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GOP lawmakers urge MHSAA to ban transgender girls from female sports teams in Michigan

LANSING — Republican lawmakers in Michigan this week called on the Michigan High School Athletic Association to adopt policies that comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order to no longer allow athletes who are trangender girls on female sports teams. State Sen. Joseph Bellino (R-Monroe) proudly held up his daughter’s 1st Place Big Ten medal in track and field at a news conference on Thursday rattling off the bouquet of athletic awards his family has across three daughters, saying that had his daughters had had to compete against “biological male” participants, his ...

US auto industry could be collateral damage in trade wars

DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump’s trade wars threaten to claim a casualty on the home front: the American auto industry. If the president goes ahead with 25% taxes on imports from Canada and Mexico on Tuesday, he will disrupt more than $300 billion in annual U.S. automotive trade with its two neighbors, wreck supply chains that have been operating for decades and likely push up the already-forbidding price of new cars. The tariffs pose an “existential’’ threat to North American auto production, said David Gantz, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for ...

Whitmer’s State of the State gets praise, criticism

LANSING — As Gov. Gretchen Whitmer promised to reach across the aisle in her seventh State of the State speech top Democrats and Republicans both found the governor’s 2025 agenda to be a mixed bag. Funding for road repairs has been a top issue for Michigan Republicans, with Whitmer issuing her own proposal earlier this month. Though the governor called for a compromise between her roads proposal and the one issued by House Republicans, Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) and House Appropriations Committee Chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton Township) contested the ...

Detroit mayor says deaths of 2 kids in cold can’t ‘happen again,’ orders more outreach

DETROIT (AP) — City outreach staff will visit families who call to report an imminent loss of housing, one of many steps after two Detroit children recently died in a van in below-freezing temperatures, the mayor said Thursday. “This cannot ever happen again,” Mayor Mike Duggan said. The mother of Darnell Currie Jr., 9, and A’millah Currie, 2, had called the city on Nov. 25 to say their temporary housing was about to end, but no one followed up and she didn’t call back, Duggan said. Homeless outreach teams, meanwhile, were not looking in cars for people who needed ...

Veterinarian faces theft charge after refusing to return homeless man’s dog

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan veterinarian who said she rescued a distressed dog that was tied to a truck is facing a theft charge after failing to return him to a homeless man. Amanda Hergenreder took the dog on a two-hour drive to her clinic, where she performed procedures to relieve a severe urinary tract infection and remove a rotten tooth. She named him Biggby and says the 16-year-old pit bull mix is thriving nearly four months later. But the Kent County prosecutor said Biggby belongs to Chris Hamilton, who lately lacks a permanent home in the Grand Rapids area and ...

Hertel elected to lead Michigan Democrats into crucial 2026 midterms

LANSING — Michigan Democrats elected former state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing) to lead their party as efforts begin to rebuild after President Donald Trump won the state in 2024. Hertel, who succeeds Lavora Barnes after she declined to seek another term as chair, was elected by voice vote Saturday at the party’s convention in Detroit following the decision by Al Williams, his only opponent, to drop out. The MIGOP held their convention a few blocks away, where they elected state Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) in an upset victory over Trump-endorsed candidate Meshawn ...