Michigan’s lawmakers are beginning to issue public statements following President Donald Trump’s acknowledgment that the United States is risking American lives in military action involving Iran.
So far, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib have shared their reactions. Additional responses are expected.
Sen. Gary Peters: “Our Constitution requires this check for a reason”
In a Facebook post, Sen. Gary Peters said the president is “risking American lives by dragging us into another ‘war’ in the Middle East, without Congress’ approval.”
Peters wrote that the Constitution requires congressional authorization “for a reason” and said the American people “don’t want to send their sons and daughters to another unjustified forever war across the world.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “The American people do not want a war with Iran”
In a statement released from Detroit, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said, “The American people do not want a war with Iran.”
Tlaib criticized what she called the Trump administration’s “illegal war of aggression on Iran,” saying it has “already killed dozens of children” and risks igniting “a catastrophic regional war.”
She said Congress “must stop the bloodshed by immediately reconvening to exert its war powers.”
Tlaib also said Iran is “a bad actor” and that the United States must ensure the country never produces nuclear weapons. She referenced a prior diplomatic agreement on nuclear proliferation, saying President Trump withdrew from it during his first term “without a plan for what comes next.”
Tlaib called on the administration to immediately brief Congress on the strikes, including its next steps, end goal and strategy, to ensure the action “protects, not weakens, our homeland security.”
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.
On any given school day in Eastpointe, a student in special education may be working on speech skills with someone on a screen.
The student is receiving one-on-one support from a virtual speech pathologist. It’s two-on-one support if you count the paraprofessional there to escort the child, supervise them and sometimes help with exercises.
Eastpointe Community Schools Superintendent Christina A. Gibson has four virtual speech pathology providers and two in-person providers to help 149 students with speech services, including 37 pre-K students.
In a perfect world, she would prefer to have all in-person speech professionals. “This is not an ideal situation,” Gibson told Bridge. “I think the best speech services are delivered face-to-face.”
Competition for speech teachers is fierce, and demand is outpacing supply, said Gibson.
“Because the demand is there all over the country, speech pathologists can work wherever they want to,” Gibson said. “And districts don’t have choices. Our first priority is always to be compliant and to provide services to students.”
Couple that with a growing student need for speech services and you get vacancies. Some of those vacancies get filled by virtual therapists.
As of Friday, Feb. 27, Optimise, a statewide special education talent task force, listed 224 job openings for speech pathologists to work in Michigan’s public schools.
Temporary solution
In Ann Arbor, Dicken Elementary is using a virtual speech therapist after an in-person therapist resigned recently.
Andrew Cluley, an Ann Arbor Public Schools spokesperson, said the move is “temporary” and does not change students’ goals in their individualized education programs (IEPs), how often or how much speech service a student receives.
“Our intent is to ensure continuity of services during staffing shortages rather than allowing gaps in support for 27 Dicken students.”
Cluley said all speech languages services, regardless of if they are in-person or virtual, are being provided by Michigan-licensed speech language pathologists.
Ann Arbor Education Association President Fred Klein said the transition to virtual speech is a “Band-Aid, stop gap measure.”
He said he’s hopeful the district will be able to hire an in-person speech therapist but he said compensation remains a challenge in the district.
The union is negotiating a new contract with the district. More broadly, many have argued for an increase in teacher compensation to help attract and retain teachers.
Michigan ranks 44th nationwide in starting salaries, $41,645, while the average teacher pay of $69,067 ranks 19th among states, according to an analysis from the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) at Michigan State University.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear just how common virtual staffing is for special education.
Districts report job vacancy information to the state, but the Michigan Department of Education said it does not know how many special education positions are being filled by virtual contractors or employees.
MDE declined to say whether the department believes speech services should be offered in-person.
“Those types of decisions are made through an IEP developed at the local level based on the specific needs of each student,” said MDE spokesperson Bob Wheaton.
There are 215,449 students with Individualized Education Programs during the current school year, an increase of 1.8% than the previous school year.
“Whenever you’re doing any type of virtual services, you should be communicating with the family,” said Tina Lawson, vice president of the Michigan Association of Administrators of Special Education.
Bridge Michigan
“They should have a clear understanding of what is taking place. Whether that’s through an (individualized education program) discussion, or a direct phone call or some form of letter communication with the family to make sure that they understand the participation of it.”
Michigan special education teaching positions have a higher vacancy rate than other fields, according to a different analysis from EPIC.
“It’s not just vacancies, it’s also turnover,” said Tara Kilbride, associate director of EPIC, who researches the teacher workforce. “And turnover during the school year, especially, is higher in special education than other areas.”
‘Human relationships’
While virtual workers can help students individually, educators acknowledge there are some aspects that aren’t possible with someone on a screen. For example, they can’t just hop into a classroom to help a teacher out if a specific student is having a behavioral concern or needs some time to cool off.
In Potterville, the middle and high school uses a virtual social worker. Special education teacher Samantha Jean said the social worker is “amazing,” and attends IEP meetings, meets one-on-one with Jean and has helped students meet their goals.
“But then on the flip side of that is, you have those kids that really thrive on those human relationships. So I have had one student(s’) family say ‘until we have in-person, this just doesn’t benefit him. He sits there, refuses to talk.”
In response, Jean said she helps the student with his social skills.
“We have to figure out a way to give those kids the services they need,” Jean said.
Kilbride, the workforce researcher, said it’s important to consider tradeoffs.
“If the alternative is not having anyone at all, that’s obviously worse than having the virtual service provider,” Kilbride said. “If the alternative is having your existing staff spread thin or having higher caseloads, harder workloads among the special education service providers, that can also be a problem.”
Lawson, also the director of special education at Berrien RESA, said her intermediate district “would prefer in-person. It’s definitely much more beneficial for students to have that one-to-one in-person provision of services.”
Last spring, LaKesha Welch started the process of enrolling her son for first grade at Eastpointe. Welch said her son has autism and is nonverbal and hyperactive. Her son had already benefited from applied behavioral analysis therapy, and Welch hoped her son could become more independent in traditional public school. But she learned his speech services would be virtual, which Welch said she couldn’t “see that being a workable solution for my son.”
Ultimately, Welch chose for her son to enroll in L’Anse Creuse Schools, another Macomb County district.
Solutions for special education
Administrators acknowledged state efforts to increase the number of teachers and other roles that support students with disabilities.
Still, they say more should be done.
Jean wants districts and the state to ensure social workers who have never been in an education setting before have training on classroom management, verbal de-escalation skills and mandated reporting.
“Man, if I had that magic wand, it would be putting those people in those positions with the correct training behind it,” Jean said.
Gibson, of Eastpointe, said she continues to work with her local union to see if the district can provide financial incentives for hard-to-staff positions.
She also wants the state to change rules so that paraprofessionals can directly provide speech services with the guidance of speech therapists.
Staff shortages are forcing many Michigan schools to use virtual speech pathologists to language services to students. (Image from www.freepik.com)
Republicans think patients should be shopping for better health care prices. The party has long pushed to give patients money and let consumers do the work of reducing costs. After some GOP lawmakers closed out 2025 advocating to fund health savings accounts, President Donald Trump introduced his Great Healthcare Plan, which calls for, among other policies, requiring providers and insurers to post their prices “in their place of business.”
The idea echoes a policy implemented during his first term, when Trump suggested that requiring hospitals to post their charges online could ease one of the most common gripes about the health care system — the lack of upfront prices. To anyone who’s gotten a bill three months after treatment only to find mysterious charges, the idea seemed intuitive.
“You’re able to go online and compare all of the hospitals and the doctors and the prices,” Trump said in 2019 at an event unveiling the price transparency policy.
But amid low compliance and other struggles in implementing the policy since it took effect in 2021, the available price data is sparse and often confusing. And instead of patients shopping for medical services, it’s mostly health systems and insurers using the little data there is, turning it into fodder for negotiations that determine what medical professionals and facilities get paid for what services.
“We use the transparency data,” said Eric Hoag, an executive at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, noting that the insurer wants to make sure providers aren’t being paid substantially different rates. It’s “to make sure that we are competitive, or, you know, more than competitive against other health plans.”
Not all hospitals have fallen in line with the price transparency rules, and many were slow to do so. A study conducted in the policy’s first 10 months found only about a third of facilities had complied with the regulations. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services notified 27 hospitals from June 2022 to May 2025 that they would be fined for lack of compliance with the rules.
The struggles to make health care prices available have prompted more federal action since Trump’s first effort. President Joe Biden took his own thwack at the dilemma, by requiring increased data standardization and toughening compliance criteria. And in early 2025, working to fulfill his promises to lower health costs, Trump tried again, signing a new executive order urging his administration to fine hospitals and doctors for failing to post their prices. CMS followed up with a regulation intended to up the fines and increase the level of detail required within the pricing data.
So far, “there’s no evidence that patients use this information,” said Zack Cooper, a health economist at Yale University.
In 2021, Cooper co-authored a paper based on data from a large commercial insurer. The researchers found that, on average, patients who need an MRI pass six lower-priced imaging providers on the way from their homes to an appointment for a scan. That’s because they follow their physician’s advice about where to receive care, the study showed.
Executives and researchers interviewed by KFF Health News also didn’t think opening the data would change prices in a big way. Research shows that transparency policies can have mixed effects on prices, with one 2024 study of a New York initiative finding a marginal increase in billed charges.
The policy results thus far seem to put a damper on long-held hopes, particularly from the GOP, that providing more price transparency would incentivize patients to find the best deal on their imaging or knee replacements.
These aspirations have been unfulfilled for a few reasons, researchers and industry insiders say. Some patients simply don’t compare services. But unlike with apples — a Honeycrisp and a Red Delicious are easy to line up side by side — medical services are hard to compare.
For one thing, it’s not as simple as one price for one medical stay. Two babies might be delivered by the same obstetrician, for example, but the mothers could be charged very different amounts. One patient might be given medications to speed up contractions; another might not. Or one might need an emergency cesarean section — one of many cases in medicine in which obtaining the service simply isn’t a choice.
And the data often is presented in a way that’s not useful for patients, sometimes buried in spreadsheets and requiring a deep knowledge of billing codes. In computing these costs, hospitals make “detailed assumptions about how to apply complex contracting terms and assess historic data to create a reasonable value for an expected allowed amount,” the American Hospital Association told the Trump administration in July 2025 amid efforts to boost transparency.
Costs vary because hospitals’ contracts with insurers vary, said Jamie Cleverley, president of Cleverley and Associates, which works with health care providers to help them understand the financial impacts of changing contract terms. The cost for a patient with one health plan may be very different than the cost for the next patient with another plan.
The fact that hospital prices might be confusing for patients is a consequence of the lack of standardization in contracts and presentation, Cleverley said. “They’re not being nefarious.”
“Until we kind of align as an industry, there’s going to continue to be this variation in terms of how people look at the data and the utility of it,” he said.
Instead of aiding shoppers, the federally mandated data has become the foundation for negotiations — or sometimes lawsuits — over the proper level of compensation.
The top use for the pricing data for health care providers and payers, such as insurers, is “to use that in their contract negotiations,” said Marcus Dorstel, an executive at price transparency startup Turquoise Health.
Turquoise Health assembles price data by grouping codes for services together using machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence. It is just one example in a cottage industry of startups offering insights into prices. And, online, the startups’ advertisements hawking their wares often focus on hospitals and their periodic jousts with insurers. Turquoise has payers and providers as clients, Dorstel said.
“I think nine times out of 10 you will hear them say that the price transparency data is a vital piece of the contract negotiation now,” he said.
Of course, prices aren’t the only variable that negotiations hinge on. Hoag said Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota also considers quality of care, rates of unnecessary treatments, and other factors. And sometimes negotiators feel as if they have to keep up with their peers — claiming a need for more revenue to match competitors’ salaries, for example.
Hoag said doctors and other providers often look at the data from comparable health systems and say, “‘I need to be paid more.’”
By JON GAMBRELL, KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, JOSH BOAK and AAMER MADHANI The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, and President Donald Trump called on the Iranian public to “seize control of your destiny” by rising up against the Islamic leadership that has ruled the nation since 1979.
Some of the first strikes appeared to hit areas around the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Iranian media reported strikes nationwide. Smoke could be seen rising from the capital. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the 86-year-old leader was in his offices at the time of the strike.
“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations,” Trump said in a video announcing “major combat operations” were underway. “For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed that sweeping goal. “Our joint operation will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands,” Netanyahu said.
The strikes opened a stunning new chapter in U.S. intervention in Iran and marked the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has used military force against the Islamic Republic. They also came just weeks after Trump ordered a military operation to capture Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and bring him and his wife to New York to face federal drug conspiracy charges.
The targets included members of Iran’s leadership, according to a U.S. official and another person briefed on the attacks who both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified information on an ongoing operation. There was no immediate information on whether top officials had been killed.
Tensions have soared in recent weeks as American warships moved into the region. Trump said he wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program at a moment when the country is struggling at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests.
The immediate trigger for Saturday’s strikes appears to be the unsuccessful latest round of nuclear talks. But they also reflect the dramatic changes across the region that have left Iran’s leadership in its weakest position since the Islamic Revolution nearly half a century ago.
Israeli and American strikes last June greatly weakened Iran’s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program. A regionwide war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, has left Iran’s network of proxies across the Middle East greatly weakened. U.S. sanctions and global isolation, meanwhile, have decimated Iran’s economy.
Iran responded to the latest strikes as it had been threatening to do for months — first launching a wave of missiles and drones targeting Israel. It followed with strikes targeting U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. The United Arab Emirates and Iraq shut down their airspace.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a defiant statement, saying the country “will not hesitate” in its response. In a statement posted on X, the ministry said: “The time has come to defend the homeland and confront the enemy’s military assault.”
At least 57 people were reported killed at a girls’ school in southern Iran in the Israeli-U.S. strikes, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. At least 45 others were wounded in the attack in Minab in Iran’s Hormozgan province. The White House and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on reported strike on the school.
In an indication of the scope of the conflict, flights across the Middle East were disrupted and air defense fire thudded over Dubai, the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, Saturday afternoon. Associated Press journalists saw the aftereffects of the blast from an interceptor.
Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack on the capital of the UAE killed one person, state media said.
Attack was coordinated between Israel and US
The U.S. military has for weeks amassed forces in the region, even as U.S. and Iranian envoys held talks in Switzerland and Oman aimed at finding a diplomatic solution.
“Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined,” Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said in a post on X. Al-Busaidi, a key mediator in the nuclear talks, traveled to Washington on Friday to meet with Vice President JD Vance.
“Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this,” al-Busaidi said. “And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further.”
Israel said the operation has been planned for months between the Israeli and U.S. militaries.
Trump, in justifying the military action, claimed that Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program and plans to develop missiles to reach the U.S.
He also acknowledged that there could be American casualties, saying “that often happens in war.”
It was a notable call on Americans to brace themselves from a U.S. leader who swept into office on an “America First” platform and vowed to keep out of “forever wars” that had bogged down his recent predecessors.
Trump’s statement indicated the U.S. was striking for reasons far beyond the nuclear program, listing grievances stretching back to the beginning of the Islamic Republic following a revolution in 1979 that turned Iran from one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East into a fierce foe.
The U.S. president said he was aiming to “annihilate” the Iranian navy and destroy regional proxies supported by Tehran.
He also called on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to lay down its arms, pledging that members would be given immunity, while warning they would face “certain death” if they didn’t.
Trump had threatened military action — but held off — following Iran’s recent crackdown on protests spurred by economic grievances and evolved into a nationwide, anti-government push against the ruling clerics.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency says it confirmed more than 7,000 deaths in the crackdown and that it is investigating thousands more. The government has acknowledged more than 3,000 killed, though it has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.
Iran currently has a self-imposed limit on its ballistic missile program, limiting their range to 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles). That puts all the Mideast and some of Eastern Europe in their range.
Iran had hoped to avert a war, but maintains it has the right to enrich uranium and does not want to discuss other issues, like its long-range missile program or support for armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
The strikes could rattle global markets, particularly if Iran is able to make the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for commercial traffic. More than 14 million barrels per day of oil passed through the strait in 2025, about a third of total worldwide oil exports transported by sea.
Strikes hit targets across Iran
Iranian media reported strikes nationwide. Roads to Khamenei’s compound in downtown Tehran had been shut down by authorities as other blasts rang out across the capital.
Khamenei has not made a public appearance in recent days and wasn’t immediately seen after. During the 12-day war in June, he was believed to have been taken to a secure location away from his Tehran compound.
Targets in the Israeli campaign included Iran’s military, symbols of government and intelligence targets, according to an official briefed on the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information on the attack.
Iran retaliates
Hours after the strikes, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it launched a “first wave” of drones and missiles targeting Israel, where a nationwide warning was issued as the military said it was working to intercept incoming Iranian missiles. There was no immediate word on any damage or casualties from the ongoing attack.
Meanwhile, Bahrain said that a missile attack targeted the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in the island kingdom. Witnesses heard sirens and explosions in Kuwait, home to U.S. Army Central. Explosions could be also be heard in Qatar.
The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen vowed to resume attacks on Red Sea shipping routes and on Israel, according to two senior Houthi officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement from the Houthi leadership.
U.S. embassies or consulates in Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Israel posted on social media that they told staffers to shelter in place and recommended all Americans “do the same until further notice.”
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Toropin and Madhani reported from Washington and Boak from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Samy Magdy in Cairo, and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.
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This story has been corrected to show that IRNA reported 40 people were killed in the school strike, without specifying students.
People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo)
By KAITLYN HUAMANI and BARBARA ORTUTAY The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A young woman who is battling against social media giants took the stand Thursday to testify about her experience using the platforms as she was growing up, saying she was on social media “all day long” as a child.
The now 20-year-old, who has been identified in court documents as KGM, says her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta and YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.
The case, along with two others, has been selected as a bellwether trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies are likely to play out.
KGM, or Kaley, as her lawyers have called her during the trial, started using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9.
A turbulent home life
Kaley took the stand wearing a pink floral dress and a beige cardigan and said she was “very nervous” after her attorney, Mark Lanier, asked how she was doing Thursday morning.
Lanier displayed childhood photos of Kaley and her family and asked about positive memories from her upbringing in a quiet cul-de-sac in Chico, California. She spoke of themed birthday parties, trips to Six Flags and her mom’s consistent efforts to make her childhood special.
Still, Kaley’s relationship with her mother was challenging at times. Kaley said most of their arguments were over the use of her phone.
Both the defendants and the plaintiff have pointed to a turbulent home life for Kaley. Her attorneys say she was preyed upon as a vulnerable user, but attorneys representing Meta and Google-owned YouTube have argued Kaley turned to their platforms as a coping mechanism or a means of escaping her mental health struggles.
When asked about claims that her mother had hit her, abused her and neglected her, Kaley said “she wasn’t perfect, but she was trying her best,” and clarified that she doesn’t think she would label her mother’s past actions as abuse or neglect today.
But later Thursday, during her cross-examination, Kaley did agree that her mother was being physically and emotionally abusive during the time that she was self-harming around when she was in the 6th grade.
Kaley, who works as a personal shopper at Walmart, lives with her mother in the home she grew up in.
Notifications gave her a ‘rush’
As a child, Kaley set up multiple accounts on both Instagram and YouTube so she could like and comment on her posts. She said she would also “buy” likes through a platform where she could like other people’s photos and get a slew of likes in return. “It made me look popular,” she said.
Kaley was asked specifically about the features the plaintiffs argue are deliberately designed to be addictive, including notifications. Those notifications on both Instagram and YouTube gave her a “rush,” she said. She would receive them throughout the day and would go to the bathroom during school to check them — something she still does.
Kaley said while she uses YouTube less often now, she believes she was previously addicted to it. “Anytime I tried to set limits for myself, it wouldn’t work and I just couldn’t get off,” she said.
Filters on Instagram, specifically those that could change a person’s cosmetic appearance, have also loomed large in the case and were also a constant fixture of Kaley’s use. Lanier and his colleagues unfurled a nearly 35-foot-long canvas banner with photos Kaley has posted on Instagram. She said “almost all” of the photos had a filter on them.
The jury was also shown Instagram posts and YouTube videos Kaley posted as a child and young teen. One video showed her saying she was “crying tears of joy” after surpassing 100 YouTube subscribers — but then she quickly turned to her looks, apologizing for her “ugly appearance.”
“I look so fat in this shirt,” the young Kaley says in the video.
Kaley said she did not experience the negative feelings associated with her body dysmorphia diagnosis before she began using social media and filters.
Meta focuses on plaintiff’s home life, contradicting statements
Meta has argued that Kaley faced significant challenges before she ever used social media. The company’s lawyer, Paul Schmidt, said earlier this month that the core question in the case is whether the platforms were a substantial factor in Kayley’s mental health struggles.
Meta attorney Phyllis Jones took a polite, respectful tone in her cross-examination Thursday, acknowledging that it could be uncomfortable for her to speak about her private life in front of a room of strangers. Jones proceeded to zero in on Kaley’s home life and did not ask her any questions about social media addiction within the first hour and a half of the cross-examination.
Jones pulled up text exchanges and posts Kaley had made on Instagram about her mental health and her relationship with her mother and played videos Kaley took of her mother yelling at her.
On nearly 20 occasions during the Meta cross-examination, Jones asked Kaley to look at the transcript from her 2025 deposition, which contradicted some of the responses she gave during her testimony. Many of those questions were about how a specific action by her family members or a specific experience impacted her mental health, with Kaley saying on Thursday they either didn’t have an impact or didn’t significantly contribute to anxiety and depression. Her deposition from about a year ago often said the opposite.
“I tried to answer the questions to the best of my ability, but I may have misspoke at times,” Kaley said of her deposition.
This time, Kaley did agree that her mother was being physically and emotionally abusive during the time that she was self-harming around when she was in the 6th grade. She testified earlier in the day that she doesn’t think she would label her mother’s past actions as abuse or neglect today.
Therapist: Social media and sense of self ‘were closely related’
Victoria Burke, a former therapist Kaley worked with in 2019, testified on Wednesday, and Burke said her social media and her sense of self “were closely related,” adding that what was happening on the platforms could “make or break her mood.”
An attorney for Meta parsed through Burke’s notes from her sessions with Kaley extensively in a cross examination that lasted about three hours. He highlighted Kaley’s negative experiences with in-person bullying, other school-based sources of stress and anxiety and issues with her family. Mentions of social media in the notes were mostly limited to Kaley saying she didn’t feel she had a place at home, at school or among her peers, but did feel she had a place to be seen on social media.
Burke’s treatment of Kaley lasted about six months and that period took place seven years ago.
The case is expected to continue for several weeks, and the outcome the jury reaches could shape the outcome of a slew of similar lawsuits against social media companies. Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
(Bloomberg) — The US and Israel began striking targets across Iran, with President Donald Trump urging Iranians to overthrow the government in a conflict that threatens to spiral across the oil-rich Middle East.
“The hour for your freedom is at hand,” Trump said, addressing Iranians in a video posted on Truth Social on Saturday. “When we’re finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
The military campaign could be a defining moment for Trump, risking a drawn-out regional war that leads to a surge in energy prices and American casualties ahead of mid-term elections this year. Iran quickly responded by firing missiles on Israel and US bases around the region, and countries in the Persian Gulf closed their airspace.
Israel’s military said the campaign would target “dozens of military targets,” and Iran media reported strikes on defensive and civilian sites, including more than 50 people dead in a strike on a school in Hormozgan, in the south of the country. Several large explosions were reported in the capital, Tehran.
Iran answered with a wave of missile and drone attacks at Israel and countries hosting the US military. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said all US bases and interests in the region would be targeted, including in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. Bahrain said an American base in that country had come under attack, and Qatar and the UAE said they intercepted missiles in their airspace. Blasts were heard in Dubai.
The response outweighed Iran’s retaliation to Israeli airstrikes in June — both in scale and speed — as Tehran treats the conflict as an existential threat. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held calls with counterparts in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq, according to a ministry statement, urging them to prevent the US and Israel from using their territory to attack the Islamic Republic.
The prospect of a weeks-long, regional war is a nightmare scenario for US allies in the Gulf such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They pushed hard for Iran and the US to agree a diplomatic solution to their impasse over Tehran’s nuclear activities, fearing the chaos and flight shutdowns now unfolding could hit their economies and deter tourists as well as foreign investment.
Amid the possibility of US strikes in the energy-rich region, oil prices rose last week. Brent crude increased as much as 3.2% to $73 per barrel in London on Friday, the highest intraday price since July, after gaining almost 20% in the year to date on US-Iran tensions. Oil markets are closed for the weekend.
Trump said the military operation began after Iran refused to renounce nuclear weapons, which Tehran has repeatedly said it isn’t pursuing. He’s expected to address the nation about Iran later Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The US aims to destroy the Islamic Republic’s missile inventory and industry as well as its navy, the president said. The Associated Press said at least one strike took place near the office of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iranian officials and their military capabilities are the focus of the campaign, declining to comment on whether Khamenei or President Masoud Pezeshkian are targets.
The official cited a sharp acceleration in Iran’s missile production and fortification of nuclear sites as a reason for the renewed attack.
“A short time ago, the US military began major combat operations in Iran,” Trump said. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”
“My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to US personnel in the region,” the US leader added. “Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now, we’re doing this for the future.”
The operation is expected to continue for several days, Reuters said, citing a US official it didn’t identify.
The attacks came two days after delegations from Iran and the US met in Switzerland for a third round of negotiations on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities.
What We Know About Iran’s Nuclear Program: QuickTake
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi told CBS television on Friday night there was a “breakthrough” in the negotiations, citing Iran’s agreement not to stockpile highly enriched uranium. While Iran also sounded upbeat about the trajectory of the talks, Trump responded by saying that he wasn’t happy with how they were unfolding.
The US has in recent weeks amassed its largest military buildup in decades in the Middle East, with Trump indicating more ambitious goals than the limited strikes he ordered against Iran’s atomic installations in June of last year.
In addition to demanding that Iran give up its nuclear program, he vowed to support protesters who have faced a deadly crackdown from Iranian authorities in recent months.
US officials also called on Tehran to curtail its support for proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah, as well as its missile program, which they describe as a critical threat to Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency as he announced Saturday’s strikes, and said the country expected to come under retaliatory drone and missile attacks. Sirens sounded throughout Israel, according to the military.
OPEC+ will consider the option of a larger oil supply increase when key members meet on Sunday, after the Israel strikes, according to a delegate. The group led by Saudi Arabia and Russia was expected to resume modest production increases from April after a three-month supply freeze, several delegates said earlier this week.
Trump on Friday downplayed concerns about the likelihood of oil prices spiking if he attacks Iran, saying, “I’m concerned about people’s lives. I’m concerned about long-term health for this country.”
–With assistance from John Harney, Michael Gunn, Galit Altstein, Eltaf Najafizada and Dana Khraiche.
(Updates with Iran foreign minister comment in sixth paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
A monthly On-the-Go pop-up food distribution will debut Tuesday morning at a state office in north Clinton Township.
The site is the fourth location as part of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ On-the-Go rotating-food-pantry program in partnership with Forgotten Harvest to distribute food to those in need.
“We have been able to help 850 families put food on the table through these mobile food pantries at our local offices,” said Elizabeth Hertel, MDHHS director. “In partnership with Forgotten Harvest, we are helping ensure access to healthy, nutritious food to those in need.”
On-the-Go pantries allow individuals to schedule appointments and select groceries from fresh produce to grains to proteins, state officials said. Additionally, culturally appropriate food options are offered when available – such as halal and kosher-friendly items – when serving communities with specific dietary needs, officials said.
State HHS officials plan to offer these mobile food pantries on a monthly, rotating basis on Tuesdays of each month at select MDHHS offices in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties. More than 17.5 tons of groceries have been distributed at these events so far, officials said.
The first event will take place 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 3 at the state HHS office 44777 North Gratiot Ave., Ste. A, just south of Hall Road (M-59), in Clinton Township.
A Forgotten Harvest mobile food pantry in Southeast Michigan
MICHIGAN DEPT. OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PHOTO
Individuals seeking assistant should email MDHHS-FH-Macomb@michigan.gov to make an appointment to help minimize wait times and ensure adequate food supplies, officials said.
Other sites will rotate the second, third and fourth Tuesdays of the month. Events will be held 9 a.m to 1 p.m.:
— Tuesday, March 10, at 25637 Ecorse Road in Taylor. Email MDHHS-FH-WC-Taylor@michigan.gov for an appointment.– Tuesday, March 17, at 30755 Montpelier in Madison Heights. Email MDHHS-FH-Oakland@michigan.gov for an appointment.– Tuesday, March 24, at 12140 Joseph Campau St. in Hamtramck. Email MDHHS-FH-WC-Hamtramck@michigan.gov for an appointment.
Forgotten Harvest, the state’s largest food rescue organization, has more than 65 permanent mobile pantry partners in Southeast Michigan in addition to the On-the-Go mobile pantries. To locate a food pantry, visit Forgotten Harvest’s website. Appointments to shop at Forgotten Harvest’s Community Choice Market in Oak Park can be made by calling 248-268-7756.
Additional resources can be accessed by:
— dialing 211 or visiting mi211.org/ for free, confidential assistance and referrals to local food programs and support services.
— visiting the Food Bank Council of Michigan to locate nearby food banks and learn about additional hunger relief efforts.
— going to MI Bridges to learn more about SNAP, which offers temporary food assistance to eligible families.
A volunteer hands out produce at a food pantry hosted by the Miami Heat basketball team and the Mobile Food Pantry last month in Miami.
(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
TEL AVIV — The U.S. and Israel have launched strikes against Iran with the goal of toppling the regime, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday.
Iran retaliated by launching missiles at Israel and a U.S. naval base in Bahrain. An Iranian official said all Israeli and U.S. interests in the region were now considered legitimate targets.
The joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran comes after weeks of escalating tensions and a major U.S. military buildup in the region, as the U.S. and Iran tried to negotiate a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program. Trump said those efforts had failed.
“Bombs will be dropping everywhere,” President Trump said, addressing Iranians in a video posted to his Truth Social account. “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations.”
The Israeli military said in a statement its fighter jets were striking “dozens of military targets” in Iran with “full synchronization and coordination” between the Israeli and U.S. militaries following months of joint planning.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the goal of the joint U.S.-Israeli attack is to “remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran.”
“Our joint action will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands,” Netanyahu said in a video.
A person briefed on the operation told NPR it was expected to last a few days, with Israel’s military focusing on targeting Iran’s missile program.
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” Trump said.
Israel has closed its airspace to all passenger flights, and civil defense protocols have been activated. Regional military forces remain on high alert.
A 48-hour state of emergency has been declared nationwide. Air raid sirens have been sounding across Israel, with authorities warning civilians to enter bomb shelters.
Trails of smoke streaked the sky above Tel Aviv as Israeli interception systems fired at incoming missiles. A hospital in central Israel began moving operations to an underground fortified compound.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. It’s menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world,” Trump said.
Trump said the U.S. had “sought repeatedly to make a deal” but Iran “rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions.”
Trump told the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to “lay down your arms… or you will face certain death.”
Iranian government media reported rocket fire in parts of the capital, Tehran. State television has broadcast footage showing smoke rising after a blast in the city. The extent of the damage and potential casualties has not yet been confirmed.
The strike follows weeks of speculation about potential military action against Iran, particularly amid a significant U.S. military buildup in the Middle East.
The following is a list of in-person and online worship services and events happening at churches and synagogues in the Oakland County area. Visit websites or call for service times and events.
• Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, 1550 Walton Blvd., Rochester Hills, 248-651-6550, abidingpresence.org. Sunday worship services are at 9:30 a.m., also virtual services are available on the website.
• Adat Shalom Synagogue, 29901 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills, in-person and online services via Zoom. To view daily Minyan video conferences; email Executive Director Michael Wolf at mwolf@adatshalom.org or visit adatshalom.org, 248-851-5100.
• All Saints’ Episcopal, 171 W. Pike St., Pontiac, allsaintspontiac.org, 248-334-4571, rector@allsaintspontiac.org.
• The Apostolic Church of Christ, 3655 N. Squirrel Road, Auburn Hills, theapostolicchurch.com, 248-373-4500, Sunday worship services at 11 a.m.
• Archdiocese of Detroit, livestream Mass times, aod.org/livemasses.
• Auburn Hills Christian Center, 2592 Walton Blvd., Auburn Hills, Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m., Servicio Evangelistico services (in Spanish) at 2-4 p.m. Sundays, 248-373-7139, www.myahcc.org.
• Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Troy, in-person and online services at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, beaconcongregation.org, admin@beaconcongregation.org.
• Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, 5631 N. Adams Road, Bloomfield Hills, livestream services at 9 a.m. Sundays, and in person at 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. at bslcmi.org, facebook/bslcmi, 248-646-5041.
• Berea Family Tabernacle of Faith, Pontiac, Sunday worship services are at 11 a.m., experienceberea.org, 248-338-4748.
• Berkley First United Methodist Church, 2820 12 Mile Road, Berkley, worship services are 10 a.m. Sundays in person and online at www.berkleyfirst.org.
• Bharatiya Temple, 6850 N Adams Road, Troy, www.bharatiya-temple.org, 248-879-2552.
• Big Beaver United Methodist Church, 3753 John R Road, Troy, worship services at 10 a.m. Sundays, http://bbumchurch.org.
• Birmingham First United Methodist Church, 1589 W Maple Road, Birmingham, www.fumcbirmingham.org, 248-646-1200. Sunday worship services are in person and online at 9:30 a.m., and in-person only services at 11 a.m. (Summer worship services are at 10 a.m. between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day.)
• Birmingham Unitarian Church, 38651 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills, in-person and online worship services, 10:30 a.m. Sundays, bucmi.org, 248-647-2380.
• Bridge Community Church, 5700 Rochester Road, Troy, in-person and online worship services, 10 a.m. Sundays, bridgecommunitychurch.com/live, 248-879-9500.
• Bridgewood Church, 6765 Rattalee Lake Road, Clarkston, 248-625-1344, www.bridgewoodchurch.com. Sunday worship services are 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., also online services, and locations in Goodrich.
• Brightmoor Christian Church, 40800 W. 13 Mile Road, Novi, www.brightmoorchurch.org. Sunday worship services at 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.
• Calvary Chapel Oakland County, 1975 E. Long Lake Road, Troy, 248-457-9673, ccoaklandcounty.com. Worship 7 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m. Sundays.
• Calvary Church, 1361 Giddings Road, Pontiac, Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m., https://ccpontiac.org, 248-373-0311.
• Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, 6805 Bluegrass Drive, Clarkston, calvary-lutheran.org. Sunday worship services are Traditional Worship at 7:55 a.m.; Modern Worship at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.; and livestream at 9:30 a.m. Food pantry (drive-up or curbside pickup) is 9-11 a.m. Wednesdays.
• Central Church, 1529 Twelve Mile Road, Madison Heights, www.centralchurch.cc. Sunday worship services at 10 a.m.
• Central Oaks Community Church, 2005 Rochester Road, Royal Oak, www.centraloaks.com, 248-547-7755. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m.
• Central United Methodist Church, 3882 Highland Road, Waterford Twp., 248-681-0040, WaterfordCUMC.org. In-person worship at 8:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sundays and online at 10:30 a.m. at Live.WaterfordCUMC.org.
• Central Woodward Christian Church Disciples of Christ, 3955 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy, 248-644-0512, centralwoodwardchristian.com. Sunday worship services are at 10:30 a.m., in person and online at centralwoodwardchristian.com and Facebook at www.facebook.com/CentralWoodward.
• Chapel of Our Lady of Orchard Lake, 3535 Commerce Road, West Bloomfield Twp., www.sscms.edu, 248-683-0310.
• Christian Science Church, 355 E Maple Road, Birmingham, worship services are 10:15 a.m. Sundays, https://christiansciencebirminghammi.com, 248-644-7935.
• Christian Tabernacle Church, Southfield, ctabchurch.com, 248-213-4770.
• Christ Church Cranbrook, 470 Church Road, Bloomfield Hills, in-person and online worship services, 10 a.m. Sundays, ccc-info.org.
• Christ Lutheran Church and School, 620 General Motors Road, Milford, www.christlutheranmilford.org. Sunday worship services at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.
• Christ, Our Light! Catholic Church, 3077 Glouchester, Troy. Mass times are: Saturday at 4 p.m.; Sunday at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.; weekday Masses (followed by Rosary recitation) are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 9 a.m., and Friday at 12:05 p.m., www.coltroy.org, 248-649-5510.
• Christ the Good Shepherd Progressive Catholic Church, 3947 Twelve Mile Road Berkley, church services: Saturday Mass at 4:30 p.m. and Sunday Mass at 10:30 a.m., 248-439-0470, www.cgs-occ.org.
• Christ the Redeemer Parish, 2700 Waldon Road, Orion Township, 248-391-1621, www.ctredeemer.org. Weekend Masses are 5 p.m. Saturdays, and 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays.
• Crown of Life Lutheran Church, 2975 Dutton Road Rochester Hills, www.crownoflifechurch.org, 248-652-7720. Sunday worship services are 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
• Church of the Holy Spirit, 3700 Harvey Lake Road, Highland Twp., www.holyspirithighland.com.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregations in Oakland County include: Bloomfield Hills, Clarkston, Commerce Twp., Farmington Hills, Lake Orion, Pontiac (Spanish), Rochester, Troy and White Lake Twp. The congregations host worship services on Sundays. For worship times and locations, visit churchofjesuschrist.org.
• Church of the Resurrection, 6490 Clarkston Road, Village of Clarkston, https://clarkstonepiscopal.com, 248-625-2325. Sunday worship services at 10 a.m.
• Church of the Transfiguration, 25225 Code Road, Southfield, www.transfigsfld.org, 248-356-8787.
• Clarkston Community Church, 6300 Clarkston Road, Clarkston, in-person and online services at 9:15 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, clarkstoncchurch.com, 248-625-1323.
• Clarkston United Methodist Church, 6600 Waldon Road, Clarkston, in-person and online faith services, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, clarkstonumc.org, 248-625-1611.
• Commerce United Methodist Church, 1155 N. Commerce Road, Commerce Twp., commerceumc.org/media.
• Community Bible Church, 1888 Crescent Lake Road, Waterford Twp., https://cbcmi.com, 248-674-4871. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m.
• Community Fellowship Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 27800 Southfield Road, Lathrup Village, church services at 11 a.m. Saturdays, http://communityfellowship22.adventistchurchconnect.org, 248-469-8539.
• Community Presbyterian Church, 4301 Monroe Ave., Waterford Twp. In-person worship is 10 a.m., Sundays, cpcwaterford.org, 248-673-7805.
• Congregation Beth Ahm, 5075 West Maple Road, West Bloomfield Twp., 248-851-6880, cbahm.org.
• Congregational Church of Birmingham, UCC, 1000 Cranbrook Road, Bloomfield Hills. Worship services are 10 a.m. Sundays, ccbucc.org, 248-646-4511.
• Congregation Shaarey Zedek, 27375 Bell Road, Southfield, Jewish religious services including daily morning and evening Minyan services, Shabbat morning services and Youth Shabbat activities, shaareyzedek.org, 248-357-5544. Daily minyan services are hybrid services, meeting both in person in the Lee and Gerson Bernstein Chapel (morning services are followed by breakfast), and on Zoom. Shabbat musical services meet on the first Friday evening of each month, in person and on Zoom.
• Cornerstone Baptist Church, Ortonville, in-person worship services, Sundays at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Also online at Facebook at Cornerstone Baptist Church Ortonville, cbcortonville.com, 248 627-4700.
• Cornerstone Church, 4995 N Hickory Ridge Road, Highland, cornerstonehighland.com, 248-887-1600. Worship services at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, 7 p.m. Wednesdays. Also, livestream at 11 a.m. Sundays on YouTube, Facebook, and website.
• Crossroads Free Will Baptist Church, 4804 White Lake Road, White Lake Twp., https://crossroadswl.org, Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. The church has a Blessing Box that is stocked with non-perishable food items, books and other household items for those in need. Donations welcome.
• Destiny Faith Church, 501 University Drive, Pontiac, Destinyfaith.org, 248-322-2200. Worship services at 10 a.m. Sundays and 7 p.m. Wednesdays, in person and online.
• Divine Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3000 S. Lapeer Road, Orion Twp., divinegrace.net, Sunday worship services at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
• Door of Faith Christian Church, Pontiac, online services, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, mydooroffaith.org.
• Empowerment Church of Southfield, worship services are 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sundays at new worship center location, Shriner’s Silver Garden Events Center, 24350 Southfield Road, Southfield, 248-569-2299, empowerment.mi.org. Also virtual worship services, 10:30 a.m. Sundays at empowermentmi.org/stream and on Facebook Live.
• Encounter Church, 600 North Campbell Road, Royal Oak, in-person and online services, 11 a.m. Sundays; also services at 7 p.m. Wednesdays, www.encounter360.org.
• Faith Church, 160 W Hamlin Road, Rochester Hills, Sunday services at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., www.faithrh.com, 248-651-3535.
• Faith Covenant Church, 35415 W. 14 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, worship services at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., Sundays, 248-661-9191, www.4fcc.org.
• Faith Lutheran Church: 37635 Dequindre Troy, (248) 689-4664, www.faithtroy.org, Sunday worship services at 9:15 a.m. and 11 a.m.
• First Baptist Church, 5972 Paramus, Clarkston, MI 48346, https://clarkstonfirst.org, (248) 625-3380.
• First Baptist Church of Holly: 15030 N. Holly Rd. Holly, (248) 634-8772, www.fbcholly.org.
• First Baptist Church, 255 E. Scripps Road, Lake Orion, worship services at 10:30 a.m., Sundays, fbclo.org, 248-693-6203, info@fbclo.org.
• First Baptist Church, 2601 John R Road, Troy, worship services at 10 a.m., Sundays, fbctroy.org.
• First Congregational Church, 5449 Clarkston Road, Clarkston, (just east of Sashabaw Road), 248-394-0200, www.fcclarkston.com, worship services at 10 a.m. Sundays.
• First Congregational Church of Rochester UCC, 1315 N. Pine, Rochester, worship services at 10 a.m. Sundays, fccrochester.org, 248-651-6225.
• First Congregational Church of Royal Oak, 1314 Northwood Blvd., Royal Oak. Worship services at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, www.fccro.org.
• First General Baptist of Waterford, 2933 Frembes Road, Waterford, wgbchurch.com, 248-673-6481, Sunday school at 10 a.m., worship services at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
• First Missionary Church, 4832 Clintonville Road, Independence Twp., www.fmcclarkston.org, 248-674-3186. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m.
• First Presbyterian Church Birmingham, 1669 W. Maple, Birmingham, worship services are Sundays, 8:30 a.m. in person, and 10 a.m. in person and livestream, fpcbirmingham.org, 248-644-2040.
• First Presbyterian Church of Pontiac, 99 Wayne Street, Pontiac, fpcpontiac.info.
• First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak, 529 Hendrie Blvd., 248-541-0108. Sunday worship services are at 10:30 a.m., online services available anytime at fpcro.org, 248-541-0108.
• First United Methodist Church of Troy, 6363 Livernois, Troy. Church services are 10 a.m. Sundays in person and livestream on YouTube and Facebook, www.FUMCTROY.org, 248-879-6363.
• Five Points Community Church, 3411 E Walton Blvd, Auburn Hills. Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m., https://5pointscc.org, 248-373-1381.
• Four Towns United Methodist, 6451 Cooley Lake Road, Waterford Twp. Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m., www.fourtowns.org, 248-766-8868. Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m.
• Franklin Road Church of Christ: 1400 Franklin Road, Pontiac, (248) 895-4031, www.franklinroadchurchofchrist.com. Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m.
• Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1950 S. Baldwin Road, Lake Orion. Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m., 248-391-1170, goodshepherdlakeorion.net.
• Grace Gospel Fellowship, 65 East Huron Street, Pontiac; in-person and livestream services are 11 a.m. Sundays and 7 p.m. Wednesdays. Livestream services are at www.facebook.com/GraceGospelFellowshipPontiac, 248-334-2187.
• Greenfield Presbyterian Church, 2312 Greenfield Road, Berkley, from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m., youtube.com/user/GreenfieldChurch, greenfieldchurch.com, 248-544-1800. (After Labor Day, in-person and online worship services are at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays.)
• Grace Church, 220 Bogie Lake Road, White Lake Twp. Sunday services are 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., Gracechurchinfo.net, 248-887-3700.
• Hazel Park First United Methodist Church, 313 E. Nine Mile Road, Hazel Park, 248-546-5955, hpfirst.org. Sunday worship services at 11:15 a.m.
• Heart of the Hills Christian Church, 5085 Orion Road, Rochester, https://heartofthehills.com, 248-841-1679. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m.
• Hillside Bible Church, 73 N Church St, Ortonville, 248-627-2513, hillsidebible.org, Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m.
• Hilltop Church of the Nazarene, 21260 Haggerty Road, Northville, hilltopnaz.org, Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m.
• Holly Calvary Church, 15010 N Holly Road, Holly, hollycalvary.org, Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. in person and online, Wednesday worship is at 6:30 p.m.
• Immanuel Congregational Church of Christ, Oxford, 248-628-1610, icucc.org, in-person worship services at 11 a.m. Sundays, and online at facebook.com/oxfordimmanuelucc.
• International Christian Church, 1630 Joslyn Ave, Pontiac, worship services at 11:30 a.m. Sundays, 248-494-8757, globalicc.org, facebook.com/icchurch/live.
• Islamic Association of Greater Detroit, 879 West Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, www.childrenofabrahamday.org.
• Jewel Heart Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center, 27745 Woodward Ave., Berkley, www.jewelheart.org.
• Journey Lutheran Church, (joined with Holy Cross Church) 136 S. Washington St., Oxford, in-person and online worship services, 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, education hour is at 10 a.m., journeylutheran.church, 248-628-2011.
• Kensington Church with locations in Birmingham, Clarkston, Clinton Twp., Orion Twp. and Troy, in-person Sunday worship times, and online services offered streaming on YouTube, Facebook, and website, kensingtonchurch.org.
• King of Kings Lutheran Church, 1715 S. Lapeer Road, Lake Orion, www.kingofkingslakeorion.org. Sunday worship services are at 9:30 a.m. Sundays, online streaming at www.facebook.com/kingofkingslakeorion.
• Kirk in the Hills, 1340 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills. Sunday worship services are at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., kirkinthehills.org, 248 626 2515.
• Lakecrest Baptist Church, 35 Airport Rd, Waterford Twp., www.lakecrestbaptist.com, 248-681-3214. Sunday worship services are at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Spanish service at 1 p.m.
• Lake Orion Church of Christ, 1080 Hemingway Road, Lake Orion, www.lococ.org, 248-693-7242. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m.
• Lake Orion Community of Christ Church, 531 E. Flint St., Lake Orion, www.lakeorioncofchrist.org.
• Lake Orion Methodist Church, Lake Orion, www.lakeorionumc.org. Sunday worship services at 10 a.m., in person and online.
• LakePoint Community Church, 1550 W. Drahner Road, Oxford, https://lakepointcc.org, 248-628-0038.
• The Lakes Church, 1450 S Hospital Road, Waterford Twp., www.thelakes.cc, 248-254-7833, Sunday worship services are 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. The 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. services are livestreamed.
• Liberty General Baptist Church, 3545 Joslyn Rd, Auburn Hills, https://libertygeneralbaptistchurch.org, 248-431-3498. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m.
• Lifepoint Church, 5601 Scott Lake Road, Waterford Twp., lifepointchristian.com.
• Life Renewal Church, 28312 Grand River, Farmington Hills, https://liferenewalchurch.org, worship is 11 a.m. Sundays.
• Mar Addai Chaldean Catholic Church, 24010 Coolidge Hwy, Oak Park, (248) 547-4648, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068254778006#.
• Madison Heights Church of the Nazarene, 555 E 13 Mile Road, Madison Heights, mhnaz.org, 248-585-5551.
• Maranatha Baptist Church, 5790 Flemings Lake Road, Clarkston, Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m., www.mbcclarkston.org.
• Marimont Community Church, 424 W Walton Blvd., Pontiac, Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., https://marimontcommunitychurch.com.
• Masjid Mahmood, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Center, 1730 W. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, ahmadiyyamosque.blogspot.com.
• Metro Detroit Christian Church, 33360 W. 13 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, https://metrodetroit.org, 248-562-7998. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m.
• Mother of God Chaldean Catholic Church, 25585 Berg Road, Southfield, https://mogccc.com, 248-356-0565.
• Motor City Church, 3668 Livernois Road, Troy, www.motorcitychurch.org, 248-524-2400. Sunday worship services are at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
• Mt. Zion Church, 4900 Maybee Road, Clarkston, mtzion.org. Sunday worship services at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
• Muslim Unity Center of Bloomfield Hills, 1830 W. Square Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, Muslimunitycenter.org.
• Nardin Park United Methodist Church, 29887 W Eleven Mile Road, Farmington Hills, 248-476-8860, nardinpark.org, www.facebook.com/NPUMC.
• National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica, 1200 W. Twelve Mile Road, Royal Oak, https://shrinechurch.com, 248-541-4122.
• New Heights Baptist Church, Grand Blanc, 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sundays, newheightsbc.com. For information, email pastornewheights@gmail.com or call 810-866-4563.
• New Hope Christian Fellowship, 6020 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford Twp., https://newhopemi.org, 248-886-1500, Sunday worship services at 10 a.m.
• New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 23455 W Nine Mile Road, Southfield, www.newhope-mbc.org, 248-353-0675. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m., in person and livestream.
• New Hudson United Methodist Church, 56730 Grand River Ave., New Hudson, newhudsonumc.org. Worship services, 10:30 a.m. Sundays.
• New Springfield Missionary Baptist Church of Pontiac: 124 Prospect, Pontiac, MI 48341, 248-332-8242, www.newspringfieldmbc.org, Sunday worship services at 11 a.m.
• Northminster Presbyterian Church, 3633 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy, 248-644-5920. Worship service at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, in person and livestream, www.facebook.com/TroyNorthminster.
• Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 23925 Northwestern Hwy, Southfield, www.northwestuu.org, 248-281-4902. Worship service at 10:30 a.m. Sundays in person and virtual.
• North Congregational Church, 36520 W. 12 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, northcongregationalchurch.org.
• North Hills Christian Reformed Church, 3150 North Adams Road, Troy, worship services, 9:30 a.m. Sundays, 248-645-1990, northhillscrc.org.
• North Oaks Church, 9600 Ortonville Road, City of the Village of Clarkston, worship services are 10:30 a.m., Sundays, northoakschurch.org, office@northoakschurch.org, 248-922-3515.
• Oakland Church, 5100 North Adams Road, Rochester, worship services, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, www.oaklandchurch.me.
• Oakland Church of Christ, 23333 West 10 Mile Road Southfield, in-person and online worship services are at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, TheOaklandChurchofchrist.org, 248-355-9225.
• Oakland Hills Community Church, Farmington Hills, ohcc.net, 313-686-4578.
• Oakland Woods Baptist Church 5628 Maybee Rd, Village of Clarkston, www.facebook.com/OWBCClarkston, 248-625-7557. Sunday worship services are at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
• Oak Pointe Church,1250 South Hill, Milford, in-person or online worship services are 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, opcmilford.org.
• Oak Pointe Church, 50200 W. 10 Mile Road, Novi, in-person or online worship services are 9:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. oakpointe.org, 248-912-0043.
• Oak Pointe Church, 6343 Farmington Road, West Bloomfield, in-person or online worship services are 10:15 a.m. Sundays, oakpointe.org/westbloomfield.
• Oakwood Community Church, 5791 Oakwood Rd, Ortonville, www.oakwoodcc.org, 248-628-6388.
• Orchard Grove Community Church, 850 Ladd Rd; Bldg. C, Walled Lake, Sunday worship services are at 10:10 a.m., www.orchardgrove.org.
• Orchard Lake Community Church, Presbyterian, 5171 Commerce Road, Orchard Lake, worship services are at 9 a.m., and 10:30 a.m. Sundays, olccp.com, 248-682-0730.
• Orchard United Methodist Church, 30450 Farmington Road, Farmington Hills, Sunday worship services are 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. (Summer worship services are at 10 a.m., mid June to September). Livestream at youtube.com/c/OrchardUMC and facebook.com/OrchardUMC/live_videos, 248-626-3620, orchardumc.org.
• Our Lady of La Salette, 2600 Harvard Road, Berkley, 248-541-3762, par8551@gmail.com, www.lasalette-church.org, Mass is at 4:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sundays.
• Our Lady of Refuge Church, 3700 Commerce Road, Orchard Lake, olorcc.org, 248-682-4099, Mass is 5 p.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. Sundays.
• Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 23815 Power Road, Farmington, church.olsorrows.com.
• Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church in-person Mass, Saturday at 5 p.m., Sunday at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., weekdays at 8:15 a.m., 5481 Dixie Hwy., Waterford Twp. Livestream Mass at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 9:30 a.m. Sunday, ollonline.org/live.
• Our Lady of Victory Catholic Parish, 133 Orchard Drive, Northville, https://olvnorthville.org.
• Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, 32340 Pierce St., Beverly Hills, www.olqm-parish.org.
• Our Mother of Perpetual Help, 13500 Oak Park Blvd, Oak Park, www.omoph.org. Saturday mass is at 4:30 p.m. and Sunday mass is at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
• Oxbow Lake Baptist Church, 10730 Elizabeth Lake Rd, White Lake Charter Township, www.oxbowbc.com, 248-698-3034. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
• Oxford United Methodist Church, 21 E. Burdick St. Oxford, 248 628-1289, oxfordunitedmc.org. People Feeding People (PFP) free breakfast is 9:30-10:30 a.m. Saturdays. In-person worship services and online at youtube.com/channel/UCN2R96oWdXzxDqwdz8YBlrQ.
• Paint Creek United Methodist Church, 4420 Collins Road, Rochester, www.paintcreekumc.org, 248-373-2360, Sunday worship services are at 11 a.m.
• Prince of Peace Catholic Church, 4300 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield Twp., https://princeofpeacecatholic.church.
• The River Church of Auburn Hills, 315 S. Squirrel Road, Auburn Hills, http://riverchurch.faith, 248-853-1524. Worship services are 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. Sundays.
• The River Church, Holly, Lake Orion, Waterford and more locations, livestream and videos of sermons, theriverchurch.cc, 248-328-0490.
• River North Church, 67 N Lynn Ave, Waterford Twp., Sunday School is 10 a.m. Sundays, worship services at 11:15 a.m. Sundays and 7:15 p.m. Wednesdays. Also view sermons online at www.youtube.com/@rivernorthchurch2023, nondenominational family church, 248-724-6559, www.facebook.com/Rivernorthchurch.
• River Of Life Christian Church, 5482 Winell St., Independence Twp., 248-599-3074.
• Rochester Christian Church, 4435 Rochester Rd, Rochester Hills, https://rcc4me.com, 248-652-3353, Sunday worship services at 10 a.m.
• Rochester Church of Christ, 250 W. Avon Road, Rochester Hills, www.rochestercoc.org, 248-651-1933, Sunday worship services at 10 a.m.
• Royal Oak First United Methodist Church, 320 W. 7th Street, Royal Oak, www.rofum.org, 248-541-4100. Worship services are 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, in person and online, www.rofum.org/live.
• Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 3400 S. Adams Road, Auburn Hills. Mass times are at 4 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday. Weekday Mass services are 9 a.m. Monday through Friday, www.esacredheart.org, 248-852-4170.
• St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church, 4571 John R Road, Troy, www.stanastasia.org, 248-689-8380.
• St. Andrew Catholic Church, 1400 Inglewood Ave., Rochester, https://standrewchurch.org, (248) 651-7486.
• St. Anne Catholic Church of Ortonville, 825 South Ortonville Road, Ortonville. Mass times are Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.; Saturday at 5 p.m.; Monday at 7 p.m. and Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m., 248-627-3965, churchofstanne.org.
• St. Augustine Lutheran Troy (SALT) Church, 5475 Livernois in Troy, www.saltchurch.net, communications@saltchurch.net, 248-879-6400.
• St. Benedict Catholic Church, 60 South Lynn Street, Waterford Twp., 248-681-1534. Sunday Mass times are 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., streaming at stbencc.org/live-stream.
• St. Daniel Catholic Church, 7010 Valley Park Drive, Clarkston, (248) 625-4580, https://stdanielclarkston.org.
• St. David’s Episcopal Church, 16200 W. Twelve Mile Road, Southfield, www.stdavidssf.org. Sunday worship services are at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. both in person and via zoom. Food pantry is 9 a.m.-noon Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
• St. Damien of Molokai Parish, 46408 Woodward Ave, Pontiac, St. Michael and St. Vincent merged, www.st-damien.org, www.facebook.com/stdamienpontiac, 248-332-0283.
• St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 280 E. Square Lake Road, Troy, https://saintliz.org, (248) 879-1310.
• St. Fabian 32200 W. Twelve Mile Road Farmington Hills, www.stfabian.org, 248-553-4610.
• St. George’s Episcopal Church, 801 E Commerce, Milford, 248-684-0495. Sunday worship services 8:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m., in person and online, www.stgeorgesmilford.org.
• St. George Greek Orthodox Church, 43816 Woodward Ave, Bloomfield Hills, 248-335-8869, www.stgeorgebloomfield.org.
• St. George Orthodox Church, 2160 E Maple Road, Troy, 248-589-0480, www.stgeorgeoftroy.org, www.facebook.com/stgeorgeoftroymi.
• St. Hugo of the Hills, 2215 Opdyke Road, Bloomfield Hills, www.sthugo.org.
• St. Irenaeus Catholic Church, 771 Old Perch Road, Rochester Hills, https://stirenaeus.org.
• St. James Church, 46325 Ten Mile Road, Novi, Mass times are 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Sundays, and 4 p.m. Saturdays. Livestream services, 4 p.m. Saturdays, 248-347-7778, https://stjamesnovi.org.
• St. John Fisher University Parish, 3665 E. Walton Blvd., Auburn Hills, www.grizzlycatholic.org.
• St. John Lutheran Church & School, 1011 University Drive, Rochester. Traditional praise worship services are Sundays at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Modern praise services are Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 10:45 p.m. The 8 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Sunday worship services are livestreamed and posted on the website at stjohnrochester.org.
• St. John Lutheran Church, 23225 Gill Road, Farmington Hills, www.stjohn-elca.org.
• St. John’s Episcopal Church Royal Oak, 26998 Woodward Ave. Royal Oak. Services are 8 a.m. Sundays, in person and 10:15 a.m. Sundays, in-person and online worship, stjohnsroyaloak.org, 248-546-1255.
• St. Joseph Catholic Church, 715 N. Lapeer Road, Lake Orion, view Mass services on the church’s Youtube channel, youtube.com/user/stjosephmassarchive, or at Facebook page, facebook.com/StJoeLo, stjoelo.org, 248-693-0440.
• St. Joseph Catholic Parish, 830 S. Lafayette St., South Lyon, https://stjcc.org.
• St. Joseph Chaldean Church, 2442 E. Big Beaver Road, Troy, https://stjosephccc.com, 248-351-0440.
• St. Joseph Chapel and Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 400 South Blvd. West, Pontiac, https://terrasanctaministries.net.
• St. Mark and St. Mary & St. Philopater Coptic Orthodox Church, 3603 Livernois Road, Troy, www.stmarkmi.org. Divine liturgy services are at 7 a.m. (Arabic) and 8:15 a.m. (English), Sundays.
• St. Mary Catholic Church, 730 S Lafayette Ave., Royal Oak, www.stmaryroyaloak.com, 248-547-1818. Mass at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday.
• St. Mary of the Hills Roman Catholic Church, 2675 John R. Road, Rochester Hills. In-person Mass is 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. Sunday, 248-853-5390, smoth.org. Live online Mass is 4 p.m. Saturday, on Facebook and YouTube.
• St. Mary Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church, 1955 E. Commerce Road, Milford, www.stmarymilfordmi.org,(248) 685-1482.
• St. Mary’s In-the-Hills Episcopal Church, 2512 Joslyn Court, Lake Orion, 248-391-0663, www.stmarysinthehills.org. Sunday Services are at 8:30 a.m.-Simple service of Holy Eucharist and at 10 a.m.-Service of Holy Eucharist with choir and Children’s Church School-Service, livestream on YouTube or Facebook or www.stmarysinthehills.org. Adult Bible Study is held Tuesdays at 10 a.m.
• St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 2040 S. Commerce Road, Walled Lake, 248-624-7676, st-matthew.org. Blended Worship services are 8:45 a.m. Sundays (also livestream on YouTube); Prayer & Praise Worship services are 11 a.m. Sundays; Monday Blended Worship services are 7 p.m.
• St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 48380 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 248-624-9525, st-matthew.org. Sunday worship services are 10 a.m.
• St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m. Sundays, 760 W Wattles Road, Troy, 248-362-9575, stnicholastroy.org.
• St. Owen Catholic Church, 6869 Franklin Road Bloomfield Hills, stowen.org.
• St. Patrick Catholic Parish, 9086 Hutchins Road, White Lake Twp., https://stpatrickwhitelake.org.
• St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, 1413 E. Thirteen Mile Road, Madison Heights, 248-585-9591, in-person Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m., or online at stpatsmh.org.
• St. Paul Albanian Catholic Church, 525 W Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, www.stpaulalbaniancatholicchurch.org.
• St. Paul Community Lutheran Church, 1133 Joslyn Ave., Pontiac, www.stpaulpontiac.com. 248-758-9019. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m.
• St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 E. Fifth St, Royal Oak, worship services are 8:15 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays. Livestream also at 8:15 a.m. service, stpaulroyaloak.org, 248-930-3100.
• St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 620 Romeo Street, Rochester. Open door worship services are at 9:30 a.m. Sundays and sanctuary worship services are at 11 a.m., Sundays, livestream available, facebook.com/stpaulsrochester, stpaulsrochester.org.
• St. Perpetua, 134 Airport Road, Waterford Twp., https://stperpetuaparish.org.
• St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 100 Romeo Road, Rochester, stpfeeds.org.
• St. Regis Catholic Church, 3695 Lincoln Road, Bloomfield Hills, https://stregis.org.
• St. Rita Catholic Church, 309 E Maple, Holly, 248-634-4841, stritaholly.org. Weekend services are 4 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday.
• St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 5500 N Adams Road, Troy, www.ststephenstroy.org, 248-641-8080, In-person Sunday worship services are at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Online service at 10 a.m.
• St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church, 69 S. Astor St., Pontiac, 248-335-5873, www.saintstephenmbc.com. Sunday worship services are at 11 a.m.
• St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church, 6900 West Maple Road, West Bloomfield Twp., www.stccc.org, 248-788-2460.
• St. Thomas More, 4580 N. Adams Road, Troy, https://stthomasmoretroy.org, (248) 647-2222.
• St. Thomas Orthodox Church, Divine Liturgy at 10 a.m. Sundays, 29150 W. 10 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, 248-471-1059, stthomasalbanianorthodoxchurch.org.
• St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 28353 Herbert St. Madison Heights, https://stvincentferrer.net, 248-542-8720.
• St. William Parish, 531 Common St., Walled Lake, stwilliam.com, 248-624-1421.
• Sashabaw Presbyterian Church, Clarkston, worship services via Zoom, services at 11 a.m. on 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays of the month, and at 6 p.m. on 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month. Email sashabawpresbyterianchurch@gmail.com for a link to services, sashabawpresbyterianchurch.org, 248-310-0792.
• Scott Lake Baptist Church, 811 Scott Lake Road, Waterford Twp., Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., also livestream, https://hisscottlake.org.
• Seymour Lake United Methodist Church, 3050 S. Sashabaw Road, Oxford, in-person or online services at 10 a.m. Sundays, 248-572-4200, email- office@seymourlakeumc.org, seymourlakeumc.org.
• Shepherd of the Lakes Lutheran Church, 2905 S. Commerce Road, Walled Lake, worship services are 10 a.m. Sundays, and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. during Lent and Advent, www.shepherdlakes.org, 248-624-4238.
• Shrine Catholic Church, 12 Mile and Woodward, 248-541-4122, https://shrinechurch.com.
• Silver Lake Church Of The Nazarene, 20 W Walton Blvd., Pontiac, https://slcpontiac.org, 248-977-4698.
• Spirit of Grace Church, 2399 Figa Ave., West Bloomfield Twp., 248-682-0270, Sunday worship at 10 a.m., spiritofgrace.church, facebook.com/spiritograce/videos. The church has a diabetic food pantry for those in need with dietary restrictions. The church seeks donations of non-perishable food items for diabetics including: proteins, nuts, grains and beans, sugar-free foods, low carb and high fiber foods as well as shopping bags and unused boxes. Drive-up diabetic food pantry hours are 10 a.m.-noon, 3rd Saturdays of the month.
• Spirit of Christ Lutheran Church, 749 W 14 Mile Road, Clawson, 248-435-8025, Sunday worship at 10 a.m., www.spiritofchristclawson.org.
• Spiritual Life Center, Troy, www.slctroy.com, 248-925-6214. A Message of Hope is 10 a.m. Sundays at www.youtube.com/c/SLCTroy.
• Temple Beth El Synagogue, 7400 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, www.tbeonline.org. In person services are Friday at 7 p.m. Online services are Saturdays at 10 a.m. and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on Zoom, www.tbelive.org and facebook.com/tbeonline/live, 248-851-1100.
• Temple Israel, West Bloomfield Twp., streaming video at temple-israel.org.
• Temple Kol Ami, 5085 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield Twp., tkolami.org, 248-661-0040.
• Temple Shir Shalom, 3999 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield Twp., www.shirshalom.org, 248-737-8700.
• Thrive Church, a Global Methodist Church, 680 W. Livingston Road, Highland Twp., www.thrive-church.us, 248-887-1311.
• Troy Church of the Nazarene, 6840 Crooks Road, Troy, troynaz.org, 248-802-7650. Worship Services and Bible Study, 11 a.m. Sundays and 6 p.m. Wednesdays.
• Unity of Farmington Hills worship service in person and online at 10 a.m. Sundays, youtube.com/channel/UCi90mgzXUDpw0k21_3JXlTg, Unityfh.com.
• Unity of Lake Orion, 3070 S. Baldwin Road, Orion Twp., unitylakeorion.org, 248-391-9211. Sunday worship services are 10 a.m. Sundays, in person and livestream on Facebook.
• Unity of Royal Oak, 2500 Crooks Road, Royal Oak, unityofroyaloak.org, 248-288-3550. In-person Sunday worship services at 10 a.m., livestream on YouTube and Facebook.
• Universalist Unitarian Church of Farmington, 25301 Halsted Road, Farmington Hills, uufarmington.org. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, in person and livestream.
• University Presbyterian Church, 1385 S. Adams, Rochester Hills, universitypres.org, 248-375-0400.
• The Village Church of Ortonville, 93 N Church St. Ortonville, www.facebook.com/oumvillagechurch, 248 627-3125.
• Walled Lake United Methodist Church, 313 E Northport St., Walled Lake. Sunday worship services at 9:30 a.m. in person, or at Facebook Live, facebook.com/walledlakeumc and YouTube, youtube.com/channel/UCjOTQmG5DAGUdd_ghKdp2FQ, walledlakeumc.org, 248-624-2405.
• Warren’s Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, 29860 Dequindre, Warren. Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m. in person and livestream at www.aglc-warren.org, 586-751-7750.
• Waterford Seventh-day Adventist Church, 5725 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford Twp., www.waterfordadventist.org, 248-681-3334. Worship services in person and livestream, 11 a.m. Saturdays.
• Welcome Missionary Baptist Church, 143 Oneida St, Pontiac, www.welcomemissionarybaptistchurch.com, 248-335-8740. Sunday worship services are at 8:30 a.m. in person and livestream on Facebook at www.facebook.com/welcomemissionary.church.
• Wellspring Bible Church, 485 Farnsworth, White Lake Twp., worship services are at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, wellspringbiblechurch.org, 248-682-0319.
• West Bloomfield United Methodist Church, 4100 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield Twp., worship services are at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, westbloomfieldumc.org, 248-851-2330.
• White Lake Presbyterian Church, 4805 Highland Road, White Lake Twp., 248-887-4654, www.whitelakepc.org.
• Williams Lake Church, 2840 Airport Road, Waterford Twp., www.facebook.com/williamslakechurch, 248-673-5911, www.williamslakechurch.com.
• Woodside Bible Church, with 14 locations in Southeast Michigan, in-person service times vary by location, online services at 8:15 a.m.10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Sundays, live.woodsidebible.org, 248-879-8533.
• Zion Lutheran Church, 143 Albany St., Ferndale, in-person and online worship services at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, www.zionlutheranmi.org.
How exactly horses produce that distinctive sound — also called a neigh — has long eluded scientists.
The whinny is an unusual combination of both high and low pitched sounds, like a cross between a grunt and a squeal — that come out at the same time.
The low-pitched part wasn’t much of a mystery. It comes from air passing over bands of tissue in the voice box that make noise when they vibrate. It’s a technique similar to how humans speak and sing.
But the high-pitched piece is more puzzling. With some exceptions, larger animals have larger vocal systems and typically make lower sounds. So how do horses do it?
According to a new study, they whistle.
Researchers slid a small camera through horses’ noses to film what happened inside while they whinnied and made another common horse sound, the softer, subtler nicker. They also conducted detailed scans and blew air through the isolated voice boxes of dead horses.
The whinny’s mysterious high-pitched tones, they discovered, are a kind of whistling that starts in the horse’s voice box. Air vibrates the tissues in the voice box while an area just above contracts, leaving a small opening for the whistle to escape.
That’s different from human whistling, which we do with our mouths.
“I’d never imagined that there was a whistling component. It’s really interesting, and I can hear that now,” said Jenifer Nadeau, who studies horses at the University of Connecticut. Nadeau was not involved with the study, which was published Monday in the journal Current Biology.
A few small rodents like rats and mice whistle like this, but horses are the first known large mammal to have a knack for it. They’re also the only animals known to be able to whistle through their voice boxes while they sing.
“Knowing that a ‘whinny’ is not just a ‘whinny’ but that it is actually composed of two different fundamental frequencies that are created by two different mechanisms is exciting,” said Alisa Herbst with Rutgers University’s Equine Science Center, of the study in an email.
A big lingering question is how horses’ two-toned calls came to be. Wild Przewalski’s horses can do something similar, as can elks. But more distant horse relatives like donkeys and zebras can’t make the high-pitched sounds.
The two-toned whinnies could help horses convey multiple messages at the same time. The differently pitched neighs may help them express a more complex range of feelings when socializing, said study author Elodie Mandel-Briefer with the University of Copenhagen.
“They can express emotions in these two dimensions,” Mandel-Briefer said.
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Associated Press video journalist James Brooks contributed to this report.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE – A horse whinnies in a barn at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City, during a cutting horse competition, Monday, June 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Surveillance footage captured a coyote following a 3-year-old boy toward his home in Pasadena earlier this week.
At around 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, on Tamarac Drive, 3-year-old Salvo Bessemer exited his gated courtyard and headed for the driveway, hoping to give his father, Leonard Bessemer, a hug goodbye before he left for work, his father said.
Salvo did not find his dad, who had left about five minutes earlier. Instead, he spotted a coyote in front of the house, Leonard Bessemer said. The boy then turned around and ran back toward the house, screaming for his mother.
Video footage shows Salvo reaching the door, with the coyote following behind him. Audio captured Salvo’s mother, Aida Svelto, screaming when she spotted the coyote near the entrance.
The coyote then turned around and trotted away. According to Bessemer, the animal did not immediately leave the area, but lingered nearby for a short time, watching the house through ivy on the property.
Coyotes are frequently spotted in the neighborhood, Bessemer said. He sees one at least once a week while on early-morning runs and typically makes noise to deter them, especially when accompanied by the family’s chihuahua, Sam.
Monday’s scare prompted Bessemer and his fiancée to take stricter precautions with both Sam and Salvo.
“We made a rule that he’s not to go to the gate without one of us,” Bessemer said. “It might have gone differently if Salvo had been by himself.”
Bessemer said he also plans to make sure Sam is always leashed when taken outside and that the front door remains closed as a precaution.
Kevin McManus of Pasadena Humane said that while the video may appear frightening, the coyote did not demonstrate signs of aggressive or hunting behavior based on the footage.
“The good news is everybody’s safe,” McManus said.
Bessemer said he has noticed more coyotes in the area recently, including during daytime hours. McManus said this is likely due to mating season, when coyotes are more active and more likely to be seen outside of dawn and dusk.
“People should make noise and try to make coyotes uncomfortable to scare them off,” McManus said. “Remember, we’re bigger than them.”
McManus also advised residents to be extra cautious with pets during this season and to avoid leaving food or unsecured trash around their homes.
Surveillance footage shows a coyote following 3-year-old Salvo Bessemer toward his home in Pasadena on Monday, Feb. 23. (Courtesy of Leonard Bessemer)
Today is Saturday, Feb. 28, the 59th day of 2026. There are 306 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Feb. 28, 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope in 600 years to resign, ending an eight-year pontificate. (Benedict was succeeded the following month by Pope Francis.)
Also on this date:
In 1844, a massive 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded as the ship was sailing on the Potomac River, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others; President John Tyler, who also was aboard the ship, was uninjured.
In 1953, Francis H.C. Crick announced that he and fellow scientist James D. Watson had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA.
In 1975, 43 people were killed in London’s Underground when a train failed to stop at Moorgate station, smashing into the end of a tunnel.
In 1983, the final episode of the television series “M*A*S*H” aired; nearly 106 million viewers saw the finale, which remains the most-watched episode of any U.S. television series to date.
In 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated while walking on a Stockholm street with his wife; his assailant was never captured and remains unidentified.
In 1993, a gun battle erupted at a religious compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh for stockpiling illegal weapons; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began. (On April 19 of that year, FBI agents stormed the compound with tear gas and armored vehicles, with dozens dead before the standoff was over).
In 2014, President Barack Obama delivered a blunt warning to Moscow about reports of military activity inside Ukraine by Russia and said “there will be costs” for any intervention.
In 2023, a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train more than 200 miles north of Athens, Greece, killing 57 people in that country’s deadliest rail disaster.
In 2024, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the longest-serving U.S. Senate leader in history, announced he would step down from the leadership role the following November. (Twelve months later, the octogenarian senator said his term ending in January 2027 would be his last).
Today’s birthdays:
Rock singer Sam the Sham (aka Domingo Samudio) is 89.
Actor-director-choreographer Tommy Tune is 87.
Hall of Fame auto racer Mario Andretti is 86.
Actor Mercedes Ruehl is 79.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is 73.
Basketball Hall of Famer Adrian Dantley is 71.
Actor John Turturro is 69.
Actor Robert Sean Leonard is 57.
Musician Pat Monahan (Train) is 57.
Actor Tasha Smith is 55.
Hockey Hall of Famer Eric Lindros is 53.
Actor Ali Larter is 50.
Country musician Jason Aldean is 49.
NBA guard Luka Dončić is 27.
FILE – Pope Benedict XVI leaves after greeting the faithful from the balcony window of the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, the scenic town where he will spend his first post-Vatican days and made his last public blessing as pope, on Feb. 28, 2013. Benedict, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday Dec. 31, 2022. He was 95. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
As temperatures drop and snowfall increases this winter, Detroit’s road commissioners break out their plows and salt trucks in order to maintain safe roadways.
However, the most common road salt used, sodium chloride, has been known by experts and road commissioners to cause damage to surrounding trees.
Dr. Bert Cregg, a Michigan State University Professor in the Department of Horticulture, says that excessive usage of this road salt can lead to tree death.
Cregg says protecting trees from salt exposure and selecting salt-tolerant species are the first steps to mitigating this issue.
Identifying salt damage in trees
Cregg describes salt damage occurring in two ways: acute damage and chronic damage.
Acute damage refers to when tree trunks, branches, and leaves are exposed to salt.
“If we think about the white coat of salt that accumulates on our cars this time of year, trees and shrubs adjacent to roadways are experiencing the same thing,” says Cregg
Acute damage is the easiest to identify.
In evergreen trees, such as Michigan White Pines, salt damage causes needle browning and can lead to tree death.
In deciduous trees, such as Oak and Maple trees, salt damage commonly causes “witch’s brooms,” which is when the ends of branches repeatedly die and grow back due to salt exposure, Cregg explains.
Because chronic injury refers to damage that we can’t see as easily, it can be trickier to identify. Chronic injury occurs when road salt leaches into the surrounding soil and creates high concentrations of sodium and chloride.
Cregg says these high concentrations “reduce the plant’s ability to take up water from the soil solution, resulting in a form of drought stress.”
How to reduce salt damage on trees: protection and selection
Cregg suggests de-icing alternatives, such as beet juice or calcium magnesium acetate, which pose less environmental risk than typical road salt.
While the simple solution seems to be for road commissioners and residents to abandon their usage of road salt, this is an unrealistic approach considering sodium chloride continues to be the most affordable and efficient option for de-icing, and given Michigan’s harsh winters, public safety is often prioritized over environmental concerns.
Due to this limitation, Cregg emphasizes the importance of creating physical barriers, such as placing burlap wrap or canvas screens around existing trees, to protect them from excessive salt exposure.
These physical barriers would help mitigate damage from the inevitable salt splash caused by cars on the roadway.
When planting new trees around roadways, it’s important to consider that some tree species are more sensitive to salt exposure than others.
To aid this, Cregg advises homeowners and city planners to select salt-tolerant trees to ensure they can survive in the given environment.
“Some salt-tolerant trees for our area include Bald Cypress, Kentucky Coffeetree, Japanese Tree Lilac, Dawn Redwood, Horse Chestnut, Hackberry, and Swamp White Oak.”
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A Pontiac teen accused of shooting to death a Warren teen in January is scheduled for a preliminary exam in late March where evidence will be presented for a judge to determine if there’s probable cause to advance the case to Oakland County Circuit Court for possible trial.
Kqualin Isaac Douglas, 19, is charged with second-degree homicide for the death of Cornelius Traves Murphy Jr., 19, whose body was discovered on Jan. 8 near a home in the 100 block of North Jessie Street in Pontiac. A caller had reported seeing a man lying in a field and not breathing, the sheriff’s office said.
The man — subsequently identified as Murphy — had been shot in the chest, the sheriff’s office said.
Kqualin Douglas booking photo
Investigators said the shooting happened Jan. 7. Douglas turned himself in to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office a few weeks later.
The preliminary exam is scheduled for March 30 before 50th District Judge Ronda Fowlkes Gross.
Along with second-degree homicide, Douglas is charged with tampering with evidence, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. He’s held in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $300,000.
As stated in his obituary, Murphy was the son of Cornelius T. Murphy, Sr. and Chantell Hunter. He’s also survived by eight siblings, and several other relatives and friends.
Editor’s note: Some images in this story contain language that may be offensive.
Roughly one thousand protesters gathered outside Romulus City Hall this week to voice opposition towards plans for a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center. Among the crowd were concerned residents, public officials, faith leaders, and Michiganders from across the state.
Melody Karr was one of the many protestors picketing the building. She said she lives just an hour away from the detention facility that opened last year in Baldwin and has been to multiple demonstrations protesting it’s opening.
“We don’t need any more concentration camps in Michigan. Anybody that’s paying attention can see that we’re not concentrating on the worst of the worst, that they’re running rampant over our constitutional rights,” said Karr.
City officials say they oppose the detention center
The demonstration preceded the weekly City Council meeting, where a resolution opposing any detention center within city limits was unanimously passed.
Following the vote, Romulus Mayor Robert McCraight said he and the city are doing everything they can to stop the development of an ICE detention facility. Citing his letter of opposition sent the previous week to ICE Director Todd Lyons and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, McCraight said a detention center would conflict with current zoning regulations and be too close to residential homes less than a quarter mile away.
McCraight said that, despite not hearing from any officials on the federal level since news broke, he would do what he could to prevent the plans from moving forward.
“While I’m sitting in this position as mayor, we will not issue a permit or certificate of occupancy for this structure unless we’re mandated by a federal judge,” said McCraight.
As the mayor spoke, demonstrators could be heard chanting outside the building. Only 49 of the protestors outside were let into the meeting due to safety codes set by the fire marshal. Those in attendance reiterated their opposition during public comment.
Residents urge more action
Dan Doyle lives less than a mile from the proposed detention center. He urged the city to do more to stop the plans.
“I’m requesting immediate action. Cut the utilities, condemn the building, demo it, take it under eminent domain, whatever you can do. Make it impossible for them to use our neighborhood for these concentration camps,” said Doyle. “This will not be solved by a harshly worded letter or a resolution. We need action.”
State Sen. Darrin Camilleri attends the Romulus protest.
Outside in the bitter cold, protestors continued their picket at city hall. Darrin Camilleri, who represents Romulus as a member of the Michigan Senate, was one of many public officials who came to support demonstrators. So far, Camilleri has been one of the only state legislators to reach out to Romulus officials after the plans for a detention center went public. He said he has been working with the city to uncover details about the building purchased by ICE.
“We know that an auto supplier, they put a bid in to buy this building, but ICE came in and outbid the auto supplier. So the Trump administration is literally taking away American jobs from our community that would love an opportunity like that,” said Camilleri. “Now we’re getting stuck with a detention center that no one wants, and it’s down the street from where people live. It’s down the street from where kids go to school.”
Outside of ICE Detention Center
The building, located at 7525 Cogswell Street, was previously owned by the real estate investment firm Crestlight Capital. John Coury, managing partner at the firm, said he can’t disclose the selling price or the specific agency the building was sold to due to a signed non-disclosure agreement, according to reporting from Crain’s Detroit Business.
Pattern of quiet-buying
Secrecy surrounding these purchases aren’t unique to Romulus, either. In Social Circle, Georgia, officials were blindsided when they heard of plans to convert a warehouse in the city into a detention center. The previous owner of the warehouse, a commercial real estate firm called PNK Group, said they signed an NDA and couldn’t disclose any information to the city or residents. One month later, a deed for the warehouse was obtained that showed the federal government paid over $100 million more than the most recently assessed price.
When asked by WDET if the Romulus warehouse was purchased for an inflated price compared to the 2025 assessed value of $6,988,500, Crestlight Capital did not respond for comment.
At the time of writing, the city of Romulus has not received any documents indicating how much the property was purchased for.
Southfield ICE offices
Earlier this month, the city released a statement saying offices in Southfield’s One Towne Square were to be leased by the US General Services Administration (GSA) to “support administrative and legal functions associated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
The statement aligns with reporting from last year that showed the GSA was working with ICE to acquire offices across the country to expand it’s operations
Statements from REDICO, the landlord of the office space, said the lease was with the GSA, not ICE, and “the lease explicitly prohibits any law enforcement, detention or similar activities to take place on the premises.” REDICO’s statement prompted the city to remove their statement on the purchase from its website.
When asked about the city’s removed statement, Southfield Mayor Kenson Siver said he has only heard from REDICO, not GSA or ICE, and the city doesn’t have authority to intervene in tenant/landlord issues as long as they are compliant with zoning laws.
Still, residents and lawmakers are on edge amid the confusion. During the Southfield City Council meeting that took place the same time as the Romulus demonstration, residents packed the building to speak out against any potential presence of ICE in the city.
Protesters wait to be let in at the Romulus City Council meeting. Most are turned away, told that the room already reached capacity.
Southfield resident Lauren Fink said the city still needs to do more to address the offices potentially used in association with ICE.
“I’ve seen statements intended to calm our anxieties about this office opening here in our own community, telling us that this office cannot house armed and uniformed agents,” said Fink. “There seems to be this idea that the work being done by people in offices like this is acceptable, but the work being done by the people they enable is not. That kind of attitude is what allows the horrors of an authoritarian regime to continue.”
Southfield City Council unanimously passed a resolution “affirming community safety, civil rights, and local policy” during the meeting. The resolution does not mention the lease with GSA or the planned office.
A call for community action
Following the possible expansion of ICE in the metro Detroit area, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib released a statement condemning the encroachment and urging more collective action from the community.
“Across the country, people are coming together and fighting to prevent this massive expansion of ICE’s network of abuse and cruelty. We must organize and use every tool at our disposal to keep ICE out of our neighborhoods,” said Tlaib.
The Southfield office and planned detention center in Romulus come as the Trump administration massively increases the budget for ICE and plans on spending $38.3 billion to turn warehouses across the country into detention centers. Both actions have been made possible through last year’s passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which has allocated billions of federal funds for the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.
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A pair of social media trolls — including one who sports a “Make America Great Again” red hat — have been arrested for trying to light a Black woman’s boots on fire during a clash on a Manhattan street filled with racist insults, police said Thursday.
The demented duo, known online as “ScrubsNYC,” were nabbed late Wednesday, just a few hours after cops released their images and asked the public’s help tracking them down. They were wanted for a bizarre hate crime on W. 26th St. and Seventh Ave. in Chelsea on Feb. 19.
Michael Santiago, 31, and Michael James, 33, were hit with a slew of charges including attempted assault, criminal mischief and menacing, all as hate crimes, as well as aggravated harassment, arson and criminal tampering. The two suspects live in the same apartment building on the Upper East Side, according to cops.
The pair, known online as "ScrubsNYC" were arrested late Wednesday, just a few hours after cops released their images in connection with a reported hate crime on W. 26th St. and Seventh Ave. in Chelsea on Feb. 19. (NYPD)
The two approached the 54-year-old victim about 2:50 p.m. and were chatting her up when the provacateur in the MAGA hat began spewing a racist tirade that was caught on camera and posted online.
“I want to f— you right up your n—– a–,” the man in the MAGA hat screamed. “I want to f— a slave. You’re my slave. You’re my slave.”
The woman casually pulled out her own phone and began recording the creeps, throwing insults right back at them.
“Of course you do,” she said of their comments about bedding her. “I could never ’cause you’re a slave — you’re a slave to my Blackness.”
The suspect told the woman, “kiss me,” and she replied saying she “would never.”
“That’s your bitch, not me,” the woman said casually, motioning to the camera man recording the entire exchange.
NYPD
The pair, known online as "ScrubsNYC" were arrested late Wednesday, just a few hours after cops released their images in connection with a reported hate crime on W. 26th St. and Seventh Ave. in Chelsea on Feb. 19. (NYPD)
At one point, one of the provacateur’s asked to kiss the victim’s pair of boots. She agreed, but when he knelt down he set one of her boots on fire with a hand-held blowtorch.
The hair on the boots were singed but the flames quickly petered out, the video shows. Cops say the $89 pair of boots were ruined.
The woman didn’t appear to notice as she continued to trade insults with the creep.
“I just burned your boot,” the provocateur said.
“Of course you did,” the victim replied.
“I want to impregnate you, let’s f—,” the MAGA hat sporting suspect said.
“Of course you want to impregnate me and contaminate my race,” she replied. “Your mother’s a f——.”
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Michael James is pictured in custody outside the Midtown South Precinct station house on Thursday. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
The victim reported the incident to police after she realized her $89 boots were damaged. She also gave cops images of the two suspects from her recording of the bizarre exchange.
Scrubsnyc boasts about being the “biggest streamers in New York right now” in one of their online videos.
One video shows the pair lying in traffic and angering strangers with their bizarre rants.
“Yeah, right here bro! Do something!” one angered resident screams at them on the sidewalk in one clip. “Do something! Then don’t f—ing run your mouth! Get the f— out of here!”
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Michael Santiago is pictured in custody outside the Midtown South Precinct station house on Thursday. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
Many of the videos show the MAGA hat-wearing provocateur being forced to leave an apartment building or a bodega. In one quick clip, a bodega patron throws a drink at him. In another, a woman knocks the red hat off his head.
“They tell you that the city never sleeps,” Scrubsnyc wrote in the opening of one video. “But they don’t tell you about the ones who keep it awake.”
Michael James, left, and Michael Santiago are pictured in police custody outside the NYPD Midtown South Precinct station house on Thursday Feb. 26, 2026 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
Sheriff Michael Bouchard is worried about people who want to keep tabs on federal agents for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the U.S. Border Patrol in Oakland County.
There’s confusion between the federal agents in masks and unmarked cars and undercover sheriff’s deputies assigned to the narcotics enforcement or fugitive apprehension teams, he said.
“We’ve had people show up at these high-risk (sheriff’s) raids … running up with their phones and trying to insert themselves, thinking it’s ICE,” he said. “But it’s a very dangerous situation. If a suspect opens fire, the (people with phones) would be in the middle of it.”
Deputies working undercover must wear masks and use unmarked cars for their own safety and the safety of anyone who helped them as part of a criminal investigation, Bouchard said, adding that suspects would recognize an unmasked undercover officer, make the connection with the person who helped the officer, endangering their lives.
Police dispatchers get calls every week from residents who think ICE agents were at a mall, a school or other location, “but that never happened,” he said.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard. (Peg McNichol/MediaNews Group)
Those are just a few things people don’t understand about the difference between deputies’ and ICE activities.
Another, he said, is that deputies don’t work with ICE.
“The U.S. Supreme Court held that immigration is under federal authority and it’s a federal government job,” he said. “We don’t have the authority, nor do we want the authority, to arrest someone simply for being in this country illegally. But if they’re in our custody and suspected of a crime, we will alert ICE.”
Bouchard said ICE agents would be informed when that person would be released from custody, but if federal agents are not present at that time the person would go free.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald issued a statement last week opposing the presence of ICE in the county.
She reminded people that basic constitutional rights include “the right to be free from unlawful arrest, regardless of immigration status.”
McDonald said she expected any legal violations by federal, local or county officers to be “fully and transparently investigated by independent authorities.”
Facebook video
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. (FILE)
Federal agents do not have absolute immunity from prosecution, according to the think tank Brennan Center for Justice, which has offices in New York and Washington D.C., however federal officials can impede state or local investigations.
After the shooting deaths of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents, federal officials opposed an investigation by Minnesota officials and would not share information with the state. Deaths during law-enforcement incidents are typically investigated by a separate, independent law-enforcement agency.
A criminal case has advanced for a Royal Oak man charged with felonious assault and other crimes for allegedly crashing his vehicle multiple times into another — with infant occupants — and then fleeing the scene.
The case against Brian Robert Bock, 54, was bound over to Oakland County Circuit Court on Thursday at the conclusion of a preliminary exam in Troy’s 52-4 District Court.
According to police, on Feb. 3 a woman reported that she was rear-ended while stopped at a red light at Big Beaver and Crooks roads; her car was then struck by the same vehicle multiple times before it went on the road’s shoulder to get around her and drove away.
No injuries were reported, police said.
Brian Bock booking photo (Troy Police Dept.)
After reviewing dash camera video from a witness, police caught up with Bock in a vehicle with heavy front-end crash damage — then arrested him.
Along with felonious assault, Bock is charged with malicious destruction of personal property valued at more than $1,000 but less than $20,000, reckless driving and failure to stop at the scene of a property damage accident. He’s held in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $50,000.
Bock is scheduled for arraignment in the higher court on March 10.
For the MDOP charge, Bock could face up to five years in prison and a hefty fine if convicted. Felonious assault is punishable by up to four years in prison and/or a $2,000 fine; the other crimes he’s charged with are misdemeanors.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Their family spent years opposing Venezuela’s socialist system.
The government retaliated by sending men to beat the father, a state oil company worker whom it accused of being uncooperative. Other relatives were threatened.
The situation became so untenable that the family fled the country for the United States in 2021 after it obtained refugee status, according to one of the daughters, a 24-year-old clothing salesperson who was interviewed by The Associated Press.
The six siblings and their parents settled in Minnesota in 2023, living peaceful lives until the Trump administration said it was casting new scrutiny on refugees. One priority is those admitted to the U.S. under former President Joe Biden, whom the government accuses of prioritizing quantity over detailed screening and vetting, with an initial focus on 5,600 refugees who settled in Minnesota and are not yet permanent residents, making them particularly vulnerable.
Last month, three masked officers got out of a black SUV with tinted windows outside a St. Paul apartment complex, handcuffed the Venezuelan woman and her mother and told them their legal status was under review, according to the woman, who asked for anonymity for fear of retaliation.
In January, a federal judge ordered a temporary halt to the arrest and detention of refugees in Minnesota while a lawsuit challenging the “revetting” continues. The judge ordered the immediate release of all refugees detained in Minnesota, and those taken to Texas.
Three refugees told The Associated Press that whatever happens, the rounds of inconclusive interviews with immigration authorities well after they thought their status was safe has them questioning their futures in the U.S. and living in constant fear.
The young woman from Venezuela hasn’t returned to her job at a clothing factory. A man who fled persecution in Myanmar won’t walk on the streets of Minneapolis without a letter from his church appealing for immigrants to “be treated humanely.” A Congolese refugee arrested in St. Paul despite her refugee status says “everything that’s happened feels like a movie.”
A change in US treatment of refugees
Welcoming refugees has been a source of bipartisan agreement in the U.S. since Congress passed the Refugee Act with overwhelming support in 1980.
The act helped make refugee applications some of the immigration system’s most heavily scrutinized. Government decisions that someone was persecuted for who they are or what they believe are rarely second-guessed, and revisiting refugee status that’s already been granted is a major blow to legal tradition, advocates say.
“They’ve been heavily vetted and were admitted by the government with approval,” said Beth Oppenheim, chief executive officer of HIAS, a major refugee aid group.
Once a refugee is admitted to the U.S. through the resettlement program, the only way to strip them of their status is to prove that they should never have been admitted, Oppenheim said. That is why the Trump administration is interviewing people again, she said.
Matthew Tragesser, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in a written statement refugees “are REQUIRED to be subject to a full inspection after a year within the United States.”
“This is not novel or discretionary; it is a clear requirement in law,” he wrote.
While it is correct that refugees must apply for green cards one year after admission — a change of status that brings a renewed layer of scrutiny — the administration is breaking with decades of tradition by revisiting initial decisions to admit people as refugees, and then detaining them while they are under review.
“Arresting, detaining, and rescreening refugees are all new changes which will inflict grave harm on vulnerable populations,” said Smita Dazzo, deputy director of U.S. programs at HIAS.
Venezuelan refugees pose for a photo on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, in Cottage Grove, Minn. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
Venezuela to Minnesota to Houston and back
In January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took the Venezuelan women to Houston on a flight where migrants were shackled at the wrists and ankles and forbidden from talking. The daughter said she was told she was there for green card interviews and isolated in a cold room with no food, water or anything warm to cover her. She said she refused to sign documents without an attorney present.
“They told us, ‘Your status is worthless. You’re illegal,’” she said. “What we went through is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone … We were supposed to arrive in this country with refugee status, and we thought we would be protected here. But right now, at this moment, it is quite the opposite.”
The women were released after successfully filing habeas corpus petitions in federal court, part of a flood of last-ditch attempts at freedom under a Trump policy denying bond hearings in immigration court. Friends of their attorney drove them back to Minnesota at their own expense. Since then, the younger woman has been too afraid to leave the house.
A Venezuelan refugee poses for a photo on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, in Cottage Grove, Minn. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
The pastor who received a letter and went to the interview
Saw Ba Mya James, a 46-year-old ethnic Karen father of three who fled military persecution in Myanmar, arrived in St. Paul last year after obtaining refugee status with help from a local church.
Despite a pending green card application, the Anglican pastor did not attend church for weeks after friends advised him to avoid going outside.
“I was told to stay at home, so I listened, and I prayed to God with my family,” James said.
James received a letter Feb. 2 ordering a “post-admissions refugee reverification” at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services St. Paul field office, according to a copy reviewed by The Associated Press.
During an interview that lasted several hours, an officer pressed James with questions he said he already addressed extensively before being admitted to the U.S. The officer said the review was needed because an inexperienced employee handled James’ initial vetting.
Within two weeks of the interview, James got another letter asking that he and his family provide fingerprints, which his attorney took as a positive sign.
Still, James remains wary of being detained. He faithfully carries his church sponsors’ letter appealing for him and other immigrants to “be treated humanely as fellow image-bearers of God.”
The Congolese refugee arrested arriving at work
A Congolese woman settled in the Twin Cities area in November 2024 with refugee status, working in the hospitality business as the breadwinner for her husband and four children.
She said an immigration officer approached her parked car when she arrived for work at 7 a.m. on Jan. 14 in St. Paul, saying he knew her name and that she was a refugee. After telling her to exit the vehicle to answer questions, he handcuffed her despite her efforts to show a work authorization document and identification.
The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she fears reprisals, was flown to Houston to be questioned in detail about her experiences in the Congo, Uganda and the United States. She and other refugees refused to sign documents to be sent back to their home countries. She was released Jan. 18 without any ID documents to book a flight to Minneapolis. A manager at her company flew to Houston and drove her 17 hours back home.
“If I told you I’m feeling OK, I’d be lying to you,” she said.
Salomon reported from Miami.
Saw Ba Mya James, an ethnic Karen refugee from Myanmar, stands for a portrait in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)
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