Free Republic

Three elderly men, including two military veterans, were found apparently beaten to death with hammers in the basement of a suspected Detroit drug den, police said. The bodies of US Marine Corps vets Mark Barnett, 65, and Norman Hamlin, 66, were recovered along with the body of William Barrett 72, in the basement of Hamlin’s home on Edsel Street, Detroit police said. Although Assistant Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald refused to divulge specifics about the grisly scene, he said that all three men were killed by “blunt force trauma,” with at least one of them sustaining additional stab wounds, WDIV Local...

Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison vowed to fire two police officers for contacting Customs and Border Patrol amid traffic stops, which is in violation of the department’s policy. Bettison shared at last week’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting that one of the officers allegedly called CBP requesting translation services and another to report a suspected illegal immigrant. The two officers have been suspended amid Bettison’s request to the Board that they be terminated. The Police Chief is backed by the leaders of the Democrat-run city in his decision. Mayor Mary Sheffield’s spokesperson shared with local Detroit news, that the police...

President Donald Trump spent years promising to make Mexico pay for a wall at the US southern border. Mexico did not. In a strange twist, Trump is now threatening to block the opening of a bridge at the northern border that Canada actually already paid for. This is either next-level negotiation or a misunderstanding of the facts, or both, but an ultimatum Trump made on social media is the latest in a string of erratic moves that have confused his fellow world leaders. The Gordie Howe International Bridge is basically completed Trump should have previously known that the brand-new Gordie...

The Detroit Tigers family is mourning the loss of one of the most iconic pitchers in franchise history. Mickey Lolich, the legendary left-hander who helped carry the Tigers to a World Series championship in 1968, has passed away at the age of 85.

The video covers federal charges against Detroit's 36th District Court Judge Andrea Bradley-Baskin (age 46), along with three others (including her father Avery Bradley, guardian Nancy Williams, and Dwight Rashad). They face allegations of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in a multi-year scheme. Key details from the case (as reported in the video and linked to U.S. Attorney’s Office announcements): The group allegedly embezzled funds from vulnerable, incapacitated individuals under guardianship/conservatorship in Michigan's probate system. Specific examples include using ~$70,000 from one ward's estate to buy an ownership stake in a local bar, and diverting money to...

Kane became the highest-scoring United States-born player in NHL history, passing Mike Modano with an assist for his 1,375th point Thursday night for the Detroit Red Wings against the Washington Capitals. "It's nice to have it over with in some ways and worry about the rest of the season," Kane said after Washington's 4-3 shootout win. Kane passed the puck from the boards to Alex DeBrincat in the left circle, and DeBrincat set up Ben Chiarot for a tying goal from the point midway through the second period.

FOX 2 - A sitting judge and Detroit area attorney were among four suspects charged in an embezzling scheme victimizing incapacitated individuals' estates. Dig deeper: The US Attorney's Office said Nancy Williams, 59, Avery Bradley, 72, Judge Andrea Bradley-Baskin, 46, and Dwight Rashad, 69, were charged via indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The indictment also charges Bradley with one count of wire fraud, Bradley, Bradley-Baskin, and Rashad with several counts of money laundering, and Bradley-Baskin with a single count of making a false statement to federal law enforcement agent. Bradley-Baskin is a district judge on Michigan’s 36th District...

A car plowed into a terminal at the Detroit Metro Airport in Michigan Friday night – and the driver bellowed nonsense as he was dragged away from the scene, according to shocking footage and reports. Wild footage captured the black sedan sitting in the middle of the McNamara Terminal, where startled Delta Airlines employees were working as it smashed through the glass doors of the Romulus, Mich. around 7:30 p.m., according to WXYZ. The driver immediately exited the vehicle with his hands raised and speaking in a daze as security and airport officials rushed to the debris-ridden area. “The response...

Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is outperforming Republican Congressman John James among likely voters in Michigan who “Lean GOP,” according to a new poll on the 2026 governor’s race. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is overseeing her own election for governor, maintains a majority of Democrats, with 74.2% of those who identified as “Strong Dem” and 52.1% of those who “Lean Dem” backing her campaign. Duggan, who ditched the Democratic party in December 2024 to run as an Independent, has the support of 19.2% of Michiganders who identify as strong Democrats, 29.2% that lean Democrat, 47.3% of Independents,...

Trump presenting a speach at the Economic Club of Detroit

WASHINGTON - Miami's Jesús Soto supports Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's vision of ''participatory democracy.'' Valerie Pusch of Chicago backs Chávez because of his policies on behalf of the poor. And they say so loudly, as heads of their local Bolivarian Circles -- among the dozen or so U.S. copies of the groups Chávez has set up throughout his country to mobilize Venezuelans on behalf of his socialist ``revolution.'' Even as Chávez attacks President Bush as his sworn nemesis, his government is running a strong campaign to curry favor with U.S. citizens through leftist grass-roots groups, paid lobbyists and public relations...

Ryan Kennedy, the Detroit Lions fan involved in the altercation with Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf on Sunday, "categorically denies using the 'N-word,' the 'C-word' or any racial, misogynistic, or hate-based language during the incident," according to a statement released by a Michigan law firm Monday afternoon. "These allegations are completely false," the statement released by Shawn Head and Sean Murphy of Head Murphy Law Firm reads. The statement also said that Kennedy has experienced "harassment, threats and messages advocating violence" since reports began circulating on social media that Kennedy used a racial slur toward Metcalf and called Metcalf's...

Cold Case Heats Up"[The current FBI] was competent at cracking the case; [Christopher Wray's] was competent at corruption and obstructing it."- Mike BenzDo you have any idea what tapestry of corruption and crime is attached to the little thread of the J6 / DNC / RNC pipe bomber suspect arrested yesterday by the FBI? Consider this: suspect Brian Cole, Jr., is alive and probably talking, unlike, say, Jeffrey Epstein and Thomas Matthew Crooks in other matters of public interest. Let’s hope he is under FBI protection in custody, lest something. . . say. . . happen to him.Dressed for government...

Nearly 15 years later, Detroit finally has its statue of RoboCop. The bronze statue depicting the eponymous cybernetic star of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 set-in-Detroit sci-fi satire was installed in Eastern Market on Wednesday, nearly 15 years after someone proposed it in a viral social media post. Back in 2011, someone with the Twitter account @MT (no, not us) tweeted at then-Mayor Dave Bing that Detroit should have a statue of the part-man, part-machine cop because “Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky & RoboCop would kick Rocky’s butt.” “He’s a GREAT ambassador for Detroit,” the tweet continued. The idea got...

ROYAL OAK, Mich. — Law enforcement in suburban Detroit said a woman smashed her SUV into an Ulta Beauty store. Police in Royal Oak, Michigan, had responded to a report of a white SUV driving on train tracks early Sunday morning, WWMT reported. Police pulled over the woman, identified as Katrina Patterson, 26. They said they noticed an open container of alcohol in the vehicle, so they asked for her license. She instead drove away. Police followed her, the incident captured on their dash cam, as she eventually turned down an alley, went into a parking lot and accelerated, crashing...

Summary Combined bank to have $288 billion in assets Comerica shares surge, Fifth Third falls marginally Deal expected to boost retail franchise Analysts expect a flurry of regional bank deals

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan's already battered state budget stands to lose more than $1.5 million in annual fees because of changes being made by Comerica Inc. Comerica officials announced earlier this year that the company, founded in 1849 as Detroit Savings Fund Institute, plans to move its headquarters from Detroit to Dallas by fall. The company also has applied for a national charter, meaning bank regulators in Michigan no longer would oversee Comerica even if it kept its headquarters in Detroit. That change alone means the state may be unable to collect supervisory fees charged annually by the Michigan...

In those neighborhoods, where civil society breaks down, giving way to anarchy and Haitian-style barbarism, civilization is effectively suspended. Across the United States, the trajectory of inner cities has been one of “inexorable decline” — a descent from centers of economic growth, cultural splendor, and communal solidarity into fragmented, dystopian environments marked by neglect and anarchy. Like mirror images of downtown Port-au-Prince, these urban landscapes, far from civic greatness, have become wastelands defined by abandoned structures, pervasive insecurity, and social disintegration (aggravated by the “homelessness crisis”). The emblematic example of Detroit crystallizes the narrative of urban decline — a Democrat-run...

After ten months, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s Bureau of Elections has produced the constitutionally-mandated audit of statewide results from the 2024 election, but it missed reviewing any ballots from two of the state’s most populous cities. Made public on October 13, the audit’s risk-limiting, statistical methodology reviewed “a random sample of ballots drawn statewide.” But the sample precinct batches didn’t include any ballots from Detroit (Wayne County) or Troy (Oakland County). Detroit and Troy are the largest cities in the state’s two most populous counties. The Michigan Department of State press release said, “the report affirms Michigan’s election...

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 26 — An ambitious terrorist plot to attack a host of American interests overseas was foiled by the capture of a key Osama bin Laden operative, sources tell ABCNEWS. Intelligence sources in Europe and the United States say the intended targets included the American embassy in Paris, the U.S. consulate in Marseilles, France, buildings at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium and the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France. The outlines of the plan were known to French and American authorities before Sept. 11, but the attacks were not ...