Michigan health officials confirmed a measles outbreak in Montcalm County, marking the state’s first such outbreak since 2019. Three related cases of measles have been identified in Montcalm County, meeting the threshold for an outbreak, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the Mid-Michigan District Health Department (MMDHD).

Women’s clothing boutique Free People is getting ready to open its newest location in downtown Detroit. Located in a Bedrock-owned building at 1425 Woodward Ave., the store has set an opening date for Friday, April 25.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. The federal review of the Line 5 tunnel project will be sped up under new emergency permitting procedures announced by the Army Corps of Engineers this week. Those procedures were established under President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring a national energy emergency, which cleared the way for energy projects to receive emergency status.

Are you an aspiring journalist with an interest in the entertainment offerings of the Detroit area? If so, we could use your help this summer!

Abdul El-Sayed — a former Wayne County public health official who came in second place against Gretchen Whitmer in the 2018 Michigan gubernatorial primary — is returning to politics. On Thursday, El-Sayed announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Gary Peters in 2026, earning the endorsement of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

Lakeview Public Schools acknowledged Tuesday that the high school principal mishandled a disturbing case of racist graffiti by failing to inform parents about the nature of the message. The district issued a statement several hours after Metro Times reported that Lakeview High School Principal Scott Kapla sent an email to families that omitted a key detail: The spray-painted messages included the N-word. “The high school principal’s email to LHS families failed to communicate this issue properly, and it did not represent the position of Lakeview Public Schools,” the district said in the news release.

Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores was vandalized with racist graffiti over the weekend, and some residents are questioning why school officials failed to inform parents about the nature of the message.  In a recent email to families, Principal Scott Kapla said the school contacted police and is working to ensure the campus remains safe and respectful.

The University of Michigan has fired a full-time employee and suspended four others from campus jobs over their alleged involvement in a pro-Palestinian protest, according to the TAHRIR Coalition, a group that has called for divestment from Israel. The university has not commented publicly on the actions, but the terminations and suspensions were disclosed by the coalition in a news release Monday.

Former state Sen. Adam Hollier on Monday launched a Democratic primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, renewing his bid for the 13th Congressional District seat that represents Detroit. This marks Hollier’s third campaign for the seat since 2022.

More than 40 current and former student-athletes are suing the University of Michigan, alleging that former football coach Matt Weiss exploited systemic data security failures to steal their intimate images and private information, according to an amended lawsuit filed Friday. The plaintiffs, including former Grambling State softball star McKenzie Johnson, accuse the university of failing to protect sensitive data stored by a third-party contractor, Keffer Development Services, which Weiss allegedly used to access private cloud accounts, emails, and social media profiles of at least 3,300 female athletes.

It’s safe to say that Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s recent overture to President Donald Trump didn’t go exactly as planned. Last week, Big Gretch was in Washington, D.C. to bend the ear of Trump — her second such visit in two months. But whatever Whitmer hoped to accomplish, a viral photo showing her hiding from cameras as she found herself in an awkward situation in the Oval Office probably wasn’t part of it.

A Detroit resident has been charged in the brutal stabbing of a dog, the second disturbing case of animal cruelty in the city in recent months. Jordan Love, 29, faces up to seven years in prison on a felony charge of second-degree animal torture and cruelty to multiple animals.

Wayne State University is under fire again after campus police confronted pro-Palestinian students during a peaceful demonstration inside the Student Center, the latest in a series of increasingly aggressive crackdowns on dissenting voices. The April 2 protest, organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, called on the university to divest from companies profiting from the war in Gaza.

One of prison’s worst-kept secrets is that almost anything sold outside the walls can be purchased inside, and a witness to countless inmate drug overdoses is calling for state and federal authorities to act. Identified as “Abe,” the source spoke with Metro Times after approaching the Michigan State Police, Michigan Attorney General’s Office, FBI, DEA, Justice Department, and Senate Oversight Committee to offer proof of alleged drug trafficking and criminal conspiracy between Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) officers and prisoners; in three years of effort, Abe says no law enforcement or government agency has acted on extensive documentation that was provided, or accepted Abe’s offers to cooperate. “I know the identities of the guilty prisoners and law enforcement officers at the MDOC, and outside the MDOC,” Abe says, “and I’d be willing to name them, as well as provide official evidence, if it were to spur an investigation.”

Some random observations after attending the home opener of the baseball season — a 7-4 Tigers victory over the Chicago White Sox — and watching it later on a TV recording. Followed by more sports shorts . . . PARKING, PRE-GAME, and HORSEPOWER: Lots of parking lot operators hit the $100 threshold.

Planned Parenthood of Michigan will close three clinics and cut staffing by 10% as it restructures operations in response to what the organization described as escalating threats to reproductive health care and federal funding. The Jackson, Petoskey, and Marquette health centers will permanently close April 30, with final appointments scheduled for April 25. In Ann Arbor, two health care centers will be consolidated by May 5.

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter. This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist, Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan, and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region.

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.