A Dearborn-based nonprofit animal shelter is waiving adoption fees through Sunday in an effort to reduce overcrowding. The waived fees apply to all dogs more than six months old and weighing at least 20 pounds. Friends for Animals of Metro Detroit has 53 dogs that meet the criteria, including 10 that have been at the shelter for at least two months.

Four teenagers know who killed 15-year-old Tyler Johnson in a Southfield hotel room in February 2024. Two of them tried to flee the Westin Southfield Detroit hotel when police arrived, and one was detained for possessing two handguns, including one that was used in the shooting.

Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib is running for a second term, but his announcement Monday was quickly overshadowed by revelations that he and three city council members spent nearly $10,000 in public funds to attend President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month. The timing of his re-election bid, coming just hours before the story broke, raises questions about whether Ghalib was trying to get ahead of the controversy. Whatever the case, Ghalib, who made headlines last fall for endorsing Trump’s campaign, posted his re-election announcement on social media Monday afternoon, declaring that he would “continue to serve my city and my community with sincerity, commitment, and integrity, through this position and through other potential prestigious future positions.”

A prominent legal expert is warning Michigan lawmakers against rolling back a court-ordered minimum wage hike, calling it a direct assault on the state’s constitutional protections for voter-led initiatives. University of Michigan law professor Samuel Bagenstos, a former U.S. Justice Department official, sent a letter to legislative leaders on Monday urging them to let the minimum wage and earned sick leave laws take effect as ordered by the Michigan Supreme Court last year. The court struck down a 2018 legislative maneuver that gutted citizen-initiated wage and sick leave increases before they could reach voters.

Thieves broke into Pingree Detroit’s workshop over the weekend, stealing about $5,000 worth of fine leather goods, petty cash, laptops, space heaters, gift and gas cards, and even a signed Pistons jersey gifted to the business for its work with U.S. military veterans. Surveillance video captured the two crooks as they rifled through a room in the workshop at 15707 Livernois on the city’s west side for about 20 minutes. The video also picked up their voices.

A year after her 15-year-old son was shot and killed in a Southfield hotel, Tomika Alexander is still waiting for justice.  Tyler Johnson was killed on Feb. 12, 2024, during a gathering with friends.  Police recovered the gun, and multiple people were in the room when Johnson was killed, but no one has been held accountable, Alexander said Monday. 

Tenants at City Club Apartments in Detroit are being evicted for legally withholding rent in escrow while judges are failing to enforce a code meant to protect renters from unsafe living conditions, advocates and tenants say. The 750 Chene Tenants Association and Detroit Tenants Association are calling on city officials to take immediate action to stop the evictions and enforce Detroit’s housing laws. The tenants say they began placing their rent in escrow, which is a legal process recommended by the city, after their elusive landlord refused to fix serious maintenance issues, including persistent water damage and mold, heating and plumbing failures, and broken security features such as faulty entryways and poor lighting.

Corewell Health has reversed course and will restore gender-affirming care for transgender minors after a week of mounting criticism from civil rights organizations, elected officials, and the LGBTQ+ community. The healthcare system, one of the largest in Michigan, had halted new hormone therapy for minors following a controversial executive order from President Trump that threatened to strip federal funding from hospitals offering such care. That decision made Corewell the first medical system in the state to restrict gender-affirming care for young people, drawing criticism from advocacy groups and public officials, including Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, who made international headlines last fall by endorsing Donald Trump, now finds himself at the center of controversy for standing by that decision despite the president’s recent proposal to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza. Outlined by Trump last week, the plan would block Palestinians from returning to Gaza if it is taken over and redeveloped under U.S. oversight.

An Alabama prison executed a Detroit man Thursday evening after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declined to intervene, ignoring pleas from his family, attorneys, and death penalty opponents who argued she had the authority to demand his return to Michigan, where the death penalty has been abolished. Demetrius Frazier, 52, was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m. CST, executed by nitrogen gas at Holman Correctional Facility for the 1991 rape and murder of 41-year-old Pauline Brown in Birmingham, Alabama.

A new poll suggests Michigan voters are increasingly open to breaking with the two-party system in the race for governor, but the survey’s origins raise questions about its objectivity. The Detroit Regional Chamber, a business advocacy group that has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s campaign, commissioned the survey, which found that 63.4% of voters believe Michigan should elect an independent governor who is not affiliated with either major party. The results come as Duggan campaigns for governor as an independent, a move that has already shaken up Michigan politics.

Immigrant rights groups are calling on school districts across the state to adopt policies that safeguard children from immigration enforcement actions after the Trump administration’s recent decision to rescind the longstanding “sensitive locations” policy. The ACLU of Michigan and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) have issued a letter to school districts outlining students’ legal rights and how educators can ensure schools remain safe spaces for children.

The fear of federal immigration crackdowns is spreading through metro Detroit’s immigrant communities, keeping children out of schools, leaving businesses without workers, and forcing families to make gut-wrenching decisions about their safety and livelihoods. In the weeks since President Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has carried out raids in multiple cities across the country. Although no large-scale raids have been publicly reported in Detroit, ICE agents have been increasingly spotted patrolling neighborhoods with large immigrant populations like Southwest Detroit, according to residents, activists, and elected officials.

The ACLU of Michigan and the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the University of Michigan, alleging the school has unconstitutionally banned protesters from its Ann Arbor campus in an effort to silence dissent. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of people banished from the university after they participated in Palestinian solidarity protests on Ann Arbor’s campus. The banishments, which prohibit people from setting foot on much of the university’s campus under the threat of criminal prosecution, violate the First Amendment’s free speech protections and the 14th Amendment’s due process rights, the lawsuit argues.

With just days until his scheduled execution in Alabama, attorneys for a Detroit native are urging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to demand his return, arguing that the state has both the legal right and obligation to bring him back. In a last-minute plea for clemency sent to Whitmer on Friday, attorney Spencer Hahn laid out the constitutional and legal grounds for returning Demetrius Frazier to Michigan, arguing that he remains in the legal custody of the state, despite being transferred to Alabama under a secretive agreement by then-Gov. Rick Snyder. “Michigan has priority of custody over Mr. Frazier,” Hahn wrote in the five-page letter obtained by Metro Times.

A Detroit priest known for his exorcism work was arrested after allegedly putting a teenage girl’s hair in his mouth and pretending to floss with it in front of her classmates. Father Carlos Martins, 50, who co-hosts The Exorcist Files podcast and leads religious relic tours, was charged with misdemeanor battery following the bizarre incident at a church in Joliet, Illinois, on Nov. 21, 2024.

Metro Detroit’s immigrant community is on edge as the newly emboldened Trump administration begins carrying out what it called the largest deportation plan in U.S. history. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has arrested more than 4,500 people nationwide in the past week, and raids are occurring in countless areas across the country. Although no large raids have been reported yet in metro Detroit, ICE agents have been picking up undocumented immigrants and are increasingly spotted patrolling neighborhoods, community and elected leaders say.

The mother of Demetrius Frazier, a Detroit native facing a controversial execution in Alabama, is urging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to intervene and bring her son back to Michigan, where the death penalty is unconstitutional. In an emotional letter sent to the governor on Tuesday, Carol Frazier acknowledged the severity of her son’s crimes but asked Whitmer to spare his life.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters announced Tuesday that he’s not running for a third term, leaving a crucial seat up for grabs in 2026. The 66-year-old Michigan Democrat, who has served in the Senate since 2015, said in a statement that it’s time to “pass the torch to the next generation of public servants.” “I have always believed that American democracy can only remain healthy and vibrant when every citizen takes an active role in strengthening their community,” Peters said.