Free Republic

Fiat Chrysler will make Ram trucks in Michigan instead of Mexico beginning in 2020, and the company says this will mean 2,500 extra jobs at the plant in Warren, Detroit’s largest suburb. While this isn’t the first bit of good economic news in the wake of big corporate tax cuts Republicans just passed, it’s the one that cheers us the most, because it best reflects the way lower corporate taxes work. The key is not bigger profits but increased competitiveness. *snip* More companies will set up more business in the U.S., because it’s now easier to compete by doing so....

Detroit's Under-Funded Fire Departments Use a Soda Can For a Fire Alarm Where absent money leaves gaps, ingenuity fills in. Nowhere is that more true than in Detroit's fire departments, where, as Detroit Free Press reporter Tresa Baldas shows us, a soda can full of jangling coins and screws alerts the Motor City's long-suffering heroes when there's an emergency. The system is brilliantly simple: A soda can full of rattling metal is balanced on top of the fire department's printer at the end of the tray. When the printer spits out an emergency alert, the paper knocks over the can....

Detroit Gets The Destination Nod Over Chicago DETROIT (WWJ) – Detroit is better than Chicago!! That’s according to at least one travel writer, who has compiled a list of over-rated destinations and suggested alternatives. While Michiganders can give you a plethora of choices in the state that are select and unique it’s always nice to get a nob from outsiders. Among the reasons David Landsel tells travelers to try the Motor City over the Windy City? World-class architecture, a great music scene, and cheaper and better beer. • Typical Detroit neighborhood • Community activists in Chicago promote "peace"

Detroit Grand Prix Stopped Because Of Detroit’s Terrible Roads The first running of the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix since 2008 was red-flagged this afternoon after a piece of the track started to crumble, causing driver James Hinchcliffe to go flying into the wall. As you can see in the video (YouTube link provided below), he was not happy about it. Indy's return to Detroit's Belle Isle course was supposed to be another signal of the rebirth of the American automaker. Instead, it's just been a reminder of Detroit's failing infrastructure and Indy's inability to make anything outside of the Indy...

WASHINGTON — When an admitted al Qaeda operative planned his itinerary for a Christmas 2009 airline bombing, he considered launching the strike in the skies above Houston or Chicago, The Associated Press has learned. But tickets were too expensive, so he refocused the mission on a cheaper destination: Detroit. The decision is among new details emerging about one of the most sensational terrorism plots to unfold since President Obama took office. It shows that al Qaeda's Yemen branch does not share Osama bin Laden's desire to attack symbolic targets, preferring instead to strike at targets of opportunity. Like the plot...

(CNN) -- Detroit could probably use another Eminem boost following Tuesday's news that it lost 25% of its residents from 2000 to 2010. You may remember the catchy Chrysler ad during January's Super Bowl. To the sounds of a jangly guitar, the rapper drives through the city's gritty streets, telling the viewer, "This is the Motor City and this is what we do." The spot ends with "Imported From Detroit," a message that may have a new meaning, given the latest census numbers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Detroit saw its population drop from 951,270 in 2000 to 713,777...

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has defended the fire department for its response to what he described as "a natural disaster" after wind-whipped flames destroyed dozens of homes across the city. Asked at a news conference Wednesday whether the department was adequately staffed, Bing said it was important to point out that nobody was killed. Fire Commissioner James Mack says the department is budgeted for about 500 firefighters, about 20 fewer positions than last year. He says the 236 on duty Tuesday is typical. Eight of the 85 fires Tuesday were related to downed power wires, two were arson. Mack says...

DETROIT – How bad are things around the Motor City? So bad that even Jon Jon's Cabaret is offering half-off deals. The topless club in the suburb of Warren – where General Motors and Chrysler employ upwards of 20,000 people – cut the cost of a table dance in half, from $20 to $10, in mid-November. The dancer gets all the money plus any tips, while food and drinks generate the club's income, general manager Kelly Sander said Tuesday. Jon Jon's has lowered prices on drinks, but business is still down 50 percent from a year ago, Sander said. She...

DETROIT - A prosecutor poised to reveal the results of her probe into whether Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former top aide committed perjury or other crimes insists her own re-election bid did not affect the investigation. On Monday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy will put an end to two months of speculation when she announces what she found in her independent review of a text-messaging sex scandal that has consumed the city. "We're not the ones that created this scenario," Worthy said Friday. "We are the ones who simply want to do the right thing and do a thorough...

We have packed up our house and movedto Kentucky. Has anyone else been able to sell and get out? We lost about 30 grand but it is sold. We close on Monday. Guess I will have to change my tag line!

Detroit Tigers Won the American League Pennant Today

Motor City Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is right to be distancing himself from a City Council proposal to create a racially exclusive business district in Detroit to help black entrepreneurs. Not only would the plan, dubbed African Town, heighten racial tensions unnecessarily. It could also exacerbate the very problem it aims to solve. The insidious premise of this economic development plan, which was approved last week in a 7-to-2 vote overriding Mr. Kilpatrick's earlier veto, is that immigrants from Latin America, Asia and the Middle East are "stealing" jobs and resources from native blacks. But for the presence of these foreigners,...

DETROIT (Reuters) - After 107 years of tooling roads from Nova Scotia to San Diego, the last Oldsmobile rolled off a Michigan assembly line on Thursday, marking the end of the oldest auto brand in the United States. Workers signed their names under the hood of the last car -- a cherry red Alero -- which will be displayed at the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum. It will end up in the collection of parent company General Motors Corp. . Ransom E. Olds founded Oldsmobile in Lansing in 1897, and soon after the turn of the century "the Olds" became a...

Ted Nugent flips the bird at about 600 students Friday night. Nugent's take on gays caused six audience members to walk out. Molly Smith/The Daily Northwestern Nugent stirs campus with hard-line views College Republicans' speaker weighs in on drug and alcohol usage, Native Americans, gays By Jerome C. Pandell February 24, 2003 Conservative activist and rock star Ted Nugent saluted "the attitude, the spirit and gargantuan kahunas for inviting Uncle Ted to share in this educational jihad campfire" with about 600 Northwestern students at Ryan Family Auditorium Friday night. "Unlike Jerry Garcia," said Nugent amidst cheers from the mostly...