Cover Story
Metro Times’ annual guide to giving locally — and on a budget — for the holidays
Sigh. With the country in crisis, celebrating any holiday has left us, well, comfortably numb. We’ve missed birthdays, summer flew by faster than our binge of Great British Baking Show (yes, we’re talking every season), Halloween was a total bust, and now here we are — the holidays. Some of us don’t have jobs because,…
After five years, Roak Brewing to close in Royal Oak
The taproom, brewing facility, and equipment belonging to Roak Brewing is closing after five years on East Lincoln. The closure represents the likely next steps after the brewer acquired Dark Horse Brewing Co last year. Roak will manufacture the beers under its two labels from Marshall — over an hour east of Detroit. Crain’s was…
Michigan child abuse reports are on the decline — but it doesn’t mean the abuse has stopped
Since March, reports of child abuse have drastically dropped in Michigan. Good news, right? Child advocates and wellness organizations say “not quite.” Experts believe the decline might be a major red flag and an indicator that the abuse has not stopped but is going undetected due to the state’s pandemic stay-at-home restrictions — which, for…
Michigan officials warn of holiday COVID-19 spike
After soaring to heights far worse than the previous peak in the spring, COVID-19 cases are lowering in Michigan. However, officials are bracing for another spike following the Thanksgiving holiday, when many people traveled and gathered despite pleas from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer not to do so. Now, with more holidays around the corner, Whitmer is…
Michigan brewery shows support for ‘Big Gretch’ with new beer release
Muskegon brewery Rake Beer Project is showing its support for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with a second installment of signature cans and a new flavor. “Big Gretch: The Return” will feature a petite sour saison and a can that features the governor wearing a Detroit-signature pair of Cartier sunglasses as made famous by Detroit rapper Gmac…
Giuliani to bring baseless conspiracy theories to Michigan legislature hearing on election
President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who has spread baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud, plans to testify in person during a Michigan legislative hearing on Wednesday. The Republican-led Michigan House Oversight Committee is investigating previously debunked claims about election fraud. “Mr. Giuliani believes there were many problems with how this election was conducted…
How metro Detroit officials are using raw sewage to track and detect COVID-19 outbreaks
Metro Detroit health and water officials are teaming up with Michigan State University to analyze untreated sewage to detect and track COVID-19 outbreaks — and even provide an early warning of an outbreak. “Everybody poops, everybody pees,” John Norton, director of energy, research, and innovation at Great Lakes Water Authority, said with a chuckle at…
There’s a new Christmas movie drive-in theater posted up at Lakeside Mall
If you’ve ever wanted to watch Polar Express in an old Sears parking lot, consider your holiday wish granted. The latest drive-in pandemic offering comes by way of Mike Oddo of Movie Magic. Located in the parking lot of Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights, Movie Magic Lakeside offers two screens, both of which screen a…
Cannabis brand Funky Extracts is holding a sock drive for Detroit’s homeless
Jujuan “Funk” Coleman picked a smelly sock as the logo for his cannabis edibles company Funky Extracts because, as he previously told Metro Times, “When you speak of cannabis, ‘funk’ is good. So I correlated ‘funk’ with the quality of our products.” Continuing in that funky yet good spirit, Funky Extracts’ parent company, Michigan-based Pincanna,…
Andiamo owners want fellow Michigan restaurants to defy dine-in shutdown
Joe and Rosalie Vacari, the owners of the Andiamo restaurant chain, are urging fellow Michigan restaurants to defy the order of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan health department to “pause” indoor dining amid the surging coronavirus pandemic. “Our industry cannot survive another extended closure,” they said in a letter. “Thousands of restaurants and tens…
Recreational marijuana sales reach nearly $440M in first year in Michigan
Recreational marijuana dispensaries in Michigan rang up nearly $440 million in sales in their first year of business. Since the adult-use market launched on Dec. 1, 2019, 191 recreational dispensaries have opened, generating $73 million in excise and sales taxes for cash-strapped local governments and the state, Crain’s Detroit Business reports. After a slow start…
How does a country function when half its people have lost their minds?
“As far as the civil war goes,” Jonathan Strickland, the mayor of the 1,400-person town of Sundown, Texas, told Reuters recently, “I don’t think it’s off the table.” Strickland, an oilfield production engineer, joined a militia-type outfit called the South Plains Patriots. As another member explained, “If President Trump comes out and says: ‘Guys, I…
Prosecutor Worthy teams up with local Innocence Project with new DOJ funding
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office received a $500,000 grant to continue teaming up with the Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School Innocence Project to work toward exonerating wrongfully convicted inmates. The funding will help the nonprofit group and Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s Conviction Integrity Unit review cases and send DNA evidence for testing in cases involving people…
Sheriff Napoleon battles COVID-19 on a ventilator as his daughter asks for prayers
Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon has been placed on a ventilator in an intensive care unit as he battles the coronavirus. At a prayer vigil outside the Wayne County Sheriff’s headquarters in Detroit on Sunday, his daughter Tiffani Jackson said Napoleon was breathing on his own but decided a ventilator was the best way to…
Buckle up — economists predict Michigan’s recovery could stretch into 2023
Like the hopeful and intoxicated girls huddled in bar bathrooms on New Year’s Eve reapplying stubborn eyeliner and lipstick and declaring “this is going to be my year,” economists predicted that 2020 was supposed to be Michigan’s year for “slow and steady” growth — and then the pandemic hit. Now, economists predict an even slower…
Duggan says 5,000 Detroiters could get COVID-19 vaccine a day, but cites challenges
Mayor Mike Duggan said Sunday that he hopes 5,000 Detroit residents will receive a COVID-19 vaccine a day once they become available, but he cautioned that the nation “is not yet geared up” for the task. In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Duggan said the city is working “day and night” to prepare…
House to make historic vote to end marijuana prohibition this week
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on whether to federally decriminalize marijuana this week — an action that would be the biggest move toward marijuana legalization ever taken by Congress. According to a notice posted by the office of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, the vote for the Marijuana…
Detroit artist Sintex’s ‘Our Land Till Death’ mural is slated for demolition — but Allied Media Projects asked him to re-create it
An iconic mural that pays homage to Detroiters who were victims of racist violence is slated for demolition next month as work continues on Allied Media Projects’ new LOVE Building complex. But street artist Sintex, who created the original “Our Land Till Death” mural at 4641 Grand River Ave., has been tapped by Allied Media…
Eminem foundation releasing Black Friday merch to help Downtown Boxing Gym and celebrate 20 years of ‘Stan’
Just in time for Black Friday, Eminem’s Marshall Mathers Foundation has released a limited edition line of merch to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Marshall Mathers LP and his hit “Stan.” Proceeds from the sales will go toward the Downtown Boxing Gym, a free athletic program for youth in Detroit, which has been hit…
El Club is serving free Thanksgiving to-go dinners from noon to 4 p.m.
Alone and hungry for the holiday? You don’t have to be. Southwest Detroit all-ages music venue El Club is serving free Thanksgiving dinners from noon to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 26. Due to the pandemic, the meals are pre-packaged and to-go. “Unfortunately due to health and safety we will not be able to sit…
‘Tis the season for serious injuries at Amazon’s Michigan warehouses
Business is booming at e-commerce giant Amazon, where owner Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest man on Earth, saw his wealth grow from $113 billion to $203 billion since the pandemic hit the U.S. in mid-March. But Bezos’s gain is someone else’s loss. Earlier this week, thousands of workers at Amazon facilities across the world announced a…
Danny Brown says he broke COVID-19 restrictions for Bruiser Thanksgiving
On Wednesday, Detroit rapper Danny Brown held his seventh annual Bruiser Thanksgiving show, a hometown celebration that helps raise money for local youth. Due to COVID-19, the show went virtual this year — with Brown and special guests performing stripped-down sets in the house from Brown’s recent “Best Life” video, made available to fans as…
Detroit: canary in democracy’s coal mine?
When Republican canvassers in Michigan attempted to derail the certification of the 2020 presidential election, a once mundane realm of the election process became the front line of a desperate ploy by Republicans to overturn an election described by the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as “the most secure in American history.” These actions…
Michigan new unemployment claims increased more than 64% last week
Like much of the rest of the country, Michigan is witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases and a proportional increase in unemployment as drastic shut-down measures are taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Michigan experienced a 64.46% increase in new unemployment claims last week. According to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department…
Henry Ford Health System may receive promising COVID-19 vaccines as early as next month
Two promising COVID-19 vaccines could arrive at the Henry Ford Health System as early as Dec. 12 as the number of coronavirus cases continues to surge in Michigan. Five of the system’s hospitals in Michigan have been preparing for months to distribute the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which must be stored in specialized freezers at…
Whitmer’s office slams Enbridge over lawsuit seeking to block state’s Line 5 shutdown order
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office assailed Enbridge Inc. for filing a lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to reverse the state’s order to shut down controversial pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac, saying the oil giant was endangering the Great Lakes and “cares only about its bottom line.” The Canadian company’s legal challenge in U.S. District Court…
Shirkey admits he was ‘expecting’ Trump would ask him to interfere in Michigan’s election
Though Michigan state Senate Majority leader Mike Shirkey has insisted that his recent — and controversial — White House meeting with President Donald Trump was nothing nefarious, he later admitted that he was “expecting” Trump would ask him and his colleagues to interfere in the election. Shirkey made the comments on Tuesday on WJR’s Paul…
Free Will Astrology (Nov. 25-Dec. 1)
ARIES: March 21 – April 19: “A little too much is just enough for me,” joked poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. I suspect that when he said that, he was in a phase similar to the one you’re in now. I bet he was experiencing a flood of creative ideas, pleasurable self-expressions, and loving breakthroughs.…
What’s the best way to acknowledge that you occupy stolen land?
What we now call the United States occupies stolen land, and what we now call Detroit is known by the Anishinaabe as Waawiiyaataanong, or “where the water curves around (the land).” Across the river, in Canada, the practice of “land acknowledgment” — or a formal statement honoring the original inhabitants of the country and their…
