Free read, Dec. 30-3: Detroit schools sue state, Shri agrees with Elon, homicide drop
Here's news you missed during the fifth week of Detroit one million.
Hey, subscribers!
The first hours of the year were grim.
An ISIS-flag carrying Texan killed 15 people in New Orleans early New Year's Day. Another former military veteran killed himself after he blew up his Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
I’ve reached out to the Detroit Police Department to check whether what happened in New Orleans and Las Vegas could impact security during the Detroit Auto Show, which begins next Friday. An official with the Detroit Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management declined to comment, calling it a DPD matter.
Here’s what else I was monitoring close to home this week:
Shri wants to work with Elon, Vivek on immigration
U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar is speaking out on a deeply personal issue that caused a rift among MAGA loyalists last week.
Thanedar was sworn into his office today after winning his second term to represent Detroit in Congress. This week, he took the heat from racist trolls telling him to go back to India amid a debate over the country’s use H1-B visas.
“MAGA Republicans have hijacked the H1-B visa discourse to promote their racist and xenophobic agenda. It’s wrong and must be called out. We should be attracting legal, talented immigrants to support American businesses.”
Thanedar said we need to increase H1-B visas ten fold.
“We need to increase H1-B visas and streamline H1-B and green card processing to ensure America's edge on innovation and discovery,” Thanedar said on social media.
“I will happily work with @elonmusk and @VivekGRamaswamy to fix our broken immigration system… To the MAGA Republicans telling me to go back to India, my message is clear: I’m not going back, and I’ll fight this racism and xenophobia everywhere it presents itself.”
More on Shri’s H1-B stance next week…
In the meantime, I’ve been following Melissa Nann Burke cover all of the lawmakers being sworn into their new offices in Washington DC today as part of the 119th Congress.
Ivey’s injury takes air out of Pistons’ hot stretch
Rising Pistons guard Jaden Ivey could miss the rest of the season after he broke his fibula making a play on a loose ball in the team’s win against the DeVos family’s Orlando Magic this week.
The Pistons and Ivey are currently not ruling out a return depending on Detroit's play and potential postseason run, but the franchise will be cautious on his rehabilitation and recovery, Shams Charania reported.
The Pistons, led by Cade Cunningham who’s sixth in the Eastern Conference All-Star vote getters, are in the Play-In Tournament race this season at 15-18. They are currently the ninth seed and three games out of sixth place.
Ivey, 22, had surgery Thursday and will be reevaluated in four weeks, the team announced.
I’m going to the game tonight, if you’re there say hey!
Push to oust Warren mayor moves forward
The Macomb County Election Commission approved a signature campaign this week to recall Warren Mayor Lori Stone.
Warren resident Paul Kardasz is leading the effort after city council members say Stone’s inaction cost the city more than $1 million.
He claims in a press release he sent me that it’s more than just Stone’s failure to sign an agreement to create a citywide land bank, which “set off a chain of events that have further eroded public trust.”
“After being given a clear deadline to act, her failure to comply led the City Council to file a lawsuit to compel her to fulfill her duties. This inaction reflects a broader pattern of neglect, leaving our city vulnerable at a time when strong, responsive leadership is needed most.”
Kardasz has 180 days to collect 25% of the number of votes cast for all gubernatorial candidates in 2022, to put the issue on Warren’s ballot. Stone was elected in 2022 after representing Warren in the state House.
Stone could not be reached for comment Friday.
City hails extra police, community intervention groups for homicide drop
Violent crime is dropping across the city, officials announced during a press conference today.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan credited community and state partnerships, community intervention groups and a police surveillance program, Green Light.
“This coalition came together two years ago to try to reverse the spike in violent crime during Covid,” said Mayor Duggan. “What’s happened is far more remarkable.”
There were 203 homicides in Detroit last year, its fewest since 1965. It’s worth noting the city had more than 1.7 million people then, compared to 633,218 residents today.
Last year’s figure was down from 252 in 2023. Non-fatal shootings dropped to 606 in 2024 from 804 in 2023, while carjackings saw a 15% decline in 2024. A city press release says it’s a 71% reduction since 2015 when Project Green Light began.
Mayor Mike Duggan said reductions represent an historic shift in Detroit, but there’s still more to do.
“What we haven’t done is have good enough policies so that our young people can make different choices,” Duggan said.
Detroit schools sue state over debt
Detroit Public Schools Community District is suing the state of Michigan over hundreds of millions of dollars in debt that the district has incurred over the last decade.
The district is attempting to ensure revenue from an operating millage can be used to pay off all of the debt the district’s longstanding debt. It wants to levy a tax that the state’s treasury department argues should be cut off from the district.
Detroit schools officials say there’s still more than $1.6 billion left in debt to be paid off.
Hannah Dellinger of Chalkbeat Detroit reported three weeks ago that the school district was considering whether to move forward with the suit, filed Dec. 20.
This guy in prison
I’ve been following this guy on Instagram who’s bio reads “I’m here to show yall what life is like behind prison walls on America.”
In one video he shows off his breakfast and dinner trays. For New Year, he made wine.
His lunch for the holiday was fried rice (fried inside a popcorn bag in the microwave) with pickles and oysters. In the same video, he shows off a $20 shampoo bottle of bleach.
“Stuff is hard as hell to get in here,” the inmate says. “We’re not allowed to have this, it’s a contraband charge, but how else are you supposed to sanitize your stuff, they don’t give you stuff like that.”
These quesadillas with oysters, fish, cheese, pickle and jalepeños: “Super exclusive, this is not regular prison food.”
I’m not sure why my algorithm gave me this man, but since it did, I thought I’d share it with you all. He put his cash app on the account if you want to help him out.