A new round of billboards in Lansing and Detroit is calling on Michigan lawmakers to outlaw painful dog experiments at Wayne State University and pass legislation known as Queenie’s Law. The campaign, funded by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, includes five billboards near the state capital and one on I-75 in Detroit.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow — a rising Democratic star known for her viral rebuttal of right-wing attacks and sharp criticism of President Donald Trump — is running for U.S. Senate in 2026, hoping to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters. In a two-and-a-half-minute campaign announcement video released Wednesday, McMorrow cast herself as part of a new generation of Democrats ready to push back against the influence of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, while criticizing the Democratic establishment for failing to meet the urgency of the moment.

The father of a 3-year-old boy whose body was found in a freezer in Detroit is suing 13 Michigan child welfare employees, accusing them of repeatedly ignoring clear signs of abuse that led to the child’s death. The federal civil rights lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division, alleges that workers in the state’s Child Protective Services division failed to protect Chayce Allen, despite documented injuries that included broken lips, burns, and trauma that left him permanently blind.

Michigan stands to lose more than $400 million in economic activity and $72 million in tax revenue over the next decade if federal refugee resettlements remain on hold, according to a new report. The study, produced by Global Detroit and Businesses and People for Immigration in partnership with Public Policy Associates, warns of lasting economic damage after the Trump administration indefinitely suspended refugee settlements starting in January.

A jarring, ear-splitting emergency alert that startled many metro Detroit residents awake at 6 a.m. Monday was mistakenly sent to cell phones across the region, the Detroit Fire Department acknowledged.

A Detroit cop was charged Thursday with stealing sneakers from fellow officers. James Clark Davis III, 27, is accused of taking multiple pairs of athletic shoes from a shared locker room at the Detroit Police Department Downtown Services location on the 20 block of Atwater Street.

A former Highland Park cop was charged Wednesday with three felonies in connection with a 2020 assault of a 36-year-old man outside a Burger King on Woodward Avenue. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Wednesday announced charges against Dammeon Lamark Player, 51, who was working as a Highland Park officer when the incident occurred.

Wayne State University prevented a group of peaceful pro-Palestinian activists, including students and professors, from gathering at a campus site, the latest example of the college cracking down on opponents of Israel’s relentless killings in the Middle East. Organizers were surprised when campus police told them on Friday they were not allowed to hold their vigil and pop-up clinic in front of the Mazurek Medical Education Commons on East Canfield, less than two months after they got permission for their biweekly gatherings.

A Detroit police lieutenant who was suspended last year for making inappropriate remarks at a pro-Palestinian protest has quietly returned to duty, drawing condemnation from a police accountability coalition. Lt. Brandon Cole — who was removed from active duty in May 2024 after telling a protester to “go back to Mexico” — was reinstated in November and assigned to the Firearms Inventory Unit, with 60 days back pay, DPD confirmed to Metro Times on Thursday. The Coalition for Police Transparency and Accountability (CPTA) denounced his return, calling it a failure of accountability.

A Macomb County man accused of strangling his father’s dog to death was sentenced to 63 days in jail and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. William John Kucharski Jr., 48, was initially charged with killing an animal in the third degree, a four-year felony, and was classified as a habitual offender after police found him with his hands around the dead labrador retriever in the Richmond home he shares with his dad.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office has cleared six Michigan State Police troopers of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Eric Michael Fiddler, a fugitive who killed a Hillsdale County sheriff’s deputy before being gunned during a manhunt last summer. State prosecutors determined the troopers acted in self-defense when they opened fire on the 34-year-old man on June 27, 2024, in a wooded area near Jonesville in southern Michigan.

Articia Bomer is no stranger to Detroit voters. She ran for mayor in 2016, state representative in 2018, Congress in 2020, governor in 2022, and Wayne County sheriff in 2024.

University of Michigan President Santa Ono, who has come under fire for his response to pro-Palestinian protesters on campus, did nothing to tamper that criticism while speaking at an Anti-Defamation League conference in Manhatten earlier this month. Speaking on the main stage on March 3, Ono admitted he doubled down and invested more in Israel-connected institutions after pro-Palestinian supporters called for a boycott. “My response and the board’s response to this call to divest and to cut those relationships was to actually invest even more,” Ono said, adding “great things have come out of these relationships, and more great things will come in the future.”

A Detroit family has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and a group of cops, alleging civil rights violations after an officer fatally shot their chained dog and unlawfully arrested them during a raid. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, accuses Detroit police officer Austin Rymarz of excessive force and illegal seizure when he shot and killed Lashaye Taylor’s dog during a January 2023 raid of her home.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib blasted University of Michigan President Santa J. Ono for his ties to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and accused him of undermining free speech on campus in a letter obtained exclusively by Metro Times. Tlaib — who was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrants and is the only Palestinian American member of Congress — criticized Ono’s appearance at a recent ADL conference, calling the organization an “extremist group” with a “decades-long history of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Black racism.” She accused the ADL of spreading “racist disinformation” and smearing anti-Zionist Jewish protesters as antisemites while defending billionaire Elon Musk’s ties to white nationalists.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson carries an early lead in the 2026 gubernatorial race, comfortably ahead of Republican U.S. Rep. John James and independent candidate Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, according to a new poll by Target Insyght for MIRS News. If the general election were held today, the poll found 42% of the 600 respondents said they would vote for Benson, a Democrat, in a hypothetical matchup.

Denzel McCampbell, a longtime advocate and public servant, has launched his campaign for Detroit City Council — pledging to fight for affordable housing, better public transportation, and greater government transparency.  “I am proud to announce my campaign to become the next city council person for Detroit’s District 7,” McCampbell said in a statement Thursday.

Mark Craighead spent more than seven years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Now, after his exoneration in 2022, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office is targeting the nonprofit he founded to help others rebuild their lives after incarceration. Craighead, 65, is the president and director of Safe Place Transition Center, a Detroit-based nonprofit that provides housing assistance to formerly incarcerated residents and veterans.

The United Auto Workers union is throwing its support behind President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs, saying they are a necessary tool to reverse decades of what it calls “anti-worker trade deals.” But the endorsement comes as industry leaders and economists warn that tariffs could deal a serious blow to the American auto sector, driving up car prices, disrupting supply chains, and threatening thousands of jobs.