For the second time this week, a traffic crash in Commerce Township resulted in serious injuries.

The more recent collision happened shortly after 11 a.m. Friday on West Pontiac Trail near Huntley Drive involving a 2022 Tesla and a 2010 Honda Odyssey, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

A preliminary investigation indicates that the Tesla driver, a 24-year-old Dearborn resident, crossed the center yellow line and crashed into the Honda, driven by a 73-year-old Walled Lake resident, the sheriff’s office said. Both drivers were transported to Henry Ford Providence Novi Hospital where the Walled Lake resident was listed in critical condition and the Dearborn resident was in stable condition as of mid-afternoon Friday, the sheriff’s office said..

Both drivers had been wearing their seatbelts at the time, the sheriff’s office said.

While an investigation continues, alcohol and/or drug use aren’t suspected as contributing factors, and speed doesn’t appear to have been an issue in the crash, the sheriff’s office said.

The crash happened three days after another involving a passenger vehicle and semi-truck in Commerce Township caused injuries to an 87-year-old man who was pinned inside his car, officials said.

According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, the elderly man was operating a Chevrolet Malibu on Dec. 30 when he struck the rear of a semi-truck trailer as it was entering eastbound Pontiac Trail near Haggerty Road from the Walmart Supercenter parking lot at around 7:15 a.m. He became trapped inside the Malibu but was subsequently extricated by a crew from the Commerce Township Fire Department.

He was transported to Henry Ford Providence Novi Hospital and evaluated for injuries believed to be minor, the sheriff’s office said. No other injuries were reported.

The semi-truck driver was issued a citation in connection with the crash.

Wixom man, 75, left unconscious in roadway after Door Dasher allegedly punches him

 

It won’t be long before the burned-out remains of Fork n’ Pint are cleared away, according to Waterford Township officials and a demolition contractor.

Bob Hoffman, an Oakland County commissioner whose business portfolio includes the demolition company American Recycling, said he expects to sign a contract with the restaurant’s owners soon.

Doug Young, one of the restaurant’s owners, and manager Bill Schwab did not respond to The Oakland Press’ requests for comment.

Gene Butcher, Waterford’s deputy fire chief and former fire marshal, investigated the fire and said neither he nor the insurance company’s investigator could find a definitive cause, likely because of the intensity of the blaze. He said it was clear that the fire started outside, at the back of the building at 4000 Cass Elizabeth Road, but is not considered suspicious.

As far as timing for work on the site, Hoffman said, he can’t “say the exact start date of demolition, because we’re waiting on notifications from Consumers Energy and DTE that services are disconnected for safety reasons,” adding “it should be relatively soon.”

Hoffman said he grew up near the restaurant when it was called Mitch’s and owned by a local family. Mitch’s and Fork n’ Pint were community favorites, he said.

Township Supervisor Anthony Bartolotta said he was relieved to learn the building would come down sooner rather than later.

“Why it took so long, I have no idea,” he said, adding that he was glad to see a long-empty Don Pablo’s Mexican Kitchen at 513 N. Telegraph Road, demolished after a significant fire in August.

Bartolotta said Fork n’ Pint officials told him that an insurance dispute was behind the delay in removing the debris from the May 1 fire

The township’s building division superintendent, Rick Hutchinson, told The Oakland Press he’s been in regular contact with the restaurant’s owners, brothers Doug and Burge Young, and was aware of the insurance dispute. Hutchinson said he learned Tuesday afternoon that the Youngs plan to apply for a demolition permit this month.

Based on Tuesday’s conversation with the restaurant officials, Hutchinson said, “this isn’t something they are just telling me to make me go away.”

Burned Waterford Township restaurant mired in insurance fight

A 75-year-old Wixom man was left unconscious in the roadway after an alleged assault by a Door Dash driver on Dec. 28, officials said.

According to the Wixom Police Department, the victim, Lloyd Poole, was hospitalized in serious condition following the attack in the area of Barberry Circle and Windingway Drive in the Hidden Creek subdivision. The alleged assailant, Ryan Daniel Turner, 40, of Wixom reportedly admitted to striking Poole with a closed fist, claiming he had felt threatened after Poole confronted him about speeding, police said.

Poole fell and hit his head on the roadway after being struck, police said, and Turner drove away, leaving him there.

Turner subsequently came to the Wixom police station and spoke with officers about the incident. Charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault, he was booked into the Oakland County Jail on Dec. 29 and released three days later after posting a $3,500 bond — 10% of the $35,000 bond set at his arraignment. His next court appearance is pending.

By Summer Ballentine, sballentine@detroitnews.com

A nearly four-decade-long business partnership between The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press ended Sunday, Dec. 28, pitting the newspapers against each other financially at a time when few other U.S. cities support two major papers.

Free Press owner USA TODAY Co., formerly known as Gannett Co. Inc., and MediaNews Group — owner of The News — in June opted against renewing the longstanding agreement, thus ending among the last such tie-ups in the country. The companies have not provided further reasoning behind the split.

The News announced Friday it will launch a Sunday edition Jan. 18, at which point it will once again print newspapers all seven days. Other changes include makeovers for the detroitnews.com website and mobile app, an updated print design and a refreshed eNewspaper, Editor and Publisher Gary Miles said. The changes are expected to take place during a roughly month-long transition period.

The end of the Detroit joint operating agreement (JOA) marks the end of an era in U.S. newspapers. Aside from a contentious Las Vegas partnership that was ruled invalid earlier this year, the Detroit JOA was the last major JOA still in existence, and the only one in which both newspapers emerged to print seven days and compete on all digital platforms.

“To the JOA’s credit, there are two newspapers to this day in metropolitan Detroit,” said Mark Silverman, who was editor and publisher of The News from 1997 to 2005. “So that’s clearly a positive. And both newspapers had very different editorial page positions. That’s a positive for a community.”

Joint operating agreements were cost-saving measures allowed by the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, which permitted two newspapers in the same city to merge their business operations to protect diversity in opinion and newsgathering. If approved by the federal government, the newsrooms continued to compete, but companies saved overhead costs associated with newsprint, printing presses and distribution.

“Even in the federal government, there was some understanding of the value of journalism and the value of preserving those voices,” said Carole Leigh Hutton, a former Detroit News editor and the Free Press’ former editor and publisher.

In virtually all cases outside of Detroit, newspapers concluded their partnerships with mergers, one partner shuttering its operations or the smaller paper dramatically curtailing operations.

Bitterly contested in court when it was first proposed in 1986, the Detroit joint operating agreement remains a subject of debate over whether it was a success, although its primary stated goal — preserving two editorial voices — was fulfilled.

“Ultimately, what it intended to do was to keep two papers in Detroit,” said the Poynter Institute’s Kelly McBride, who advises news organizations on best practices. “So yeah, I guess that means it was successful. Clearly, I don’t think Detroit would have two papers now if the (joint operating agreement) had not existed.”

But McBride and former editors of both papers said it’s difficult to separate the role of business partnerships in the survival or death of newspapers compared to the existential loss of funding widely blamed on digital advertising.

“It’s been a really tough environment for newspapers,” Hutton said. “And they have gone to online-only in a lot of places. Many have just gone away. So it’s not far-fetched to think it would have been tough to continue to have two nameplates in this particular area, and I think the JOA probably did keep two nameplates alive. But again, it’s hard to know.”

Ed Wendover, a former Plymouth newspaper publisher who fought the Detroit papers’ partnership in court, said the outlets survived in spite of their agreement. Free to compete on all levels without being tethered financially, the papers “would be stronger than they are today and have more circulation,” Wendover said.

Silverman expressed a similar sentiment, saying that “the business aspect of the JOA was a hindrance to both newspapers.”

“The positive was that it kept two newspapers going,” he said. “The negative was that the business staff tried to serve too many masters and didn’t serve either very well.”

In addition, a bitter newspaper strike marked the early years of the JOA, costing the publications both subscribers and brand loyalty.

“The mismanagement under the JOA drove readers away, and advertisers will always play follow-the-readers. It’s a double-edged sword seeing the JOA end,” Wendover said.

Why did the Detroit papers partner?

In the years before the joint operating agreement, The News and the Free Press were locked in a financially draining, “old-fashioned, intense newspaper war,” said The News’ editorial page editor Nolan Finley, who at the time worked as an editor on the paper’s city desk.

Lucrative ad sales were at stake, and advertising rates were based on circulation, said former News reporter Bryan Gruley, whose 1993 book “Paper Losses: A Modern Epic of Greed and Betrayal at America’s Two Largest Newspaper Companies” details the path toward the joint agreement. Both papers steeply discounted subscription prices to beef up readership numbers and increase the prices they could charge for ads.

“You couldn’t throw a stone in Detroit without meeting someone who got a free Free Press or a free Detroit News that they never paid for and that landed on their doorstep every morning,” Hutton said. “Everybody knew that was part of the war.”

In response, The News ― then owned by Gannett (recently renamed USA TODAY Co.) ― and the Free Press ― then owned by now-defunct Knight Ridder ― in 1986 filed for federal approval to merge business operations in a 100-year partnership, leaving separately owned and competitive newsrooms.

Wendover, the former Plymouth publisher, led opposition to the partnership and sued to block it. He said vying for permission from the Reagan administration reflected poorly on the newspapers’ editorial independence and would reduce journalistic competition between them.

Once the deal was before federal judges, scrutiny increased over claims that the Free Press was in imminent danger of failure if not for the agreement. The reason: federal law on joint-operating agreements required one paper to be failing.

“They were saying these are not failing newspapers,” said Gruley, who covered the legal battle. “They’re not failing because the economics are bad. They’re failing because they’re choosing to fail, knowing that maybe we can push the other guys out and then maybe we get the whole banana, the whole enchilada.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled 4-4 on the case, allowing the agreement to take effect in 1989. The pact was renegotiated as a 20-year deal in 2005 when newspaper ownership changed; Gannett bought the Free Press and sold The News to MediaNews Group.

“I remember that when it came about, it was a matter of survival,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor. “And I think local media matters. I think it’s important that there are two newspapers with different perspectives, and I’m someone that thinks we need more media, not less. People need to be able to go to places where you can really get the facts. And I hope both papers survive.”

Although the rise of digital advertising at the expense of newspapers wasn’t what prompted the tie-up, former Free Press publisher Dave Hunke said the timing of the agreement was unwittingly prescient.

“The JOA was necessary from an economic standpoint to keep two newspapers in place,” Hunke said. “We were within a couple of years heading into the deepest financial crisis this country had seen since the Great Depression, and the business was not good.”

The role of journalism and how to pay for it

The papers’ upcoming split once again raises questions about the market for two dailies and whether current economics can support both outlets.

“People wanted two fiercely independent competitive newspapers in that town,” said Hunke, who became president of the joint business operations when the partnership was reconstituted in 2005. “People wanted their newspapers. And they wanted them competitive, and they wanted them separate.”

Throughout the agreement, Detroit maintained its rare status as a two-paper town.

“It kept two fairly strong newspapers in Detroit with opposing … editorial page viewpoints,” Finley said. “So we’re the only market you could say that about in the country, where you have two competitive, fairly equal newspapers, one on the right (and) one on the left that people can choose from.”

Silverman said both papers served readers well during the JOA.

“The News always had a certain journalistic personality embodied by its name: The News,” he said, adding that during his time in Detroit, the Free Press was known as “the friendly Freep.”

Both newspapers won Pulitzer Prizes during the partnership and “changed lives in the community,” Hutton said. She cited coverage of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted 12 years ago of federal racketeering and tax evasion charges after being accused of running a criminal enterprise out of City Hall, rigging bids and pocketing more than $840,000 in bribes and kickbacks.

“Even though there’s a whole political entity out there that likes to trash it and say that journalism is harmful and anti-American, it’s quite the opposite,” she said. “If you think about it, journalism is about preserving the ideals and making sure that people know what’s happening because it’s our money, and it’s our government, and it’s our right, and it’s supposed to be our decision. And it’s just not possible for the average person to oversee what’s happening in the world the way journalists should be overseeing it for them.”

Leadership at The News has said the split will allow the outlet to operate more closely with its sister papers in Michigan, including the Macomb Daily, The Oakland Press, The News-Herald in the Downriver area, and The Morning Sun in mid-Michigan, which share the same ownership as The Detroit News.

Hutton said the success of the papers “all comes down to: What do the advertisers think?”

“You got to unlock the business solution, somehow,” Hunke said. “But you cannot take the shortcuts on the news side. Good journalism, in the end, I swear it will win. I just wish somebody could find a way to unlock the economics.”

By George Hunter

ghunter@detroitnews.com

Rescue workers pulled a man out of Pleasant Lake in Waterford Township on Wednesday after his snowmobile broke through the ice, and neighbors aborted a rescue attempt when they became disoriented amid a driving snowstorm, Oakland County Sheriff’s officials said.

The victim survived the incident, but suffered hypothermia and other injuries, according to a Thursday release from the Sheriff’s Office.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team responded to the emergency dispatch at 5:44 p.m., the release said.

“The call was made by the rider’s wife, who reported that her husband had fallen through the ice while operating the snowmobile,” the release said. “Two nearby neighbors went onto the ice in an attempt to locate him. They became lost and disoriented in the whiteout conditions. Both neighbors were able to safely return to shore.”

The sheriff’s rescue team, aided by the Waterford Regional Fire Department, searched for the man.

“He was located and brought safely to shore,” the release said. “Our team then recovered the snowmobile from the water.”

The victim was transported to St. Joseph Hospital, where he was treated for injuries and hypothermia.

“This incident is a stark reminder that ice conditions can change rapidly and remain unpredictable, even during sustained cold weather,” sheriff’s officials said. “We encourage extreme caution around frozen lakes and ponds and to avoid traveling on ice unless conditions are clearly known to be safe.”

By Anne Snabes, asnabes@detroitnews.com

When he was to gather with family at his grandparents’ house for Christmas dinner this year, Edward Constantineau of Sterling Heights planned to be surrounded by the people who pushed him to fight to recover from the hardest thing he’s ever faced in his young life, a hurdle he’s still working to overcome.

Constantineau was just 19, working out at his local gym in March of this year, when he suffered the unimaginable for a teenager: a stroke. He underwent immediate surgery on a bleed in his brain and later went through six weeks of inpatient rehab at a facility in Detroit, learning how to move again, talk and regain fine motor skills.

But through it all, Constantineau said his biggest motivator as he’s gone through rehab and fought to recover has been “my family and friends.”

“My family was always there,” said Constantineau, now 20. “I mean, my mom never left my side.”

Henry Ford Health officials say Constantineau’s story highlights the importance of early detection and rapid treatment of strokes, only about 10-15% of which occur in people younger than 50. Constantineau’s stroke was caused by a rare condition called arteriovenous malformation, in which arteries and veins mesh together without capillaries connecting them, said his neurologist, Dr. Mohammed Rehman.

Constantineau didn’t know he had the malformation at the time, but it ruptured.

Rehman said that in Edward’s case, the gym receptionist called 911 “right away.”

“If you ever have a neurological deficit … or you think something is going on and something is off, don’t hesitate” to call 911, Rehman said.

Looking back on her son’s ordeal and how it started, Stephanie Constantineau, Edward’s mom, thinks he “saved his own life” by asking for help when he was in the gym and felt his arm weaken. He was the one who asked the receptionist to call 911.

“I definitely believe there was a stronger force with him, watching over him,” she said. “I don’t know, a guardian angel, if you will.”

And Rehman believes Constantineau’s steadfast support system and drive to get better have played a role in his “remarkable” recovery.

“That’s a very rare thing I see, because at his age, when you face something like this, it’s very tough to cope with a lot of things,” Rehman said. “And I could tell, Eddie was driven.”

The stroke

Constantineau, a 2023 graduate of Henry Ford II High School, where he played varsity baseball, said he doesn’t have any memory of the stroke, but he has been told that it started soon after he got to his gym, The Edge Fitness Clubs, on March 14.

As he was doing lat pulldowns, an exercise that involves pulling down a weighted bar attached to a gym machine while seated, he felt his left arm go weak. He asked the gym’s receptionist to call 911; she also called his parents.

Paramedics brought Constantineau to Henry Ford Macomb Hospital in Clinton Township, where they quickly performed surgery.

The next couple of days were “kind of a blur,” Stephanie Constantineau recalled. She describes them as “emotional” and “hard.” She felt helpless as a parent.

“I think the first 48 to 72 hours were really touch and go with him, like it was just like getting him through those first three days to see how, if he was going to recover from the surgeries,” she said.

A rare medical condition

Rehman, a neuroendovascular physician at Henry Ford Health, said most strokes are caused by a blockage of a blood vessel, while others are caused by a bleed in the brain. He said one of the rare causes of a bleed in the brain is an arteriovenous malformation.

Capillaries connect arteries to veins in the body. An arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a jumble of arteries and veins with no capillaries between them, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The incidence of the condition is around 1 in 100,000 people. The malformations typically occur in the brain, and they’re usually present from birth, according to Henry Ford Health.

Rehman said AVMs often present in young people, and bleeding most commonly occurs between the ages of 10 and 40. He said the Henry Ford Health system sees three to five ruptured arteriovenous malformations a year, and it also sees around 40 to 50 people a year whose malformations haven’t ruptured. AVMs cause symptoms such as severe headaches, seizures or weakness as damage builds, he said.

Dr. Mark Goldberger, a neurosurgeon, did the initial surgery on Constantineau, removing a significant amount of blood from the brain. In the following weeks, his doctors did a few angiograms, or blood vessel tests. In the second angiogram, they discovered the AVM, Stephanie Constantineau said.

Rehman said it took Constantineau at least five to seven days to wake up from the initial surgery ― he was in a coma. Overall, he spent 27 days in the intensive care unit.

“It’s heartbreaking to see your son go through something like this and not know how it’s gonna end up,” Stephanie Constantineau said, tearfully. “Like I say, ‘You just put all your faith in God and the doctors, and just trust that everything’s going to be OK.’ But it’s hard, because we have two other kids.”

She said she never left her son’s side. She spent every night at the hospital and would return home briefly to shower.

The therapy process

After leaving the hospital, Constantineau spent 43 days in inpatient rehabilitation. He said the beginning of the recovery process was “the toughest.”

“I was at a stage where I couldn’t even sit up straight,” he said, referring to when he was in the hospital and the early days of rehab. “I had lost all my muscle and was just sitting in a wheelchair, which was tough every single day. I just felt like stuck in a place where I couldn’t even move.”

He said therapy was “intense” and “very constant,” occurring five or more days a week. He underwent occupational, physical and speech therapy, the latter of which was necessary because he had “no voice after coming off of intubation,” he said.

Constantineau said fine motor skills were “the most frustrating” part of therapy, and he’s still working on it.

“He still doesn’t have, like, mobility of his left hand, like the wrist and fingers, yet,” said Stephanie Constantineau, adding that the recovery takes “a good 18 months.”

“I mean, we haven’t lost hope,” she said. “He works hard every single day.”

At home, Constantineau continues to do therapy each day, he said. In his family’s basement, he does exercises his therapist has recommended and rides on a stationary bike.

“I’ve been trying to adjust to getting back into my regular life by hanging out with friends” and taking an online class at Macomb Community College this fall, he said.

The signs of stroke

Rehman said in an email that strokes can affect anyone at any age, though the likelihood of it increases with age. He said about 10-15% of strokes occur in people under 50. He urged everyone, including young people, to be aware of the signs of a stroke and shared the acronym F.A.S.T. It stands for “Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Slurred speech, Time to call 911.”

He said that if you or anyone around you experiences these symptoms, you should seek medical attention immediately.

“The fact that Eddie sought help immediately when he began experiencing symptoms is incredibly important,” he said. “That allowed 911 to be called and emergency care to be administered quickly. When a stroke occurs, every second counts. The faster a person seeks treatment, the better their outcome.”

His plans for the future

In January, Constantineau will resume in-person classes at MCC, where he is studying exercise science. He plans to re-do the classes he was taking when the stroke occurred earlier this year.

After finishing his associate’s degree, he plans to transfer to Oakland University and is planning to go into health care, either as a nurse or a physician assistant. Constantineau said he originally wanted to go into health care because of his interest in sports, but after everything he’s experienced since his stroke, it has reinforced his decision to go into the field.

Looking back on his experience, Constantineau said the early days of his recovery were “rough” — “I think I was stuck in that ‘why me?’ mentality” — but is now “very confident” with the progress he has made. But he also knows that recovery takes time.

“I think that’s the tough part … just waiting all that time, but … I’m definitely optimistic for the future,” he said.

 

By ALI SWENSON The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year.

Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue. Moderate Republicans called for a solution to save their 2026 political aspirations. President Donald Trump floated a way out, only to back off after conservative backlash.

In the end, no one’s efforts were enough to save the subsidies before their expiration date. A House vote expected in January could offer another chance, but success is far from guaranteed.

The change affects a diverse cross-section of Americans who don’t get their health insurance from an employer and don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare — a group that includes many self-employed workers, small business owners, farmers and ranchers.

It comes at the start of a high-stakes midterm election year, with affordability — including the cost of health care — topping the list of voters’ concerns.

“It really bothers me that the middle class has moved from a squeeze to a full suffocation, and they continue to just pile on and leave it up to us,” said 37-year-old single mom Katelin Provost, whose health care costs are set to jump. “I’m incredibly disappointed that there hasn’t been more action.”

Some families grapple with insurance costs that are doubling, tripling or more

The expired subsidies were first given to Affordable Care Act enrollees in 2021 as a temporary measure to help Americans get through the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrats in power at the time extended them, moving the expiration date to the start of 2026.

With the expanded subsidies, some lower-income enrollees received health care with no premiums, and high earners paid no more than 8.5% of their income. Eligibility for middle-class earners was also expanded.

On average, the more than 20 million subsidized enrollees in the Affordable Care Act program are seeing their premium costs rise by 114% in 2026, according to an analysis by the health care research nonprofit KFF.

Those surging prices come alongside an overall increase in health costs in the U.S., which are further driving up out-of-pocket costs in many plans.

Some enrollees, like Salt Lake City freelance filmmaker and adjunct professor Stan Clawson, have absorbed the extra expense. Clawson said he was paying just under $350 a month for his premiums last year, a number that will jump to nearly $500 a month this year. It’s a strain for the 49-year-old but one he’s willing to take on because he needs health insurance as someone who lives with paralysis from a spinal cord injury.

Others, like Provost, are dealing with steeper hikes. The social worker’s monthly premium payment is increasing from $85 a month to nearly $750.

Effects on enrollment remain to be seen

Health analysts have predicted the expiration of the subsidies will drive many of the 24 million total Affordable Care Act enrollees — especially younger and healthier Americans — to forgo health insurance coverage altogether.

Over time, that could make the program more expensive for the older, sicker population that remains.

An analysis conducted last September by the Urban Institute and Commonwealth Fund projected the higher premiums from expiring subsidies would prompt some 4.8 million Americans to drop coverage in 2026.

But with the window to select and change plans still ongoing until Jan. 15 in most states, the final effect on enrollment is yet to be determined.

Provost, the single mother, said she is holding out hope that Congress finds a way to revive the subsidies early in the year — but if not, she’ll drop herself off the insurance and keep it only for her four-year-old daughter. She can’t afford to pay for both of their coverage at the current price.

Months of discussion, but no relief yet

Last year, after Republicans cut more than $1 trillion in federal health care and food assistance with Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill, Democrats repeatedly called for the subsidies to be extended. But while some Republicans in power acknowledged the issue needed to be addressed, they refused to put it to a vote until late in the year.

In December, the Senate rejected two partisan health care bills — a Democratic pitch to extend the subsidies for three more years and a Republican alternative that would instead provide Americans with health savings accounts.

In the House, four centrist Republicans broke with GOP leadership and joined forces with Democrats to force a vote that could come as soon as January on a three-year extension of the tax credits. But with the Senate already having rejected such a plan, it’s unclear whether it could get enough momentum to pass.

Meanwhile, Americans whose premiums are skyrocketing say lawmakers don’t understand what it’s really like to struggle to get by as health costs ratchet up with no relief.

Many say they want the subsidies restored alongside broader reforms to make health care more affordable for all Americans.

“Both Republicans and Democrats have been saying for years, oh, we need to fix it. Then do it,” said Chad Bruns, a 58-year-old Affordable Care Act enrollee in Wisconsin. “They need to get to the root cause, and no political party ever does that.”

By Luke Ramseth, lramseth@detroitnews.com

Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram dealers were in open revolt against parent company Stellantis NV for much of last year.

Poor corporate decision-making had tanked sales, the retailers said, while a mishmash of overpriced vehicles piled up on their lots and their profits plummeted to Great Recession-era lows. They sent sharply worded letters and publicly griped that the once-proud company had lost touch with the American consumer.

Much has changed since then. A new CEO, Antonio Filosa, is in charge and based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, not Europe. He’s promised to listen to the U.S. dealer body’s input, unlike former chief Carlos Tavares. The company has adjusted prices and streamlined trim levels, and is launching a series of new and refreshed models that dealers say better align with an American audience that appreciates V-8 engines and hybrids.

The automaker has launched a hiring spree to better support its more than 2,000 U.S. stores in sales, parts and service, and has also pledged to spend more on local advertising.

Stellantis dealers have cheered many of the changes and are finally starting to feel optimistic about the future of their businesses, according to multiple interviews this week.

However, recent sales and market share figures show the company’s turnaround effort remains stuck in first gear.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done still — got to get through some bad product, and praying that the R&D comes through,” said Jerry Romano, a Hawaii dealer. “But I think that they’re making the right moves. It’s definitely a better position than it was last year at this time.”

Romano and several other dealers told The Detroit News that their monthly sales are essentially flat from a year ago, though others said they are starting to see growth in recent months. In the third quarter, Stellantis’ overall U.S. sales increased 6%, snapping a series of quarterly declines that stretched back two years; full-year sales will be released in the coming days.

“Sales have been, I don’t want to say stagnant, but year-over-year it’s pretty similar,” said Mark Trudell, general manager at Extreme Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram in Jackson, Michigan, who added he’s found some momentum in December and is optimistic about 2026. He said corporate communication with dealers has improved, as have the automaker’s vehicle incentive programs.

Stellantis U.S. market share has fallen sharply in recent years — from 12.5% in 2020 to just 7.7% through the first 11 months of this year, according to car-shopping firm Edmunds.com Inc. That’s a lower share than predecessor Chrysler Group plunged to during the Great Recession when the company went through bankruptcy.

Filosa told investors earlier this month that the company’s U.S. market share has improved slightly for the second half of the year, and that the company has “fixed the dealer inventory management issue that was so bad last year.”

The Edmunds data confirms that Stellantis models aren’t usually sitting as long on dealer lots as they did in 2024. But the company’s vehicles still take many more days to sell than the industry average, with Rams and Chryslers moving especially slowly in recent months. In October and November, for example, Ram’s trucks and vans were taking more than twice as long as the industry’s 63-day average to sell, the Edmunds data shows, which is substantially worse than earlier in the year.

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, said he expects the automaker’s U.S. turnaround to take several years as it slowly seeks to win back customers that it increasingly lost to competitors over the last half-decade.

“It’s not gonna happen overnight,” he said. “It’s not gonna happen from one or two products, or a few motor swaps, things like that. It’s gonna be incremental. It’s gonna be potentially painful.”

Stellantis executives have acknowledged the recovery will take time but stress they are laying the groundwork and listening to dealer input in a bid to rebuild trust.

After cutting dealer support staff in recent years, the automaker said it has added 200 people to support sales, service and parts field operations across the country. In 2026, it will also reopen physical business centers around the country that support dealers and add a new business center location in Chicago, spokesperson Ann Marie Fortunate said.

The dealer-focused hiring spree is part of a larger push to add about 2,000 positions in areas also including manufacturing, quality and engineering. Much of the hiring focus has been centered on the automaker’s Michigan headquarters, which dealers see as a welcome shift after Tavares had focused on American job cuts and outsourcing.

Fortunate also confirmed that the company will increase its local advertising spending to support dealers in 2026. It recently brought back dealer ad associations, a system where the company pools resources with dealers in certain large markets and makes collective decisions around advertising, incentives and stocking levels. Dealers said the automaker ditched the regional associations years ago as a cost-saving measure, and they view it as a positive sign that the organizations are back.

Mike Bettenhausen, a Chicago-area dealer who heads the company’s national dealer council, said retailers appreciate Filosa’s willingness to try out new strategies to bring more customers into stores. He said dealers “desperately need the traffic.”

Stellantis is launching several new vehicles in the coming months, including the redesigned Jeep Cherokee and gas-powered versions of the Dodge Charger, both of which are shipping to dealer lots now.

Retailers said these vehicles will start to fill glaring holes in the automaker’s lineup, and ideally, they can “provide that much-needed boost to dealer profitability that has been missing for some time,” Bettenhausen said.

Stellantis’ models had become too “vanilla” the last few years, said Randy Dye, who owns a Florida Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram dealership. “Our cars are not just appliances, they’re fun,” he said, yet the company’s past leadership “took all the fun out.”

Now that’s starting to change — including as Dodge brings back its loud, gas-powered muscle car and as both Ram and Dodge put Hemi V-8s back inside pickups and SUVs: “These are car people running this company now,” Dye said.

“The more we get these cool vehicles into our lineup … that’s a big deal,” said Ralph Mahalak Jr., who owns Stellantis dealerships in Michigan, Ohio and Florida.

He’s instructed his team to heavily promote the new models on social media as they land at his stores. Models like the Charger might not sell in huge numbers, he added, but can bring “some enthusiasm to my showroom.”

One vehicle dealers do anticipate can juice sales: the reintroduced Cherokee, which, for now, is offered solely as a hybrid, part of a wider push into hybrids underway inside Stellantis.

The company ended production of the last generation of the Cherokee about three years ago and didn’t have a replacement, a move that flummoxed dealers, considering the model competes in the best-selling midsize SUV segment.

“Cherokee, Cherokee, Cherokee — I’ve been missing that one, big time,” said Bill Golling, who operates Stellantis stores in Metro Detroit. Under Tavares, he said, “we discontinued too many car lines, too soon. How do you not have a Cherokee for three years?”

Other reinforcements will take longer to arrive. Ram plans to introduce an all-new midsize truck that dealers expect to sell in large numbers, but it won’t be ready until 2027. Jeep is soon releasing an all-electric model called the Recon. Still, the retailers say they are most looking forward to when the brand offers the same boxy off-roading model in a gas-powered variant, which they expect will be more popular; timing for that isn’t yet available.

Drury said he expects it will be a slog for Stellantis to once again approach double-digit market share in the United States — especially at a time when the overall new car market is expected to shrink next year. But it can make some gradual improvements.

“This has been a rough year for them, right?” he said. “But I do think that next year, at least, there’s some light there. There’s at least something to look forward to.”

All it took was a couple weeks worth of evidence that Birmingham Groves’ new approach this season was going to result in some eye-popping numbers.

Averaging 60 points in their two first games? Nothing out of the ordinary.

Then the Falcons set a new school record for points in a game when they beat Fenton 103-45 on Dec. 16. Just three days later, they improved to 2-2 by waxing Fraser 92-61.

Triple-digit evenings are going to mean double-digit individual performances will be more common in that neighborhood, whether it’s Sophie Schwanik, Mallory Killian, Jacey Roy or take your pick.

But no one is benefitting more than Groves junior Harlem Simpson, as if she was going to fly under the radar for long regardless.

Nothing tells the tale better than the Falcons’ loss to Mercy in their second game of the season. Simpson, who admitted it wasn’t her brightest and best performance, was quiet for three quarters. Then she ripped off five 3-pointers in the fourth and still finished with 26 points.

Against Fenton, Simpson was far more efficient, shooting over 53 from the field (including 7 of 12 from downtown) as she finished with a new career-high 45 points.

In the victory over the Ramblers, she nearly followed up with a triple-double, scoring 35 points while pulling down 13 rebounds and finishing with seven steals.

The points will pull in the most attention, but Simpson’s ability to be a disruptive force with steals like she had against Fraser are what will only make Groves more dangerous as they acclimate to the Grinnell system, which second-year head coach Jessica Duleba installed over the summer.

“It’s just new,” Simpson said after the Mercy loss. “We’ve just got to get used to it. We’ve got to know we can still take layups, know that we don’t have to shoot all the time. We’ve got to listen to coaches, but if you are open, you’ve got to see it, and when you get the ball you’ve got to realize it. But we’ll get used to it.”

Simpson has basketball in her blood. Her mom, Kisha, graduated as Michigan State’s all-time leading scorer and was the program’s first All-American, enough to earn her a place in MSU’s Hall of Fame (2011), and older brother John helped make Groves history by being part of last year’s senior class that brought the Falcons their first OAA Red title.

Harlem began to make her own name known on a bigger stage with AAU performances this past summer and her development has earned her double-digit Division 1 offers that include Penn State, Oakland, Detroit Mercy and Central Michigan, though that attention doesn’t seem to bother her or have her in any rush to decide on a destination. “You just gotta keep it spread out,” she said after at least a few schools were in attendance watching the loss to the Marlins. “I’ve been on a few visits. I’m just talking to everybody, feeling them out, figuring out where I want to be at.”

One of the state’s best from the Class of 2027 has the quickness to get by defenders, but her perimeter offense is where the focus has been placed to make her even more dangerous.

“In practice, she’s shooting the ball at 80%, so for me, she has the green light,” Duleba said. “If you’re open, you better shoot it, because I’ll take my chances (with her). I think that’s the biggest improvement in her game that she’s now added that 3-point shooting piece, because there isn’t a girl that can stand in front of her. I’d like to know who’s a better ball-handler than she is.”

Harlem talked about the work that’s seemed to translate into these recent performances, saying, “Every day, every practice, 100 threes over the summer. I was in the gym every day, every week shooting threes on the gun, getting up over 500 shots every day.”

Considering that Roy is the team’s only senior, the ceiling for the Falcons seems to match its talented star.

“It’ll be good,” Simpson said. “Everyone will get more comfortable with each other because there’s a lot of freshmen that are playing and a lot of us hadn’t played together. We’ve just got to get used to playing with each other and we’ll be straight.”

Duleba issued a reminder after falling to 0-2 that the goal was to be winning in March, but with the results Simpson and her teammates are producing already, opponents won’t be sleeping on the Falcons when that time comes.

The homages to the impact of the life of longtime CHSL director Vic Michaels continued to pour out on Tuesday, as friends, colleagues and peers tried to grapple with the emotions of his death at age 71.

Most of those noted his impact on high school athletics, but almost all mentioned him as a friend, mentor and confidante.

“The guy had more friends than anyone I know. Everyone who ever talked to him or was with him, he made you feel like he was your best friend,” said Kris Daiek, the former athletic director and boys basketball coach at Riverview Gabriel Richard.

“I first met him through coaching. We’d be sitting there and looking at him like he was the enemy, but he didn’t do the same. He was always good about putting an arm on your shoulder and asking, ‘How are you doing?’ You thought you had a special relationship with him, but then you realize he did with everyone. That’s what made him special.”

Funeral arrangements have been set for next weekend.

A visitation will be held for Michaels at A.H. Peters Funeral home in Grosse Pointe Woods, from 2-8 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, followed by a scripture service at 7 p.m. An instate period will be held on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026 at 9 a.m. at St. John of Arc Catholic Church in St. Clair Shores, followed by a funeral mass at 10 a.m.

Here are a few of the tributes from friends and colleagues:

 

Michael Evoy, CHSL student services and athletics coordinator

“He was a typical coach. Didn’t always dole out a lot of comments but if you ever got it, it always meant a lot.”

“It came as a shock, just like it did for everybody. I had just talked to him earlier in the morning, as I have for probably the last 10 years. One of the immediate follow-up reactions I had was, ‘What do I need to do?’ That’s what Vic would have wanted. One of his greatest attributes was to think about others, no matter the situation.”

“How Vic would act with you at a basketball game is the same as he would for dinner, or after mass. He was such a personable individual. He had a special bond with so many people. This isn’t just a loss for the Catholic High School League, it is a loss for all of educational athletics.”

“When we are successful, there is a sense to beat that drum. Vic was against that. It was never about the wins and losses as it was the betterment of the student-athletes. If you do things the right way, success come. If you don’t you won’t last in the Catholic League. It all starts from the top down. He brought a great culture that trickled down all the way to the athletic programs.”

“His favorite time of the year was February. Some of my best memories and learning lessons from him was through the game of basketball, which I love as well. I learned so much just sitting there along the wall, learning the game and talking strategies.”

“It’s that he cared about the student-athletes. The Catholic education, the MHSAA, the Catholic High School League — those are all very important to him. But he always wanted to do what was right by the student-athletes. It wouldn’t be isolated to a non-public issue, but to the entire association.”

Brian Barnes, Madison Heights Bishop Foley athletic director

“Vic impacted ADs and coaches alike. He was genuine, authentic, and took interest in you no matter what school you were from or how your teams were performing. His example of ‘servant’ leadership will continue to resonate with all of us, and I am forever grateful to have known him.”

Betty Wroubel, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep coach and athletic director

“I know I join so many others in being saddened, stunned, and devastated by this loss. We truly lost a remarkable man; a devoted dad, husband, grandpa, friend, and mentor. His impact and influence went far beyond his family, friends, and colleagues.”

“Students, both in and out of the athletic realm, benefited from his wisdom and leadership. His influence was felt not only locally and statewide, but nationwide. What made him truly rare was that he never let disagreements or differences of opinion affect relationships. He had a way of making everyone feel heard, important, and genuinely valued …like you were a true friend of his.”

Kris Daiek, former Riverview Gabriel Richard coach and athletic director

“My heart sank. My heart sank for his family, and for Mike (Evoy) as well. Mike was his right-hand man. That was my first text, was to Mike to let him know I had him in my prayers, and Vic’s family also. I’m just shocked.”

“His whole goal was, ‘how does this help the kids?’”

“It’s funny actually. The arguments we’d have in the Catholic League, you’d think we’re all bitter enemies — Hatfields and McCoys. I was always amazed at how you would be at each other’s throats, but then instantly have each other’s backs when we were out there. That’s a culture that Vic had a lot to do with, and I know (former CHSL director Tom Rashid) had a lot to do with that too.”

“He would use basketball to attack every scenario he got into. But yeah, February down at Calihan Hall was always so special. It was always amazing to see someone who wasn’t trying to own the room, walk in and own the room. We always had good basketball conversations. But everyone did because he always brought basketball into it.”

“He was always talking about retiring. I think he had been retiring for seven straight years. But it grounds you. Here’s a guy that would put everything else aside and looked at it as, ‘How does this help kids?’ When you take that mentality into anything you do in education, which is very difficult these days, you can’t be wrong. That’s kind of what Vic taught me.”

“He was instrumental in high school athletics. I would find it challenging to find someone who has had more of an impact on high school sports than Vic has. Not just sports, but kids’ lives as a whole.”

Clarkston Everest Collegiate football head coach Michael Pruchnicki

“This is a huge loss for the Catholic league and difficult to accept, as it is quite a surprise. With that stated, what an incredible life Vic led giving his life to a mission he believed in and all the lives he affected. Truly a great man!”

The CHSL’s longest-tenured director, Vic Michaels, dies at 71

Allen Park Cabrini football coach RJ Chidester

“Vic ran the Catholic League with great pride and dignity since I was a student-athlete in the early 2000s.  He will be greatly missed, and his legacy will be enduring. Our prayers are with him and his family.”

Dearborn Divine Child athletic director Rick Jakacki

“I met Vic when I came to Divine Child about three and a half years ago. I liked him from the start, but liked him more and more as I got to know him. He was kind, fair, calm, smart, and a great listener. Whenever there were issues, he was someone I could talk with and someone who always answered my calls. He understood what it is like to be an athletic director and the difficulties (and rewards) that go with the job. He is certainly someone who I called a friend, and he will be sorely missed by the Catholic League, the state and so many others. I feel for his family who are suddenly without a great man. My prayers go out for them. I’m a better man and AD for knowing Vic.”

By Craig Mauger, Chad Livengood, Beth LeBlanc, MediaNews Group

Lansing — A group of seven Michigan House Republicans introduced bills this month that would exempt land owned by people without children in public schools from property taxes that benefit public schools.

The legislation, which has little to no chance of passing the state Legislature this term, would lead to significant funding cuts for K-12 schools in the coming years. However, the supporters of the proposals contended that it was unfair to require property owners who don’t directly use public schools to fund them.

“It’s fundamentally unjust to force people, including seniors, empty-nesters, those who pay for private school, and those without children, to subsidize a government education system they do not use,” Rep. Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers, argued in a press release. “This is especially unfair because our broken system spends a record amount of money, yet results continue to plummet.”

The exemption, under Carra’s proposal, would be phased in starting with a 40% drop in taxes in 2027 and then expanding by 15 percentage points annually until the school-connected property taxes were eliminated in 2031.

Among the other six lawmakers who co-sponsored the measures were Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Jim DeSana, R-Carleton, who also serves on the appropriations panel.

About 72% of Michigan households do not have a child in government schools, according to Carra’s press release.

In 2023, about $10.8 billion of property tax money went to schools or the State Education Tax, which benefits the School Aid Fund, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury.

Jess Newman, deputy political director for the advocacy group United for Respect, labeled Carra’s proposal an “unconscionable bill” and “a move to defund our public schools.”

“The result for our communities will be nothing short of devastating,” Newman added. “Families are already stretched thin by rising housing, health care and child care costs. Making parents shoulder the cost of education alone would be unbearable.

“We all benefit from healthy, well-funded schools, whether or not we have children attending, and this move will only further widen inequities between wealthy and low-income districts.”

Newman is part of the Invest In MI Kids campaign, which is seeking to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2026 that would impose a 5% tax on income over $500,000 to increase funding for K-12 schools.

House GOP leaders sent the property tax exemption bills to the Government Operations Committee. In addition to the House, the Democratic-controlled Senate would have to approve them for them to become law, and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would have to sign them.

Democrats in the Senate and Whitmer have promoted their efforts to increase K-12 school funding over the years.

Senator asks for AG convention opinion

State Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, has asked Attorney General Dana Nessel for an official opinion on whether it’s legal for political parties to hold early nominating conventions to make binding picks of candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and other statewide offices.

Both Michigan Republicans and Democrats have scheduled nominating conventions for the spring of 2026, as a strategy to give their nominees an early start on the fall campaign. The parties have done the same thing previously.

However, Michigan law says each political party must nominate a candidate for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general at fall conventions after the August primary.

“It has come to my attention that one of the state’s major political parties intends to convene a separate ‘endorsement convention’ several months prior to the August primary election,” McBroom wrote to Nessel “Under the adopted party rules, only a person who has (a) obtained prior endorsement at that separate “endorsement convention” and (b) paid a fee of $10,000 to appear before the ‘endorsement convention; may be considered for nomination at the post-primary state convention.”

McBroom specifically asked Nessel to decide whether a political party may lawfully conduct an endorsement convention that “purports to bind, limit or otherwise condition the constitutional authority of the post-primary state convention to nominate candidates for attorney general and secretary of state.”

Duggan moving downtown

After 12 years of living in the Manoogian Mansion on the banks of the Detroit River, outgoing Mayor Mike Duggan is going to get a better view of downtown Detroit each morning.

Duggan and his wife, Dr. Sonia Hassan, are moving into a rental condo in the 33-story Book-Cadillac Hotel building on Washington Boulevard.

The one-time Livonia resident confirmed his post-mayoral residency plans in a Dec. 18 interview with The Detroit News editorial board.

“My wife and I are looking forward to being able to just walk out to dinner downtown like normal people, which we will be able to do in two weeks,” said Duggan, who is running for governor next year as an independent.

With his eyes set on moving into the governor’s residence in Lansing in 2027, Duggan said he and his wife got a one-year lease in the Book-Cadillac, which houses both luxury condos and a Westin hotel.

Duggan has lived at the Manoogian Mansion on the city’s east riverfront since he was first elected mayor in 2013. Detroit’s official residence for the mayor is named after its one-time owner, the late construction materials magnate Alex Manoogian, who donated it to the city in the mid-1960s.

A nonprofit group reportedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on improvements to the 4,000-square-foot home while Duggan has lived there.

Duggan told The News he expects Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield to make additional improvements to the century-old mansion.

“It’s in good shape now and Sheffield (will) fix it up even more,” Duggan said. “… It is a great place to live. I will miss the house.”

Andy Levin’s new (ad)venture

Former U.S. Rep. Andy Levin appears to be living his best life — and perhaps pinching himself.

Instead of trying to mount a comeback in Michigan politics, the former two-term congressman from Bloomfield Township has bought a cross-country skiing and snowshoeing resort in northern Ontario.

In a Dec. 20 post on LinkedIn, Levin divulged that he and his wife, Mary Freeman, are the new majority owners of Stokely Creek Lodge in Goulais River, Ontario, about 25 miles — or 41 kilometers — north of the International Bridge connecting Sault Ste. Marie with its sister city of the same name in Canada.

“We’ve been snowshoeing, skiing, canoeing and hiking in the Algoma region of Ontario since before we were married. In fact, I proposed to Mary on snowshoes high atop the Awausee Trail in Lake Superior Provincial Park,” Levin wrote.

The former congressman described the lodge in the foothills above Lake Superior as “a mix of unfussy, down-home comfort with high standards.”

Levin and Freeman still run their Detroit-based energy-efficiency consulting firm, Lean & Green Michigan. In his announcement post, Levin suggested they might use the resort to host retreats for progressive political allies.

“As we move into the holiday season in a world plagued with violence, greed and corruption, I’m grateful for the curveballs life throws our way.” Levin wrote. “Watch out: some of them just might open doors to adventures you didn’t even know you wanted to undertake!”

Whitmer calls Michigan troops

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday called Michigan National Guard troops deployed to Germany, Kuwait and the southeast border to wish them well ahead of the holidays and New Year’s.

More than 800 Michigan National Guard members are serving away from their families and homes of the holidays, according to the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

“As we celebrate the holidays and gather with family, friends, and loved ones, I encourage every Michigander to take a moment to acknowledge the selfless sacrifices that these individuals make every day and pray for their safe return home,” Whitmer said in a statement Tuesday.

The members she spoke with over video calls included those from the 217th Air Operations Group, 110th Wing, from Battle Creek; Alpha Company, 3-126 Infantry Battalion from Detroit; Bravo Company, 3-126 Infantry Battalion from Wyoming; and the 1430th Engineer Company from Traverse City, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

Pure Michigan plate wins in a landslide

The basic white Pure Michigan license plate will continue to carry the mantle of being the most popular license plate design in Michigan into 2026. The license plate adorns about 8.3 million vehicles and trailers, accounting for about 71.5% of license plate sales in Michigan, the Secretary of State’s office said last week.

Among the state’s standard plate options, the blue and yellow Water-Winter Wonderland plate is the second most popular, with 1.27 million plates or 10.9% of plates issued, and the multicolor Mackinac Bridge plate comes in third, accounting for 10.7% of plates issued at 1.25 million vehicles and trailers.

About 453,000 of the discontinued white, green, and blue Spectacular Peninsulas plates remain in circulation, as well as about 218,000 green and white Water Wonderland plates.

About 122,586 university fundraising plates are still on the road, with Michigan State University topping the list at 55,413 and the University of Michigan in second with 28,194.

The University of Michigan-Flint came in last with 536 fundraising plates in circulation.

Tweet of the Week

The Insider report’s “Tweet of the Week,” recognizing a social media post that was worthy of attention or, possibly, just a laugh, from the previous week goes to the Pure Michigan account on X, formerly Twitter.

On Christmas Eve, the state’s tourism organization posted a bird’s-eye view of a snow-covered Mackinac Island, proving the island is much more idyllic when covered in snow during the winter than when it’s filled with politicians and lobbyists in the spring for the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

clivengood@detroitnews.com

eleblanc@detroitnews.com

 

An Oakland County resident is being held on a $1 million bond after he was charged with a drive-by shooting in Shelby Township that took place the day after Christmas, according to police and prosecutors.

KeShawn Webster, 24, of Oak Park, was arraigned Tuesday in 41A District Court in Shelby Township on two counts of assault with intent to murder and weapons crimes. Visiting Magistrate Jean M. Cloud set bond at $1 million cash.

Prosecutors said Webster allegedly fired multiple shots from a handgun into a mobile home that was occupied by two people. Neither occupant was hit by the gunfire.

“Resorting to violence to resolve disputes is wholly unacceptable, and my office will give this case the thorough and deliberate attention it warrants,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said in a news release.

The shooting took place about 6:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 26 at the Dequindre Estate Mobile Home Park located off Dequindre Road near Hamlin.

According to prosecutors, Webster had a dispute with one of the occupants of the mobile home.

Police were dispatched to the 48000 block of Pineview for a report of multiple gunshots fired into the residence. Officers arrived on scene and found the home had been struck by gunfire multiple times.

Police said they identified Webster as the shooter after conducting numerous interviews and serving several search warrants.

The department’s Special Investigations Unit was able to locate Webster’s vehicle in the area of Nine Mile Road and Jefferson Avenue in St. Clair Shores. Detectives set up surveillance on his vehicle and arrested Webster as he was walking to his vehicle.

“A handgun was found in his purse, and additional evidence was recovered inside of his vehicle,” police said in a news release. “The investigation also determined that this shooting was not a random act.”

In addition to the assault charges, which carry up to life in prison upon conviction, Webster was also arraigned with:

• Discharging a weapon from a vehicle, a 10-year felony
• Discharging a weapon in or at a building, a 10-year felony
• Four counts of felony firearm, each a felony with mandatory consecutive 2-year sentences

Webster is due back in court for a probable cause conference on Jan. 13 and a preliminary exam on Jan. 20 before Judge Stephen A. Sierawski.

He is being held at the Macomb County Jail.

Shelby Township police Chief Robert Shelide issued a statement about the incident.

“A week ago — after our department arrested a violent home invasion suspect — I publicly stated that if you commit a violent crime in Shelby Township, our police department will track you down, arrest you, and hold you accountable,” he sad. “Obviously, the suspect in this case chose to ignore my warning and had to learn this lesson the hard way. Let me once again make it perfectly clear – if you are thinking about committing a violent crime in Shelby Township, think again.”

The chief added that over the past six months, his department had made arrests in seven case of violent crime.

Suspect in Shelby Twp. home shooting arrested walking to his car

Pontiac man charged in Shelby Twp. home invasion and other crimes

Future of Selfridge, mayhem, and political intrigue dominated 2025 in Macomb

By Anne Snabes

asnabes@detroitnews.com

The Michigan Department of Transportation has awarded $133 million in grants to upgrade transit vehicles and facilities across the state, including $59.8 million for the Detroit Department of Transportation.

MDOT said the funds, which will go to more than 20 transit agencies in Michigan, will help modernize the state’s bus infrastructure, reduce traffic congestion and “help people travel more efficiently and affordably.”

The Detroit Department of Transportation is receiving the largest grant, receiving $9 million in state match funds and $50.9 million in federal funds. The agency announced last month that it would use the federal money to purchase 53 new buses.

The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, which serves Metro Detroit’s suburban communities, meanwhile, will get $1.56 million, which includes $312,375 in state match funds and $1.25 million in federal funds.

“These competitive grants strengthen Michigan’s thriving intermodal transportation network connecting our communities,” said Jean Ruestman, administrator of the MDOT Office of Passenger Transportation, in a press release about the grants across the state. “Both grant programs have innumerable positive social and economic impacts ranging from improving mobility to advancing green innovation in public transit.”

The federal funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration’s Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program and Low or No Emission Grant Program, the latter of which is funding the 53 new Detroit buses. Those buses will be in addition to 76 buses awarded over the last two years in Biden administration grants, bringing Detroit’s total new bus purchases to 129 ― or 44% of the entire fleet, according to the city of Detroit.

One-third of the Detroit Department of Transportation’s buses were routinely in disrepair as of 2024. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan attributed part of the issue to the city getting behind on purchasing new buses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bus operators, passengers and some mechanics who work on buses said last year that the shortage of working vehicles affects the entire system’s ability to operate. Some said part of the problem is hiring mechanics without enough experience. At least one expert said the pandemic upended public transportation in many big cities.

SMART Chief Marketing Officer Bernard Parker said the agency is receiving grant funds to purchase new vehicles for three of its community partners: the North Oakland Transportation Authority, the OPC Social and Activity Center, and the Pointe Area Assisted Transportation Services.

“These grant funds allow SMART to put resources directly into the hands of our community partners,” he said in a statement. “By supporting local agencies with reliable vehicles, we’re helping them extend their reach and better connect people to services and opportunities.”

Some of the grant recipients are transit agencies in rural areas, including the Cadillac/Wexford Transit Authority. It is receiving over $6 million for various projects, including expanding its bus garage and offices, constructing a bus wash facility and purchasing 14 new vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Capital Area Transportation Authority, which serves Greater Lansing, is receiving $8.7 million to buy new hybrid buses to replace older buses that have reached their useful life. Jackson Area Transportation Authority is receiving $2.37 million for hybrid buses.

The holiday season will soon come to a close, but the busiest time of the year for product returns is just beginning.

The National Retail Federation estimates 17% of holiday purchases will be sent back this year. More retailers are reporting extended return windows and increased holiday staff to handle the rush this year.

A major driver for returns is uncertainty. When we buy for other people, finding what they want is a bit of a guessing game. Online purchases have higher return rates because finding the right size and color is tough when you’re just staring at images on screens.

“Clothing and footwear, as you can imagine, because fit is such an important criteria, they have higher rates of returns,” said Saskia van Gendt, chief sustainability officer at Blue Yonder, which sells software designed to improve companies’ supply chain management.

Returns come with an environmental cost, but there’s a lot consumers and companies are doing to minimize it.

The impact of returns

If a company sells a thing, it’s probably packaged in plastic. Plastic is made from oil, and oil production releases emissions that warm the planet. If that thing is bought online, it’s put on a plane or a train or a truck that usually uses oil-based fuel.

If you buy a thing and return it, it goes through most or all of that all over again.

And once those products are back with the retailer, they may be sent along to a refurbisher, liquidator, recycler or landfill. All these steps require more travel, packaging and energy, ultimately translating to more emissions. Joseph Sarkis, who teaches supply chain management at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, estimates that returning an item increases its impact on the planet by 25% to 30%.

Roughly a third of the time, those returns don’t make their way to another consumer. Because frequently, it’s not worth reselling.

If, for example, you get a phone, but you send it back because you don’t like the color, the seller has to pay for the fuel and equipment to get the phone back, and then has to pay for the labor to assess whether it has been damaged since leaving the facility.

“It can be quite expensive,” said Sarkis. “And if you send it out to a new customer and the phone is bad, imagine the reputational hit you’ll get. You’ll get another return and you’ll lose a customer who’s unhappy with the product or material. So the companies are hesitant to take that chance.”

Something as expensive as a phone might get sold to a secondary or refurbishment market. But that $6 silicone spatula you got off Amazon? Probably not worth it. Plus, some stuff — think a bathing suit or a bra — is less attractive to customers if there’s a chance it’s been resold. The companies know that.

And that’s where the costs of returns are more than just environmental — and consumers wind up paying. Even free returns aren’t really free.

“Refurbishment, inspection, repackaging, all of these things get factored into the retail price,” said Christopher Faires, assistant professor of logistics and supply chain management at Georgia Southern University.

What consumers can do about it

If you want to reduce the impact of your returns, the first move is to increase their chances of resale. Be careful not to damage it, and reuse the packaging to send it back, said Cardiff University logistics and operations management lecturer Danni Zhang.

If you have to return something, do it quickly. That ugly Christmas sweater you got at the white elephant office party has a much better chance of selling on Dec. 20 than it does on Jan. 5. Zhang said it’s not worth the cost to the company to store that sweater once it’s gone out of season.

Another tip: in-person shopping is better than online because purchases get returned less often, and in-person returns are better, too — because those items get resold more often. Zhang said it reduces landfill waste. Sarkis said it reduces emissions because companies with brick-and-mortar locations spread out across the country and closer to consumers thus move restocked goods shorter distances.

“If I can return in-store, then I definitely will,” Zhang said. “The managers can put that stuff back to the market as soon as possible.”

Obviously the best thing consumers can do is minimize returns. Many shoppers engage in “bracketing behavior,” or buying multiple sizes of the same item, keeping what fits, and returning the rest.

“This behavior of bringing the dressing room to our homes is not sustainable,” said Faires.

If you’re buying for someone else, you can also consider taking the guesswork out of the equation and going for a gift card.

“I know we do really want to pick up something really nice to express our love for our friends or our family. But if we are more sustainable, probably the gift card will be much better than just purchasing the product,” Zhang said.

What businesses can do about it

Sarkis wants to see companies provide more information in product descriptions about the environmental impact of returning an item, or how much of the purchase price factors in return costs.

“But I don’t know if they want to send a negative message,” he said. “If you’re telling someone to stop something because of negative results, that’s not going to sell.”

Sarkis and Zhang both say charging for returns would help. Already Amazon is requiring customers pay in certain situations.

On the tech side, Blue Yonder’s recent acquisition of Optoro, a company that provides a return management system for retailers and brands, uses a software to quickly assess the condition of returned products and route them to stores that are most likely to resell them.

“Having that process be more digitized, you can quickly assess the condition and put it back into inventory,” said van Gendt. “So that’s a big way to just avoid landfill and also all of the carbon emissions that are associated with that.”

Clothing is returned most often. Many sizes do not reflect specific measurements, like women’s dresses, so they vary a lot between brands. Zhang said better sizing could help reduce the need for returns. On top of that, Sarkis said more 3D imaging and virtual reality programs could help customers be more accurate with their purchases, saving some returns.

By Peter WhoriskeyThe Washington Post

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Like millions of other Americans, Stacy Newton turns to Healthcare.gov to shop for health insurance for her family. The Affordable Care Act website, according to the government, is where consumers are supposed to find “a menu of health insurance plans.”

But for the Newtons and many others in the country, next year’s menu is severely limited: There is only one company offering ACA plans here – and costs have risen steeply.

To continue health coverage for themselves and their two teenage children, the Newtons would have to pay an annual premium of $43,000 – about a third of their gross income. It is the price of the cheapest plan available to the family from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, the only ACA insurer left in Teton County.

This year, millions of American families that have relied on ACA, popularly known as Obamacare, are being squeezed on multiple sides: Premiums are rising, the covid-era subsidies that helped pay for those policies are shrinking, and there are fewer choices with insurers pulling out of some markets.

The squeeze here is a symptom of broader trouble in American health care. In western Wyoming and other regions, the expected rollback of enhanced subsidies has destabilized the economics of Obamacare, pushing some insurers to retreat from the government-supported market because it won’t be profitable.

That is leaving consumers such as the Newtons with little choice but to buy a pricey, unsubsidized policy from a local monopoly.

Next year, the number of counties with only one company providing Obamacare will jump from 72 to 146, according the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That number is expected to rise further if, as appears likely, Congress fails to renew the enhanced subsidies.

Newton and her husband, Derek, each run a small business – she is an independent sales representative, and he outfits vans – and like many entrepreneurs, they have relied on the ACA for health insurance. But this year, the price of their policy rose 34 percent, and the federal subsidy that helped them pay for it is due to go away. At the same time, they know they will need medical care: Last year, Newton, 51, was diagnosed with chronic leukemia.

“It’s terrifying,” she said. “We’re not rich, we’re not poor. We’re a standard, middle-class family, and somehow now I can’t afford health insurance.”

This year, the enhanced subsidies that helped middle-income people afford Obamacare plans have been stuck in partisan congressional deadlock. The subsidies expire Dec. 31, and Republicans, who hold the majority, have opposed extending them.

Anticipating that sticker shock will induce healthy people to drop out of insurance and saddle health plans with a higher proportion of the sickest, costliest patients, insurers say they must dramatically raise ACA prices or pull out of Obamacare marketplaces altogether.

Without the enhanced subsidies, “I would expect more insurers to retreat, to exit,” said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “People will see less choice and higher prices.”

According to economic studies conducted in 2017 and 2018, another turbulent period when Obamacare insurers faced losses and political uncertainty, prices rose between 30 and 50 percent when an area was reduced to only one ACA insurer.

The problem here in Teton County began in August when the only other insurer providing ACA coverage, Mountain Health Co-op, announced it was pulling out, citing the looming expiration of the enhanced subsidies. Of the roughly 46,000 people on Obamacare in Wyoming, about 11,000 are expected to drop coverage, according to insurers.

“The basic problem with reducing the subsidies is that healthier people say ‘we can’t afford insurance’ and drop out, while the sicker population are, like, ‘Oh, my God, I still need it,’” said Alexander Muromcew, a board member of the Mountain Health Co-op. “As an insurer, you end up with a smaller and higher-risk membership, which is not sustainable.”

Muromcew said competition had been good for consumers, noting that when Mountain Health entered the market here a few years ago, Blue Cross Blue Shield dropped its prices. Now, as a monopoly, he said, Blue Cross Blue Shield has more power to dictate prices.

“Without competition, I worry that it’ll be easier for Blue Cross Blue Shield to raise rates even further,” Muromcew said.

Diane Gore, president and chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, said she understands the frustration of people getting hit with rising premiums and lowered subsidies.

“I get it, I completely get it,” Gore said.

The company says its prices are the same across most of Wyoming, regardless of whether there is a competitor. Gore attributed this year’s price hikes, which she said were 25 percent on average, to the expectation that the remaining Obamacare customers will be sicker, and to the rising cost of medical care in rural areas, where health care providers are scarce and competition is often limited. Of every premium dollar the company collected last year, she said, 95 cents went to direct medical care.

Insurance companies don’t always find Obamacare markets profitable. Aetna, one of the largest insurance companies, announced earlier this year that it was dropping ACA coverage in 11 of 15 states. The move affected about a million Obamacare customers.

“I understand that there is rhetoric from the Beltway that the insurance companies are getting rich off of Obamacare,” Gore said. “But that’s not this insurer in Wyoming.”

‘Clearly, the system is broken’

Many people in this resort town are seasonal workers, self-employed or small-business entrepreneurs. Lacking employer insurance plans, they have come to rely on Obamacare. Among them, the anxiety is widespread.

“Clearly, the system is broken,” said Heather Huhn, an insurance broker in Jackson.

On her desk, she has a stack of files with the applications for about 30 families that she calls the “Hold Tight” pile. They are mainly people who have ongoing medical needs, such as chronic conditions or expensive prescriptions, and can’t afford to pay for health insurance at the current costs. For weeks, she said, they have been desperately waiting to see whether the government will extend the enhanced subsidies that began during the pandemic.

“They sit across from my desk and say, ‘I just don’t know what to do,’” Huhn said. “I tell them not to have a mental breakdown just yet. People are having to suffer because the government can’t figure out how to fix it.”

Sophia Schwartz, a professional skier and health care administrator here, senses similar apprehension. For years, she has been inviting groups of “ski friends,” many of whom have irregular jobs, over for dinner to counsel them on how to get health insurance.

“This was the scariest year I’ve ever done it,” said Schwartz, a former member of the U.S. ski team and now a big-mountain skier. “People came to me in pure panic.”

Considering ‘BearCare’ and other options

In desperation, many are turning to stopgap measures.

Some, especially skiers, were looking at policies at a company called Spot Insurance that cover reimbursement of medical bills incurred after accidents on the slopes. Others were looking at “healthshare” groups in which members contribute monthly to cover each other’s eligible medical bills; among the drawbacks of these programs is that elective surgeries and nonemergency treatments might not be covered.

And some were considering “short-term” insurance policies. Those are closer to conventional health insurance, but those insurers might reject applicants with medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

With so many in Wyoming searching for answers, even the state is jumping in. State officials have proposed “a major medical plan” they have called “BearCare.” The policies would, at “a significantly lower price,” cover emergency situations such as “being attacked by a bear” and other more common medical catastrophes. It would not cover ongoing or chronic medical needs.

Some of those looking for conventional health insurance say the state proposal is woefully inadequate.

“I don’t worry about being bitten by a bear, I worry about getting cancer,” said Margie Lynch, 58, an energy efficiency consultant based here. For the cheapest Obamacare plan, she would have to pay $1,585 a month. Its benefits would not kick in until she paid a deductible of $10,600.

“The cost of the premium is almost as much as my mortgage,” Lynch said. “I’m lucky enough to be able to pay for it if I have to. But there are so many people out there who won’t be able to.”

Newton, Lynch and others here have shared their concerns with Wyoming’s representatives in Congress: Sen. John Barrasso, Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman. All three Republican lawmakers have opposed Obamacare and criticized Democrats, who have pushed to extend the enhanced subsidies.

“Stacy’s story and experience is one of the many heartbreaking examples of how Obamacare has failed families across Wyoming,” a statement from Barrasso said. “Instead of working with Republicans to make health care more affordable for all Americans, Democrats would rather use more taxpayer dollars to bail out Obamacare and hide its failures.”

A spokesman for Lummis said, “The health care problem Americans are facing is a direct result of the Democrats’ failed Affordable Care Act – Sen. Lummis had the foresight to oppose this misguided legislation from day one.”

A spokesperson for Hageman said in a statement that “Rep. Hageman knows there are many people struggling with the weight of medical expenses, and the catastrophic failure of Obamacare is making it far worse.”

The squeeze

For years, Obamacare had worked well for the Newtons.

In 2017, when the couple were starting their businesses, their income was low – about $56,000. The price of their policy was $1,585 a month, but the standard ACA subsidy covered most of that, and the couple had to come up with only $332 monthly.

Since then, however, the prices of the premiums have risen steadily, and now, because of the expected subsidy reductions, they would no longer qualify for government help. They would have to pay full price – $3,573 monthly for the cheapest option. Even at $43,000 a year, the plan carries a $21,200 deductible, according to the paperwork Stacy Newton showed The Washington Post.

This month, the couple struggled with whether to pay that to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, go without health insurance or find some other stopgap option. Newton was getting notices that said, in bold red lettering: “Important – You’re about to end (terminate) this coverage. If any of the people above get health care services or supplies after 12/31/2025, they’ll have to pay full cost.”

Eventually, Newton knows, she will need leukemia treatment. She’s just not sure when.

“If my leukemia acts up, I’m up a creek,” she said this month. “I just don’t have a solution yet.”

On Monday, she sent a text.

“I just officially canceled my ACA marketplace insurance for 2026,” she wrote. “How on Earth is this going to unfold for millions of people in America?

A suspect accused of shooting up a home in a Shelby Township mobile home park was arrested Friday as he walked to his vehicle miles away.

According to a news release from Shelby Township police, officers responded about 6:30 a.m. Dec. 26 to Dequindre Estate Mobile Home Park, located off Dequindre Road near Hamlin.

“A resident had called 911 after their home was struck by gunfire originating from the street in front of the residence,” police said in the release.

When police arrived, they confirmed the home had been hit multiple times.

The news release made no mention of anyone inside the house being injured.

The scene was secured as the investigation continued throughout the day.

In an update Friday afternoon, police said investigators had developed information on the shooting suspect and vehicle information.

Detectives located the vehicle unoccupied in a parking lot in St. Clair Shores. They waited and watched the vehicle until the suspected shooter returned to the car and was taken into custody without incident, authorities said.

The investigation is ongoing, according to the release.

Shelby Township police said they were sharing the information with the public to let the community know that an arrest has been made and there is no threat to the public.

By Ben Warren, Max Reinhart, MediaNews Group

Freezing rain and ice created hazardous conditions Friday in southeast Michigan, causing flight cancellations and vehicle accidents across the region.

The National Weather Service had issued a winter weather advisory for Metro Detroit north through the M-59 and Interstate 69 corridors, including St. Clair, Washtenaw, Genesee, Saginaw, Tuscola and Sanilac counties.

According to the weather service’s storm report map, Saginaw recorded the most freezing rain on Friday, with just over a quarter-inch. Detroit got about 0.14 inches.

The agency received reports of downed tree branches in areas including Bay City and Port Huron.

The ice accumulation caused several accidents, including multiple crashes on I-75 near Saginaw. The Michigan Department of Transportation’s Bay Region, which covers the Mt. Pleasant, Saginaw, Flint and the Thumb areas of the state, reported at least six crashes that temporarily closed lanes along the freeway on Friday.

Among them were collisions on the Zilwaukee Bridge, which was closed in both directions, according to MDOT. WNEM Saginaw reported that multiple semi-trucks jackknifed on the Saginaw River span due to slippery conditions.

By 11:30 a.m., both directions of the bridge had reopened to traffic, MDOT reported.

On Facebook, Saginaw County 911 Central Dispatch wrote that I-75 was “completely shut down” in both directions due to the crashes. The agency warned drivers to avoid the area if possible and drive carefully.

Traffic on the Mackinac Bridge slowed to 20 miles per hour due to ice on the bridge deck, according to the Mackinac Bridge Authority website.

As the rain arrived early Friday, more than 40 flights scheduled to depart from Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus have been cancelled, according to its flight status website. The cancellations may impact travelers returning home from the Christmas holiday.

“Currently, we’re not experiencing icy conditions at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Flight delays or cancellations are determined by the airlines,” Cortez Strickland, a DTW spokesperson, wrote in an email.

“In anticipation of icy conditions, our Airfield Operations and Maintenance teams have pre-treated the runways and taxiways. Crews will continue to monitor the situation.”

Ice continued to fall in some areas into the early afternoon hours, according to NWS data.

“Untreated surfaces will be coated with ice, and we should see more freezing rain throughout the day,” said Kevin Kacan, a meteorologist with the NWS Detroit office.

“The big thing is travel. Any roadway not treated with salt can be slick and dangerous to drive on.”

Temperatures in southeastern Michigan just cracked the freezing point Friday afternoon. In Detroit, which tends to be the warmest point in the region, highs peaked at 34 degrees Fahrenheit around 4 p.m.

On Saturday, temperatures will continue to hover around freezing, up to 35. But it will warm up more on Sunday, with a high of 49, according to the NWS.

Both branches of the West Bloomfield Township library were closed on Friday due to the rain, according to an email from the library system.

Power outages were reported across the area after ice accumulated on tree limbs and other surfaces.

The Consumers Energy power outage map showed that more than 4,000 customers lost power Friday morning along the I-75 corridor near Prescott in Ogemaw County. The map reported the cause of the outage as “storm damage.” By Friday evening, more than 25,000 Consumers customers were still without power, mainly in the central part of the Lower Peninsula. As of Saturday mid-morning, Consumers showed 14,667 customers without power from 303 outages, mostly in central Michigan.

Early Friday afternoon, nearly 30,000 DTE Energy customers were without power across southeast Michigan. By the evening hours, that number was down to about 13,000 with Lake Orion and other parts of northeast Oakland County among the hardest hit in the region.

bwarren@detroitnews.com

mreinhart@detroitnews.com

Albums don’t sell like they used to, but rest assured, they’re still being released.

And they still matter.

The long-player is, in fact, still the most potent and important musical expression, a chance to go on an aural journey that keeps you engaged from start to finish. That flies in the face of conventional wisdom about limited attention spans in the streaming world, but the significant number of albums that continue to come out shows that’s how artists prefer to pursue their craft.

That was certainly the case during the past 12 months, and 2025 welcomed so many good and, yes, great, albums that the annual ritual of picking the best is never easy. But after careful consideration and some (pleasurable) relistening, these were unquestionably our dozen favorites for the year, all works that are rewarding every time you listen to them.

Clipse, “Let God Sort Em Out” (self-released): The rap duo’s long road back — 16 years between albums — reaches a triumphant destination with this 13-track set. The chemistry between Pusha T and Malice is as tight as ever, and reuniting with Pharrell Williams to produce had us partying like it was the 2000s once again — with Kendrick Lamar, Nas, John Legend, Tyler, the Creator and others on the guest list.

Alice Cooper, “The Revenge of Alice Cooper” (earMUSIC): The event tends to be greater than the quality in these kinds of reunions — in this case, the original Cooper band’s first full album since 1973. But periodic recording since 2011 has honed the surviving quartet to this point. The songs and playing stand up to those classic 1970s records, and the magic of technology even allows the late Glen Buxton to be part of a couple of tracks.

De La Soul, “Cabin in the Sky” (AOI/Mass Appeal): Another welcome hip-hop return. Nine years and one death (Trugoy the Dove) later, this is still a special and forward-looking troupe that fills its ninth studio album with high conscience and advanced intent. Sporting sharp production, tough rhymes and a who’s-who list of collaborators, the 20-track set more than lives up to the designation of Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It … series.

Dropkick Murphys, “For the People” (Dummy Luck): After two previous albums of songs set to unused Woody Guthrie lyrics, Boston’s Celtic punk lords stay on target and deliver the right album for the times — ferocious anthems of resistance (and some personal reflections) that feature guest appearances by Billy Bragg, the Mary Wallopers and the scratch. Vocalist Al Barr is back for one track, too.

Florence + the Machine, “Everybody Scream” (Polydor): Florence Welch is no stranger to turning personal turmoil into anthems of resilience and joy, and we get more of the same on album number six. With songs inspired by an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage, Welch and her crew — including collaborators Aaron Dessner of the National and Mark Bowen of Ides — stir a wealth of emotions and mystical perspectives into life-affirming catharsis that brings everybody out better on the other end.

Lord Huron, “The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1” (Mercury): The Michigan-formed, now Los Angeles-based indie rock group hits a new peak on this semi-conceptual 12-track work, with some of Ben Schneider’s most evocative songwriting (and vocals) and collaborations with actor (and fellow Michigander) Kristen Stewart and Blonde Redhead’s Kauz Makino.

Pulp, “More” (Rough Trade): It’s been 24 years since the British group’s last studio album (sensing a theme for the year here?), but it really sounds like no time has passed. While Oasis was ruling on the road, Jarvis Cocker and company brought another wing of Britpop back with these 11 songs (as well as the group’s on tour), all of which stand alongside the best of Pulp’s previous work.

Addison Rae, “Addison” (As Long As I’m Dancing/Columbia): The actress and TikToker has been dropping musical bon mots since 2021, but her first full album shows a fully developed talent that’s maybe a little bit smarter than her pop peers, but still just as much fun when it needs to be. “Fame Is a Gun,” as she sings, and Rae’s aim is absolutely true.

Ketch Secor, “Story the Crow Told Me” (Equal Housing/Firebird Music): The Old Crow Medicine Show leader goes out on his own for the first time and delivers a winning 12-song effort rooted in tradition, but made modern in its delivery. Secor plays more than a dozen instruments himself, as is his wont, and welcomes contributions from Marty Stuart, Jaren Johnston of the Cadillac Three, Old Crow mates Critter Fuqua and Willie Watson, and Molly Tuttle, returning the favor for her latest album.

Sparks, “Mad!” (Transgressive): The Mael brothers follow “Annette — An Opera by Sparks” with their 26th studio album and 12 songs that, per usual, deftly balance quirk with pathos and melodic sensibilities that are at once classic and idiosyncratic. Fifty-four years in Ron and Russell have their own lane, and they haven’t run out of road yet.

Turnstile, “Never Enough” (Roadrunner): The hardcore quintet from Baltimore takes the format in bold new directions on its fourth studio album, and first with guitarist Meg Mills. It’s daring stuff — flute solos, anybody? — that never ceases to work and yields fresh flavors on every listen.

Molly Tuttle, “So Long Little Miss Sunshine” (Nonesuch): The California-born singer, guitarist, banjoist and songwriter is among those taking bluegrass and Americana in new directions, with abundant songwriting, instrumental and vocal assistance from Ketch Secor throughout her fifth studio album. And be assured, you never heard the Icona Pop/Charli XCX hit “I Love It” quite like this.

12 others that we liked a lot

Bad Bunny, “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” (Rimas Entertainment); Jon Batiste, “Big Money” (Naht Jona/Verve); The Black Keys, “No Rain, No Flowers” (Easy Eye Sound); David Byrne, “Who Is the Sky?” (Matador); Ethan Daniel Davidson, “Cordelia” (Blue Arrow); Olivia Dean, “The Art of Loving” (Capitol); Don Was & the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, “Groove in the Face of Adversity” (Mack Avenue); Geese, “Getting Killed” (Partisan/Play It Again Sam); Kendall Jane Meade, “Space” (Mother West); Mavis Staples, “Sad and Beautiful World” (Anti-); Jeff Tweedy, “Twilight Override” (dBpm); Wolf Alice, “The Clearing” (RCA/Columbia)

Our 25 favorite concerts of 2025

Guster, Jan. 29, Majestic Theatre

Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve, March 8, Michigan Theatre

Chiodos, March 20, Royal Oak Music Theatre

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, March 25, Masonic Temple Cathedral Theatre

Kraftwerk, March 28, Masonic Cathedral Theatre

The War and Treaty, March 29, Saint Andrew’s Hall

Jack White, April 12-13, Masonic Temple Theatre

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, April 19, Masonic Temple Theatre

Gang Of Four, May 7, The Magic Bag

Devo, June 28, Fillmore Detroit

Weird Al Yankovic, July 2, Pine Knob Music Theatre

Wu-Tang Clan, July 8, Little Caesars Arena

Vince Gill, July 24, Fox Theatre

Katy Perry, Aug. 3, Little Caesars Arena

Rufus Du Sol, Aug. 5, Pine Knob Music Theatre

Lord Huron, Aug. 9, Meadow Brook Music Festival

Nine Inch Nails, Aug. 22, Little Caesars Arena

Jason Moran, Jeff Mills and Jessica Care Moore, Aug. 29, Detroit Jazz Festival

Pulp, Sept. 17, Masonic Temple Theatre

Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gov’t Mule, Sept. 20, Pine Knob Music Theatre

Don Was & the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, Oct. 11, Majestic Theatre

Jon Batiste, Oct. 24, Fox Theatre

David Byrne, Oct. 25, Fox Theatre

Chris Isaak, Dec.16, Fox Theatre

Design students in LTU’s College of Architecture and Design will exhibit their product design work at Ann Arbor’s pop-up CultureVerse Gallery through Jan. 5, 2026.

The exhibition is titled “Artists & Their Teachers: The Power of Mentorship in the Transfer of Ideas.”

The exhibition is unique for its focus on a variety of professional and emerging artists.

Junior Ashgen Lourdes Davish from Commerce Twp. and senior Sofia Eddy, from Bloomfield Hills are among five LTU students participating in the event.

College of Architecture and Design Interim Dean Lilian Crum said industry-sponsored studios like this one with Design Declassified, a sustainable building materials company, are invaluable to students.

“They provide real-world constraints, professional expectations, and collaborative opportunities that prepare students for the complexities of contemporary design practice,” she said. “This partnership challenged our students to design products while addressing adaptability, resilience, and environmental impact.”

They will be showcased at the May 2026 International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City.

Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, from 4 to 7 p.m., and by appointment through Jan. 5, 2026. Appointments may be arranged by contacting A2 Jazz Fest administrative director Anna Gersh.

The CultureVerse Gallery is located at 309 S. Main St., Ann Arbor.