Free Republic

Authorities raided the Michigan home of a top U.S. Homeland Security Investigations official and seized several items from the residence, a neighbor said Tuesday. The raid occurred last Friday at the Royal Oak, Michigan, house of Vance Callender, HSI special agent in charge at the agency’s Detroit office, who has worked in federal law enforcement for 26 years. Callender, 49, was appointed the top HSI agent in Michigan and Ohio in January 2020. HSI is a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security. The agents supervised by Callender enforce immigration and customs...

ROYAL OAK, Mich. — Frank Houston knows something about the longtime estrangement of white men from the Democratic Party. His family roots are in nearby Macomb County, the symbolic home of working-class Reagan Democrats who, distressed by economic and social tumult, decided a liberal Democratic Party had left them, not the other way around. Mr. Houston grew up in the 1980s liking Ronald Reagan but idolizing Alex P. Keaton, the fictional Republican teenage son of former hippies who, played by Michael J. Fox on the television series “Family Ties,” comically captured the nation’s conservative shift. But over time, Mr. Houston...

ROYAL OAK, Mich. — Royal Oak officials have voted to allow licensed handgun owners to openly carry their weapons at a popular Detroit-area summer arts festival. Commissioners on Monday night struck down a contract clause between the Ford Arts, Beats & Eats festival and the city about 10 miles north-northwest of Detroit that prohibited guns at the annual Labor Day weekend event. Residents and public safety officials for weeks had expressed safety concerns. Proponents said state law and the Second Amendment allow a person who is licensed to carry a firearm, holstered and in plain sight. Festival organizer Jon Witz...