Detroit Homeowners File Class Action Over Property Assessments
A group of Detroit homeowners claimed the city overtaxed thousands of residents in a class action filed in federal court on Thursday.
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King Holiday Observed at Tense Moment in US
To commemorate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Nicholas Thomas and more than 100 other volunteers will board up vacant houses, install school safety signs and make other improvements to a Detroit neighborhood. Their mission is to celebrate King’s legacy by being good neighbors and helping lift up a primarily black school in one of the poorer areas of the city.
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Panel Looks Likely to Overturn Ban on Anti-Muslim Ads
A conservative free speech group appeared successful Friday at persuading a Sixth Circuit panel that a Detroit-area public transit authority cannot ban its anti-Muslim ads for being overtly political.
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Detroit Tops List of Hard-to-Count Cities in Census
When the U.S. Census Bureau starts counting people next year in Detroit, obstacles are bound to arise: The city has tens of thousands of vacant houses, sparse internet access and high poverty — factors that will make it the toughest community to tally.
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Advocacy Group Attacks Detroit’s Voting Rolls
Voters who are almost 200 years old have not been removed from Detroit’s voting records, an advocacy group claimed in federal court Tuesday.
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Former Auto Union Exec Appears in Court After Resignation
A former regional director for the United Auto Workers union appeared in Detroit federal court Tuesday, just two days after stepping down amid a sprawling federal investigation into bribery and embezzlement.
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John Conyers, Longest-Serving Black Congressman, Dies at 90
Former Congressman John Conyers, one of the longest-serving members of Congress whose resolutely liberal stance on civil rights made him a political institution in Washington and back home in Detroit despite several scandals, has died. He was 90.
Read moreDetroit Students Fight to Revive Literacy-Rights Case
A class of current and former students of the Detroit public school system urged a Sixth Circuit panel Thursday to reinstate their civil rights case against the state of Michigan for its alleged failure to provide “even a minimally adequate education.”
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Men Who Sent Millions to Yemen Spared Prison
A group of Detroit-area men opened bank accounts to move millions of dollars to Yemen, their war-torn native country. Their crime: They didn’t register as a money-transfer business. Their luck: They drew a sympathetic judge.
Read moreAuto Workers Get $250 Checks as GM Strike Enters Third Week
The United Auto Workers’ strike against General Motors has stretched into its third week with no end in sight, as some workers who applied for a union-sponsored supplemental weekly payment of $250 received their first check Tuesday.
Read moreHistory Buff Finds Ships That Sank in 1878 in Lake Michigan
A diver and maritime history buff has found two schooners that collided and sank into the cold depths of northern Lake Michigan more than 140 years ago.
Read moreDetroit Police Board OKs Use of Facial Recognition Tech by Officers
The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners voted to approve the Detroit Police Department’s use of controversial facial recognition technology to help catch criminals.
Read moreUnion Auto Workers Set to Strike at GM Plants
The United Auto Workers announced they will go on strike Sunday night against General Motors in a move that could halt all its vehicle production in the U.S.
Read moreMalicious Prosecution
A federal judge refused to dismiss claims that former state prosecutor Robert J. Healy fabricated evidence against Ledura Watkins, whose life sentence on a first-degree murder conviction was vacated in 2017 after he served 41 years.
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Democratic Candidates Raring to Go in Detroit
Democratic candidates for president converge in downtown Detroit this week for two nights of debate on CNN. Nine of them already appeared in the area last week at the NAACP’s national convention.
Read moreDemocratic Candidates Pitch to Black Voters at NAACP Forum
Nine Democratic presidential hopefuls gathered Wednesday at the 110th NAACP National Convention in Detroit for an open forum that touched on economic inequality, criminal justice reform, voter suppression and white nationalism.
Read moreArchdiocese Removes Longtime Detroit Priest From Pulpit
A conservative Detroit priest renowned for his orchestral Masses and traditional Latin services has been removed from public ministry after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit reviewed what it described as a “credible allegation” that he abused a child decades ago.
Read moreAdvertising
Calling the content restriction reasonable because the ad held a group of people up to scorn, a federal judge dismissed with prejudice a complaint over the rejection an ad from an anti-Muslim website for Detroit’s Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation.
Read moreBankruptcy Shields Detroit From Exoneree’s Claims
A federal judge dismissed Detroit from a civil rights lawsuit brought by a man who spent eight years in prison for four murders he didn’t commit, finding the city is immune from his claims of police misconduct because of its 2013 bankruptcy.
Read moreWater Coolers Replace School Drinking Fountains in Detroit
Thousands of Detroit public schools students were told Tuesday to drink from district-supplied water coolers or bottled water on the first day of classes, after the drinking fountains were shut off because of contaminants in some water fixtures.
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