Wrestling great Mick Foley has called it quits with the WWE over its cozy relationship with President Donald Trump, he said Tuesday, citing “incredibly cruel comments” Trump made about film director Rob Reiner’s murder.
Long concerned with the WWE’s cozy relationship with Trump amid the administration’s “ongoing cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrants,” Foley wrote in his announcement on social media, “reading the President’s incredibly cruel comments in the wake of Rob Reiner’s death is the final straw for me.”
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, known in the wrestling world as Triple H, is a fixture at many White House events. Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon helmed the U.S. Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term and currently serves as U.S. Secretary of Education.
“I no longer wish to represent a company that coddles a man so seemingly void of compassion as he marches our country towards autocracy,” Foley wrote. “Last night, I informed WWE talent relations that I would not be making any appearances for the company as long as this man remains in office.”
Both Foley and Trump were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013, Trump as a celebrity honoree.
Getty
Mick Foley is pictured in Manhattan in 2022. (Getty)
“Additionally, I will not be signing a new Legends deal when my current one expires in June,” Foley wrote. “I love WWE, will always treasure my time with them, and I am deeply appreciative for all the opportunities they afforded me. But, in the words of Popeye the sailor, ’I stands all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more.’ ”
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Wrestling great Mick Foley, pictured in 2011, has called it quits with the WWE until the country dumps Trump, he said Tuesday. (AP)
Clips of Reiner’s compassionate response to the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk when he discussed the horrifying incident with Piers Morgan in September are flooding the internet.
“When you first heard about the murder of Charlie Kirk, what was your immediate gut reaction to it?” Morgan asked Reiner on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” as shown in a clip posted by show staffers and then reposted by its eponymous host.
“Well, horror. Absolute horror,” Reiner said. “And I unfortunately saw the video of it, and it’s beyond belief what happened to him. And that should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are. That’s not acceptable. That’s not a solution to solving problems.”
“I felt like what his wife said at the service, at the memorial they had, was exactly right,” Reiner continued. “And totally. I believe, you know, I’m Jewish, but I believe in the teachings of Jesus, and I believe in ‘do unto others,’ and I believe in forgiveness. And what she said, to me, was beautiful and absolutely, you know, she forgave his assassin, and I think that that is admirable.”
Reiner’s remarks resonated in a soft-spoken rebuke to Trump’s widely denounced vitriol, in which he blamed the director’s killing on anger supposedly generated by his liberal views, described him as “tortured and struggling” and said he suffered from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
“Rob Reiner responded with grace and compassion to Charlie’s assassination,” Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet wrote on X, echoing the public support for the 78-year-old director. “This video makes it all the more painful to hear of he and his wife’s tragic end. May God be close to the broken hearted in this terrible story.”
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President Donald Trump, left, and Rob Reiner. (Getty Images)
Nebraska will become the first state to implement new work requirements for some people with Medicaid health insurance under a law President Donald Trump signed last year.
Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, announced Wednesday that the requirement would take effect in the state May 1 and could impact about 30,000 people who have slightly higher incomes than traditional Medicaid beneficiaries.
“We’re not here to take everybody to the curb,” he said. Instead, he said, the aim is “making sure we get every able-bodied Nebraskan to be part of our community.”
The sweeping tax and policy law Trump signed in July requires states to make sure many recipients are working by 2027 but gave them the option to do it sooner.
FILE – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Oct. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Beneficiaries will have more reporting duties
The law mandates that people ages 19 to 64 who have Medicaid coverage work or perform community service at least 80 hours a month or be enrolled in school at least half-time to receive and keep coverage.
It applies only to people who receive Medicaid coverage through an expansion that covers a population with a slightly higher income limit. Forty states and the District of Columbia have opted to expand the coverage income guidelines under former President Barrack Obama’s 2010 health insurance overhaul.
Of 346,000 Nebraska residents enrolled in Medicaid as of May, about 72,000 were in the higher income expansion group.
Some people will be exempted, including disabled veterans, pregnant women, parents and guardians of dependent children under 14 or disabled individuals, people who were recently released from incarceration, those who are homeless and people getting addiction treatment. States can also offer short-term hardships for others if they choose.
All Medicaid beneficiaries who are eligible because of the expansion will be required to submit paperwork at least every six months showing they meet the mandate.
Those who don’t would lose their coverage.
The reporting requirement is twice as frequent as it is for most people covered by Medicaid now. That change means more work for the state agencies — and for some of them, extensive and likely expensive computer program updates.
Pillen said he does not expect the state government to increase staffing to make the changes.
When and how to implement the change is likely to be on the agenda for governors and state lawmakers across the country as legislative sessions start — most of them in January.
The policy is expected to lead to lost coverage
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the requirement will reduce Medicaid costs by $326 billion over a decade — and that it will result in 4.5 million people becoming uninsured each year starting in 2027. Currently, about 77 million Americans are covered by Medicaid.
Because most people covered by Medicaid who are able to work already do, it’s not expected to increase employment rates.
Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, joined Pillen’s announcement via a video feed and said the administration believes there are jobs available across the country, and the challenge is connecting people with them.
“Most people who are able-bodied on Medicaid actually want to get a job,” Oz said.
Arkansas tried another variation of Medicaid work requirements — later blocked by a judge — that saw 18,000 people kicked off coverage in the first seven months after it took effect in 2018.
FILE – Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen greets state senators before giving a speech on June 2, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. (Justin Wan/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the National Guard deployment in the nation’s capital can continue for now, staying a lower-court ruling that had ordered an end to the troops’ presence.
The three-judge panel for U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Donald Trump may prevail in his argument that the president “possesses a unique power” to mobilize the Guard in Washington, which is a federal district.
The ruling stops the implementation of U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb’s Nov. 20 opinion and order, and reaffirms that residents and visitors to Washington will routinely see Guard members well into 2026.
Cobb had ruled that the deployment illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the District of Columbia.
Wednesday’s unanimous 32-page ruling went on to say that other factors also favored the Republican administration, including the “disruption to the lives of thousands of service members,” as well as what it said was the president’s interest “in the protection of federal governmental functions and property within the Nation’s capital.”
The judges found that the district “has not identified any ongoing injury to its statutory interests.”
The ruling acknowledged that the administration has a strong case for its appeal.
The deployment began in August after Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington. Within a month, more than 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states and the district were patrolling the city under the command of the Army secretary. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist.
The city’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb, sued to challenge the Guard deployments. He asked that the White House be barred from deploying Guard troops without the mayor’s consent while the lawsuit played out. Dozens of states took sides in Schwalb’s lawsuit, with their support falling along party lines.
A spokesperson with Schwalb’s office said the stay was a “preliminary ruling that does not resolve the merits. We look forward to continuing our case in both the district and appellate courts.”
Cobb had found that while the president did have authority to protect federal functions and property, he could not unilaterally deploy the D.C. National Guard to help with crime control as he saw fit or call in troops from other states. She called for the troops to be sent home after her ruling but put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the appeal by the administration.
The court action comes three weeks after two members of the West Virginia National Guard, Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe were ambushed as they patrolled a subway station three blocks from the White House. Beckstrom died Nov. 27 from her injuries. Wolfe continues to recover. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
The administration has called for an additional 500 National Guard members to be deployed to Washington as a result of the shooting.
The appeals court panel said its decision was “limited in several respects.” For example, it did not address questions such as whether the Guard units were engaged in “law enforcement” activities in violation of federal law.
National Guard patrol in the Lincoln Memorial, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. The Washington Monument is seen in the background. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate gave final passage on Wednesday to an annual military policy bill that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international water near Venezuela.
The annual National Defense Authorization Act, which raises troop pay by 3.8%, gained bipartisan backing as it moved through Congress. It passed the Senate on a 77-20 vote before lawmakers planned to leave Washington for a holiday break. Two Republicans — Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee — and 18 Democrats voted against the bill.
The White House has indicated that it is in line with President Donald Trump’s national security priorities. However, the legislation, which ran over 3,000 pages, revealed some points of friction between Congress and the Pentagon as the Trump administration reorients its focus away from security in Europe and toward Central and South America.
The bill pushes back on recent moves by the Pentagon. It demands more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean, requires that the U.S. keep its troop levels in Europe at current levels and sends some military aid to Ukraine.
But overall, the bill represents a compromise between the parties. It implements many of Trump’s executive orders and proposals on eliminating diversity and inclusion efforts in the military and grants emergency military powers at the U.S. border with Mexico. It also enhances congressional oversight of the Department of Defense, repeals several years-old war authorizations and seeks to overhaul how the Pentagon purchases weapons as the U.S. tries to outpace China in developing the next generation of military technology.
“We’re about to pass, and the president will enthusiastically sign, the most sweeping upgrades to DOD’s business practices in 60 years,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Still, the sprawling bill faced objections from both Democratic and Republican leadership on the Senate Commerce Committee. That’s because the legislation allows military aircraft to obtain a waiver to operate without broadcasting their precise location, as an Army helicopter had done before a midair collision with an airliner in Washington, D.C. in January that killed 67 people.
“The special carve-out was exactly what caused the January 29th crash that claimed 67 lives,” Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said at a news conference this week.
Cruz said he was seeking a vote on bipartisan legislation in the next month that would require military aircraft to use a precise location sharing tool and improve coordination between commercial and military aircraft in busy areas.
Boat strike videos
Republicans and Democrats agreed to language in the defense bill that threatened to withhold a quarter of Hegseth’s travel budget until he provided unedited video of the strikes, as well as the orders authorizing them, to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services.
Hegseth was on Capitol Hill Tuesday ahead of the bill’s passage to brief lawmakers on the U.S. military campaign in international water near Venezuela. The briefing elicited contrasting responses from many lawmakers, with Republicans largely backing the campaign and Democrats expressing concern about it and saying they had not received enough information.
The committees are investigating a Sept. 2 strike — the first of the campaign — that killed two people who had survived an initial attack on their boat. The Navy admiral who ordered the “double-tap” strike, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, also appeared before the committees shortly before the vote Wednesday in a classified briefing that also included video of the strike in question.
Several Republican senators emerged from the meeting backing Hegseth and his decision not to release the video publicly, but other GOP lawmakers stayed silent on their opinion of the strike.
Democrats are calling for part of the video to be released publicly and for every member of Congress to have access to the full footage.
“The American people absolutely need to see this video,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat. “I think they would be shocked.”
Congressional oversight
Lawmakers have been caught by surprise by the Trump administration several times in the last year, including by a move to pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine and a decision to reduce U.S. troop presence in NATO countries in eastern Europe. The defense legislation requires that Congress be kept in the loop on decisions like that going forward, as well as when top military brass are removed.
The Pentagon is also required, under the legislation, to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment stationed in Europe unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests. Around 80,000 to 100,000 U.S. troops are usually present on European soil. A similar requirement also keeps the number of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea at 28,500.
Lawmakers are also pushing back on some Pentagon decisions by authorizing $400 million for each of the next two years to manufacture weapons to be sent to Ukraine.
Cuts to diversity and climate initiatives
Trump and Hegseth have made it a priority to purge the military of material and programs that address diversity, anti-racism or gender issues, and the defense bill would codify many of those changes. It will repeal diversity, equity and inclusion offices and trainings, including the position of chief diversity officer. Those cuts would save the Pentagon about $40 million, according to the Republican-controlled House Armed Services Committee.
The U.S. military has long found that climate change is a threat to how it provides national security because weather-related disasters can destroy military bases and equipment. But the bill makes $1.6 billion in cuts by eliminating climate-change related programs at the Pentagon.
Repeal of war authorizations and Syria sanctions
Congress is writing a closing chapter to the war in Iraq by repealing the authorization for the 2003 invasion. Now that Iraq is a strategic partner of the U.S., lawmakers in support of the provision say the repeal is crucial to prevent future abuses. The bill also repeals the 1991 authorization that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War.
The rare, bipartisan moves to repeal the legal justifications for the conflicts signaled a potential appetite among lawmakers to reclaim some of Congress’s war powers.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives to brief members of Congress on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic senators on Wednesday hammered the Federal Communications Commission’s leader for pressuring broadcasters to take ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air, suggesting that Brendan Carr was politicizing an independent agency and trampling the First Amendment.
The FCC chairman was peppered with questions by Democrats on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee over his criticism of Kimmel for comments about the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“You are weaponizing the public interest standard,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who told Carr that he should resign.
Carr refused to disown his comments about Kimmel, and the chairman said he has simply enforced laws that hold networks to stricter scrutiny than cable and other forms of media.
“The FCC has walked away from enforcing the public interest standard and I don’t think that’s a good thing,” Carr said.
Republican senators appeared intent on bringing up broadcast spectrum auctions, undersea cable infrastructure, algorithm-driven content, robocalls and just about anything other than Carr’s statements about Kimmel.
The committee chairman, Sen. Ted Cruz, had previously equated Carr’s comments to those of a mobster and called them “dangerous as hell.” But at the hearing, Cruz, R-Texas, took a far softer stance. He dismissed Kimmel as “tasteless” and “unfunny,” and shifted to criticizing Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, a tack that Carr parroted throughout the hearing.
“Joe Biden is no longer president,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., shot back at one point.
FILE – Then-President-elect Donald Trump talks with Brendan Carr before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP, File)
The hearing was also included the two other commissioners, Olivia Trusty and Anna M. Gomez. Each gave opening statements, with Gomez, a Biden appointee, saying that the FCC has “undermined its reputation as a stable, independent and expert-driven regulatory body.”
“Nowhere is that departure more concerning,” Gomez said, “than its actions to intimidate government critics, pressure media companies and challenge the boundaries of the First Amendment.”
Carr was nominated to the FCC by both Trump and Biden and unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times. But he has more recently shown more overtly right-wing views, writing a section on the FCC for “Project 2025,” the sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling agencies in Trump’s second term.
Since becoming chairman this year, Carr has launched separate investigations of all three major broadcast networks. After Kimmel’s comments on the September killing of Kirk, who was a Trump ally leading voice of the right, Carr said: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Cruz was unflinchingly critical at the time, saying “I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying.”
While Cruz did not repeat those words Wednesday, they were repeatedly invoked by Democrats.
Carr seemed to surprise some on the committee with his statement that the FCC “is not an independent agency.” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., asked Carr whether he considered Trump to be his boss and whether he had taken orders from the president or his inner circle.
“I don’t get into the specifics of conversations I’ve had,” Carr said.
Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., noted that the FCC’s website described it as an “independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress.” Soon after, the website changed, removing “independent” from a section describing its mission.
Sedensky reported from New York.
FILE – Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr speaks during the Concordia Annual Summit in New York, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)
Garo Danayan learned what it’s like to have an extra $1,000 to spend at Christmas on Wednesday.
“It’s already spent,” he joked. The Huntington Woods resident won the top prize, a $1,000 check, by entering Oakland County’s annual Local Gems contest. For the third year, the county’s economic development department invited people to take selfies at local businesses and share the images with the county to enter a random drawing for cash prizes. Genisys Credit Union supplied the cash.
More than 1,000 people submitted contest entries from some of the county’s estimated 35,000 small businesses.
Danayan took his selfie at a Ferndale gift store, The Rocket, where Local Gem winners were announced on Wednesday.
The Rocket’s owner, Eli Morrissey, said he was grateful for people who spend money locally and have supported his shop for 12 years.
“We need to save our brick-and-mortar businesses,” Morrissey said. “They are the character of our communities … I appreciate the support so much.”
Bret Rasegan of Rochester Hills won $500 for his selfie at McCauley Chiropractic in Rochester and Julie Decker of Oak Park won $250 with her selfie at The Vintage Farmhouse in Holly.
County Executive Dave Coulter said he was very proud of small businesses for all they do to support the community.”
Small businesses, he said, “give back to the community in a way Amazon never could.”
Oakland County executive offices. (Peg McNichol/MediaNews Group)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump intends to preview his agenda for next year and beyond in a live speech from the White House on Wednesday night. His remarks are coming at a crucial time as he tries to rebuild his steadily eroding popularity.
The White House offered few details about what the Republican president intends to emphasize in the 9 p.m. EST speech. Public polling shows most U.S. adults are frustrated with his handling of the economy as inflation picked up after his tariffs raised prices and hiring slowed.
In 2026, Trump and his party face a referendum on their leadership as the nation heads into the midterm elections that will decide control of the House and the Senate.
Trump has said that he thinks more Americans would back him if they simply heard him describe his track record. Administration officials say investment commitments for new factories will reverse the recent decline in manufacturing jobs and that consumer activity will improve dramatically as people receive increased tax refunds next year.
“It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!” Trump said in a Tuesday social media post announcing the speech.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump would discuss his achievements this year and his plans for the remainder of his second term.
Trump has been omnipresent on social media and television this year with his impromptu news conferences and speeches. But addresses to the nation often can be relatively sober affairs, as was Trump’s June address describing the U.S. bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran.
The president has eschewed the messaging discipline that’s common among most politicians, an authenticity that appeals to some voters and repels others.
In a speech in Pennsylvania last week, he said his tariffs might mean that American children should have fewer dolls and pencils, while confirming a previously denied story from his first term in 2018 that he did not want immigrants from “shithole” countries.
On Monday, Trump on his social media site blamed Rob Reiner’s vocal objections to the president for the killing of the actor-director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
Employers were adding on average 122,750 jobs a month during the first four months of this year. But since Trump announced his broad tariffs in April, monthly job gains have averaged a paltry 17,000 as the unemployment rate has climbed from 4% in January to 4.6%.
Trump’s team has blamed Democratic lawmakers for shutting down the government for the job losses reported Tuesday during October. The president continues to blame his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for any challenges the nation might face over inflation or ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
President Donald Trump speaks during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
On a scale of 1 to 10, NOAA rated this year’s bloom between 2 and 3, which is mild. Compare that with 2011’s very severe bloom, which peaked between 9 and 10.
NOAA researcher Rick Stumpf says each bloom is different. He and his colleagues use several factors to rate each one.
“The mildness is a reflection of how much bloom there is,” he says. “The amount of biomass, the quantity, and how severe it is over the peak 30 days.”
Weather is a big factor
The amount of rainfall in the spring also affects the bloom’s development. Algae feed on phosphorus, a common chemical in farm fertilizer. When farmers apply it to their fields, rain will wash some of it into streams and creeks. That water then flows into the lake through the Maumee River in Ohio.
Algae can grow close to shoreline areas as in this photo of Lake Erie from 2017
Stumpf says lower-than-average rainfall in 2025 meant less phosphorus for algae to consume, and thus a milder bloom. He also says this year’s growth started later than usual.
“The last few years, the bloom’s been pretty well-developed in July,” Stumpf says. “This year, it wasn’t until well into August when you had the greatest quantity of bloom.”
Stumpf says one way farmers can limit the amount of phosphorus in the lake is to test their fields for it early.
“If you’ve got enough phosphorus in the field, you may not have to fertilize for a couple of years, and that can make a big difference.”
Navigating the shutdown
Stumpf says the federal government shutdown in October did affect some of NOAA’s observations. But he says by then, researchers had enough data to rate the bloom accurately.
“We do a lot with satellite data, and that data has continued throughout this year’s bloom,” he says.
That data will also help NOAA figure out what other factors affect harmful algal blooms and how they’ve changed over the last 25 years.
The size of each bloom doesn’t necessarily reflect how toxic it is. For example, the 2014 bloom was rated moderate to severe (5 out of 10). But it produced enough toxin to contaminate Toledo’s municipal water system that year.
In general, Stumpf says algal blooms can harm people and animals who are exposed to them. He says the best way to prevent that is to avoid areas of green scum on the surface of the lake.
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It’s a crowded field in the race for the Democratic nomination for Michigan Secretary of State.
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum and Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie are already in the mix.
And now another entrant, Suzanna Shkreli. She’s a former Deputy Legal Counsel for Governor Whitmer and recently resigned as Michigan Lottery Commissioner.
She recently spoke with WDET’s Russ McNamara about why she decided to run.
Listen: Ex-lottery commissioner makes MI Secretary of State bid
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Russ McNamara, WDET: So why are you running?
Suzanna Shkreli: There is so much on the line. I believe that our democracy is at stake. My parents came to this country as children to escape an authoritative government. They fled the former Yugoslavia, and really it’s unthinkable that those same dangers that they fled from have taken root right here at home.
From my work securing convictions against child predators and murderers, as an assistant prosecutor in Macomb [County] to serving in Governor Whitmer’s cabinet as Michigan’s child advocate, I know I have the track record and toughness to make sure this office stays in Democratic hands and to take on those extremists who would try to mess with our elections and silence our voices.
I also know that this job has the opportunity to make working people’s lives, a little bit better and more convenient. I grew up working in my parents restaurant as a child. I learned great customer service early on in my life, and I’ve taken those lessons to every single position I’ve had, and I want to use this job to make Michiganders’ life a little bit easier, from implementing a digital driver’s licenses to working towards faster election results to special walk-in hours for seniors. This job can protect Michiganders fundamental right to vote, but also make the lives of Michiganders more convenient, too.
RM: Given your extensive legal background, why not run for Michigan Attorney General?
Shkreli: So to speak quite frankly with you, this position requires somebody who has taken on tough fights to protect those who don’t have voices. Or those, in this instance, whose voices are trying to be silenced and that’s what we’ve seen with the rising extremism across our state and our country. We need to make sure that we have somebody who can defend the Constitution and defend people’s rights, which is what I’ve done in the past.
I want to use this job to make Michiganders’ lives easier.
RM: Do you have any experience with election administration?
Shkreli: When I served in Governor Whitmer’s office, I was a deputy legal counsel, and I worked on a variety of issues while I was there. I volunteered elections in the past. I’ve worked polls in the past, but also I worked hand-in-hand with the Secretary of State’s office in December of 2020 to deliver the meeting of the electors.
That day the Michigan State Police had flooded the Capitol because of the threats that we received, we did not know what to expect that day. And you had the the electors, [and then] the fake electors try to come into the capitol to deliver those electoral votes. And because of our preparation with Michigan State Police, and because of our preparation with the Secretary of State’s office, we were able to complete the governor’s constitutional requirement and deliver those electoral votes. And that memory is seared in my brain because of the rising level of extremism that we’re seeing against government workers, poll workers and election workers.
RM: Where is this extremism coming from?
Shkreli: I think that there’s rising extremism happening. And Americans and Michiganders all need to step up and call a spade a spade when we’re seeing that. Secretary Benson has done such a wonderful job and who knows where we would have been in 2020, if she wasn’t in that position. So I’m ready to continue that work forward.
I’ve been talking to political leaders throughout the state, and I hope to seek the endorsement of them, but the truth is that this nomination will be on the grassroots level, and that’s what I’m focused on.
I’m running for this office because I know that I’m the best candidate to win the convention as well as win the general. Just in 24 hours, we earned $200,000 which is the most that any Secretary of State candidate has raised in 24 hours. Which is more than some candidates in this race have raised for the last 10-11 months since they’ve been running. So it’s a sign of enthusiasm.
RM: Where are those donations coming from? Are we talking large money donations or a lot of individual ones?
Shkreli: We have donations for Michiganders across the state. We’re really excited about the enthusiasm. We expect this just to be the beginning.
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To some, the story of the Packard Plant mirrors that of Detroit. Built in the early 1900s, the building was a major site of auto manufacturing in the city until the mid-1950s, when the plant closed.
But that didn’t spell the end for the Packard Plant. The building continued to house industrial and commercial tenants into the 1990s, and was even home to some legendary Detroit raves.
After a 2022 court order, large parts of the Packard Plant were demolished. What’s left are massive concrete frames and outer shells. No windows. No interiors. No machinery. Just structure. The site isn’t really a factory anymore. It’s a ruin. And now, two developers say they want to give that ruin new life.
What are the plans for the redeveloped plant? And what will it take to make those changes happen?
Developers Mark Bennett and Oren Goldenberg spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent about that and more.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
The project to reconstruct I-375 is meant to do two things at once: rebuild aging infrastructure and repair the harm caused by a highway that, decades ago, tore through Black neighborhoods and business districts in downtown Detroit.
But as plans evolved, the cost of the I-375 reconstruction project was ballooning to $520 million. Criticism was mounting among nearby business owners who feared losing money and Detroiters who wanted to ensure the project would deliver reparative outcomes.
So in August the Michigan Department of Transportation paused the project. Then last month, it was revived with a different plan.
Jason Garza is the Michigan Department of Transportation Deputy Region Engineer. He spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Today is Sunday, Dec. 14, the 348th day of 2025. There are 17 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Dec. 14, 2020, the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history began with health workers getting shots on the same day the nation’s COVID-19 death toll hit 300,000.
Also on this date:
In 1799, the first president of the United States, George Washington, died at his Mount Vernon, Virginia, home at age 67.
In 1819, Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd U.S. state.
In 1903, Wilbur Wright made the first attempt to fly the Wright Flyer but climbed steeply, stalled the aircraft and dove into the sand on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Three days later on Dec. 17, his brother Orville would make history with the first successful controlled, powered flight.
In 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (ROH’-ahl AH’-mun-suhn) and his team became the first men to reach the South Pole, beating out a British expedition led by Robert F. Scott by 33 days.
In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, ruled Congress was within its authority to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against racial discrimination by private businesses (in this case, a motel that refused to cater to Blacks).
In 1995, the Dayton Accords were formally signed in Paris, ending the Bosnian war that had claimed over 200,000 lives and forced 2 million people from their homes over three years.
In 2012, a gunman with a semiautomatic rifle killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, then took his own life as police arrived; the 20-year-old fatally shot his mother at their home before the school attack.
In 2021, Stephen Curry set a new NBA career 3-point record; the Golden State Warriors guard made his 2,974th 3-point shot against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
In 2024, South Korea’s parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his stunning and short-lived martial law decree, ending days of political paralysis as jubilant crowds celebrated the pro-democratic move.
Today’s Birthdays:
Tennis Hall of Famer Stan Smith is 79.
Actor Dee Wallace is 77.
Rock musician Cliff Williams (AC/DC) is 76.
Baseball Hall of Famer Craig Biggio is 60.
Actor and comedian Miranda Hart is 53.
Actor Natascha McElhone is 54.
Actor Jackson Rathbone is 41.
Actor Vanessa Hudgens is 37.
Rapper Offset is 34.
Singer Tori Kelly is 33.
NFL wide receiver DK Metcalf is 28.
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 14: Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester, December 14, 2020 in the Queens borough of New York City. The rollout of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, the first to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, ushers in the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history. (Photo by Mark Lennihan – Pool/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — With eyes closed and a small mallet in hand, the Rev. Kyohei Mikawa gently struck the bronze Himalayan singing bowl resting in his palm and bathed the Buddhist sanctuary in a resonant hum.
Mikawa spent the next 45 minutes skimming bowls, playing a tongue drum and chanting to create an immersive experience called a sound bath as he sat facing a dozen people relaxing or meditating on yoga mats.
Sometimes known as sound healing or sound meditation, sound baths have surged in popularity over the past decade, driven by growing public interest in mental health and wellness. But sound baths are no longer confined to yoga centers, crystal healing studios or other new age spaces. They have crossed over to mainstream worship spaces, including churches, temples and synagogues.
Faith leaders like Mikawa, who oversees Rissho Kosei Kai Buddhist Center in Los Angeles’ largely Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights, are increasingly embracing sound baths. They see it as a way to reach out to their neighbors who may not be affiliated with a religion, but still want to be in community with others seeking spiritual experiences. They have also found ways to make this practice mesh with their respective faith traditions.
People partake in a sound bath at Temple Emanuel, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)
A person partakes in a sound bath at Temple Emanuel, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)
Renee Noa Harris leads a sound bath at Temple Emanuel, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)
Renee Noa Harris leads a sound bath at Temple Emanuel, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)
Rabbi Jonathan Aaron plays guitar while Cantor Lizzie Weiss helps during the Havdalah candle ceremony at the conclusion of a sound bath at Temple Emanuel, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)
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People partake in a sound bath at Temple Emanuel, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)
The sounds that punctuated Mikawa’s session emanated from centuries of Buddhist tradition and practice, energizing and calming the mind at once, he said. A chant at the end of the sound bath, he said, means: “Seek refuge in the true spirit of who you are.”
“The goal is not to become a Buddhist, but a Buddha — the best version of who we are,” he said.
Rabbi Jonathan Aaron, who leads Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, a Reform synagogue, performs a sound bath the first Saturday of each month at the end of the Shabbat service, during a ceremony called the Havdalah. As part of this ritual, blessings are offered over wine, sweet spices and a multi-wicked candle while participants reflect on the difference between the sacred and the ordinary.
Aaron says a rejuvenating sound bath fits perfectly with the sensory nature of the Havdalah, preparing attendees for the week ahead. The rabbi works with a practitioner who uses crystal bowls, gongs, rain sticks and an ocean drum, which mimics the sound of waves, to create a relaxing, meditative atmosphere.
He believes that while a sound bath might not be inherently Jewish, it lends itself well to Jewish heritage, thought and prayer. Aaron points out that the first chapter of Genesis describes God creating the world through sound by speaking the words: “Let there be light.” Hearing, listening, and sacred sounds, including the call of the shofar that heralds the Jewish new year, are all important aspects of the faith, he said.
“I’m not trying to make the sound bath Jewish,” he said. “But I’m trying to bring Jewish energy and an experience by creating this environment that has a sound bath as part of it.”
Anna Reyner, a member who attended the sound bath, said the synagogue is a perfect space for it because it builds community — often a main purpose of a house of worship.
“When you are in this intricate sound wave experience with others, you feel a sense of community and a connection to the source of holiness,” she said.
Connecting with neighbors through sound baths
The Rev. Paul Capetz, pastor of Christ Church by the Sea, a United Methodist congregation in Newport Beach, California, said their monthly sound bath sessions, performed by a local practitioner, are drawing people “who would never otherwise darken the door of a church.”
“I find the sound bath brings you to another level of existence,” Capetz said. “It’s almost hypnotic, but it’s not a drug. You’re experiencing it in real time that leaves you with a feeling of such serenity.”
The goal of having practices like sound bath and meditation in the church is not to convert, but to relate to others in the community who may be spiritual but not religious, the pastor said.
Churches are naturally conducive to sound baths because of their sense of history, sanctity, reverence and, often, pristine acoustics, said Lynda Arnold, a longtime sound healer who has performed at Episcopal churches in Los Angeles.
“We talk about wanting to bring people into a state of deep listening, contemplation, prayer and intention,” she said. “In this church environment, there is an endless amount of creativity that can happen with sound and music.”
While sound baths are a more recent phenomenon, the power of sound has been harnessed for healing and spirituality for millennia. Alexandre Tannous, a New York-based sound researcher and sound therapist who has done these sessions around the U.S. and abroad, said many religions and cultures believe in the primordial nature of sound.
In Eastern religions, “aum” is believed to be the primordial sound or vibration from which the entire universe was created and is sustained. In Egyptian mythology and the Hermetic tradition, the universe is believed to have been created through the power of the spoken word, also known as Logos. The concept of the universe being “sung” into existence or created by sound is a common motif found in several ancient and Indigenous traditions and mythologies.
“In Western science, how do we believe the universe started?” Tannous said. “With a Big Bang, right?”
The instruments used in a sound bath — such as gongs, singing bowls, bells, chimes, didgeridoos — all provide vibrations and grounding harmony that help a person quiet the mind and become focused, he said.
“Those notes between the notes have the power to quiet the multitasking monkey mind,” said Tannous, referring to the unadulterated harmonics produced by these instruments.
The science of sound
Ramesh Balasubramaniam, professor of cognitive science at the University of California, Merced, has looked into how the brain resonates with and responds to sounds — particularly in some frequencies that could induce a deep, meditative state. A sound bath, he says, is one of the routes to get there.
“When you hear a sound wave that oscillates four times a second, you’re going to facilitate brain waves in the same frequency range by a process known as entrainment,” Balasubramaniam said. “We have 100 billion neurons and they all sing in concert in the same frequency, producing this collective effect like a crowd chanting in a football game.”
Jazmin Morales, who lives near the Rissho Kosei Kai Buddhist Center, has been attending Mikawa’s weekly sound baths for several weeks. She doesn’t know the science behind it. She just knows it works for her.
“I’ve always had trouble focusing when I meditate,” she said. “But a sound bath helps me focus. It’s helped me sleep when I was unable to sleep. It’s helped me let go of emotion. It’s even sparked my creativity.”
For Ridge Gonzalez, who practices yoga and meditation, it was her first time in a sound bath.
“It was amazing,” she said. “I could visualize the sound as if it were being sprinkled. I could see and feel it. When you’re meditating, you feel a sense of clarity. The sound bath feels like just another way of extending that practice.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Rabbi Jonathan Aaron plays guitar while Cantor Lizzie Weiss helps during the Havdalah candle ceremony at the conclusion of a sound bath at Temple Emanuel, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)
Former University of Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore has been arraigned in a Washtenaw County courtroom. He faces one felony charge of third-degree home invasion, as well as misdemeanors for stalking in a domestic relationship and breaking and entering.
Moore was fired from his job earlier this week. A statement from the university says the termination was “for cause” after an internal investigation found he had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
According to Washtenaw County assistant prosecutor Kati Rezmierski, the victim had been in a years-long affair with Moore but broke it off earlier this week.
“Eventually, she presented herself to the University of Michigan,” says Rezmierski, “cooperated in some form of investigation there. As we all no know, the defendant was at some point on Wednesday afternoon fired from his employment.”
Prosecutors allege that, after learning of his termination, Moore broke into the victim’s home, grabbing several butter knives and a pair of scissors. He then began threatening to take his own life in front of her.
“’My blood is on your hands. You ruined my life,’” Rezmierski quoted. “And a series of very, very threatening, intimidating [and] terrifying, quite frankly, statements.”
Moore was arrested on Wednesday evening and has been held in Washtenaw County jail since.
The former coach has posted his $25,000 bond, and is being released with a GPS tracking device and a no-contact order. He also must keep up with mental health treatment as a condition of release.
Moore is due back in court next month.
The University of Michigan has named Biff Poggi interim head coach while it decides on Sherrone Moore’s permanent replacement.
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But the founder and CEO of artificial tree company Balsam Hill, Mac Harman, says tariffs are forcing price hikes for much of the season’s holiday décor.
Listen: Tariffs take bite out of Christmas tree business
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Mac Harman: For artificial trees, pre-lit trees, all of those are made in Southeast Asia. 87 % of artificial trees imported to the U.S. last year came from China. It’s going to be lower this year because we and many others have diversified our supply chains to other parts of Southeast Asia. But there’s a tremendous amount of labor that goes into a pre-lit artificial tree.
Most of the reasons that people choose artificial trees are around convenience and longevity. What’s really convenient is you don’t have to spend an hour or more stringing the lights on the tree. And that’s a job that Americans don’t like doing when they set up their farm-grown trees.
And it’s a job that Americans didn’t want to do in factories, which is why pre-lit artificial trees were never made in the United States. That’s why we see them coming in from overseas.
From a farm-grown tree standpoint this year, maybe they have some increased costs affecting something they use on the farm. The price of the tree may not change as much.
But you still need the lights and the tree stand. And those are generally imported as well. Certainly the lights are all imported. And so those costs are up even more because, unfortunately, Christmas lights are tariffed even higher than pre-lit Christmas trees.
Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: When you were looking at what was going on with tariffs as you were plotting your sales for the holidays this year, how difficult was it? Tariffs would go up, they’d go down again. Is it possible, even with diversifying supply chains, that there could be a shortage of trees?
MH: This year has been the most difficult running a business in my 25 years being a CEO, more difficult than COVID. And it is exactly because of trying to manage the tariffs. Literally the day after the presidential election, we started shipping as many products in as we could because it was talked about that there was going to be a so-called Day One tariff on Inauguration Day. So we and most major retailers shipped-in a lot. Then, on Day One, there wasn’t any tariffs.
There was an announcement that there would be a change on April 2nd. So we all scrambled and manufactured as many goods as we could and shipped them in before April 2nd. Everyone kind of independently made a decision to cut back around 15%-20%. So across the industry about 15% fewer trees were imported this year. We don’t have official data yet because the data was shut down during the government shutdown and they haven’t caught up. But we also think demand is going to be a little bit slower because the prices have gone up.
I think what we’re going to see is that there won’t be as many trees available at clearance. There are consumers who say, “Hey, an artificial tree lasts me 10 years. I can get by with the one I have this year. I’m going to wait ‘till after Christmas and buy one next year.” I don’t think we’re going to see as many of those deals this year. And we’re starting to see across the major retailers, as well as Balsam Hill, that we’re running out of stock on the most popular models because there just aren’t as many to go around this year.
QK: Let me play devil’s advocate. President Trump has long argued that the reason he wants to use tariffs is because he wants to have products made in the U.S. Obviously I’m paraphrasing, but if you’re making something and you’re depending on imports, well, you should be making it in the U.S. instead. So there might be a little bit of short-term pain, but suck it up and start building your stuff in the U.S. What’s your reaction to that argument?
MH: I think it’s fantastic that the president wants to bring strategic good manufacturing back to the U.S. I’d love it if my cell phone, telecommunications equipment, ships, things that we need for our defenses could be made in the U.S. What I don’t think needs to be made in the U.S. are non-strategic goods. And certainly Christmas trees are a non-strategic good, meaning that they don’t have any national security interest.
And they’ve actually never been made in the US. So it’s not even a matter of bringing it back. When the idea for the pre-lit artificial tree came about, the workers in the factories that made unlit artificial trees said they literally did not want to get paid to put lights on a tree. They said they were going to go find another job. And the entire industry moved in the early 1990s over to Thailand at the time.
We are in discussions with the Trump administration in D.C. Pretty much every official I’ve talked to, and I’ve had the privilege to talk to many, agrees with that. We’re hoping that, once things settle down with the U.S. Supreme Court case over IEEPA authority for tariffs, we will see more targeted tariffs. Just like we’ve seen these carve-outs for things that don’t grow here, like bananas and coffee and chocolate, I think we’re going to start to see that for some other non-strategic industries. So I’m hoping that we will see some tariff relief for the Christmas industry in the coming months.
QK: If you did want to try to start making them in the U.S. in some fashion, would that even be possible?
MH: We looked at that back during the first Trump administration. The only way we could manufacture artificial Christmas trees, pre-lit artificial trees in the United States would be if we could invent ways that reduce the labor costs. And we got to a point where a tree that we sell today for $800 would need to sell for about $3,000, back when we looked at this six or seven years ago. And that just isn’t feasible. We have taken another look at it now and not enough things have changed to make any difference in that.
I’ve spent a lot of this year in Washington, D.C., talking with the administration as well as Congress about this holiday decor issue. What we’re hoping for and what we think is going to happen is that President Trump’s going to do something like he did back in 2019, when he was putting the 301 tariffs on China in place. He delayed them until after Christmas to help Christmas retail. That’s public, he spoke about it. At the same time, many Christmas decorations were placed on list 4B, which was tariffed at 0%. So pre-lit Christmas trees have not been tariffed above 0% until this year.
I do think we are going to see some kind of relief from the administration. Going into the mid-term elections next year, you want consumers to be really happy. If everyone goes into Christmas and the conversation around the dinner table is about how expensive the mashed potatoes and the roast beef are, or whatever you’re eating, that’s not going to be a super Merry Christmas from at least an economic standpoint. For us, even though we’ve already imported all the goods we’re going to sell this year, if we know relief is coming next year, there are ways we can cut costs even more. We could potentially lower prices as we’re selling things for the rest of this season.
Right now we’re staring at even higher tariffs next year because the tariffs would be in place for the whole year. Whereas this year they’ve been in place only part of the year. And we brought a lot of our inventory in before those tariffs went into place.
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This year the Detroit School of the Arts will offer its Kwanzaa celebration to the public for the first time.
The program Seven Seeds, One Harvest: The Chronicles of Kwanzaa will feature African drumming, spoken word performances, visual art and a student-led fashion show.
The DSA has celebrated Kwanzaa since the 1990s. The annual event is sponsored by the dance department, but incorporates the work of all seven arts majors at the school.
“Typically our Kwanzaa program is a school assembly because it’s designed as a cultural learning opportunity for students,” says DSA principal Mayowa Reynolds.
Reynolds introduced Kwanzaa to DSA when she was a new teacher at the school in 1999. She credits current West African dance instructor Imani Ma’at AknhmenRa Amen Taylor with building the program to a level that’s ready for the masses.
Ma’at AknhmenRa Amen Taylor is a Kresge Arts Fellow and teaches West African dance to all of the dance majors and as physical fitness to all DSA students.
“The significance here at DSA is that as students who are going to go out into the world as artists, that they are deeply rooted in their own culture,” says Principal Mayowa Reynolds.
The event is also a fundraiser for dance students who have been invited to travel and train with the National Ballet of Guinea next year.
Seven Seeds, One Harvest: The Chronicles of Kwanzaa is Friday, December 12 at 7 p.m. at the Detroit School of the Arts at 123 Selden Street in Detroit.
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Immigration enforcement in the United States has escalated sharply this year. Under the Biden administration, the daily number of people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) peaked at just under 40,000. In President Trump’s second term, that number has surged to more than 65,000.
A striking majority of those detainees — nearly three-quarters — have no criminal convictions.
Michigan has felt this shift acutely. Longtime residents with work authorization, U.S.-citizen children, and active immigration cases are increasingly being detained. One of them is Ernesto Cuevas Enciso.
Who Ernesto is
Ernesto came to the United States from Mexico in 1995. He was three years old. His baby sister, Miriam, was one. They grew up in Detroit one grade apart, sharing classrooms, milestones, and daily life.
As an adult, Ernesto became a DACA recipient. That protection was later revoked when prior, nonviolent misdemeanors surfaced during a renewal screening—a common outcome even for minor offenses from many years earlier.
Today, Ernesto has legal work authorization through a different process and is pursuing a marriage-based green card application. He is a construction worker, a husband, and a father to a one-year-old daughter.
Arrest in Ypsilanti
Last week, Ernesto and another construction worker were near a job site in Ypsilanti when an unmarked vehicle approached. ICE detained both men.
Ernesto Cuevas Enciso with his wife Andrea and one-year-old daughter.
Ernesto is now being held more than three hours from home at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin — currently the largest immigration detention facility in the Midwest.
Ernesto is awaiting an immigration hearing on December 17.
Family and lawmakers call for his release
Ernesto’s family and several Michigan lawmakers are urging ICE to release him on bond. They describe him as not a safety risk, a man who has been following the legal process, supporting his family, and working toward lawful permanent residency.
His sister, Miriam Stone, spoke with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent about the impact of this detention on their family and why they believe Ernesto should come home while his case proceeds.
What comes next
To understand the legal and policy context behind Ernesto’s case and why so many longtime Michigan residents are being detained this year, The Metro also spoke with Christine Suave of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, who explains the legal landscape and what options remain for someone in Ernesto’s position, and State Sen. Stephanie Chang, who discusses what Michigan lawmakers can and cannot do in response to federal immigration enforcement decisions.
The Metro contacted Detroit’s office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We asked why they detained Ernesto, given his legal work authorization and his pending marriage-based green card, and if ICE considers a person with two nonviolent misdemeanors, which occurred over a decade ago, to fall within its priority categories of enforcement.
The agency has not yet responded.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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Aggressive immigration enforcement has intensified nationwide. As of early this month, more than 200,000 people had been arrested by ICE agents, including about 75,000 with no criminal record at all.
Lue Yang doesn’t technically fit into this context. But his case is close.
Lue Yang (second from left) with his family, including his wife, Ann Vue, and their six children in traditional White Hmong attire.
He was born in a Thai refugee camp after his family fled Laos. The Hmong refugee has lived in Michigan since he was 8 months old. While he is here legally, Yang previously had a 1997 criminal conviction, which was expunged in Michigan, but isn’t recognized by federal immigration law.
That resulted in ICE agents arresting Yang in July at his work. He was in prison until last week when he was released with the help of Michigan Republican Congressman Tom Barrett.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
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