Detroit Free Press
Glacier collapse may have triggered flood
The volume and speed of the wall of mud, boulders and debris that rushed more than 60 miles down a river through Nepal on Aug. 26 shocked even experienced researchers who study mountains, glaciers and waterways in the Himalayas. “The force of this...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
PARTS AND PARCELS NOW SENT BY DRONE
At a car dealership across Michigan Avenue from a massive Ford automotive plant, a small box was placed inside a compartment on the top side of a drone sitting still in a parking lot. Moments later, a man standing nearby told the h crowd, “We’re good...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Labor Day getaways are ranked, and MI does well
If you are going away for the upcoming Labor Day weekend, expect the trip to be more expensive − with more traffic than last year, with AAA Auto Club finding that the cost of fuel, plane tickets and hotel rooms has all increased. Gasoline prices may...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Across the region, students have returned to classroom
Jasmine Ng had mixed feelings about starting her junior year Monday morning at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills. She was excited to arrive with all her siblings — her little sister, who’s at Stoney Creek, too, and her little brother, who’s...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Backlash roils against Blue Cross policy move
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is changing how it covers mental and behavioral health services, saying that as of March 1, it will no longer cover counselors, therapists and social workers with limited or provisional licenses as well as temporary...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Butterfly species pulled back from brink of extinction
The Poweshiek skipperling, a small prairie butterfly, was once so abundant across the Midwest and Plains, scientists doing nature inventories didn’t bother to count them, said Tamara Smith, a biologist with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “It was just...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
JD Power awards Cadillac top prize for in-vehicle tech
Cadillac secured top honors in owner satisfaction with in-vehicle technology, usurping five-time winner Genesis, in JD Power’s 2026 U.S. Tech Experience Index Study, released Aug. 20. h The index is based on a survey of new 2026 model year vehicle...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Detroiters speak out on RenCen proposal
JC Reindl General Motors’ and Bedrock’s plan for redeveloping Detroit’s Renaissance Center and upgrading the nearby riverfront received substantial critiquing and criticism on Aug. 18 during the first major public meeting on the $1.6 billion-plus...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A riverfront Ferris wheel? RenCen plan taking shape
The $1.6 billion-plus plan for redeveloping Detroit’s increasingly desolate Renaissance Center and then building a unique amenity-packed riverfront park next to it is making an official public debut this week. General Motors and Dan Gilbert’s real...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Hungarian teen grateful after surgery in Michigan
Aliz Cservenak can breathe through her nose, an act most of us don’t even notice and probably take for granted. The 13-year-old will enter sixth grade in September in her native Hungary, where she has friends and where she likes to go shopping and to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Gunman ID’d in Up North killing spree
A critically wounded 13-year-old girl, shot multiple times by a Lake City man on a shooting spree in northern Michigan that left three other family members dead in the girl’s home, was able to call 911, alert authorities and identify the shooter as...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Dream Cruising with a stunner
It’s not easy for a 2025-model vehicle to turn heads on a weekend when Woodward Avenue is packed with classic cars, collectibles and one-off passion projects, but the 810-horsepower, $107,215 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 3 I drove Aug. 13 did just that. The...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
U.S. SKYWATCHERS GET PARTIAL VIEW OF ECLIPSE
A rare celestial spectacle played out across the Northern Hemisphere on Aug. 12 as the moon passed directly between the Earth and sun, casting a total solar eclipse across parts of Europe. While the eclipse’s path of totality stayed overseas, millions...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Woodward Dream Cruise revved, ready
It’s Dream Cruise week, the summer week when our neighbors and people from across the country and around the world gather along 16-odd miles of Woodward Avenue to celebrate the art, science and industry that have defined Detroit and Michigan for more...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Military bases delay toxic PFAS cleanup
It’s been almost five years since Brandi and Brad Hyatt found out the well at their home next to an Army base in Washington is contaminated with “forever chemicals.” They started using bottled water for everything h from making coffee to rinsing off...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TRUMP’S TARIFFS
In March 2025, the top executives at Detroit’s automakers scrambled to get ahead of what they feared would cripple their companies: President Donald Trump’s much talked-about tariffs. As the Detroit h Free Press reported, the companies’ CEOs and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘DO A BURNOUT. IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!’
Pontiac may be the best place to spend your birthday. That is, if you’re a 9year-old who loves muscle cars — or if you’re turning any age, really — and you agree with the sentiment. The ultimate celebration for the birthday kid, Jamel Grant Jr., was to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
GIBBS BACK IN HUDDLE AGAIN
Mere minutes after Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing proclaimed Jahmyr Gibbs’ value as an engaged teammate during his eight-day “hold-in” over a contract extension, the star running back took it a step further when he slipped on his...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ford’s new truck’s name: Fathom
Jamie L. LaReau Ford Motor Co.’s engineers spent nine months considering hundreds of names for the first allelectric midsize pickup to be built on Ford’s new Universal Electric Vehicle platform using the company’s new assembly tree manufacturing...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
El-Sayed beats Stevens for Dems’ nomination
Eking out a narrow but significant win for U.S. progressives and making a national name for himself, former health director Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination to Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and her centrist...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
National spotlight on Michigan Senate seat
The race to fill an open Michigan seat in the U.S. Senate was attracting national attention and tens of millions of dollars in advertising spending as Michigan voters cast ballots Aug. 4 in a primary election marked by strong early voting...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
NEW TIRES NEW STORE
Detroit’s New Center area is getting a new storefront that will offer vehicle service as well as be a hangout for car enthusiasts. Goodyear Tire is opening its first “retail concept store” in Detroit, to be located at 3075 E. Grand Blvd., down the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
HORSES TO HOUSES
Cranes and construction crews dominate the landscape where Northville Downs racetrack once stood. But amid the dust and the noise, residents are moving into new homes in the massive redevelopment taking shape, just steps from downtown Northville. The...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
High-profile dome nears completion
ABOVE: A new and high-profile video dome in downtown Detroit is ready to open in September. Cosm Detroit, an immersive entertainment venue for watching live sports and movies, announced that it will have its public grand opening on Sept. 10, showing...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
GOP lawmakers seize on Fauci diary
Republican lawmakers have seized upon Dr. Anthony Fauci’s personal diary in making renewed attacks against the immunologist who became the public face of the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic – most recently, upbraiding him at a July 29 Senate...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘AFFORDABLE’ WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Jessica Caldwell talks to lots of journalists. It’s part of her role as head of insights at car-shopping research site Edmunds.com, answering questions about a range of automotive topics. But if there’s one issue that comes up more than others,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
BORDER BASH
Seeing a highway sign that “all border crossings” were open as I drove toward downtown Detroit signaled that Monday, July 27, was a day of note. Sometimes you get used to the status quo, and in metro Detroit, the status quo had been all border...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘IT’S A TREASURE’
Toys, noodle string necklaces, historical exhibits, science, stormtroopers, balloon flowers, face paint and more marked the reopening to the public of the Detroit Children’s Museum this past weekend after a 14-year hiatus. The museum was established...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ford recalls continue to mount
Ford Motor Co. has touted recent initial quality gains, yet it has recalled close to 1 million vehicles — including 2026 and 2027 models — in just the week ending July 24. On Monday, July 20, Ford issued a recall for 387,911 vehicles due to a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
U.S. strikes shipping point on Red Sea
DUBAI – U.S. missiles struck targets across Iran, reaching as far as its Caspian coast, on July 24 after President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the war to a second major shipping...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
BIG HOUSE, BIG STARS, BIG CASH
When Zach Bryan touched down in Ann Arbor last year for the first-ever concert at the Big House, University of Michigan officials vowed there would be plenty more to come. The next step in that fledgling musical h journey is now at hand, as country...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TRUMP’S NEW TARIFFS SPOIL BRIDGE PARTY
President Donald Trump’s threat to raise tariffs on Canada from 25% to 50% has scuttled plans for a binational celebration to open the new Gordie Howe International Bridge from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. The long-awaited, $4.7 billion (U.S.) span is...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Farley: Let’s save the ‘essential economy’
Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley said the automaker is joining forces with three U.S. corporate giants to help solve the shortage of skilled workers in the nation, a problem that Farley has long advocated must be solved if the United States is to protect...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Business is booming
Michigan is leading the U.S. in cyclosporiasis cases, and in the last few weeks, consumers have tried to follow rapidly evolving guidance about the risks of everything from lettuce to cilantro. In some grocery h stores, lettuce heads sit forlorn, left...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Timeline for partial demo of RenCen set
For the ambitious $1.6 billion-plus Renaissance Center redevelopment plan, the big holdup is finally over. General Motors and its development partner, Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock firm, say they are ready to move forward with their plan — and quickly — now...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
SMOKY HAZE SEEPS ACROSS THE NATION
A thick, smoky haze combined with intense heat ranging from 88 to 100 degrees lingered inside Ford Motor’s Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne throughout the night and into the morning of July 16, sending several dozen assembly line workers to the medical...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
State approves Enbridge oil pipeline tunnel permit in Straits over protests
Keith Matheny Michigan environmental regulators announced Wednesday, July 15, that they approved a required permit for Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge’s Great Lakes Tunnel Project — a move immediately panned by environmental groups and regional...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Michigan firefighter mourned: ‘A true hero’
Emily Barker spent 17 years answering the call to fight fires. On Tuesday, July 14, a traditional fire bell rang to symbolize that she had taken her last call. Bagpipes h played, and first responders, friends and family gathered at the Bethesda...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
University accused of hiding football cheating evidence
A former University of Michigan football coach says the school’s expresident actively worked to hide details of the football team’s sign stealing scandal – and that athletic department leaders knew about ex-coach Sherrone Moore’s affair with a staff...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ann Arbor woman feared bombs over Iran
For Dr. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, bombs dropping in Iran hit close to home. h The Ann Arbor woman left to stay with and care for her elderly parents in Tehran, Iran’s capital, in January. After returning to Michigan last month, she recounted what it was...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ceasefire falls apart as slain leader is buried
The fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared to have fallen apart over continued strife over the Strait of Hormuz as Iranians buried their supreme leader, killed by U.S.-Israel forces at the outset of the war. There were no new...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
VERLANDER’S YEAR HAS BEEN ALL CHECKMATE
Justin Verlander sat on a chair in the middle of the Detroit Tigers clubhouse. He arranged chess pieces on a board and then leaned back. It h was Sunday, July 5, and the Tigers were a few hours from playing the Texas Rangers. Tyler Holton, a relief...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Michigan faith leaders plot ways to defend voters
About 200 faith leaders gathered in cities across Michigan to speak out against what they said are alarming attacks by Republicans against voter rights and equal access to the ballot. They are part of an effort to defend voters as they head to the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Guskiewicz is staying: ‘We love this university’
Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz will remain at the university after reversing his decision to leave for Clemson University, ending weeks of uncertainty over the school’s leadership following his announcement in May that he planned...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Portable generators blamed for deaths of three children
Three children — age 8, 12 and 16 – died in two separate incidents in Wayne County this weekend as more than 350,000 Michiganders who had their power knocked out by storms struggled to keep the lights on. Both fatal incidents — the worst of the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
New owner hopes to continue quirky legacy
As drivers head to Michigan International Speedway, campgrounds in the Irish Hills and on their daily routes along U.S.-12 in Onsted and Brooklyn, a giant bright yellow sign saying “Mystery Hill” and “the amazing force of gravity” sits on the corner of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Whitmer: Let’s recommit to doing good
This Fourth of July, Michiganders will spend time with family, fire up the grill and enjoy fireworks. But this is a special Fourth of July: This year, we commemorate our nation’s 250th birthday. American democracy is the longest continuous democracy...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
THE MEANING OF REVOLUTION
Like Americans today, the people living in the United States in 1826 were preparing to celebrate a milestone for their country. July Fourth of that year marked the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. As what was known as the “Jubilee”...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Holiday heat wave has America in its grip for birthday
With the Fourth of July weekend near, the heat is on. h A prolonged, dangerous heat wave continues intensifying across most of the central to eastern United States, with both smothering humidity and searing highs that could approach records in the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Jet stream more wavy than usual pattern
The same North American weather pattern bringing dangerously hot temperatures this week to Michigan and much of the eastern United States is also bringing winter-like weather to the West. Metro Detroit is expecting temperatures nearing record highs,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
GM may be at risk of losing top-selling slot to Toyota in 2026
General Motors may yet again be dethroned as the top selling automaker in the United States, economists warn, as higher sales in segments for which the company no longer produces vehicles threaten to impact the Detroit company. At the halfway point in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
MICHIGAN BRACES FOR DANGEROUS HEAT WAVE
It’s going to be a dangerously hot week in metro Detroit and elsewhere in Michigan, with record-breaking temperatures of up to 100 degrees and heat index values soaring well above that. The hot and humid conditions will arrive on h Monday, June 29,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Death toll soaring amid frantic victims search
The death toll after a doublet of devastating earthquakes in Venezuela soared to more than 500 as of June 26 as crews worked to comb through rubble for signs of life. The quakes, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, struck within one minute of each other...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
One lot, $93K: Costs rise for Detroit ‘dirty dirt’ cleanup
Violet Ikonomova The demolition at the house on 4551 25th St. two years ago cost Detroit taxpayers $22,500. Removing and replacing the toxic dirt used to fill the site is expected to cost them nearly $93,000. Detroit City Council members this week...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Chevy goal: Win hearts, minds with heartbeats
When Josh York received an invitation from Chevrolet to be included in its next commercial campaign, he thought it was spam. But then he remembered what he did for a living and what might have brought the bow-tie brand to his inbox. A nearly lifelong...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The man who makes the tunes pop with the booms
On an April morning at the Parade Company’s headquarters on Detroit’s east side, Black Sabbath is blasting inside an executive office. It’s two months from one of the institution’s signature events – the Ford Fireworks – and company president Tony...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
MAY CASHES IN, HEADS TO NBA
Believe nobody. Not players. Not coaches. Not athletic directors. Not university presidents. The whole college sporting world has gone transactional. When the cards kiss them, they head to the cashier’s window, chips in hand. Dusty’s in the wind. The...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
GM’s battery chemistry experiments
Jackie Charniga General Motors is tapping sodiumion as a potential energy source for battery technology used for storage, relieving considerable expense and resourcing issues that exist with its current chemistries. The Detroit automaker said June 9...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
All aboard for childcare at bus station facility
Four years ago, a 12,000-squarefoot commercial space inside of Grand Rapids Central Station, the area’s main bus hub, lay vacant. Today, it’s a childcare center. Equipped to serve around 100 kids, the facility prioritizes slots for those with parents...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Holiday’s pioneer, 99, passing on advice, memories
Opal Lee has held many titles in her nearly 100 years – mother, grandmother, teacher, activist. But she’s most heralded as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” the woman behind the momentum to federally recognize the holiday. h This Juneteenth marks 161...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
World Cup fever hits metro Detroit in a unifying way
World Cup fever has hit metro Detroit in the most beautiful, intense, dramatic and unifying way. A massive crowd of about 2,000 crammed into Dearborn Peace Park West on June 16 − everybody hanging on every moment of action, riding waves of emotion and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Fain: We’ll back those who fight for working people
With Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” booming through the convention hall in downtown Detroit, UAW President Shawn Fain on Tuesday, June 16, walked to the podium and met a standing ovation from the thousand or so members and delegates to the union’s 39th...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Iran peace agreement shifts balance in Gulf
BEIRUT – The U.S.-Iran deal may silence the guns, but it cannot alter the verdict of more than three months of war. The region has emerged from one of its most dangerous crises in decades with the balance of power broadly unchanged, Iran politically...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
THE PROM GOES ON
It was a little bit of deja vu in Macomb County. Clintondale High School students h in glittery dresses and eye-catching suits headed to prom at Anton Art Center in Mount Clemens. But unlike 10 days earlier, when a gun threat canceled h the original...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
FARLEY FAMILY FEUD OVER FUTURE SOLVED
If you travel Woodward Avenue regularly, you might see Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley with his son behind the wheel of a hand-built Mustang street-legal race car. Farley and his teenage son, Jameson, share a passion for wrenching on and driving in fast...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Home sweet homes to help childcare workers
Pre-K teacher Haylee Fettes and her two young kids started moving into their new home in Battle Creek this month, a light pink duplex with a stone porch. Fettes will be living there rentfree. And so will her neighbor, also an early education educator,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Teaching city’s next generation of auto technicians
Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley has long banged the drum about the automaker’s lack of service technicians at its nearly 3,000 dealerships nationwide, but now he and another group are putting money toward fixing it. On June 8, the Detroit Public...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
PRIDE ON DISPLAY
Daija Parker, 24, left, and Champagne Divine, 25, both of Monroe, laugh after cooling off from the mist coming off the Dodge Fountain during Motor City Pride at Hart Plaza
Read Full Story (Page 1)
SENATE NARROWLY APPROVES $70B FOR ICE
Democrats don’t have much leverage in Washington these days – until they do. A small, but significant, political window opened briefly this week as Senate Republicans worked to pass a roughly $70 billion funding bill for Immigration and Customs...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
GOP questions Rx Kids founder on spending, immigrants, abortions
State lawmakers questioned the founder of Rx Kids during a hearing June 2, as the cash aid program for moms and babies rapidly expands across Michigan this summer. Pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna, director of Rx Kids, spoke before a hearing of the House...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Sports anchor Galli is striking out on his own
Brad Galli had some huge personal news to share. Galli, who was the WXYZ-TV (Channel 7 in Detroit) sports anchor, had decided to quit his TV gig. But he dreaded telling his grandmother, Patricia Galli, who lives in Shelby Township. “That was one of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump stuns by naming Pulte to acting DNI post
President Donald Trump says he is appointing Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a Trump loyalist whose family has a long history in Detroit and Michigan, as the nation’s acting chief intelligence official. The...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Lake Erie algae is more harmful than previously thought
As harmful algal blooms chronically persist in western Lake Erie, communities and federal agencies are relying on the lake’s water monitor for microcystins, a health-harming toxin the blooms can produce. h High levels of microcystin led to the infamous...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘He was fearless’
On the night of May 15 in Dover, Delaware, Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott left his tour bus and strolled over to the nearby bus of fellow NASCAR driver Kyle Busch. Busch had just won the 2026 Ecosave 200 h NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at...
Read Full Story (Page 1)