A full-blown blizzard, the University of Michigan Wolverines making the college football playoff and several conspirators sentenced to prison for trying to kidnap our governor – and that’s only what’s happened in December!
So much happens in a year that even we, the professionals who report it for you all year, need to catch our breath and take stock of the most impactful stories, the biggest breaking news, the stories that surprised and amused and delighted our readers.
It’s a sprawling state that MLive covers, so to help me recap I’ve enlisted Leanne Smith, a news leader for The Ann Arbor News and Jackson Citizen Patriot, and Eric Gaertner, a news leader for The Grand Rapids Press and Muskegon Chronicle.
“The first would be what we called ‘the Schlissel Dismissal,’” Smith said, referring to the firing of UM President Mark Schlissel in January by the school’s Board of Regents after it was revealed that he had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.
“The Regents took a stand we found kind of shocking, in publicly releasing emails and other communications between Schlissel and this person. Typically, we have to fight them with lots of FOIAs to get information like this.”
Fast forward to October, and the university made headlines with the hiring of Santa Ono as its 15th president. The charismatic native of Vancouver jumped into campus life in a way that few previous presidents have, Smith said.
“He's very into social media, which is a rarity for UM presidents. He's very active with the student community, tweeting a lot of stuff from athletic events and other activities. He’s a much more public and personable president than U-M has probably had in a while.”
Meanwhile, the University of Michigan didn’t just make headlines on the football field, it made history: Coach Jim Harbaugh led the Wolverines to their first 13-0 season and a second successive berth in the College Football Playoff.
On the west side of Michigan, headlines were dominated by the shooting of an unarmed Black motorist by a Grand Rapids police officer in April. After eight months of investigations, protests and court proceedings the officer, Christopher Schurr, faces charges of second-degree murder in a trial scheduled for March. It has been a dominant focus of reporting efforts for Gaertner’s staff.
“Since the moment it happened, it escalated quickly,” he said. “The killing of George Floyd a couple years earlier started a national discussion, but this really brought it home to Michigan and definitely Grand Rapids. It created a larger discussion.”
A story with statewide reach, a sprawling cast and cinematic overtones was that of the trials of conspirators in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. After two defendants were acquitted in federal court in Grand Rapids early on, subsequent trials have led to two convictions in federal court there and three convictions in state trials in Jackson. Where the conspirators once hoped to incite a civil war, they ultimately were left asking the courts for mercy.
“They were recently sentenced to between 12 and 40 years in prison and have all come out and said they obviously made some very terrible mistakes,” Smith said. “They were very emotional when the jury verdicts were read.”
That story will continue into 2023: Five more alleged plotters recently were bound over for trial in Antrim County, the location of the governor’s vacation home and the site where the ill-fated kidnapping was to have happened.
In other crime-and-punishment news, the terribly sad case of “cannibal killer” came to a close when Mark Latunski was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for killing Kevin Bacon and then eating part of his body on Christmas Eve 2019.
Perhaps the story with the biggest statewide impact was the midterm elections, in which Democrats Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson all fought off GOP challengers. Perhaps more significantly, Democrats secured both houses of the Legislature for the first time in 40 years.
One factor our political writers said drove high voter turnout was Proposal 3, a referendum that cements in the constitution access to abortion and other reproductive services in Michigan. Young voters, especially, were motivated to come to the polls – in Ann Arbor, some voters stood in line for six hours to register and cast ballots – stretching Election Day into Wednesday.
“There was a huge turnout of students registering and voting in Ann Arbor this year – probably more than we've ever seen,” Smith said.
In breaking news, one of the biggest stories of the year was a springtime tornado that devastated the northern Michigan town of Gaylord on May 20. Two people died and more than 40 were injured; MLive covered not only the immediate aftermath, but how the town rallied to be ready for tourists coming for Memorial Day weekend.
Weather is ALWAYS a story with MLive readers – you read stories about forecasts, storms and weather phenomena a whopping 27.5 million times in 2022. We still haven’t learned how to change the weather, but we certainly keep you informed.
As the new year starts, it’s hard to imagine what is to come. But I know that MLive journalists will have it covered for you. Happy New Year and thank you for reading and subscribing.
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Most-read story on MLive in 2022: “Live Powerball numbers for 11/07/22; record jackpot worth $1.9 billion”
Story that led to the most MLive digital subscriptions: “What’s the difference between Michigan and Michigan State fans: Income, education and more”
Story read most on social media: “Nighttime glowing snow tubing hill with colorfully lit lanes opens for season in Michigan”
Stories from great places: “10 of the most lovable spots in Michigan”
Not-so-happy places: “10 unpleasant places to be in 2022”:
🎧 On the latest episode of our Behind the Headlines podcast, John Hiner is joined by news leaders Leanne Smith and Eric Gaertner to discuss the biggest stories of 2022. Just click here for Spotify or here for Apple podcaststo listen. You can also find Behind the Headlines wherever you get yourpodcasts!
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John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions you’d like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at editor@mlive.com.
