Michigan Central's new $500K fund • Double fatal shooting in Detroit • Grosse Pointe Woods admin on leave
WEDNESDAY NEWS HIT - A new $500,000 fund from Michigan Central Station will target neighborhood businesses in and around the site to help boost education, training, and entrepreneurial acumen among owners and workers.
The financial commitment will go toward as many as 25 nearby businesses that make up the newly founded innovation district being planned around the old Detroit train station. The site has stakeholders well beyond Ford Motor Co, which has overseen the refurbishment of Michigan Central.
The businesses will need to fit certain parameters to qualify for funding, like operating history, number of employees, and annual revenue.
The administration of the funds will be overseen by the Advancing Community Businesses program.
Read Michigan Central news here
"With Michigan Central being an open platform for partnership, we wanted to include nonprofit partners who could help us bring meaningful community engagement through this program," said Clarinda Barnett-Harrison, the community impact lead with Michigan Central. "We think it could bring big changes such as new employment, additional locations and expanded footprints, even new or enhanced e-commerce operations for participating businesses."
The funding will go toward a business academy that "will feature a menu-style series of courses in business development and online business education" a release Wednesday morning said. Participants will be able to select courses that fit their needs and goals to grow.
Grants and loans between $5,000 and $20,000 will also be available.
According to the release, the academy that's offered to businesses will be molded around community input.
Applications for the new money can be found here.
Double fatal shooting on Detroit's east side
Detroit police are searching for the suspect behind a double shooting Wednesday morning that left two men dead. The homicide investigation has been ongoing for hours since police arrived in the area of St. Aubin and Outer Drive.
While no one has been arrested, there is ample evidence of the shooting, including approximately a dozen bullet holes sprayed around the property in the 19000 block of St. Aubin Street.
Neighbors told FOX 2 the shooting did wake them up, but many didn't realize how the gunfire was before seeing the scene.
Police had little to confirm in the way of an investigation, other than the deaths of two victims. It was one of many shootings that police responded to overnight. No other details were provided.
Watch the full news report here.
Detroit homeowner shoots, kills armed suspect
An early morning home invasion ended in the fatal shooting of the suspect on Detroit's west side. Homeowner Maiso Jackson has lived in his home for 20 years, and he’s owned his gun for the last eight. He's taken lessons on how to handle that firearm. Early this morning, that training was put into action.
Jackson awoke around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday to a man pounding on his door and yelling. Parts of the encounter was captured on his Ring doorbell camera at his home on Salem Street on Detroit’s west side. Jackson says he tried to reason with him from inside his house.
While they waited for police he says things escalated. Eventually, the suspect circled the house and busted the window out. That's when Jackson armed himself. "I came outside and said you have to leave, you can’t be doing this," he said. "So then he reached for his gun and pulled it out. I had to defend myself, I had to shoot him because of that."
Jackson fired four shots, hitting the man in the chest killing him. "It was me or him at that point," he said. "I didn’t want to hurt nobody, but he just wouldn’t quit." When police did arrive, Jackson says he followed their orders, and was led away in handcuffs for questioning. Knowing he was a lawful gun owner, he said he was aware that police had an investigation to do.
Family of Madisyn Baldwin sue Oxford schools
The family of another Oxford School shooting victim who died during the alleged rampage has filed a civil lawsuit against the district and its employees, accusing them of shirking their responsibility to keep the students safe.
An attorney for the family of Madisyn Baldwin said "it is clear after reviewing documents and seeing testimony in the preliminary Exam of Crumbley's parents, that the school administrators failed the students of Oxford High School."
It's the latest legal filing from victims against the school for the Nov. 30 shooting that left four students dead and seven others injured. Ethan Crumbley has been charged with terrorism and murder. Families of other dead victims have also sued the school's employees.
"This case is about our school systems' inability to appropriately deal with mental illness, which has clearly been exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic."
Read more Oxford School shooting coverage here.
2 Grosse Pointe Woods school officials who used n-word, placed on leave
Two administrators at a middle school at Grosse Point Woods have been put on leave following an investigation that determined they used the n-word during the week of April 25. According to a letter sent to parents, there were two incidents of repeated racist language they heard from students to other adults.
"We have to careful about the things we say, both what we say, how we say them, and to whom we say them," said Superintendent. Dr. Jon Dean. "And there are certain things that shouldn’t be said ever to anyone."
He says the district launched an investigation after learning about what happened, placed the staffers on administrative leave, and brought in an attorney to investigate the matter further and offer recommendations on how to move forward. One student's mom said the administrators was an assistant principal and a counselor.
"No one found this language acceptable," he said. "At the same time, many people know the people involved, and they care about people. And so, this doesn’t excuse the behavior, but we know relationships are complex. So they care about the people, but they also want to see us do things differently."
What else we're watching
- The Larry Nassar saga continues with a new lawsuit against the FBI. More than 90 women have sued the federal law enforcement department over its handling of the probe of the sports doctor who was convicted of sexually assaulting dozens of female athletes.
- A committee investigating what unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 will unveil their findings during a hearing Thursday evening. Election advocates and experts plan to discuss what might be revealed and its significance later today.
- Those concerned over a loss of care after being catastrophically injured in car crashes plan to protest changes to car insurance laws at the state legislature today. About 18,000 victims face their care being stripped.
- A fifth candidate for the Michigan governorship running ahead of the Republican primary has been kept off the ballot. Another ruling from the state supreme court upheld the decision by state board of canvassers in May.
- Where is the best place to travel this summer? It's a tricky question for those who aren't aware of what challenges they'll face amid a busy vacation season. Watch FOX 2 at 10:30 a.m. for help.
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Daily Forecast
It's going to be a colder start to the day before the sun pushes temperatures up in Southeast Michigan Wednesday. Expect some rain to start arriving in the late afternoon as well.
Stellar alignment! 5 planets line up for a nightly show in June
June has a few special celestial events to add to your sky-gazing summer bucket list, including a quintet of planets to enjoy.
Throughout most of June, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will stretch across the sky like a string of pearls appearing in the dawn hours before sunrise.
Sky & Telescope Magazine is calling it a "planet parade" because the planets will also be in the correct order from the sun.
Mercury will be the hardest to spot as the last to appear in the lineup just before it's swallowed by sunlight. However, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn should be easy to see all month.
As a quartet, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have appeared in conjunction over the past few months, but June is the last chance to see the group together before they begin to spread further out in the night sky.