Michigan Advance
2024 Michigan Press Association's News Media Publication of the Year. Hard-hitting reporting on politics and policy. Part of the nonprofit @statesnewsroom.com.
- Michigan Advance Trivia: What was the name of the soccer team that played at the Pontiac Silverdome from 1979 to 1981? Check back later for the answer.
- Members of the Michigan Nurses Association gathered Wednesday at the state Capitol to honor the life of Alex Pretti, who was killed by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis last month. Pretti was an ICU nurse. Photos by @bensolis1.bsky.social
- As Michigan’s GOP representatives square off against Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, sowing doubt about the state’s elections, several top Democrats are rebuffing President Trump’s suggestion to place federal officials in charge of state elections. Story from @kdavidsonjrn.bsky.social
- Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall is sticking by his terms of negotiation to restore a portion of the $645 million in canceled work project funds, calling on Gov. Whitmer’s administration to “give us a list” of items covered by funds that were not legally committed. From @kdavidsonjrn.bsky.social
- A return to normalcy in politics is possible, but how we consume news & social media has to change. That was the message in a forum held Wednesday in Lansing, featuring four former Michigan governors — Rick Snyder, Jennifer Granholm, John Engler and Jim Blanchard. Story from @bensolis1.bsky.social
- Hundreds of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School students walked out of class in solidarity, speaking out against the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a nationwide protest. michiganadvance.com/briefs/hundr... Story by Martin Slagter
- Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office is launching an online form to track federal immigration actions in Michigan, she announced Wednesday during a Detroit roundtable with law enforcement officials, immigrants rights advocates & faith leaders from around the state. Story by @kdailey.bsky.social
- WASHINGTON — DOJ attorneys say a final decision will be made by May as to what kind of death penalty charges could be pursued for the suspect accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members in the nation’s capital, killing one and seriously wounding the other.
- New ice cover data offers insight into whitefish declines, climate change From @iprnews.bsky.social and @grist.org michiganadvance.com/2026/02/04/n...
- President Donald Trump repeated his ongoing lie about winning the 2020 election while restating a call Tuesday for federal control over election administration across the country, undermining the structure outlined in the Constitution that empowers states to run elections.
- Of Michigan’s 2026 gubernatorial candidates, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, raised the most money — just under $1 million — in the last two months of 2025, while former AG Mike Cox, a Republican, finished with the most cash on hand, over $4.1 million. From @kdailey.bsky.social
- Family of Renee Good, citizens hurt by DHS detail violence to Democratic panel michiganadvance.com/2026/02/04/r...
- Chedrick Greene and Jason Tunney won the Democratic and Republican nominations, respectively, in the primary for the special election in Michigan’s 35th State Senate district on Tuesday night. Story from @kdailey.bsky.social
- Michigan Advance Trivia: Father Charles Coughlin gained a national radio audience in the 1930s with antisemitic and pro-fascist rhetoric during broadcasts from what Royal Oak-based church? Check back later for the answer.
- First Amendment free speech rights debated in Sen. Mark Kelly’s illegal orders case michiganadvance.com/2026/02/04/r...
- Glenn Maleyko, Michigan’s new state superintendent for public instruction, made his rounds to introduce himself before a key House appropriations subcommittee to discuss where his priorities for the Department of Education may gel with the lower chamber’s own goals. From @bensolis1.bsky.social
- US House sends funding bill to Trump, setting up immigration enforcement debate michiganadvance.com/2026/02/03/r...
- WASHINGTON — Dozens of U.S. House Democrats and leaders of several caucuses rallied on a chilly Tuesday morning outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in the nation’s capital, demanding the resignation, firing or impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
- Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) introduced legislation to prohibit law enforcement from making stops, detentions or arrests based on personal characteristics as well as prevent officers from entering locations without a judicial warrant. From @kdailey.bsky.social
- Benson, Duggan, Cox and Swanson to appear at gubernatorial education forum in Detroit on Friday michiganadvance.com/briefs/benso... Story from @kdailey.bsky.social
- Adam Hollier, who once served in the Michigan Senate representing Detroit, is exiting the race for secretary of state and announced his plan to try and rejoin the upper chamber of the Legislature. Story from @bensolis1.bsky.social
- The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has revoked a request for proposals which would have overhauled management of the state’s behavioral health system. Story from @kdavidsonjrn.bsky.social
- The AFL-CIO, which hails its Michigan branch as one of its mightiest with more than 1 million members, is endorsing Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist in his hunt for secretary of state and Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald in her bid for attorney general. From @bensolis1.bsky.social
- As school cellphone bans gain in popularity, lawmakers say it’s time to go bell-to-bell michiganadvance.com/2026/02/03/r... From @stateline.org
- Democracy is in danger — and civility alone won’t save it. In this commentary, Michigan’s former school superintendent Tom Watkins issue a blunt challenge to the state’s four living ex-governors: confront the democratic crisis head-on or risk losing it. The moment demands courage, not platitudes.
- The main players in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race filed their year-end campaign finance reports over the weekend, showing Republican Mike Rogers’ and Democrat Haley Stevens’ prowess in fundraising as the two candidates lead the race in donations to their campaigns. From @bensolis1.bsky.social
- WASHINGTON — A federal judge late Monday blocked the termination of temporary protections for roughly 350,000 Haitians from taking effect, a move that prevents the Trump administration from acting to deport them as litigation continues.
- Michigan Advance Trivia: The first Meijer Thrift Market, a corner grocery store, opened in 1934 in what Michigan city? Check back later for the answer.
- WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that body cameras would be given to federal immigration agents across the country, starting in Minneapolis, where two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by agents in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
- WASHINGTON — The U.S. House is expected to vote as soon as Tuesday on the government funding package that will end the ongoing partial government shutdown once it becomes law.
- WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education exhausted millions in taxpayer dollars trying to eliminate a chunk of its Office for Civil Rights, a government watchdog found in a report released Monday.
- Washtenaw County Commissioner and Democratic Socialists of America member Yousef Rabhi will mount a challenge from the left for Ann Arbor mayor against Democratic incumbent Chris Taylor.
- Michigan Dems say independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan is “full of sh*t” after he claimed education funding bills were held up by Democrats during their trifecta as they were seeking to pass legislation to allow trans students to play on girls’ sports teams. From @kdailey.bsky.social
- WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday closed the lawsuit Planned Parenthood filed last summer after Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law blocked Medicaid patients from visiting its clinics for any health care appointments for one year. From @jennifershutt.bsky.social
- WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked a Trump administration policy that prevented members of Congress from making unannounced oversight visits at facilities that hold immigrants.
- States that were leaders in childhood vaccination before the pandemic are among those losing ground as exemptions and unfounded skepticism take hold, encouraged by the Trump administration’s stance under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. From @stateline.org
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- Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks endorses Mallory McMorrow in U.S. Senate bid michiganadvance.com/briefs/michi... From @bensolis1.bsky.social
- This is the first in a series of articles by Michigan Advance celebrating Black History Month. On Feb. 7, the leading Black history celebration effort will turn 100 years old, and as Ken Coleman and his son, Jackson Coleman, write, Michigan played an important role in advancing it.
- Michigan Advance Trivia: What nearly 40-year Michigan political legacy began after a pair of special state legislative elections on Jan. 31, 1984? Check back later for the answer.
- The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records viewed by @propublica.org as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
- The Michigan Democratic Party has been formally approved to make its case to the national party on why it should receive one of the coveted early nominating contests in the 2028 presidential primary calendar, setting up a regional contest with other states including Iowa and Illinois.
- Anger over President Trump’s policies on immigration hit home during a worship service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. “What we deeply need are pathways for effective resistance. However, the path of nonviolent resistance is not the path of acceptance,” said the Rev. Jarad Cramer.
- “The fear is turned up as high as it can go in the community,” said Marjory Wentworth, a poet and member of the faith-based coalition G92, which formed last year to support Springfield’s Haitian community. From @19thnews.org
- Recent high-profile child abuse deaths in several states have led to renewed calls from lawmakers warning that some abusers claim they are homeschooling their kids when they really want to hide their crimes from teachers and other so-called mandatory reporters in public schools. From @stateline.org
- One recent night a make-shift rock band blared covers of “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine and “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister at three area hotels believed to be housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers. From the @minnesotareformer.com
- Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) formally endorses state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) for U.S. Senate.
- Former FBI special agent Luke William Hunt from the University of Alabama’s Institute for Humane Studies says the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti illustrate how some federal agents are engaging with the public in a way that undermines established principles of policing and constitutional law.
