, misinformation can undermine a program’s messaging.

Take Mississippi’s One Pill Can Kill initiative. Led by the state attorney general, Lynn Fitch, the initiative aims to provide resources and education to Mississippi residents about fentanyl and its risks. While it promotes the availability and use of harm reduction tools, such as naloxone and fentanyl test strips, Fitch has also propped up misinformation.

At the 2024 Mississippi Coalition of Bail Sureties conference, Fitch said, “If you figure out that pill’s got fentanyl, you better be ready to dispose of it, because you can get it through your fingers,” based on the repeatedly debunked belief that a person can overdose by simply touching fentanyl.

Officers on the ground, meanwhile, sometimes are warned to proceed with caution in providing lifesaving interventions at overdose scenes because of these alleged accidental exposure risks. This caution is often evidenced in a push to provide first responders with masks and other personal protective equipment. Fitch told the crowd at the conference: “You can’t just go out and give CPR like you did before.” However, as with other secondhand exposures, the risk for a fentanyl overdose from applying mouth-to-mouth is negligible, with no clinical evidence to suggest it has occurred.

Her comments underscore growing concerns, often not supported by science, that officers and first responders increasingly face exposure risks during overdose responses. Her office did not respond to questions about these comments.

Health care experts say they are not against providing first responders with protective equipment, but that fentanyl misinformation is clouding policy and risks delaying critical interventions such as CPR and rescue breathing.

“People are afraid to do rescue breathing because they’re like, ‘Well, what if there’s fentanyl in the person’s mouth,’” Russell said. Hesitating for even a moment because of fentanyl misinformation could delay a technique that “is incredibly important in an overdose response.”

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©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.