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Michigan Democrats look toward a future that some hope includes Pete Buttigieg

MONROE — In a packed union hall outside Detroit, a worker shifts the conversation from policy to the personal, quizzing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on his knowledge of Michigan, the state he only recently started calling home. “Mayor Pete — Secretary Pete, I apologize,” one auto worker yelled from the crowd. “Now that you’re a Michigander, who do the Lions play Sunday?” Caught off guard, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, couldn’t provide an answer. Familiarity with the schedule of Detroit’s long-suffering but recently soaring football team isn’t ...

Stellantis brings back Kuniskis to run Ram brand after ouster of CEO Carlos Tavares

DETROIT (AP) — Troubled automaker Stellantis has decided that its Ram brand needs its own executive, so the company is bringing back an executive who retired this year when CEO Carlos Tavares was running the company. Tim Kuniskis, who served as the unofficial spokesman for the American muscle car, is taking over as CEO of Ram effective immediately, company spokeswoman Shawn Morgan said Monday. The return of Kuniskis is part of several management moves by the struggling company designed to bolster its North American leadership. Sales of Ram pickups, the company’s top selling and ...

Michigan high school choir belts out holiday tunes from a towering Christmas tree

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan community is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its beloved singing Christmas tree. The Mona Shores Singing Christmas Tree, which features a 180-student high school choir and stands 15 rows tall, belted out 19 holiday tunes at a Muskegon theater this week and was set to perform two more shows on Saturday. The 67-foot-tall (20-meter-tall) tree is adorned with 25,000 LED lights and loads of greenery. “The Singing Christmas Tree is 100% a spectacle,” said Shawn Lawton, who has directed the Mona Shores High School Choir and overseen the ...

Michigan court upholds light sentence for woman who killed dad in dispute over ride

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Court of Appeals declined to overturn a light jail sentence for a young woman who killed her father by burning him with a dangerous powder when he couldn’t drive her to a hair appointment before her 18th birthday party. Megan Imirowicz, now 21, was sentenced to a year in jail in 2023. She was immediately released because she had already spent roughly 17 months in custody before trial and while awaiting her punishment. Sentencing guidelines called for a minimum term of slightly more than four years in prison. But Oakland County Judge Victoria Valentine ...

Judge again rejects Musk’s multi-billion-dollar Tesla pay package

DETROIT (AP) — For a second time, a Delaware judge has nullified a pay package that Tesla had awarded its CEO, Elon Musk, that once was valued at $56 billion. On Monday, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick turned aside a request from Musk’s lawyers to reverse a ruling she announced in January that had thrown out the compensation plan. The judge ruled then that Musk effectively controlled Tesla’s board and had engineered the outsize pay package during sham negotiations. Lawyers for a Tesla shareholder who sued to block the pay package contended that shareholders who had ...

Detroit-area police officer charged with manslaughter in crash that killed 2 men

DETROIT (AP) — A suburban Detroit police officer whose patrol car smashed into another vehicle, killing two men, was charged Friday with manslaughter. Charges against Warren Officer James Burke were filed nearly two months after the 5 a.m. crash. “Our thoughts remain with those whose lives were impacted by this tragic crash,” Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham said. “We hope the conclusion of this investigation begins to bring a sense of closure and healing as they continue to navigate this difficult time.” Burke, 28, was driving southbound at a “high rate of ...