Category Archives: Michigan

Michigan overwhelm Washington to claim first national title in 26 years

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Blake Corum ran for 134 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns as Jim Harbaugh and Michigan – undeterred by suspensions and a sign-stealing case that shadowed the program this season – completed a three-year climb to a national championship by beating Washington 34-13 on Monday night in the College Football Playoff title game.

The Wolverines (15-0) sealed their first national title since 1997 when Corum, who scored the winning touchdown in overtime to beat Alabama in the Rose Bowl semi-final, blasted in from the one-yard line with 3:37 left to put Michigan up by 21 and set off another rousing rendition of The Victors.

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Election denier Kristina Karamo voted out as Michigan Republican party chair

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Critics say the QAnon conspiracy theorist, in the position less than a year, failed to deliver on funding promises

A group of Michigan Republicans voted on Saturday to remove Kristina Karamo as state party chair after months of infighting and slow fundraising raised concerns her leadership would hurt the party’s chances in the key swing state in 2024.

Karamo, a former community college instructor and election-denying activist who was elevated to her post in February, has indicated she would not respect Saturday’s vote, setting the stage for a potentially messy court battle over party leadership.

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Four dead and two injured after house explosion in Michigan, police say

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Authorities say cause of the explosion has not been determined and they didn’t know whether victims were related

Authorities in Michigan say four people have died and two others were injured in a house explosion 45 miles west of Detroit that could be heard from miles away and destroyed the home entirely, leaving only the basement intact.

Police said six people were in the home. Four of those at the home died at the scene, and two others were hospitalized in critical condition. They added that they had not determined the cause of the explosion – which occurred about 3.30pm Saturday – and did not know if the victims were related.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Trump pressured Michigan election officers not to certify 2020 vote – report

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Recording shows Trump asked canvassers not to sign official document confirming Biden had won, Detroit News says

Donald Trump made a phone call in November 2020 in which he put pressure on two Republican election officers in Michigan not to sign the official document from the state confirming that Joe Biden had won the presidential election there, according to an exclusive report by The Detroit News late on Thursday.

The Detroit News outlet has obtained recordings of the call, made on 17 November 2020, where Trump, who was refusing to accept that he had just lost the White House to Joe Biden, and Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel talked to Wayne county election officials Monica Palmer and William Hartmann and told them they would look “terrible” if they signed to endorse Trump’s defeat in the crucial swing state, according to the report.

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Man charged with murder of Detroit synagogue leader Samantha Woll

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A 28-year-old Detroit man was charged with three crimes, and authorities allege he was a stranger who had broken into home

A stranger accused of breaking into the home of a Detroit synagogue leader was charged with her murder Wednesday, nearly two months after her body was found outdoors with multiple stab wounds, authorities said.

There was not a “shred of evidence” that Samantha Woll was killed as a result of antisemitism or any hate crime, prosecutor Kym Worthy said.

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Michigan teen sentenced to life for school shooting that killed four

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Ethan Crumbley apologized before the sentencing for the 2021 high school shooting as parents still in jail on related charges

A judge sentenced a Michigan teenager to life in prison on Friday for killing four students and terrorizing others at Oxford high school in 2021, after listening to hours of gripping anguish from parents and wounded survivors.

Judge Kwame Rowe rejected pleas from defense lawyers for a shorter sentence and ensured that Ethan Crumbley, 17, will not get an opportunity for parole.

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Muslim leaders in swing states pledge to ‘abandon’ Biden over his refusal to call for ceasefire

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Warnings that president stance on the war risks losing support of community in states critical to his chances for re-election

Muslim community leaders gathered on Saturday in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the US, to protest President Biden’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, reiterating that the president’s stance could affect his support in crucial swing states next year.

Jaylani Hussein, director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that Biden’s unwillingness to call for a ceasefire had damaged his relationship with the American-Muslim community beyond repair. (Cair-Minnesota is not involved in his work on the Abandon Biden effort, which the organization said Hussein is doing in his personal capacity.)

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Trump can appear on Republican primary ballot in Michigan, judge rules

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Setback for challengers who say Trump should be barred from presidential run under ‘insurrection’ clause of 14th amendment

Donald Trump can appear on the ballot for the Republican primary in Michigan, a state judge ruled on Tuesday, a setback to challengers who argue he is constitutionally disqualified from being president because of his actions on 6 January 2021.

The lawsuit is one of several that left-leaning groups have filed across the country arguing that section 3 of the 14th amendment bars Trump from holding office. The provision says anyone who takes an oath to the United States and then engages in “insurrection” or “rebellion” against the nation cannot hold office unless Congress votes by two-thirds majority to allow them. The measure was adopted after the civil war and has not been tested.

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Suspect in killing of Samantha Woll released from custody without charges

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Investigators are reportedly still looking into ‘ambiguous’ statement made by suspect in death of Detroit Jewish leader

A suspect in the deadly stabbing of Detroit synagogue leader and leftwing political adviser Samantha Woll was released from custody on Friday without being booked with a crime after police had detained the man for three days.

The man’s attorneys, Allison Kriger and Mark Kriger, confirmed their client’s release to the Detroit News, which nonetheless cited four law enforcement sources who said investigators were continuing to examine “an ambiguous statement the suspect made to police” about Woll’s 21 October killing.

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No evidence of hate crime in synagogue president’s killing, say Detroit police

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Authorities have confirmed no motives and are ‘just short’ of naming one person a suspect in murder of Samantha Woll

Detroit police officials on Monday reiterated their belief that the killing of synagogue president Samantha Woll over the weekend does not appear to be a hate crime – but have yet to describe any theory or motivation for her murder.

“Right now the evidence doesn’t take us there,” said Detroit’s police chief, James White, at a press conference on Monday. “When we talk about hate crimes, there are certain tracks they take. We’re confident that we don’t have any indication of that at this point.”

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Funeral held for Detroit synagogue president as police search for motive

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Officials say they have found no proof of antisemitism as Samantha Woll killing brings wave of grief to Jewish and Democratic circles

A funeral was held on Sunday for the president of a Detroit synagogue who was killed over the weekend, as police searched for a motive.

Samantha Woll, an adviser to Democratic politicians and president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was found stabbed to death outside her home in the Lafayette Park neighborhood of Detroit on Saturday.

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MSU did not seek permission before showing Hitler on videoboard before game

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  • Creator of quiz says Michigan State did not contact him
  • University apologize after incident on Saturday

The creator and producer of The Quiz Channel on YouTube, which includes Adolf Hitler’s image as part of a quiz Michigan State used on its videoboards before a game against Michigan, said the school didn’t ask for permission to use his content or pay him for it.

“It’s an absolutely normal trivia question, shown in an inappropriate setting,” Floris van Pallandt wrote on Sunday on his YouTube page. “Ignoring the dark facets of history is by no means the answer, on the contrary.”

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Lost Michigan toddler found asleep in woods using family dog as furry pillow

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One dog provided support and another kept watch as two-year-old girl was found three miles from Upper Peninsula home in slumber

A two-year-old girl who walked away from her home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula alongside two family dogs was found in the woods hours later sleeping on the smaller dog like a furry pillow, state police said.

“She laid down and used one of the dogs as a pillow, and the other dog laid right next to her and kept her safe,” Lt Mark Giannunzio said on Thursday. “It’s a really remarkable story.”

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‘A fight against corporate greed’: Bernie Sanders rallies with UAW in Detroit

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Senator kicks off United Auto Workers’ largest strike against US’s big three carmakers amid record company profits

US car workers striking against the nation’s three biggest automakers “are waging … a fight against the outrageous level of corporate greed” seen across the country, Bernie Sanders said on Friday.

The liberal US senator’s remarks came on Friday afternoon during a rally with the United Auto Workers in Detroit, Michigan, kicking off the first day of the union’s “Stand Up” strikes against General Motors, Stellantis and Ford.

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Boy who saved sister by hitting would-be kidnapper with slingshot speaks: ‘I had to’

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Owen Burns, 13, says he grabbed the closest thing after he heard his eight-year-old sister’s screams in Alpena Township, Michigan

A Michigan boy who recently channeled his inner David and warded off his sister’s hulking, would-be kidnapper by shooting him with a slingshot has said he grabbed the unconventional weapon because he was “freaking out” at the unfolding danger and it was the closest thing.

“It just felt like I was scared, and I had … to do” something, 13-year-old Owen Burns told CNN on Friday. “Cause if I didn’t … she would’ve been taken away or … worse.”

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Not having cellphone allowed US boy to save runaway bus from crashing

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While other students on the bus were engrossed with their devices, Dillon Reeves noticed the driver in distress and guided bus to safety

A Michigan boy who recently stopped a school bus from crashing after the driver lost consciousness leapt into action because he was the only passenger not distracted by an electronic device, according to a new report from CBS.

On Sunday, two weeks after seventh-grader Dillon Reeves regained control of a school bus when its driver became unconscious, the network reported that the boy’s parents’ refusal to provide him a cellphone paid off in a big way.

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Michigan boy, 13, saves sister by hitting potential kidnapper with slingshot

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Boy’s eight-year-old sister was hunting for mushrooms in her back yard in a rural area when she was attacked

A 13-year-old boy in Michigan saved his younger sister from a potential kidnapper by shooting the attacker with a slingshot, according to authorities.

Police called the boy’s actions “extraordinary” and said he deserved to be commended after defending his sister with a weapon many associate with the biblical hero David – in his mortal battle against Goliath – and Link, the protagonist of the classic video game The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.

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Michigan clerk who denies election results faces recall in divided county

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Stephanie Scott was stripped of her election authority after she was accused of improperly handling voting equipment

Deepening tensions within rural and conservative Hillsdale county, Michigan, are coming to a head in a recall election for an election-denying township clerk who has been accused of spreading misinformation and mishandling a vote tabulator.

Elected in Adams Township in 2020, Stephanie Scott, who ran unopposed, has spent her years as a clerk – a position that would typically oversee township elections – mostly removed from the electoral process. After she refused to turn over a voting machine for regular maintenance in 2021, allegedly shared confidential voter data with a third-party IT analyst, and spread lies about election rigging, the Michigan Bureau of Elections removed Scott’s power to administer elections.

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Shooter at Michigan State who killed three had no ties to school, officials say

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Details emerge about shooting, in which shooter left note mentioned fatigue at ‘being rejected’ by women

The man who stormed on to Michigan State University’s campus and shot three students to death before killing himself bought the ammunition fired during the attack only a few hours earlier, investigators announced on Thursday.

Additionally, authorities said, the murderer had no personal or professional connection to the school, making his motive a mystery to them, despite his leaving a note which – among other things – complained about feeling rejected and not having sex during the last decade.

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Michigan Republicans fight effort to repeal ban on unmarried cohabitation

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Law signed in 1931 is rarely enforced but carries penalty of prison time and $1,000 fine

An attempt to repeal a Michigan law that punishes unmarried couples who live together is being thwarted by Republicans in the state legislature.

The law, which dates to 1931, targets “any man or woman, not being married to each other, who lewdly and lasciviously associates and cohabits together”.

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