Morning Briefing

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2023

In today's newsletter, fish in two southeast Michigan rivers are loaded with PFAS, recent storms have been eating away at Michigan drought and a Kalamazoo man gets his conviction vacated after 22 years in prison.

We all have our own taste in music. Luckily, there are plenty of concerts to choose from.

We can't all agree on music. But that's OK! We don't need to agree. Because there are all kinds of concerts to attend in Michigan. Heck, if every one of us wanted to go to any one concert, could you imagine those ticket prices?

Michigan's own Kid Rock announced he is heading home for a concert in July, with tickets going on sale Friday. Or perhaps a Snoop Dogg show is more your style? He's also showing up in July, bringing a few special guests. And we have to mention that Santana is coming back to our state.

None of those are your thing? How about "Six," one of the hottest shows in musical theater. Oh, you'd rather have comedy? Adam Sandler is swinging through, too.

Curated by Jessica Shepherd

Post-it notes with positive messages are stuck to a wall at Michigan State University

The Community of Christ in Ann Arbor's Old West Side Historic District after back-to-back winter storms on March 4. The historic church, built in the late 1800s for the First German Methodist Church, was badly damaged when a fallen tree limb took out a power line anchored to the church, pulling down part of its east-facing brick facade. (Photo by Ryan Stanton | MLive.com)

A Michigan quintet's Ku Klux Klan music and the awful ordinariness of racism.

Songs of the KKK: One of our reporters was recently in a thrift store, flipping through albums for sale. He found an old record from a Lansing group and decided to buy it. That led Matt Miller to unspool a story about for-profit white supremacy, an Indiana recording studio that made Klan records, and the awful ordinariness of racism.

The Klan in Lansing: On Labor Day weekend in 1924, Lansing was the site of a Klan meeting that drew some 50,000 people. There were speeches and music, a pilot creating a burning cross in the sky and a parade of 15,000 robed Klansmen marching through the center of town. According to the Sept. 1, 1924 edition of The State Journal, a band called the “Imperial Quintet” played right after lunch.

More reporting from Matt Miller: The case of 11 workers furloughed from McLaren Macomb Hospital has yielded a National Labor Relations Board ruling that limits what businesses across the country are able to ask for severance agreements.

Read more

Fish in two southeast Michigan rivers are loaded with PFAS.

The end of an era: The Ecology Center tested 100 fish caught at 15 spots along the Huron River and Rouge River, which both feature "do not eat" advisories due to PFAS levels. Out of 12 different species, each tested fish from both river systems contained detectible levels of at least one of 14 different PFAS compounds.

Results of new testing: High pollutant concentrations remain in Huron River fish — particularly in the organs like the liver, eggs and guts, where the chemicals were found at higher levels than in the muscle tissue. That doesn’t bode well for the broader food web, say study authors. While most people do not, generally, eat a whole fish, other animals do.

In other animal-related news : Flint police are investigating a pack of dogs responsible for a series of dog attacks that have taken place in the city.

Read more

Recent ice storms and snowstorms have been eating away at Michigan drought.

Decreasing drought: Well, there is a positive side to those storms we were all complaining about. The recent storm systems have produced ample moisture and have greatly reduced the size of drought in Michigan and the severity of the drought.

But some areas are still in severe drought: The southeast quarter of Michigan is still anywhere from abnormally dry to severe drought. Severe drought still stretches from Ann Arbor to southeast Oakland County to St. Clair and southern Sanilac County. Moderate drought takes up the rest of southeast Lower Michigan.

Embrace late winter: Since it's March, it's already meteorological spring, but we aren't officially out of the winter season until later this month. The DNR has workshops on snowshoe-making and other topics to help you embrace this time of year.

Read more

Kyle is sharing some thoughts on what the Lions could do at the top of the NFL Draft.

Who will the Detroit Lions take? While the draft is always punctuated by some mystery, hang around that team long enough and it’s usually not that difficult to understand their intentions coming out of the NFL combine. Not in the first round anyway. And it has very little to do with what happens on the field. Read more from MLive's Kyle Meinke here.

Checking in on a former second-round pick: They’ve found stars like Penei Sewell and Aidan Hutchinson on Day 1. They’ve found gems like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Malcolm Rodriguez and James Houston on Day 3. Two years into the rebuild, this Detroit Lions regime has killed the NFL draft. Levi Onwuzurike, well, that’s another story.

Elsewhere in sports: How many more wins does Michigan need to make the NCAA Tournament?

Read more

Jeff Titus spent 22 years in prison. He celebrated freedom with a Sweetwater's doughnut.

Coming home:After 22 years in prison, Jeff Titus has experienced a lot of culture shocks in the days since his release. Amid all the new experiences, at least one thing has remained the same – the New York Cheesecake doughnut at Sweetwater’s Donut Mill.

Freedom after 22 years: Titus, 71, walked out of prison Feb. 24 after being incarcerated for double murder for more than two decades. His conviction was vacated, due to what attorney David Moran described as a wrongful conviction.

Also in Kalamazoo:Four adults and two children were displaced after a fire destroyed a house in Kalamazoo Monday morning.

Read more

That's all for now.

But I'll be back here with you tomorrow morning.

Until then, you can always find the latest Michigan news at MLive.com. While you're there, consider becoming an MLive subscriber.

I hope you have a lovely Tuesday.

— Jessica Shepherd

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