(WXYZ) — Hey, you're busy — we get it.
We know a lot happens throughout the week, and you may not catch all of our stories here at WXYZ. So we've decided to gather the most talked-about stories from the past week all in one place that you can check out during your free time over the weekend.
Have a story idea or tip? Feel free to let us know using the contact form below.
Here are the buzz-worthy stories from the week ending Dec. 6:
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan launches independent run for Michigan governor
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan officially launched his bid to be the next Michigan governor, announcing he'll run as an independent in the 2026 gubernatorial race.
“I'm not running to be the Democrats' governor or the Republicans' governor. I'm running to be your governor,” Duggan said in a statement on Wednesday. “The political fighting and the nonsense that once held back Detroit is too often what we’re seeing across Michigan today. The current system forces people to choose sides—not find solutions. It’s time to change that."
Later on Wednesday, he sat down with 7 News Detroit Anchor Carolyn Clifford to talk about the race and his decision to run.
Duggan said that he will host listening sessions with Michiganders this month – similar to how he launched his mayoral campaign – to make sure they are heard.
“My first priority in 2025 will be my duties as Mayor, but I wanted to start statewide conversations now and then spend full-time in 2026 visiting neighbors in every corner of this state,” Duggan said in the statement. “I welcome anyone across the state who is tired of the politics of conflict to invite me into your community to have serious, important conversations about our state’s future.”
Man helps Warren family who had their Christmas decorations stolen
We followed up on a story we first shared with you Monday. The Milner family's newly-purchased Christmas decorations were stolen by a real-life Grinch. They spent nearly $200 during a touch financial season for the family to bring some joy to 2-year-old Isabella.
After seeing our story, one man in Howell wanted to do something special to help. After Mike Roseman from Howell saw the story, he knew he wanted to do something to help. He gifted the family with a $250 check.
"Anytime you can reach out and help somebody that needs help, you gotta do it," Roseman said. "Take the rest of it and buy a gift for your daughter.”
The family was completely overwhelmed by the kind gesture and said they're happy that Isabella will now understand there is much more good in the world than a couple of Grinches.
“It shows that kindness is still out there, it shows the Christmas spirit and like I said, it makes me want to pay it forward too," dad Jason Milner said.
'You kept me calm.' Mother praises Clinton Township emergency crew for delivering her baby
Candice Demsey was scheduled to give birth Sunday at Beaumont Grosse Pointe, but her baby boy had other plans.
"I knew I wasn't going to make it, so I called 911," she said.
Candice ended up giving birth to little Noah in the back of an ambulance early Sunday morning.
"I still can't believe I had a baby in the back of an ambulance," she said.
It's a first for Candice, who is now a mom to three kids. It was also a first for the two firefighter/paramedics who helped deliver Noah in the back of the ambulance that arrived to transport her.
"It happened really fast," said Brett Isett, a Clinton Township firefighter/paramedic.
Biran Molnar, a Clinton Township firefighter and paramedic, added, "I was ready for it, but I wasn't expecting that."
On Tuesday, there was a joyous reunion, just about 48 hours after a chaotic experience.
"You guys made it go great, honestly, you kept me calm, you listened to me, you took me seriously," she said.
And they say they're thankful for the rare opportunity to reunite with someone they helped.
"We don't connect a lot with our patients afterward, you know, a lot of the times you just hope everything went well for them and hope everything worked out so, it's really nice to see her and Noah and they're both doing great which is awesome," said Brett.
Detroiters get first look inside refreshed Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory on Belle Isle
Detroiters got their first look in years at the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory on Belle Isle on Wednesday after it reopened to the public following a two-year renovation.
“Today, we’re finally able to welcome the public back into the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory," said Amanda Treadwell, an urban area field planner with the Department of Natural Resources. “So, she’s been under construction for the last two years as we’ve been working to stabilize the structure and make repairs to the palm dome and the other four houses in the conservatory here.”
They removed asbestos and lead paint, added new concrete floors and planter walls, repaired steel trusses, and installed lots of new glass.
“There’s five different houses representing different plant climates. We’ve got the palm dome, of course. Here is the centerpiece. There’s a tropical wing that’s great. Kids can find oranges and bananas, all kinds of fruit trees in there," Treadwell says. “So, then we have the cactus house behind us and then the fernery. So you get a wide range of plants from around the world when you come here.”
The most visible thing guests will notice is just how much more light streams in, thanks to all that new glass.
"Well, the dome alone has 1,500 new panes. This is actually one of them. And with both wings included, we’re talking 2,000 brand new panes of glass," Treadwell says.
Crash victim fights for change after getting slapped with bill from Shelby Township Fire Department
This week, Macomb Township resident Sharon Hardy received a bill from the Shelby Township Fire Department that she thought was a joke. The bill was for $1,293.04 and she said she was being asked to pay $431.02 of that.
What's it for? It says right on the bill that on November 9 the fire department was called to the scene of an incident.
According to Hardy, that incident was when a car crashed into her and her husband's car, as well as one other car, at Van Dyke Avenue and 25 Mile Road. Hardy said that the driver who hit them apologized and said he was not paying attention well enough.
She said that a good Samaritan nearby called 911, the Shelby Township Fire Department showed up, but she didn't receive any service from them.
Hardy called the fire department assistant chief and was told that the bill is because of a Township ordinance passed just 5 months ago in July.
"Everything I asked him he kept saying to me, ‘This is cost recovery ma’am, you don’t pay taxes in Shelby Township, if you lived in Shelby Township and you paid taxes in Shelby Township, you would not have received the bill.’" said Hardy
7 News Detroit reached out to the assistant chief to learn more and received a call back from Shelby Township's community relations director.
He sent this statement:
"Shelby Township residents generally do not pay additional fees for emergency services, such as police and fire responses, beyond what is funded through property taxes. However, there are situations where the Shelby Township Fire Department bills insurance companies for specific services. For example, in car accidents, ambulance services or house fires, the fire department may bill insurance to cover the costs associated with the response.
As Michigan operates as a No-Fault state, any billing related to an accident is typically split among all involved parties, regardless of who may have called 911. Even if no one at the scene specifically requested fire department services, the fire department must respond to ensure the safety of everyone involved, including first responders. When our team arrives, they work quickly to secure the area by blocking traffic, assessing injuries, sometimes extricating individuals from vehicles, providing necessary medical care and clearing the scene.
US Special Counsel: Metro Airport landing approach may create 'danger for landing aircraft and flying public'
The U.S. Special Counsel is taking issue with the actions of Federal Aviation Administration managers at Metro Airport yet again.
The 7 Investigators were the first to expose a risky landing practice at the airport back in 2020.
On Tuesday, for the second time, the U.S. Special Counsel sent a report to the President and to Congress about the issues with this landing approach at Detroit Metro Airport.
In a press release, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger said, “The approach at issue may create a danger for landing aircraft and the flying public.”
The 7 Investigators have obtained multiple radar recordings of pilots reporting problems with the landing system:
“We’re going around, we’re unstable,” said one pilot.
“SkyWest 3650, you say you’re going missed?” asked an air traffic controller.
“Going missed,” confirmed the pilot.
Air Traffic Controllers say the landing system on one of the Metro Airport runways sometimes causes pilots to have to abort their landings. And that can be risky.
“Bottom line, the planes could collide?” asked 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.
“Absolutely. Yes,” said now-retired Air Traffic Controllers. “They could drift into each other.”
The planes on the westernmost runway must approach at an angle, using something called the Instrument Landing System (ILS) Yankee Off Set Localizer. It’s an antenna system, but Air Traffic Controllers say its placement at Metro results in the signal getting interrupted, especially when other planes taxi right in front of it.
“You guys need to get off of Yankee and go to Zulu,” said one pilot to the tower during a snowstorm.
“Trust me, that’s a constant discussion,” said an Air Traffic Controller.
“No, it’s not a discussion. It’s a safety issue coming from the pilots,” said the pilot.
Since 2020, the 7 Investigators have exposed how three different whistleblowers have questioned the use of the landing system.
“Why are we using it again after the Special Counsel asked us not to,” said one Air Traffic Controller in 2021 who could only speak on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their job.
“These are all complaints from the larger mainline airline pilots. They’re saying, 'Why are we using this?'” said another Controller, who asked that we hide their identity as well due to fear of retaliation.
“Is this approach safe?” asked Catallo.
“No,” said Sugent. “I have literally hundreds of documents with engineers and all these people saying don't use it. We can't guarantee the safety of this.”
Because he’s now retired, Sugent can speak publicly about the issue.
Sugent is the one who originally filed a whistleblower complaint in 2018 with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. That federal watchdog sided with Sugent, and in a letter in 2020 to then-President Trump, the Special Counsel urged the FAA to “further review the safety issues associated with the ILS Y approach procedure and take the steps necessary to resolve them.”
But the 7 Investigators have documented several times in the last four years where FAA leadership at Metro Airport continued to use the approach. Radar playback obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveals multiple examples of pilots reporting signal interference with the ILS Y and having to “go around” or abort their landings.
“Do you know if the localizer Yankee seems to have been off – has it been giving trouble to some other folks?” asked on pilot. “It was quite a bit off.”
“We had an issue with the localizer too. It overshot – it wasn’t tracking it,” said another pilot that same day.
So Sugent, even though he’s no longer on the job, filed a new whistleblower complaint.
“Why have you been so relentless on this?” asked Catallo.
“I'm a public servant. Bottom line, that's all we are. Whether you're the head of the FAA or you're a controller working our airplanes, we are public servants. And we have to make sure that the public gets from point A to point B in the safest, quickest way they can,” said Sugent. “We have a responsibility to make sure those airplanes are safe as possible.”
In a letter to the President on Tuesday, the special counsel said, “…it appears the previous safety concerns surrounding the ILS-Y approach at DTW remain.
According to the Special Counsel report, the FAA did not substantiate Sugent’s allegations that the system is unsafe. They said they temporarily stopped using the system and implemented an education campaign for controllers and pilots.
“Although the [FAA] has not substantiated Mr. Sugent’s allegations, all the agency reports regarding this matter confirm that the FAA has continued the use of the ILS-Y approach procedure at DTW, with the full knowledge the offset localizers are located in areas where aircraft taxi through the ILS critical area and could cause interference with the ILS signal,” said Dellinger. “Further, I am concerned that the agency has discontinued the weather restriction, one of the two mitigations that the agency previously deemed necessary for the safe operation of the ILS-Y approach.”
“Why put airplanes in that situation?” said Sugent.
It’s now up to Congress to decide whether to hold the FAA accountable. Sugent says he continues to urge Congress to have the antenna system moved to a different location where it does not get interference from other aircraft.
The 7 Investigators reached out to the FAA for comment on this. They said they are aware of this and reviewing the ruling.
‘A huge breach of trust.’ Michigan lawmakers aim to stop problem cops from finding work
State lawmakers on Thursday are taking up a package of bills that they hope will put an end to troubled police officers circulating throughout departments across Michigan.
The legislation was introduced following more than a year of reports from 7 News Detroit, showing how problem officers have been allowed to jump from department to department, leaving scandal, lawsuits or criminal charges in their wake.
“It’s a huge breach of trust,” said State Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit). “We shouldn’t be cycling through bad cops when someone clearly knew that this was someone who should not be in law enforcement.”
In Michigan, the agency that helps police the police is the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES). Its small investigations staff has an enormous responsibility: to ensure that every officer who leaves a department to join another meets the standards to be an officer.
“The vast majority of people who leave agencies do so in good standing,” said Tim Bourgeois, the MCOLES executive director. “However, there’s 18,500 officers in Michigan. Even if 1% of them don’t, that’s a significant number.”
But as 7 News Detroit has shown, officers with troubling histories have been hired by new departments without state watchdogs noticing.
Examples include officers deemed to be untruthful, a Detroit officer seen punching a citizen in the face, a Highland Park officer found to have improperly tased a homeless man, an Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy caught buying narcotics on duty and using racist language and officers accused of harassment by multiple women or engaging in sexual acts or sexting with women they’d pulled over.
State Sen. Sarah Anthony, a Democrat from Lansing, said the instances are appalling.
“What you just named are some egregious examples of individuals who violated the public trust in one department,” Anthony said, “and because of the lack of bills like what we have before you now, they’ve continued to be able to violate our citizens.”
It wasn’t supposed to work this way. When an officer leaves a police department—even if it’s just to take another job— their department is supposed to report to MCOLES exactly why they left. Any department looking to hire them needs to conduct a thorough background check of the officer on their own.
But too often, that didn’t happen. In numerous cases, 7 News Detroit found that police chiefs hired officers without even knowing why they left their last police department.
In other cases, departments claimed that an officer left in good standing when they were actually under investigation or facing internal charges.
Sometimes, it was state investigators who dropped the ball…failing to flag problem cops before another agency could hire them.
“This is where this bill is important,” Sen. Anthony said. “To finally put an end to this practice, and to give MCOLES…finally giving them additional tools to reign this stuff in.”
In November, Senators Anthony, Chang and others introduced a package of bills designed to help plug some of the holes that allowed problem officers to slip through.
If signed by the governor, they would allow MCOLES to set standards for department background checks.
The bills would also require departments to fully disclose why an officer left and whether they were ever under investigation during their final year of employment.
The bills would also give the state greater authority to revoke a law enforcement license and would provide MCOLES a 90-day window to revoke an officer’s license if it was activated in error.
What the bills don’t address — at least right now — is any discipline for departments that give false information about why an officer left, or don’t perform a complete background check at all.
“When you have police chiefs who say that an officer left in good standing who did not leave in good standing, or a police chief who said they did a background check and they did not do a background check, how do you guard against that?” asked Channel 7’s Ross Jones.
“I’m aware of other states where if an agency head does not follow their versions of the MCOLES Act, that action is taken against their law enforcement license,” said Tim Bourgeois, the MCOLES Executive Director.
“In certain cases, these are criminal offenses.”
Senator Anthony says she’s open to adding more teeth to the law down the road, but first she wants to get these fixes on the books.
Her legislation already has the endorsement of major law enforcement groups, including the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, whose executive director says Channel 7’s reporting has provided a public service and a warning to police chiefs.
“Because now we see in a very public matter, the types of repercussions that can happen when you take a chance on somebody,” said Robert Stevenson. “A lot of good has come from these stories, as painful as it is for me to watch these because it's embarrassing to the profession which I obviously care about.”
For the Democrats pushing the bills, time is of the essence. In the House, Republicans become the majority party in January. Today, there are just weeks left in the current legislative session, meaning the clock is ticking for lawmakers to act on the new bills. Senator Anthony says the stakes are too high not to.
“I don’t want to be sitting here in a year, listening to another laundry list of incidents in which a bad apple went to the other side of the state and violated someone in their community,” she said.
