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DETROIT (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday after jurors failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a Detroit police officer who fatally shot a 7-year-old girl during a chaotic search for a murder suspect that was recorded by a reality TV crew. Loud voices could be heard in the jury room a few hours before jurors threw in the towel and were dismissed. They sent three notes, the last one indicating they still couldn't reach a unanimous verdict on the third day of deliberations, despite encouragement from Wayne County Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway. Joseph Weekley, a...

OAKLAND TWP. (WWJ) - Federal agents searching for the body of former Teamsters chief Jimmy Hoffa believe they are about to crack one of America’s biggest unsolved mysteries. CBS News has confirmed a suspicious concrete slab was retrieved by investigators from the Oakland Township field where they have been digging for any sign of Hoffa. It’s too soon, however, to know whether the slab is anything more than part of an old foundation for a barn. The dig — the latest in what’s been nearly a 40-year search — is reportedly the result of extensive FBI interviews with former mobster...

The FBI saw enough merit in a reputed Mafia captain’s tip to once again break out the digging equipment in search of the elusive remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, last seen alive when he left for lunch with two mobsters 38 years ago. Federal agents brought excavation equipment Monday to a field in suburban Detroit where Tony Zerilli said Hoffa’s remains were buried. Zerilli, 85, told Detroit television station WDIV in February that he knew the location of the remains. …

In Detroit, bankruptcy lawyer turned city manager Kevyn Orr is playing hardball while preparing the city for a likely Chapter 9 bankruptcy. He’d like the various stakeholders to negotiate a “pre-packaged” bankruptcy in order to avoid a drawn-out and extremely costly legal battle, but reaching agreement could be incredibly tough, as Reuters points out: [G]etting everyone on board for a pre-packaged plan is easier said than done, said Douglas Bernstein, a bankruptcy attorney at Plunkett Cooney in the Detroit area.“When it comes to a pre-packaged plan, the big question is whether he (Orr) would have enough acceptance going into court,”...

<p>Investigators plan to dig up an Oakland County field Monday in hopes of discovering the remains of Jimmy Hoffa, an FBI spokesperson confirms to FOX 2.</p> <p>Monday's dig comes after aging mobster Tony Zerilli said earlier this year that Hoffa's body was buried in the northern Oakland Township field, about 20 miles north of the restaurant where he was last seen in July 1975.</p>

If ever there was a region where incumbent Republican governors can experience the great GOP gubernatorial apocalypse, it is the upper Midwest. Three of the races involve Republican incumbents who rode the Republican wave of 2010 into office. They are Rick Snyder in Michigan, John Kasich in Ohio and Scott Walker in Wisconsin. That potential loss of three Governor’s offices may be mitigated by a Pat Quinn Democratic loss in Illinois. The problem is that Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin are less red than Illinois is certainly blue.

A team led by a state-appointed emergency manager said Friday that Detroit is defaulting on about $2.5 billion in unsecured debt and is asking creditors to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what the city owes them. Kevyn Orr spent two hours with about 180 bond insurers, pension trustees, union representatives and other creditors in a move to avoid what bankruptcy experts have said would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Underfunded pension claims likely would get less than the 10 cents on the dollar. An assessment of the plan's progress will come in the next...

Last month, Ed Morrisey gave us the rundown on the financial status of the Motor City. The prognosis wasn’t good, what with Detroit having billions more in outstanding bills than it could possibly generate in revenue. If anything, that doom and gloom outlook might have still been a bit on the rosy side, as the city’s emergency manager has essentially just told its creditors to pound sand. A team led by a state-appointed emergency manager said Friday that Detroit is defaulting on about $2.5 billion in unsecured debt and is asking creditors to take about 10 cents on the dollar...

And so the next casualty of the inevitable municipal collapse appears, which is, as expected, that one-time symbol of all that was right with a (once upon a time) manufacturing America, having since been replaced with the anti-symbol of all that is broken: Detroit. DETROIT BEGINS MORATORIUM ON ALL DEBT SERVICE PAYMENTS FOR UNSECURED FUNDED DEBT DETROIT TO DEFAULT ON CERTIFICATES OF PARTICIPATION DUE TODAY And, true to from in the New Normal America, where the "fairness doctrine" rules supreme under Big Brother's watchful eye, the premise of the upcoming glorious recovery is a well-known one: "the shared-sacrifice." To wit:...

The Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is pressuring public schools in this country to make special accommodations for Muslim students and to deny comparable accommodations for students of other faiths. For example, CAIR’s instructional material for teachers entitled “An Educator’s Guide to Islamic Religious Practices” advises schools to permit Muslim students who wish to attend Friday congregational worship (known as Jum’ah) to “request a temporary release from school.” In Michigan, CAIR went beyond dispensing general advice from its guidebook. In April, 2013, it pushed for public schools in Dearborn, Michigan to accommodate Muslim students who wish to comfortably...

Ingredients are coming together across parts of the Midwest and Ohio Valley that could potentially trigger a derecho on Wednesday into Wednesday night. While it isn't exactly a certainty whether or not a derecho will form, some of the cities and towns most at risk include Chicago, Ill.; Columbus, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Aurora, Ill.; Dayton, Ohio and Davenport, Iowa, to name a few. Strictly speaking, a derecho is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. These showers and thunderstorms produce wind damage over a large swath of land. While...

University of Chicago (UC) administrators permanently removed pews from an 88-year old chapel on campus in order to accommodate Islamic prayers, according to a local news report. Chicago NPR affiliate, WBEZ news, reported on May 23, the pews, which are now part of display at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago, were “removed in order to provide Muslim students a place to pray.” Literature describing the artwork that was created by UC Director of Arts and Public Life Theaster Gates, also describes the removal of the pews as symbol of religious tolerance. “The pews were recently removed from the...

DETROIT — New numbers from Public Policy Polling show Rand Paul has a slight edge over a crowded field of Republican contenders in very early numbers for the 2016 primary. The poll showed 18 percent of primary voters in Michigan say he would be their first choice for 2016, followed by Jeb Bush at 16 percent, Chris Christie at 15 percent, Paul Ryan at 12 percent, Marco Rubio at 11 percent, Ted Cruz at 7 percent, Rick Santorum at 6 percent, Bobby Jindal at 4 percent, and Susana Martinez with less than 1 percent. On the Democratic side, recent polls...

Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday had harsh words for the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald revealing last week that the National Security Agency is looking at phone records of virtually all Americans. Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Rogers said, “I know your reporter that you interviewed, Greenwald, says that he’s got it all and now is an expert on the program. He doesn't have a clue how this thing works” (video follows with transcript): Congressman Rogers on NSA Phone Surveillance: ‘Greenwald Doesn’t Have a Clue How This Thing Works’ GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, we're just about...

The June 2, 2013 edition of Operation Freedom, a radio program hosted by Dr. David Janda and broadcast by WAAM radio in Ann Arbor, MI, featured a 25-minute interview with Dr. Jim Garrow. Dr. Garrow was a 2009 Nobel Prize nominee, runs over 250 English-language schools in China, and reportedly has rescued over forty-thousand baby girls from China through international adoption. You might recall that Dr. Garrow made news in January 2013 when he first stated publicly that a well-known retired US military leader had alerted him that President Obama was asking military leaders if they would help confiscate the...

The Illinois pension saga just keeps getting worse. In response to the state legislature’s failure to pass a pension reform bill before adjourning, Fitch downgraded Illinois’s bonds from A to A- earlier this week. On Thursday Moody’s joined the party, lowering the state’s rating from A2 to A3. S&P is now the only agency not to have downgraded the state, but it is issuing its own dire warnings. As Reuters notes, Illinois now has the lowest credit rating of any state in the country even without the S&P downgrade, and the worst rating in its history. The higher borrowing costs...

The party has an outside chance of winning the five or six seats it needs to retake control, but needs to find top-tier recruits in several states and is running out of time to do so. ....Here are five states where the party needs to land strong candidates to broaden the battleground and have a hope of winning back the Senate. Michigan Iowa Montana Arkansas New Hampshire

The Motor City shows that the era of big government, big labor, and big business is long gone.Detroit, once one of the nation’s most vibrant cities, faces imminent bankruptcy. That’s the headline from the report last month of emergency fiscal manager Kevyn Orr, issued 45 days after he was appointed this spring by Michigan governor Rick Snyder to take over the city’s government. “The path Detroit has followed for more than 40 years is unsustainable,” Orr said. “And only a complete restructuring of the city’s finances and operations will allow Detroit to regain its footing and return to a path...

DETROIT (WJBK) - An FBI agent almost shot a Detroit cop on Wednesday at a gas station while filling up. It wasn't the agent or the cop's fault. It was the cop's bosses, who came up with the lame brain idea to simulate a purse snatching and then invite a TV crew to film your reaction Detroit. The immediate supervisor of these cops had no idea this was happening until they called him. "The event takes place. The officer takes the purse, runs around the gas station. As he's running, an off-duty FBI agent is pumping gas. He witnesses the...

How is the radical Council on American-Islamic Relations bending public school policy to its will? Two stories from Michigan tell the tale. From a CAIR press release: The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) said today that a Detroit-area school district has apologized for handing out permission slips for Bible study classes to elementary school students. CAIR-MI sent a letter to Roseville Public Schools after receiving a complaint from two parents of children who attend Huron Park Elementary School about distribution by teachers of permission slips for the Bible classes at a local Baptist church. CAIR Executive...

INDIANAPOLIS – Common Core hasn’t been fully implemented yet, but it’s already making it easier for teachers to inject their political preferences into their lesson plans. That’s the case in Indianapolis’ Cathedral High School, where English teacher Melinda Bundy ... “I didn’t want to teach the Constitution, I didn’t want to teach the Declaration of Independence,” ... teachers who use their classrooms to promote (usually) left-wing political causes. But under Common Core, those activist teachers will be able to excuse their behavior by simply saying, “Common Core made me do it.” Indiana lawmakers have prudently hit the “pause” button on...

In February, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights cited 35 Michigan school districts for discrimination, saying their American Indian mascots reinforce stereotypes and hurt Native American students' self-esteem and learning. But the U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights has denied the state's complaint, according to the Associated Press. Federal officials say Michigan officials provided no specific examples of racial incidents or American Indian students suffering specific harm because of the reported discrimination. The state civil rights department said June 3 that it's disappointed by the ruling and is considering its options. Michigan's Republican lawmakers are pleased with the decision,...

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Is 57 years too long? Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) entered the House in December 1955. Out of the current 434 House members, 211 - nearly half - weren't born when Rep. John Dingell took office in December 1955. The Michigan Democrat is about to become the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history. Roll Call reports that congressional leaders plan to honor Dingell, 86, for the longevity record. The celebration is set to take place June 13 in the Capitol's Statuary Hall. On June 7, Dingell will have served for 57 years, five months and 26 days, surpassing the service...

The American woman who was shot dead in Syria accused of being an Al Qaeda supporter married a Muslim man in a sham wedding for which she was paid cash and a van .. Nicole Mansfield entered in a 'deal' with Ayman Mohammed Bafil under which they would stay together until he got a green card. The pair met online, never lived together and did not even consummate their marriage - but after his papers came through he paid her what he owed. ... it was a marriage of convenience. He got his green card and she got a van....

The family of a 33-year-old Michigan woman says the FBI had confirmed that she was killed in fighting in Syria. She's identified as Nicole Lynn Mansfield of Flint. David Speelman of Flint says he is Mansfield's cousin. He told The Associated Press that FBI agents visited family members Thursday and informed them of her death.

Syrian state-run television reported Thursday that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed three Westerners, including an American woman and a British citizen, who they claim were fighting with the rebels and were found with weapons and maps of government military facilities. Syrian TV identified the woman, releasing what it claimed were images of her Michigan driver's license and U.S. passport. It also released what is said was the name and passport of a British citizen. It did not identify a third person who it claimed was a Westerner.

LANSING, MI -- It's official: Former Congressman Mark Schauer is running for Michigan governor. The Battle Creek Democrat announced his candidacy online Tuesday and filed paperwork with the Michigan Secretary of State establishing a candidate committee, Mark Schauer for Governor, which will allow him to begin raising funds as he seeks the party nomination in 2014. He's the first Democrat to declare for the race and is the clear party favorite to challenge first-term Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who has not yet confirmed his own re-election plans but is widely expected to run. "We need a governor who will protect...

The language of budget cuts, austerity, and sequestration seem to dominate the media's landscape these days, instilling fear into Americans of vital government services being cut and chaos ensuing if governments aren't allowed to spend and borrow infinitely. Conservatives decry supposed cuts to the military-industrial-complex, and liberals bemoan that without government welfare transfer programs, there would be social Darwinism. ... Leaving aside the details on whether the U.S. budget is actually shrinking, one needs to look no further than the city of Detroit to find the spontaneous order, civic cooperation, and peaceful market forces that take over when government simply...

We have truly entered the world of "Alice in Wonderland" when the CEO of a company that pays $16 million a day in taxes is hauled up before a Congressional subcommittee to be denounced on nationwide television for not paying more. Apple CEO Tim Cook was denounced for contributing to "a worrisome federal deficit," according to Senator Carl Levin — one of the big-spending liberals in Congress who has had a lot more to do with creating that deficit than any private citizen has. Because of "gimmicks" used by businesses to reduce their taxes, Senator Levin said, "children across the...

President Obama’s lecturecommencement speech to the Naval Academy graduates on Friday left behind such a poor and lingering aftertaste, I thought this commencement speech from Sen. Ted Cruz to the graduates of Hillsdale might make a nice sort of belated palate cleanser. Sen. Cruz’s message was all about the inherent virtues of freedom, the American meritocracy, and the accompanying economic mobility, in which people’s rises and falls are directly related to their “talent, passion, perseverance, and willingness to fight for the American dream.� The best part about it all, of course, is that by pursuing and developing your own unique...

DEARBORN-Police in Dearborn are trying to understand why a pressure cooker was left in the restroom of the Adoba Hotel, forcing the evacuation of guests until the early morning hours. The evacuation also canceled Sunday night’s banquet of the University of Muslim Association of America. Asgar Zaidi of Washington D.C. has been attending the organization’s conference for the past 11 years. He says it’s the first time it’s ever been held in Dearborn. “We all look forward to this time of year, Memorial Day weekend … we have fun, we learn and it’s just disheartening to see this type of...

A team of U.S. wreck hunters, backed by the governments of France and Michigan, has revealed plans to dive next month to a site on the bottom of Lake Michigan, where one of the most important ships in Canadian history — the 17th-century barque Griffon — is believed to be lying in a tomb of sand awaiting conclusive identification. The first sailing ship on the Great Lakes, the Griffon was built in 1679 near present-day Niagara Falls, Ont., by the famed French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, and symbolized the ambitions of New France to construct and control...

DETROIT (WWJ) - Police say one person was killed when gunfire erupted outside of a gas station on Detroit’s west side. The shooting happened around 2 a.m. Thursday at a Citgo gas station near Linwood and Davison.A man was filling his tires with air when someone approached and tried to rob him at gunpoint, according to reports. The man pulled out a gun to defend himself and a shootout occurred. Both ended up firing at each other, with the victim chasing the suspect away from the gas station.Police say the suspect’s body was found in an alleyway across the street from the gas station....

Clothes litter the parking lot where four people were shot during a pre-prom gathering for Saginaw High School near the Florence Event Hall, 110 Florence in Saginaw, Thursday, May 23, 2013. A 17-year-old girl died. Three other women, ages 18, 19 and 39 were injured during the shooting and were receiving treatment at a local hospital.

The city of Detroit may be facing a deepening financial crisis but that hasn't stopped four trustees of its public pension funds from spending $22,000 of retirement system funds to attend a conference in Hawaii this week. One well-attended session covered how to avoid front-page scandals. According to presenter Lydia Lee, a pension attorney from Oklahoma, the session touched on a topic familiar back in Detroit: The indictment this spring of two former city pension officials for an alleged $200 million bribery and kickback scheme, in a case that will come to trial next March.

Michigan’s local governments would have the option to put cameras at intersections to spot drivers running red lights under proposed legislation in the state House. A measure recently introduced by Republican Rep. Wayne Schmidt of Traverse City would give local communities the power to put cameras in place. “This legislation will give more local control to our municipalities while offering a safer environment for the people who live in these communities,” he said in a statement. The bill has gained the support of local law enforcement officials, who say the cameras will act as an extra deterrent to prevent drivers...

YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) -- Three members of a Michigan city council have abstained from voting on a measure that would have prevented them from abstaining on future votes.

Detroit, Michigan – -(Ammoland.com)- This past Saturday, May 18th, 2013, approximately 50 gun rights activists attended a “Guns for Groceries” event to stage a demonstration of their own against the Wayne County (MI) government. The Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and the Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon teamed up with a local church (The New St. Paul Tabernacle Church of God in Christ), the Meijer’s grocery store chain, and the Goodman-Acker law firm to entice citizens to turn in their guns on a “no questions asked” basis.All month long commercials were being ran over the airwaves seeking to convince Detroit...

Is Motor City getting its mojo back? After years of losing loyal customers frustrated by quality and reliability problems, domestic automakers are showing a new-found focus on customer service that is winning back skeptics – boosting sales, market share and profits.

The White House may invoke it in its peculiar way, but its occupants only show contempt for the rule of law. Last Thursday, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) started a Twitter prairie fire with his call for people to describe #ObamacareInThreeWords. (My contribution was “Sorry, Doctor retired.”) Other gems included “Max Baucus regrets,” “A massive failure,” “Rammed down throats” and the extremely uncomfortable proof of Godwin’s Law, “Arbeit. Macht. Frei.” Liberal participation brought “Win for kids,” “Republicans suck balls,” “Republicans hate me”... --snip-- House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) hit the nail on the head in his opening...

Looks like yet another left-winger missed the meme on the New Civility. Attorney and "Ring of Fire" radio show co-host Mike Papantonio, guest-hosting on Ed Schultz's radio program yesterday, revealed two things -- he hates old people and wants tea party retirees to hurry up and die. Don't take my word for it, listen to Papantonio's remarks after a caller said he saw "one of these baggers" push a woman during dueling protests over the weekend in Madison, Wisc.

Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love has declared she wants another shot at the congressional seat occupied by Democrat Jim Matheson. The announcement that she wanted a rematch came during an afternoon speech Saturday to several thousand delegates at the Utah Republican Party’s annual organizing convention. “You and I have some unfinished business with Jim Matheson,” Love said during her speech, which was met with loud cheers and resounding applause.

DETROIT (WWJ) – At least 200 guns are off the streets of Detroit Saturday afternoon following a gun buy back program at a church on the city’s west side. There were two efforts underway at the New St. Paul Tabernacle Church.Wayne County and Goodman Acker both offered $50 Meijer Gift Cards for each unloaded gun, while gun-advocates like Rick Ector offered more in cash.“I refer to them as LEFTs (Law Enforcement Firearms Transfers) they are misleading to the general public because they send a message that they are actually going to do something that’s going to affect the crime rate,”...

DETROIT — As many as 40 protestors held signs and wads of cash outside New St. Paul Tabernacle Church of God in Christ in Detroit Saturday protesting a Wayne County gun buyback event. Jerry Acker, a partner in Goodman Acker, P.C law firm, fronted $50 Meijer gift cards for each of the 200 guns collected, a cost of $10,000. Meanwhile, gun advocates waited outside offering cash for guns the government hoped to take off the streets and out of homes. "In many cases, they'll end up circulating back in the communities we're trying to take them out of," said Wayne...

Two members of Congress are asking if the Treasury Department disproportionately targeted more Republican or conservative owned auto dealerships during the government-lead restructuring of General Motors in 2009. Breitbart.com reported today that Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Jim Renacci (R-OH) released a letter asking Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to release documents regarding the process and methodology that determined which GM dealerships were closed.

Two members of Congress are asking if the Treasury Department disproportionately targeted more Republican or conservative owned auto dealerships during the government-lead restructuring of General Motors in 2009. Breitbart.com reported today that Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Jim Renacci (R-OH) released a letter asking Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to release documents regarding the process and methodology that determined which GM dealerships were closed. GM was loaned $50 million by Congress as part of the restructuring included consolidating dealerships and closing some of the under-performing GM dealerships. In 2009 and 2010 there were several reports in the press raising the question whether...

Bureaucrat perks are a fact of American life. Generous - even outrageous pensions, health care plans, and a host of opportunities to better oneself at conferences and seminars, usually held in places that the rest of us couldn't afford. But what if you work for a city that's so broke they can't pay their police department or fix the streetlights? From Detroit Free Pres: Four trustees of Detroit's two public pension funds are heading to a Hawaiian beach resort this weekend with their $22,000 tab paid for by the funds, which are mired in claims of mismanagement and said to...

Would-be Belieber Anne Frank has been getting attention for all the wrong reasons lately. One suburban Detroit mom could have it so she gets no attention at all because of her "female genitalia." In Northville, a well-to-do suburb about 30 miles northwest of Detroit, a parent of a 7th grader takes issue with her daughter's classroom reading an newer, unedited edition of "The Diary of a Young Girl." Frankly, I'm surprised seventh-graders are reading any edition of "Diary"; it (and "Schindler's List," while we're on the subject) didn't reach my hands until high school. Besides the whole evils of the...

DETROIT - Federal investigators busted a Detroit business for paying workers not with cash, but with crack cocaine. It started as a counterfeiting case, but investigators say they found much more at the Big C Tire Shop on Detroit’s east side. It sounded good at first, a local Detroit business hiring workers. But the catch, they don't pay you with cash; they pay you with illegal drugs. According to federal documents, if you cut the grass, you got a rock. Move tires, you get a rock. Recruiting drug users as employees is beyond bad for the neighborhood. "I used to...