A Lake Orion High School special education teacher is the Region 9 Teacher of the Year for the 2026-27 school year.

Erik Meerschaert, who was named the Oakland County High School Teacher of the Year in 2024-25, is one of 10 regional educators selected and now a finalist for the Michigan Teacher of the Year.

“We celebrate not only an exceptional educator, but a true champion for students,” said Superintendent Heidi Mercer. “Erik represents the heart of our district—dedicated, innovative, and unwavering in their commitment to helping every child succeed.”

A graduate of Western Michigan University, Meerschaert joined the district in 2019.

“Erik has been a dynamic force in engaging students through meaningful classroom activities and hands-on learning experiences,” said Lake Orion High School Principal Dan Haas. “His approach emphasizes active participation, ensuring that every student, regardless of ability, feels included and motivated. Erik serves as a role model by fostering an environment where students are encouraged to challenge themselves while being supported every step of the way.”

By Andrew Van DamThe Washington Post

Around Y2K, the mighty American private sector hit a momentous milestone. For the first time on record, frontline managers – supervisors, team leads, foremen, forewomen, etc. – outnumbered back-office managers.

That seemed significant, especially for the working-class folks for whom these noncommissioned-officer-style positions provided a rare path to the upper reaches of the career ladder. As quickly as the milestone was crossed, the trend reversed, according to our analysis of about 37 million responses to the census and American Community Survey from 1950 to 2024.

Once ascendant, supervisory jobs crop up all over our lists of the hardest-hit jobs of Americans’ working lives, even as white-collar management soars to new highs. What happened?

Having been burned by data-collection changes before, our first instinct was to take a long, hard look at how the Census Bureau classifies jobs. Or, more accurately, to spend 15 seconds emailing an extraordinarily talented economist and hoping they’ve already done the work for us.

We were in luck. Utrecht University economist Anna Salomons responded within an hour, even though the hour in question was already a wee one in the Netherlands. For her blockbuster 2024 analysis, Salomons and her collaborators collected and analyzed detailed Census Bureau job descriptions from 1930 to 2018 to figure out how our economy had evolved, mutated and automated.

She first mentioned that the change in occupational definitions around the 2000 Census was “notoriously large” and, like us, wondered if that might cause some of the shift we saw in the numbers.

But two factors argue against that thesis. First, as Salomons suggested, we’re using a system from our friends at IPUMS that carefully adjusts for all those changes in the raw census definitions.

Second, the changes come gradually after the inflection point – if a census definition change was the culprit, you’d expect a sudden swerve. But what if, Salomons suggested, those changes in definition took place outside of the friendly confines of the Census Bureau?

Specifically, she suggested we look at title inflation, which immediately blew the case wide open. Or at least blew it ajar.

It seems quite possible that, over the past few decades, jobs that were once called some variation on “supervisor” were now called some variation on “manager.”

A fancier title (and no change in pay) may, at least temporarily, fool a worker who’d been angling for a raise or promotion. But could it really fool the almighty Census Bureau?

We fear the answer must be “probably.” The American Community Survey’s superpower – that it hears directly from about 2 million U.S. households each year – is also, in this case, its Achilles’ heel. Because it must rely on what those households say.

The census crew does its utmost to elicit clean answers, but even the most carefully designed questions would struggle to distinguish a manager from a “manager.”

The survey asks not just for your occupation but also for your most important work activities or duties. That detail, plus answers to other questions throughout the survey, such as education level, give the clerks at the National Processing Center – and the government robot that handles the easiest cases – as much information as possible when they’re determining which job a respondent really performed.

But not everybody fills out those activities. And not every manager-in-name-only will provide enough information to reclassify them as a supervisor or even as an individual contributor. So, a certain percentage of inflated titles will slip through.

But that would mean census surveys still reflect a real trend toward title inflation. And why are titles inflating? Based on a lifetime of observation, we’d guess some of corporate America’s brightest minds have noticed that a title upgrade allows you to give a worker a “promotion” without a change in responsibility – or in pay.

Particularly crafty economists may even have found a way to measure one narrow instance of this. Salomons points to an analysis forthcoming in the Review of Financial Studies. In it, economists analyzed about 450,000 online job postings with salaries near the cutoff that makes you eligible for management under the Fair Labor Standards Act. (The postings came from 2010 to 2018, when the cutoff was $455 a week. It currently sits at $684.)

The authors – Lauren Cohen at Harvard University, and Umit Gurun and Bugra Ozel at the University of Texas at Dallas – found that jobs paying just above the legal cutoff are about five times more likely to have managerial titles than are similar jobs with pay just below it.

Why? Well, even a dubious title such as calling a barber a “grooming manager” or a front-desk clerk a “director of first impressions” could provide cover for employers looking to claim that person is exempt from overtime pay. The economists estimate such spurious classifications save employers about 13.5 percent on the pay of each “manager.”

To be sure, as Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, told us, the definition for overtime-exempt employees says nothing about titles – it’s purely about job function. Faux-promoting a worker to “manager” shouldn’t change anything. But in reality, she said, bosses often use these titles as a smoke screen.

“Titles can still matter a lot in practice,” Ozel said. “A ‘manager’ label can shape expectations about whether overtime is available and can muddy the record for anyone trying to assess the role from the outside. … Job duties are hard to observe and document without access to internal records and day-to-day work.”

But this dynamic, while suggestive, applies only to a narrow slice of the workforce. In any given year, less than a tenth of the workforce earned enough to put them within fudging distance (20 percent) of the cutoff.

What else might drive this title inflation?

Our best clue came in a call from Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University management expert who longtime readers may recognize is also a remote-work data impresario.

Bloom pointed out the rise of managers coincides with what he calls the overeducation of the American workforce. College graduates once made up a tiny, elite minority. Now, America’s colleges churn out so many that they outnumber the share of young people who never made it past high school.

As a result, Bloom said, there aren’t enough highfalutin’ positions for all those brand-new baccalaureates. Of course, employers would still love to attract these talented young grads to their unfilled lower-falutin’ positions. But to do so, they’d need to get creative.

“How do you get a college graduate to do a job that’s honestly probably better suited to a noncollege graduate?” Bloom asked. “You just shove the word ‘president’ into the title!”

When we took Bloom’s hint and charted the rise in managers by education, the fallout of his observation became clear. The increase in managers with a bachelor’s degree or higher drowns out any other trend. If we explain that segment, we explain the whole thing.

We started by looking at where all those college-educated managers worked.

As we should have guessed, they’re in the industries with the most-educated workers overall. In almost every major industry, as more educated workers roll in, the number of educated managers rises at the same rate.

Let’s look at an appropriate example: the industry of higher education. In that business, a four-year degree (or something fancier) gave you almost a 5 percent chance of being in management in 2000. By 2024, the share of educated workers in that sector had more than doubled, but your chances of being a manager conditional on having a college degree didn’t really change.

Many industries – banking, real estate, hospitals – follow this pattern. The exception? Computer services, which added more jobs than all but a handful of (mostly low-wage) industries over this time period, also saw your odds of becoming a manager double.

That matches what we heard from Ben Hanowell, an anthropologist who now helps direct ADP Research, the research arm of the outfit that probably processes your paycheck each month. The company’s endless piles of proprietary payrolls allow Hanowell to produce metrics that us mere civilians can’t match.

In his analysis, Hanowell found that U.S. teams got slightly smaller after the pandemic – an average manager went from 7.4 direct reports to about 7.3. But over that time, tech firms have gone from 6.5 workers per manager to about 5.3, with much of the drop coming after the pandemic.

So, while there are some situations where individuals became more likely to be managers, the much more common story is: People with college degrees had the same odds of becoming a manager as they always did, so as we got more people with college degrees, we got more managers.

But are these Potemkin promotions, or do they signal a change in the economy?

It hinges on whether the new boss, the “manager,” is truly the same as the old boss, the “supervisor.” We don’t have enough data right now to compare their actual duties, but we can at least look at their pay.

And sure enough, when we compare managers to similarly paid supervisors since the turn of the millennium, a clean pattern pops out. At every step of pay scale, managers rose, and supervisors fell in roughly equal quantities (after accounting for workforce growth over that time). To us, that looks a lot like replacement.

To be sure, they may not all be simple swaps in which a firm hires a college graduate to be a glorified supervisor with a cool title. We could also be seeing centralization. Perhaps work that once fell to supervisors – say, scheduling or coaching – now shifts to a central, college-educated staff of trainers and human resources professionals.

Around the edges, we expect those trends have been exacerbated by the decline of small businesses, since a megacorp in search of efficiency will centralize more functions. Similarly, the rise of outsourcing and perhaps gig work means jobs that were once done by small teams with supervisors inside the company are now handled by huge outside contractors.

And of course the increasing reliance on gig workers and outsourced workers that such a model implies might also help explain why tech’s managers now seem to manage so few employees – many of the folks they’re managing are now working outside the company.

But experts like Shierholz confirmed our hunch that the dominant force seemed to be the simplest: Job titles are getting a college-friendly makeover even if the jobs themselves don’t change much. Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed, agreed this seemed plausible based on his impressions from the online job site’s vast archives of job postings.

“We’re seeing a lot of jobs that have manager in them, but they are doing these more direct manager or direct supervising type of jobs,” Stahle said. “They are managers who are more directly involved in the day-to-day operations rather than a higher-up.”

Anthology Events is hosting an exclusive farm-to-table collaboration dinner with Dinners with Will at the historic Book Tower in Detroit on Friday, February 27, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

This event wil feature a three-course, locally sourced menu in the Conservatory, preceded by a cocktail hour with charcuterie in the Linden Room.

To learn more or to reserve your seat (s), visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anthology-events-collab-with-dinners-with-will-tickets-1376528566999

Today is Sunday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2026. There are 312 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 22, 2022, three white men were convicted of federal hate crimes in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, who was jogging through their neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, when he was attacked in 2020. (The men are serving life sentences after being convicted of murder in state court.)

Also on this date:

In 1732, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony.

In 1784, a U.S. merchant ship, the Empress of China, left New York for the first trade voyage of an American ship to China.

In 1819, a weakened Spain, facing revolutions in Latin America, signed a treaty ceding Florida to the United States.

In 1862, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated to a full six-year term as president of the Confederate States of America after his election the previous November. He previously served as the Confederacy’s provisional president.

In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held; although Johnny Beauchamp was initially declared the winner, the victory was later awarded to Lee Petty.

In 1967, more than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Viet Cong stronghold near the Cambodian border.

In 1997, scientists in Scotland announced they had successfully cloned an adult mammal for the first time, a sheep they named “Dolly.”

In 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took place at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, as the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviet Union, 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal two days later, 4-2, over Finland.)

In 2010, Najibullah Zazi, accused of buying products from beauty supply stores to make bombs for an attack on New York City subways, pleaded guilty to charges including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. (He spent nearly a decade after his arrest helping the U.S. identify and prosecute terrorists and was given a 10-year sentence.)

In 2020, pioneering Black mathematician Katherine Johnson, who calculated rocket trajectories and Earth orbits for NASA’s early space missions and was later portrayed in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” died at the age of 101.

In 2024, a private lander built by Intuitive Machines made the first U.S. touchdown on the moon in more than 50 years, but the spacecraft only managed a weak signal and spotty communications with flight controllers.

Today’s birthdays:

• Actor Paul Dooley is 98.
• Actor James Hong is 97.
• Actor Julie Walters is 76.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving is 76.
• Golf Hall of Famer Amy Alcott is 70.
• Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 67.
• Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh is 63.
• Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine is 61.
• Actor Paul Lieberstein (TV: “The Office) is 59.
• Actor Jeri Ryan is 58.
• Actor-singer Lea Salonga is 55.
• Tennis Hall of Famer Michael Chang is 54.
• Singer James Blunt is 52.
• Actor Drew Barrymore is 51.
• Comedian Iliza Shlesinger is 43.
• Dancer and singer Genneya Walton is 27.
• Rapper Molly Brazy is 27.

ORCHARD LAKE – The third time facing Huron Valley this year was lucky for South Lyon Unified, who defeated the Titans 7-3 Saturday night to advance to Wednesday’s D3 regional finals.

Huron Valley had won the two regular season meetings, including a 6-5 overtime thriller just under three weeks ago at Lakeland Ice Arena.

“We didn’t change much up (from the earlier matchups),” Unified head coach Dennis Gagnon said. “We just scored more than they did. The puck bounced our way. Hockey is a game of bounces, and we earned our bounces, for sure. But it still boils down to bounces and luck.”

Unified came out hot, needing just 1:16 to get on the board when Aiden Petrovich converted a center ice turnover, getting a breakaway and flipping a backhanded shot into the net for a quick lead. Barely three minutes later, Braden Hillebrand barreled down the win, cut behind the net and then found Alex Kero trailing the play for a quick shot and a 2-0 lead.

Hillebrand would score with 6:51 to play in the period, making it 3-0 and South Lyon Unified seemed to have things well in hand.

But the Titans would not go down without a fight. Unified had jumped out to a 3-0 lead the last time the teams met back on Feb. 2, and the Titans came back to win that one in overtime. And for a while, this looked like it could be a repeat.

“We had a slow start. They (Unified) were on fire. It’s hard to come back. At times, it looked like we were chipping away at it, and then they would get a goal right back,” Titans head coach Tim Ronayne said.

The Titans’ power play connected with 48.7 seconds to play in the first period when Nate Dell scored a one-timer from down low. Then, just 2:28 into the next period, the Titans scored again when Austin Scanlon won a faceoff clean back to Lucas Brethauser, whose shot from the top of the right circle seemed to have eyes for the net. Suddenly, it was 3-2 and the Titans had all the momentum.

But this time, Unified had the answers whenever the Titans pushed back. South Lyon Unified restored the two-goal margin just 24 seconds later on a goal from Grant Daugherty, then added another pair before the period had ended with Petrovich and Hillebrand each picking up their second goals of the game.

Huron Valley had a bit of a push early in the third period when Nate Dell got a power-play marker to cut things to 6-3. Even so, the final period was a penalty-filled affair with South Lyon Unified picking up a few penalties in the early stages of the third, and then Huron Valley took several late penalties, short-circuiting any late rally by the Titans.

Photo gallery of a D3 hockey regional semifinal between South Lyon Unified and the Huron Valley Titans

Both sides first met this winter on Dec. 17 in Brighton. In that initial showdown, unlike in the last two, scoring was scarce early as neither team found the back of the net in the first period. However, the Titans struck four times in the final frame in a 5-2 win. Dell and Scanlon assisted Tommy Colt for the game-winner in OT of the February matchup that decided the LVC.

South Lyon Unified (22-4-2) advances to Wednesday’s regional final where it will face Division 3 defending champion Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, who thrashed Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard on its own ice in the evening's first semifinal.

“We’ll just enjoy this one and look forward to the next one,” Gagnon said. “You can’t ask for anything better, can you?” he added.

Huron Valley finishes its first year as a unified team (Lakeland and Milford) with a 16-12-1 record and the Lakes Valley Conference Championship.

“it’s a disappointing way to end the year, but all said and done, we had a great year,” Ronayne said. “It’s our first year being unified, and it was a lot of fun coaching all these guys. The most impressive thing was that they all got along. They melded together, and they’re all brothers. That’s a life lesson in itself right there."

South Lyon Unified defeated the Huron Valley Titans 7-3 in the D3 regional semifinal played on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026 at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.

ORCHARD LAKE – The Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Eaglets opened the defense of their D3 state title by rolling to a 10-2 victory over the Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard Fighting Irish.

St. Mary’s started strong with two goals in the first six minutes and never looked back. Sophomore Brandon Kondrat got things going for St. Mary’s, capitalizing on a turnover to snap a shot into the net from close range with 12:48 to play in the first period. Dominic Pizzo’s one-timer exactly 100 seconds later made it 2-0, and both goals would be typical of things to come.

St. Mary’s made a living down low in this one. The Eaglets scored most of their goals from point-blank range, getting tip-ins and close in shots early and often, but especially in the third period when they put the Fighting Irish away with four quick goals, ending the game with 6:55 still on the third period clock.

“That was really the goal after the first period – start getting more of that (getting shots in deep) and being able to move that puck across the whole zone rather than using just half of it,” Eaglets head coach Brian Klanow said.

Pizzo was the top scorer for the Eaglets with two goals and one assist, while Matthew Mourad also had three points (one goal, two assists). Charlie Roberts, J.T. Birkett, John Brown, Cam Sussex, and Daniel Ramos each had two points as the Eaglets spread the scoring throughout virtually the entire team. Nine different players scored and 17 Eaglets got at least one point.

Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard’s top line scored a pair of goals with Kai He and Stephen Joffe both scoring for the Fighting Irish. But that was about all the offense for the Fighting Irish, who mustered just 12 shots on goal for the night.

The Fighting Irish played hard throughout the game and battled up and down the line up, from goalie Zeke Talusan to a defense anchored by Jakub Sienkiewicz, right up to the forward lines. Gabriel Richard scratched and fought for every loose puck and every inch of ice they could get. But the young Fighting Irish just could not overcome St. Mary’s firepower.

Photos of Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard in a D3 hockey regional

With the win, the Eaglets (22-4-2) move on to Wednesday’s regional final where they will host South Lyon Unified, winners of the second semifinal on Saturday night.

“We have to come out, put our heads down, and play like a team the whole game,” Klanow said.

Gabriel Richard finishes the year 14-13-1 overall, even with a roster loaded with freshmen and sophomores.

“Everyone gave it everything they had on the ice. I’m just proud of the effort and proud of the way the guys played today,” Fighting Irish head coach Clint Robert said. “We just wanted to be a family in the locker room, and I thought in the locker room the guys really bonded well. It felt like family, and I think that’s important especially with having the majority of the guys back next year. Despite the lopsided outcome here, I think the way the guys battled and for them to see what it takes and what a top team looks like, I think it’s going to be good for us moving forward,” he added.

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s defeated Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard 10-2 in the MHSAA D3 regional semifinal played at OLSM on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026.

WARREN – Jay’den Williams admits that his bedroom walls are getting littered with wrestling memorabilia and most of it is items he has earned.

The Roseville senior 165-pounder, ranked first in the state, brought home some more poster brackets and a medal to add to his growing collection Saturday at Warren Cousino High School.

Williams – who is 37-1 for the season and 186-4 for his stellar four-year career – recorded a 20-3, technical fall victory over Rochester Adams’ Dominic Beccari in the finals at the Division 1 Individual Regional.

“I have too many,” laughed Williams, a three-time state finalist and a sate champion as a junior. I don’t have room anymore. Let’s see – I have four from (Macomb County), four from districts, four from regionals and one from (the state finals).”

Williams was one of 14 regional winners Saturday at Cousino, as standout wrestlers tangled for some eight hours to determine state qualifiers. The top four individuals in each weight class advance to the MHSAA Division 1 state finals March 6-7 at Ford Field in Detroit.

Rochester Adams’ Deacon Morgan will be joining Williams and 55 others from the Cousino regional at the state finals in two weeks and he was impressive ripping through the field in the 144-pound weight class. Last year’s state runner-up has been ranked in the top three in the state and his aggressive fast-paced style helped him record a 19-3, technical fall victory over fellow state-ranked opponent Lucas Harper from Macomb Dakota. 

“I try my best to keep the pace. I just keep my head in the game and keep working and be relentless,” said Morgan. “I do keep up the pace and try to wear my opponent down.”

With last year’s state champion now in college, the door is open for Morgan this season.

“Last year I was second in the state, so the goal is still to win a state championship,” he added.

Rochester Stoney Creek produced one champion, as Jawad Bazzi outlasted Romeo four-sport star Owen Perry 7-3 in the finals at 150. Romeo produced five finalists and tied Adams for the lead with three champions.

Warren Mott had a pair of champions on the day. John Kaminski recorded a 13-5 major decision win over Dax Fegley of Troy in the 157-pound finals. Two weight classes later, Ethan Drozdowski emerged as the 175-pound champ when he defeated Fraser’s Mitchell Nash.

Romeo’s Tommy Jaynes’ quest for glory in the 190-pound division continued, as he added three more wins Saturday to give home 153 for his career and ended his day with a 17-2 technical fall win over Darnel Boyd of Roseville.

“This is the next step,” said Jaynes, a state runner-up last season who is 49-1 this season. “I just have to keep pushing, eating right and manage my nutrition. But I don have to thank God. He gives me the ability to be able to go out there and do this. I just need to keep working hard and remain focused on the goal.”

Adams’ Maxim Vostryakov (215) improved to 39-9 on the season and his major decision victory of 9-1 over Troy’s Selah Houston gave him his first individual regional title.  He came three days after his team captured its first regional title since 1999. Adams’ John David Quinlan (126) prevailed with a 9-5 victory over Romeo’s Ethan Miller in the finals match.

“Personally, for me, I’ve had blast this season. I love my teammates and I love the fact that we won a team regional and that I was able to get one as an individual, too,” said Vostryakov. “Last year I lost in the blood rounds and I’m excited to be able to win today and also win that team regional in the same week.”

Quinlan is also a big part of the Adams success story this year.

“All of this is a great feeling. This team is a close as a team I’ve been one and to win a individual regional here today and to win team regionals earlier this week is amazing. We had three winners today and Max (Vostryakov) clinched it against Romeo the other day for us to win the first regional match,” noted Quinlan. “We have a lot of very good wrestlers and I think we had seven qualify today (for the state finals).”

Landon Cooke of Utica pinned Dearborn Fordson’s Mehdi Beydoun in 4:00 with a broken hand to improve to 22-3. Cooke was injured over the Christmas break with a broken bone in his right hand and missed nearly a month of action.

“I think this title is big because this will help with my seeding at state,” said Cooke. “I missed quite a bit of time and sat out nearly a month because I broke (a bone in) my hand. I won the county meet and then the injury happened right after Christmas. This is my second tournament win, but it is the regional and that’s important. My goal is to try to get up there (on the podium) and be All-State, maybe even top three.”

Sterling Heights Stevenson 106-pounder Anthony Bertollini won his finals match via forfeit after his opponent, Tristan Ciaramitaro of Chippewa Valley, picked up a minor injury at the end of his semifinals victory and opted out. Detroit Cass Tech’s Cyrus Woodberry edged Dearborn Fordson’s Rasoul Charafeddine 4-3 in the 113-pound title bout, while Roseville’s Branden Halsey (132) defeated Fraser’s Connor Wilson 9-4 to win his division.

Romeo sophomore Nico Adamo pinned Fraser’s Zack Courtney in 3:48 to win his 120-pound weight class, while his older brother Valentin Adamo captured a thrilling, 3-1 overtime victory over Dakota’s Carl Nihranz to end the marathon day. Both wrestlers are ranked in the top 10 in the state.

“I just had to trust myself and keep pushing out there,” said Valentine Adamo. “Carl is one of my wrestling partners (outside of high school) and we’re friends. We train together a lot and we’ve wrestled each other a couple of times before. I knew it would be a close match.”

The younger Adamo captured his first regional title.

“This should help me with my seeding. I want to be All-State and I think winning regionals is a big step towards that,” said Nico Adamo. “I didn’t start off the season too well. I only finished seventh at the county meet. I would love to have that day back. But I think that motivated me because I am wrestling a lot better now.”

CHICAGO (AP) — Jalen Duren had 26 points and 13 rebounds in his return from a suspension to help the Detroit Pistons take charge in the second half and roll to a 126-110 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.

Cade Cunningham added 18 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds to narrowly miss his 15th career triple-double as the Pistons won their fifth straight game. Tobias Harris also had 18 points and Duncan Robinson added 17 for league-leading Detroit (42-13), which dealt Chicago its season-high eighth straight loss.

Duren helped establish Detroit’s dominance after sitting out two games for his role in a fight at Charlotte on Feb. 9. He got a technical foul in this one for casually dropping the ball on the face of Chicago’s Nick Richards in the third quarter while Richards was down on the floor.

Josh Giddey had 27 points on 10 for 16 shooting — including five 3-pointers — but the Bulls couldn’t keep pace with the Pistons after trailing only 53-50 at the half. Matas Buzelis, Jalen Smith and Issac Okoro each added 15 as the Bulls committed 23 turnovers leading to 28 Detroit points.

Detroit outmuscled Chicago, scoring 68 points in the paint, compared to the Bulls 38. The Pistons had 26 on second chances and Chicago just 16.

The Bulls played without Jaden Ivey, who will be out two weeks with knee soreness after playing just four games with Chicago following a trade from Detroit. Anfernee Simons left the game with a left wrist injury

Bulls coach Billy Donovan was back on the bench after missing a game to attend his father’s funeral.

The Pistons led by no more than six points in a tight, scrappy first half. Detroit outscored Chicago 44-26 in third quarter and opened the lead to as much as 28.

Up next

Pistons: Host San Antonio on Monday

Bulls: Host New York Knicks on Sunday.

— By MATT CARLSON, Associated Press

By Evan Woodbery, Tribune News Service

TAMPA, Fla. — Let’s start with the good, because it’s brief.

Rookie shortstop Kevin McGonigle smoked an opposite-field single in his first at-bat of spring training. Veteran outfielder Corey Julks homered. There were a handful of solid defensive plays.

That about covers it.

Everything else about the Detroit Tigers’ Grapefruit League opener Saturday at George Steinbrenner Field was pretty lousy.

The Tigers lost to the New York Yankees 20-3 in a game that lasted three hours but felt about double that. Seven of the Tigers’ eight scheduled pitchers issued walks. The Yankees poured on nine runs in the eighth inning, drawing four walks against Matt Seelinger before hitting a grand slam and a three-run homer off Woo-Suk Go.

Yankees pitchers were far more efficient, though the Tigers did manage a couple of runs against well-regarded prospect Carlos LaGrange.

McGonigle smacked a 100 mph fastball to left field in the first inning. He dashed to third on a wild pitch and then scored when the catcher’s throw sailed into the outfield.

It was just a spring game, but McGonigle had done his homework, checking out some video of his past matchups against LaGrange.

“I just went back and looked at the film from last year when I faced him, and he threw me a lot of off-speed,” McGonigle said. “I knew he would try to go with a heater and beat me. He threw that first one, and I was late on it, and I told myself, ‘I can’t be late again.’ So I got it again and was able to put it in play.”

Even in a lopsided spring game, there was a moment of perspective for the rookie.

“Always the first game, no matter where I’m at, the nerves and adrenaline are going,” he said. “Just looking across the diamond and seeing (Aaron) Judge and all those guys, it’s really special. But after that first pitch of the at-bat, it was go time. Once that game starts, it’s game on.

“I always treat every game as the same. Whether it’s Fall League, regular season, or spring training, I always try to go out and compete and help the team win. So yeah, I definitely did some study last night (on LaGrange).”

Julks, a non-roster invite who spent the last two seasons in the Chicago White Sox system, homered to left field in the third to score the other run off LaGrange.

Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off reliever Burch Smith in the third inning and then another two-run bomb off Ricky Vanasco in the fourth.

©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit mlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Crews recovered the bodies of nine backcountry skiers who were killed in a California avalanche four days ago, authorities said Saturday.

A search team reached the bodies of eight victims and found one other who had been missing and presumed dead since Tuesday's avalanche on Castle Peak near Lake Tahoe.

The recovery efforts had been put on hold for several days because of heavy snow and the threat of more avalanches.

RELATED STORY | Blizzard warnings issued for New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut as storm threatens East Coast

Helicopters with the California National Guard and California Highway Patrol recovered the bodies on Saturday morning by hoisting them from the mountain and bringing them to nearby snowcats trucks outfitted for transportation on the snow.

Officials said on Friday that they were using water to break up the snow in the area as avalanche mitigation work, a technique that is designed to intentionally release unstable snowpack to reduce the risk when rescue crews go in.

The mitigation and search efforts have included California Highway Patrol air operations, Nevada County Sheriffs search and rescue, Tahoe Nordic search and rescue, the utility company Pacific Gas & Electric, the Sierra avalanche center and others.

Lenten season 2026 just kicked off, which many folks across metro Detroit aren't eating meat on Fridays. They're optioning for fish instead.

Justin Viel, Director of Culinary Operations at Vince and Joe's Gourmet Market, stopped by Broadcast House to show 7 News Detroit viewers what tasty treats are available at their two locations this Lenten season. He also shared the recipe for his Whitefish Siciliano. It's posted below. Enjoy!

To learn more about Vince and Joe's Gourmet Market, visit

https://vinceandjoes.com/

Whitefish Siciliano

Ingredients (Serves 24)

4 whitefish fillets (lake whitefish, cod, or haddock)

34 cloves chopped garlic

cup extra-virgin olive oil

cup dry white wine

Juice of 1 large lemon

1 cup seasoned Italian breadcrumbs

Salt & cracked black pepper

Fresh parsley (optional)

Marinade

In a shallow dish, whisk together:

Olive oil

White wine

Lemon juice

Chopped garlic

Pinch of salt & pepper

Add fish and turn to coat.

Marinate 2030 minutes in the refrigerator (no longer than 30 minutes the lemon can start to cook the fish).

Cooking

1. Remove fish from marinade and let excess drip off.

2. Press firmly into seasoned Italian breadcrumbs on both sides.

3. Heat cup olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

4. Sear 34 minutes per side until golden brown and crisp.

5. Internal temp should reach 135140F and flake easily.

Finish & Serve

Garnish with fresh parsley and lemon wedges. Serve with roasted potatoes or sauted greens.

Blizzard warnings were issued Saturday for New York City, New Jersey and coastal communities along the East Coast as a late-winter storm set to arrive on Sunday threatened to make a mess of the start of a new week.

The National Weather Service increased its assessment of the potential severity of a storm that was projected to be less ferocious only days earlier.

The weather service said 1 to 2 feet of snow was possible in many areas as it issued blizzard warnings for New York City, Long Island, southern Connecticut and coastal communities in New Jersey and Delaware. Flooding was also possible in parts of New York and New Jersey, the weather service said.

RELATED STORY | Strong storms forecast to continue risks for heavy snow in the West, fire weather in the Plains

The weather service said the storm could arrive quietly on Sunday with rainfall in some places before worsening, with the heaviest snowfall expected Sunday night and as much as 2 inches of snow an hour at times in some areas before tampering off by Monday afternoon.

The weather service warned that the storm, with steady winds of 25 to 35 mph would "make travel dangerous, if not impossible. Scattered downed tree limbs and power outages possible due to snow load and strong winds."

The storm approached just as the icy remains of a snowstorm that struck the region weeks earlier were finally melting away.

RELATED NEWS | Eight backcountry skiers found dead and 1 still missing after California avalanche

Outdoorama, the show that celebrates Michigan's incredible conservation and outdoors heritage, returns to Metro Detroit. The tradition is being held February 19-22 at the Vibe Credit Union Showplace in Novi.

This year's 53rd annual show is packed full of outdoor-related gear, educational information, boats, non-stop seminars, features like a snake pit, trout pond, archery instruction, fly tying, live birds of prey and much more.

To learn more, visit https://showspan.com/out/https://showspan.com/out/

3-D printing is changing the world of manufacturing.

Problems that used to take months, and sometime even years, to solve can now be addressed much faster, with solutions being created right in front of your eyes. This is especially true when it comes to 3D3 Custom Solutions in Madison Heights.

To learn more, visit

https://3d3custom.com/

A Birmingham apparel business owner is grappling with uncertainty after the Supreme Court struck down most of President Donald Trump's tariffs Friday, only to see him impose a new 10% global tariff in response.

Linda Schlesinger, owner of Michigan-based Skinnytees in Birmingham, said she learned about the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling when one of her employees called her over to see breaking news coverage.

Watch Evan Sery's video report below: Supreme Court tariff ruling creates uncertainty for Michigan businesses

"One of the girls said 'come here. I have to show you something running across the news,'" Schlesinger said.

The ruling initially struck down most of Trump's tariffs, but Schlesinger said any relief was short-lived.

"For an hour, we'll believe it, and he'll swing it, and he did," Schlesinger said.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, Trump imposed a new 10% global tariff slated to go into effect Monday for 150 days.

Schlesinger, who runs a women's apparel company that is expanding into men's clothing, said dealing with tariffs during Trump's second administration has been a major challenge. About 80% of her materials come from China and 15% from Italy.

"My contractors in Italy and China are so anti, of course, what's going because it affects their orders. What they're getting, a lot of people brought everything to a screeching halt," Schlesinger said.

Related video: High court strikes down Trump tariffs High court strikes down Trump tariffs

Dr. Joseph Eisenhauer, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Detroit Mercy, called the tariff situation major international news with significant financial implications.

"The federal government has collected more than 100 billion and possibly 200 billion in tariff revenue, much of which may have to be refunded to those who paid it," Eisenhauer said.

Eisenhauer said the constant changes in tariff policy are creating economic uncertainty that hurts business investment.

"Whether there will be taxes, won't be taxes, new tariffs, no tariffs, that volatility and uncertainty deters investment in the economy," Eisenhauer said.

Despite the challenges, Schlesinger said she has managed to avoid raising prices so far and has found ways to adapt her business model when needed. However, she expressed concern about the unpredictability of future tariff policies.

"Ten percent and then tomorrow, will he wake up and decide an additional 20%? I mean, there's no checks and balances here," Schlesinger said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

Police in Bloomfield Township responded to the Oakland County Republican Party headquarters on Friday after it was reported that the group received an envelope with an unknown white powder inside.

Police say they responded around 2 p.m.

Oakland County GOP leaders say safety protocols were immediately executed.

Police say theyre working with the FBI in the investigation. Police say that it appears to not be an isolated incident and could be connected to other suspicious mail sent to GOP affiliations in Michigan.

Leaders with the Oakland County GOP say its office will be closed through the weekend as they take further safety steps.

Police in Lapeer are warning residents to watch their step after receiving reports that someone has been hiding sharp objects around two city parks.

Families who frequent the parks say after hearing about police finding more than 40 metal objects around the area, they're thinking about taking their children somewhere else.

Watch Jeffrey Lindblom's video report below: Police warn Lapeer residents after 40+ sharp objects found hidden in city parks

Rotary Park in Lapeer is one of two parks in the city where police say an individual or individuals appear to have placed what they're calling "fence spikes" on the sharp side up, possibly with the intent to hurt somebody.

"Children get hurt easily. They're just running around playing. It's not safe. It's scary. Truly, it's scary," Jacob Kienitz said.

Kienitz calls the recent discovery by police on the grounds of the neighborhood park he brings his 7-year-old daughter concerning.

"Before this, we used to come to the park all the time, play around," Kienitz said.

City of Lapeer police say they found more than 40 fence spikes hidden in snow and scattered around Rotary and Cramton parks over Feb. 13 through Feb. 18.

Amy Mead has lived across the street from dimly lit Rotary Park for 15 years and says she worries for the safety of families and pets alike.

"Oh, yeah. I would hate that because I take my dog over there," Mead said.

She's concerned about potential injuries requiring hospitalization and stitches.

"I mean, a spike through the foot is absolutely terrifying," Kienitz said.

A concerned mother shared that it was in April of last year that similar spikes were also found. In 2018, two children were hospitalized after using the slide and being chemically burned. Kienitz says he's questioning bringing his daughter to the park again.

"I care more about her and her safety than coming to the one park that we like. We'll probably go somewhere else," Kienitz said.

Commissioner Stefan Brady says the city is looking into enhancing lighting and security in the community's public spaces. In the meantime, police are encouraging parents to take a look around and make sure playgrounds are free from any sharp objects before letting their children play.

"It worries me. I don't want her getting hurt," Kienitz said.

City of Lapeer Police Chief Jeremy Howe says the safety of the community is their priority and they're dedicating resources to finding those who are involved. At this time, they're encouraging the community to remain diligent and report anything unusual.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.