Ozone exacerbates air quality issues • Man's fake identity concealed him for 17 years • Budget breakdown
The latest on Canadian smoke impact on our air quality
Rich Luterman has the update on the Air Quality Alert which has been extended.
FIRDAY NEWS HIT - Another air quality alert today as smoke remains, and we'll toss in elevated levels of ozone.
When will this end? Some of our smoke models suggest a slow decline in smoke pollution over the course of today and send us down lower tomorrow, but considering the week we've had I'd like to wait and see the improvement before jumping onto that bandwagon.
Otherwise, the day will be defined by hot and humid weather with a few storms bubbling up this afternoon.
Check out the coverage, isolated to scattered storms won't lead to a total washout.
Storms will pop up Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but the days will be mainly dry.
Temperatures peak today and fade through Sunday, but a nice 4th of July bounce back is in the cards.
Man's fake identity concealed him Detroit for 17 years
After 17 years on the Most Wanted List, a South Carolina man has been arrested while hiding out in Detroit.
Antran Hall was found guilty of cocaine trafficking and failure to stop in 2006. He fell off of law enforcement's radar for close to two decades before police discovered he was living under an alias in Michigan.
Man's fake identity hid him from police for 17 years
Antran Hall was found guilty of cocaine trafficking and failure to stop in 2006. He never served time however and instead fled to Michigan. In Detroit, he lived for 17 years with an alias, even tricking his wife and kid.
On June 27, U.S. Marshals took Hall into custody. He's currently waiting extradition while at the Wayne County Detention Center. According to an investigation by federal authorities, Hall was living under a fake identity while living in Michigan. He even managed to trick his own wife and children who only knew him by his alias.
Earlier this year, the Fugitive Investigations Unit with the Anderson County Sheriff's Office learned that Hall had been living in Detroit. Federal authorities took up the lead on the case and narrowed their search on June 26. The next day, they took him into custody.
Breaking down the budget
There are plenty of goodies inside the new state's $81 billion budget in terms of pet projects that many refer to as ‘pork.’ These are the miniature allocations of money that lawmakers secure for projects in their district.
There's money for charging vehicle stations and police officer training. There's money for gun violence protection and improvements to Belle Isle. And in the schools, there's money for free lunches and a fourth grade field trip guaranteed to all students.
Funding for highway cameras in Metro Detroit and to study and implement public transit projects are also included, as well as $50 million to pay for recommendations by the Racial Disparities Task Force.
One of the biggest parts of the budget also is schools - about $19.4 billion. That includes a 5% increase in per pupil funding for schools, and money to keep kids in classrooms and help pay tuition for some people going to college to be teachers.
Read our big explainer on the budget here.
Video captures man's violent assault on 13-year-old
Rashon Black still can’t believe the nightmare her son Kenneth Black Jr. said he was forced to experience at the Livonia rec center. "I said wait this the grown man attacked my son? He said 'N*****, b****, get the f*** on.'"
The offensive comments were allegedly made by Moeez Irfan, who was captured on video appearing to violently attack Black’s son June 8th, two days before his 14th birthday. "I didn’t see a bump, but it could have been a bump," said Black. "But my son said he kind of brushed his shoulder and the guy started saying racial stuff to him.
Livonia Police are still investigating, but reports show that Irfan, 29, bumped into the teen, then shouted racial slurs at him and hit him in the head multiple times.
When police arrived Moeez Irfan resisted arrest but was eventually subdued by multiple officers and taken into custody. He was also transported to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Moeez was charged with Aggravated Assault, Ethnic Intimidation, Resisting and Obstructing Police, and Habitual Offender Third Offense.
Highland Park rehabilitation one home at a time
On a street in Highland Park, a burned out house is once again becoming a home. For the Ruff family, a lot of happy memories were made inside their home.
But for Ebony and Chris and Chase and Enzo and the rest of the Ruffs, life turned upside down in November 2022 when a fire wrecked their home and burned their livelihoods. "We put blood, sweat, and tears into it. To see it go down, it kind of hurt us, but we knew it was a blessing that would be coming from somebody or somewhere," Christopher Ruff said.
That blessing arrived in the form of Rehab Highland Park, a local nonprofit that specializes in restoration. Their next mission is getting the Ruffs back in their home. "We hope to get this house done and they can start moving back in here," said Maurice Turner, president of Rehab Highland Park.
"It's really people helping people that is what we're about. And just like I always share, when we all do a little, we can do so much." The group is still looking to raise money to help support the costs. Learn more about how to donate here: rehabhighlandpark.com
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Daily Forecast
Unfortunately, it's going to be another day of poor air quality for many of us as wildfire smoke and elevated levels of ozone contribute to unhealthy levels of contaminants in the air, making it tough to breath for some. The weekend could get better - but that's mostly dependent on the wind.
What else we're watching
- Starting today, a new restaurant concept out of Detroit's Midtown neighborhood called Vigilante Kitchen + Bar will open. It will operate as both a place to eat as well as a place for recovery support for staff struggling with addiction.
- A former union boss who ran the Laborers' International Union of North America was charged with fourth degree criminal sexual conduct. Jonathan Byrd, 40, assaulted an individual who worked in the same field.
- Planet Fitness is opening its locations to all this weekend in Metro Detroit. According to WWJ who had the owner of several locations in the region on their broadcast, the decision is prompted by giving people a place to exercise that's also clean.
- The online site Justair is used to track poor air quality in Detroit. It's part citizen science, part environmental monitoring. Learn more here.
- Michigan's new distracted driving law went into effect Friday. Here's what it does
Online retailer Overstock to rebrand itself as Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond will live on, online at least, after Overstock.com acquired the bankrupt retail chain’s intellectual property assets for $21.5 million.
The online retailer Overstock.com is dumping its name online and will become Bed & Bath & Beyond, which declared bankruptcy earlier this year. Overstock.com's CEO Jonathan Johnson told The Associated Press in a phone interview on Thursday that the company is considering changing its corporate name but won't make any decisions until after it digests the assets.
The switcheroo to a very recognizable brand was cheered on Wall Street. Shares of Overstock.com Inc., based in Midvale, Utah, soared nearly 20% during afternoon trading Thursday.