Detroit-Area Clerk Blows Whistle On ‘Years’ Of Ballot Trafficking, While AG Meets With Alleged Fraudster
The Hamtramck clerk alleged pervasive ballot trafficking in the city's elections. Meanwhile, Michigan's AG met with a fraud suspect.The Hamtramck clerk alleged pervasive ballot trafficking in the city's elections. Meanwhile, Michigan's AG met with a fraud suspect.Too Fat To Fit: Plus Size Rapper Files Lawsuit Against Lyft After Driver Refuses Ride
A plus-size Detroit rapper filed a discrimination lawsuit against the ride-share service Lyft after a driver denied entry citing her size.Show up, get paid: Detroit schools offer big bucks to combat truancy
High school students in Detroit could soon be up to $1,000 richer just by attending school, something the law says they are supposed to do anyway.
This month, Detroit Public Schools launched a new initiative called Perfect Attendance Pays in an effort to reduce chronic absenteeism, the Detroit Free Press reported.
High school students who attend all of their classes during a two-week period can receive a $200 gift card. The district has designated five such two-week periods between now and late March, meaning that students with perfect attendance during the periods can receive up to $1,000.
Last year, fully 66% of district students were considered chronically absent. In other words, they missed at least 18 days of the 180-day school year. Michigan law requires kids ages 6 to 16 to attend school "during the entire school year," or their parent or guardian could be charged with a misdemeanor.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti is "excited" about the program that will hopefully encourage more students to comply with that law.
"Consistent attendance is an essential part of students’ success, and we know that when District students miss less than 18 days of school in our District, they are 3 to 5 times more likely to be at and above grade level in reading and math and to be college ready as defined by the SAT," he said.
In 2023-24, less than 12% of third-grade students in Detroit Public Schools were considered proficient in reading.
Dr. Tonya Norwood, a retired principal, also supports the program because she believes it will help students who serve as the main caretakers of their family. "I think a lot of people don’t understand, a lot of our kids support their families," she told FOX 2.
"Oftentimes our students go to jobs. So now they’re spending six or seven hours at jobs and then they come home after that, now they have to cook for their siblings," she continued.
Raymond Kennedy, a senior at Davis Aerospace Technical High School, believes the program will work as intended. "It will get a lot of people to come to school," he told the Free Press.
Kennedy also suggested that students who have transportation issues could use the money to take a rideshare to school. "I know some middle school and grade school parents have trouble getting them to school or from school, so I know if you use the gift card for an Uber or a Lyft, you’ll be able to have a guaranteed ride for your kids to school," he said, though the program appears to apply only to high school students.
According to Norwood, the initiative does not pay students to attend school. "I think people are thinking, 'Oh, we’re trying to pay students to come to school,' and that’s not the case," she claimed, though if she explained her reasoning, FOX 2 did not include it either during the news broadcast or in its article Thursday.
'Incentives do not necessarily address the contextual factors that are demotivating.'
Thus far, the program seems to have had some success. At a school board meeting on Tuesday, Vitti reported that 1,800 more district high school students had perfect attendance since Christmas break this year than at the same time period last year.
"Right now, the incentive is working," he claimed, according to Chalkbeat, though the inaugural two-week period does not end until Friday.
Despite the enthusiasm, other districts across the country have offered similar external motivations to entice kids to attend school — with mixed results. Even a 2021 study in Detroit revealed that such incentives have "a small effect, if any" on attendance and could even be counterproductive.
"Incentives do not necessarily address the contextual factors that are demotivating," the report from the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity and Research said.
Vitti told Chalkbeat that interest accrued from school funds is financing the Perfect Attendance Pays program.
"As we wait to complete projects, that money is in the bank. It creates interest. It gives us a lot of flexibility."
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Minnesota Vikings spent nearly $2 million sending their own fans to Detroit to help drown on out Lions fans' noise
The Minnesota Vikings spent nearly $2 million on tickets to send their own fans to Detroit for the pivotal final game of the season.
Leading up to a Sunday night game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, the teams were deadlocked in the NFC North standings with 14-2 records, meaning the winner would claim the division title and the best record in the entire NFC.
With the possibility of obtaining a first-round bye in the playoffs, Minnesota took an unorthodox route to make sure they had adequate support for their players while on the road.
The Vikings' front office bought approximately 1,900 tickets on the secondary market, according to Sports Illustrated, which cost around $1,000 each. This totaled around $2 million in expenses for Minnesota, who then turned around and offered their season-ticket holders a chance to attend the game at a reduced cost.
'We wanted to offer our stakeholders an opportunity to attend.'
Some tickets were reported as being offered for as little as $200, or around 20% what the Vikings paid.
The Vikings' email to their ticket holders allegedly read as follows:
As a valued season ticket member, we want to offer you the opportunity to purchase lower-level seats for Sunday night's game ... [the tickets are] intended to be used by Vikings fans and not positioned for resale.
The Lions apparently contacted NFL offices about the purchases after noticing irregular activity with their ticket sales but were reportedly told the Vikings didn't break any league rules.
Although the Vikings, along with every NFL team, are allotted around 600 tickets for away games, these seats are typically in corners or high up in the stands.
The seats the Vikings bought, however, were centralized behind their own bench to help with crowd noise in terms of team communication.
"Given the uniqueness of this game, we wanted to offer our stakeholders—staff, family, season ticket members and team partners—an opportunity to attend," team spokesman Jeff Anderson said in a statement.
Many Vikings fans expressed gratitude about the ticket purchases online, including one fan calling it "sheer class."
Another fan called Vikings brass a "tremendous ownership group" while one die-hard follower said he was willing to make a 10-hour drive to the game if offered a ticket.
@Vikings I will make the 10 hour drive. I'm just throwing that out there.
— Jarrett Ballard Sr. (@BigJbilla) January 4, 2025
Not all fans were as appreciative though, one ticketholder took the Vikings' offer and resold the ticket online for $690.
When all was said and done, the Vikings still lost to the Lions 31-9, falling short of a division title. They will play the Los Angeles Rams on Monday while the Lions will enjoy a week off before the second round.
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Detroit Dems may derail party's plans to ram through leftist agenda during lame-duck session
Two Democrat lawmakers in Michigan have thus far bucked their party and refused to vote to pass a series of bills leftists were hoping to ram through in the waning days of 2024.
For now, Democrats enjoy "trifecta" control over the Michigan House, Senate, and governor's office. With Republicans poised to take over the majority in the House next month, Democrats were hoping to pass several bills relating to gun control, tax hikes, and other leftist pet projects, but they will need every Democrat vote or hope for some Republican crossovers to make that happen.
So far, state Rep. Karen Whitsett and state Sen. Sylvia Santana, both Detroit Democrats, have refused to play ball.
Whitsett pledged to stay home rather than travel to Lansing for the votes on Wednesday. "I’m staying home for my constituents," she said. "We’re not going to be voting on garbage bills that do nothing for our community and have a negative impact."
Santana made similar statements. "I will not be in attendance to vote for the governor's corporate welfare agenda while Democrats ignore priorities that impact urban communities," Santana told the Detroit News in a text message. "We have supported a progressive agenda only to have Black community agenda set aside until the last hours of TRI-fecta."
'I've never seen any lame duck like this.'
Santana is hoping to draw more attention to some criminal justice measures.
Rep. Whitsett appears particularly concerned about protecting tipped employees such as restaurant waitstaff. If legislators do nothing, the base hourly wage for tipped employees in Michigan, which currently sits at $3.93, will increase incrementally over the next few months and years until it skyrockets all the way to $15 by 2030. While their hourly rate will increase, tips are expected to decrease as restaurants raise the price of food to offset the added staffing costs.
Whitsett also wants to address water rates and to settle upon a plan to fund state roads. Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was first elected in 2018 largely on her pledge to "fix the damn roads," which are notoriously dilapidated compared with roads in the surrounding states. One suggestion is to create toll roads, though that idea has received mixed reviews.
Whitsett's determination coupled with House Republicans' refusal to attend the legislative session on Tuesday prompted leftist Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel to threaten criminal charges against them.
"Article IV of the Michigan Constitution defines the role of the Legislature and how it is to be constituted. The chief purposes of the Legislature are to enact new laws and amend or repeal existing laws," Nessel posted to Facebook on Wednesday. "What Rep. Whitsett and the MI House Republicans have chosen to do today is literally criminal."
Technically, House Speaker Joe Tate, yet another Detroit Democrat, has the power to "call the House," which would compel all missing representatives to the chamber. He can even force police to escort intransigent members there against their will. However, he has not yet exercised that privilege and seemed reluctant to do so last week.
Despite threats from a "complete party-line hack" like Nessel or a possible "call the House" from the speaker, state Republicans aren't going to budge, state Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) told Blaze News.
"We're holding strong," he said. "We're not going to give them any votes."
Runestad explained to Blaze News that the measures Democrats have attempted to pass during the lame-duck session are being introduced without passing through committee first, making them potentially "catastrophic for the citizens of Michigan." Yet, he said, Democrats "just don't care."
"I've never seen any lame duck like this with more slapped up bills that have no vetting at all," said Runestad, who was first elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving two terms in the state House. "Just some guy in the back room, some activist typing up bill after bill and throwing it up on the floor, amendments that no one's read."
"No one's reading the bills," he continued. "So we're not going along with it."
Runestad expects that if Santana and Whitsett continue to hold out for a couple more days, the session will be adjourned.
This is hardly the first time Rep. Whitsett has publicly defied the Democratic Party. Last year, she refused to vote for the Reproductive Health Act unless it included a provision requiring a 24-hour waiting period before a woman could undergo an abortion.
"I do not think it is too much to ask when someone's terminating a life, a 24-hour pause to be able to say for sure this is the decision you want to make, 24 hours is not too much," she said at the time, Blaze News previously reported.
Whitsett also ruffled Democrat feathers in 2020 when she met with President-elect Donald Trump during his first term in office. That meeting and some kind words about Trump prompted her fellow Democrats to vote to censure her.
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Illegal alien NOT in custody after deadly crash claims life of beloved Michigan pastor
A beloved Detroit-area pastor was fatally struck while out on a morning walk earlier this month, yet the illegal alien believed to be involved in his death is still out roaming the streets.
Around 6:45 a.m. on November 3, Stephen Singleton — a 72-year-old pastor, family man, and avid athlete — was out for his usual morning walk in Rochester Hills, Michigan, a city of some 76,000 residents about a half-hour north of Detroit. Wearing a reflector vest, Singleton stepped into the designated crosswalk so that he could safely cross Rochester Road near Avon Road.
He didn't make it.
At some point, an individual driving a 2013 Ford Focus struck Singleton with such force that he flew in the air and shattered the windshield, his grieving widow said.
"The car hit him so hard that he flew in the air and hit the windshield and broke it," Teri Singleton told WXYZ-TV.
The injuries he sustained were catastrophic.
"He had almost every bone in his body broken," she told WJBK. "He had his collarbone fractured, internal organ damage, and his skull was cracked. He had two craniotomies in the hospital."
Deputies initially told Mrs. Singleton that her husband was responsive despite his injuries, but by the time the family arrived at the hospital, he had taken a serious turn for the worse. He was placed on life support and died a few days after the crash.
'I had to sit and watch my husband of 53 years die in front of me.'
Stephen Singleton, always known for his devotion to others, went to New York City in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, praying with those in need and searching desperately — but ultimately in vain — for survivors.
"I started tearing because I couldn't find survivors," he recalled in a 2022 interview with WXYZ-TV, where Singleton once worked. "We would find people who were perished, but we couldn't find survivors."
A GoFundMe page established following his death gives even more insight into the man Stephen Singleton was:
He never met a stranger, was a friend to everyone and made lifelong friendships. His motto was everyone was his brother or sister and sharing support, wisdom and the love of the Lord was his responsibility. He was a father to the fatherless, as well as all his nieces and nephews and every child in all the neighborhoods he frequented.
While the Singleton family is left to mourn the loss of such a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, the man believed to be involved in his death is not in custody.
"I had to sit and watch my husband of 53 years die in front of me, and then to know that the person who did this is walking around is very difficult to deal with," Teri said, adding, "He’s dead and they’re walking around. That’s bothering me."
Investigators told WJBK that the individual is a Colombian national and that U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that he crossed the border illegally and was released pending a future hearing in federal court. WXYZ-TV also noted that the man had a valid foreign driver's license, "which is accepted in Michigan."
According to WJBK, police do not believe alcohol or speed were factors in the crash.
A spokesperson from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office confirmed to Blaze News that the crash remains under investigation but declined to comment further.
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Harris enrages Muslim community after campaign boots prominent doctor from Detroit-area event
Vice President Kamala Harris further enflamed tensions with Muslim Americans after her campaign kicked a prominent doctor and former Democratic congressional candidate out of a Detroit-area event earlier this week.
On Monday afternoon, Dr. Ahmed Ghanim and approximately 200 other guests arrived at a Harris rally held at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan, a trendy suburb located about 15 miles north of Detroit.
Ghanim, a 49-year-old native of Egypt who received an invitation to the event, claimed he entered the facility, passed through security, and arrived at his seat without a problem. About 10 minutes later, someone from the venue approached him and asked him to follow her.
"I followed her," Ghanim told FOX 2. "I thought they are changing my seat or doing something."
The venue was not changing his seat. Instead, the woman led Ghanim to the theater lobby, where members of the Royal Oak Police Department and U.S. Secret Service were standing. The group of officials then asked him to leave the premises or risk detention in the back of a cop car.
Ghanim filmed his conversation with venue staff and members of law enforcement. According to the footage he captured, one officer said, "I'm not kicking you out. The venue's kicked you out."
When Ghanim pressed further, demanding to know why they were removing him, a woman stated, "Unfortunately, this is no longer a conversation."
"This is my city," Ghanim explained to WXYZ. "So if this happens to me in my city where I should feel safe ... how do you think that is going to make me feel other than being an outcast?"
When FOX 2 asked whether he believed his Muslim faith played a role in the incident, Ghanim replied, "I think so."
"They kicked me out without providing [a reason]," he told the Detroit News. "I didn't have anything. There is no provocation. I didn't even have any, like, a Palestinian kaffiyeh, any signs, or a banner, nothing. None of that is allowed inside."
A spokesperson from ROPD confirmed to WXYZ that a representative from the theater issued the order to remove Ghanim. Secret Service confirmed to the outlet that none of the attendees, including Ghanim, were considered a security threat.
The Harris campaign, likely recognizing that someone had bungled the situation, immediately issued an apology.
"Our campaign regrets this action and its impact on Dr. Ghanim and the community, and he is welcome at future events," Naomi Savin, deputy communications director for the Harris team in Michigan, told FOX 2. "We value our relationship with the Muslim American community."
'If you were kicked out of her campaign, would you vote for her?'
Thus far, that apology has apparently done little to quell the anger in the Muslim community, which is still frustrated with the response from the Biden-Harris administration to the war in Gaza. Some feel affronted that no one spoke on behalf of Palestinians on the main stage at the Democratic convention in August.
"We have seen this repeated pattern of disregard and disrespect towards Muslim and Arab Americans unfold before," said Rex Nazarko, of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network, according to FOX 2.
Basim Elkarra, the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in another state, called for an investigation into the incident in Royal Oak.
In addition to his work in health care management, Dr. Ghanim also recently attempted to oust Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the 2024 Democratic primary. Stevens won overwhelmingly with 74% of the vote.
Ghanim, described by the Detroit News as a Democratic "activist," now says he will likely not vote for Harris in the 2024 presidential election. "If you were kicked out of her campaign, would you vote for her?" he asked FOX 2 rhetorically.
"I guess that’s how the Democratic Party deals with Muslims. They’re not important to them. ... Maybe the Democratic Party doesn't want people like me and my kind in the party," he added to the Detroit News.
Amer Ghalib, a fellow Muslim and the Democrat mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, has already endorsed former President Donald Trump, calling him "the right choice for this critical time."
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Lizzo embraces Trump's warning that Kamala Harris will leave country looking like Detroit
Lizzo elicited criticism over the weekend for embracing President Donald Trump's warning that Kamala Harris would leave the whole country looking like Detroit — and suggesting that such an outcome would be optimal.
The rapper, whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, informed her supporters prior to taking a private jet to stump for the Green New Deal advocate, "This is how a bad b**** saves democracy."
Jefferson, who now lives nearly 2,000 miles away in a $15 million California mansion, later told a crowd of Democrats in Detroit, where the median listing price for a home is $95,000, "I'm so proud to be from this city. You know, they say if Kamala wins, then the whole country will be like Detroit. OK."
The Democratic crowd cheered at the prospect that Harris might transform the rest of the country to resemble a crime-ridden city that filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
Detroit, a city that has seen its population shrink from over 1.8 million in the 1950s to just over 633,000 last year, scores a 1 on Neighborhood Scout's crime index, where 100 is safest. The chances of falling prey to a violent crime in the city are 1 in 49. The chances of becoming a victim of a property crime are 1 in 22.
According to official city figures, there were 252 homicides, 804 nonfatal shootings, 10,427 aggravated assaults, 669 rapes, 167 carjackings, 9,421 reported motor vehicle thefts, 4,821 burglaries, 15,681 larceny offenses, and 1,392 robberies in the city last year.
WalletHub once again ranked Detroit — where the unemployment rate is over twice the national average at 8.8% — as the neediest of 182 cities in the country. The median household income in the city last year was less than half of the national figure of $80,610.
Jefferson continued, saying, "Proud like Detroit. Resilient like Detroit. We're talking about the same Detroit that innovated the auto industry and the music industry. So put some respect on Detroit's name, okay?"
'They actually want Trump to win.'
Jefferson was referring to President Donald Trump's Oct. 10 speech at the Detroit Economic Club, where he said, "Our whole country will end up like Detroit if she's your president. You're going to have a mess on your hands. She destroyed San Francisco. She destroyed, along with Newscum, California, and we're not going to let her do that to this country. We're not going to let it happen."
The Harris campaign and liberal media were keen at the time to ignore the context of Trump's remarks, namely that he was criticizing the hollowing out of America's manufacturing base.
Trump went onto say, "I am telling you right now, standing here in the center of this once-great city, that by the end of my term, the entire world will be talking about the Michigan miracle and the stunning rebirth of Detroit."
Victoria LaCivita, Trump's Michigan communications director, clarified in a statement obtained by CNN that Trump was highlighting how the city has "suffered from globalist policies championed by Kamala Harris that have shipped manufacturing overseas."
"As President Trump emphasized in his speech, his policies will usher in a new era of economic success and stability for Detroit, helping the city reach its fullest potential," added LaCivita.
Critics seized upon Jefferson's remarks, sharing images of abandoned houses in Detroit, staggering statistics about the city's crime, and damning figures regarding the education system.
BlazeTV's Pat Gray said, "Are you serious? What a stupid thing to say. I mean, even if you're proud of your town, you know the rest of the country thinks it's a hellhole, right?"
Conservative commentor Trish Regan noted, "#Lizzo says US 'becoming Detroit' is a good thing. *30% of Detroit lives BELOW poverty line. *Detroit=DOUBLE DIGIT unemployment. *Detroit=one of the highest crime rates in the country. America cannot be #Detroit. USA wants more than @lizzo & Kamala can ever imagine."
David Scott, the musician known as the Kiffness, responded, "I'm from South Africa, (one of the highest crime rates in the world) & I've never been robbed on tour. I was in Detroit last year & our tour van was robbed TWICE in one night."
Comedian David Angelo shared the video with the caption, "My theory has been that Democrats know everything is about to collapse and they actually want Trump to win."
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