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Here’s an excerpt of the story:

Over two years, neighbors logged hundreds of records about the goings-on around 9210 Lane St., then handed the stack to police.

Alkazoff was sentenced in December to at least three years in prison.

“The switch got flipped,” said Detroit Police Sgt. Brandon Cole, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood. “It went from a dirty secret to a drive-through, and people were leaving because of the drug dealing.”

To learn more on how this Detroit neighborhood fought off a drug dealing thug, go to the Detroit Free Press.

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It appears the shooting took place over a cell phone.

The Free Press has more:

Brown was charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder and felony firearm. Magistrate Steve Lockhart ordered him to stay in jail without bail during a video arraignment in 36th District Court in Detroit on Sunday.

Prosecutors said Heather Brown, 35, drove her son to the home and away from the scene after the shooting. She was charged with being an accessory after the fact.

“She is grossly undercharged to this court’s mind,” Lockhart said today.

Heather Brown is accused of helping her son flee and not assisting authorities apprehend her son, he said.

“It would appear not a reach to feel she knowingly drove an armed individual to shoot up a house,” he said.

Go to the Free Press for more on this story.

Here is a video version of this story reported by WXYZ Detroit

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Tuesday afternoon, the majority of the Detroit City Council did not show up for a critical 1 p.m. meeting. What does that say about the council’s sense of responsibility to the city?

And when a city begins to weigh whether to close all recreation centers where our children find recreation, that city has really hit rock bottom.

MORE FROM THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE: Snyder: ‘We’re Not Running Detroit’

You begin to wonder about those leaders who say they believe in the future of our children, yet want to close centers that provide an environment for children to find a sense of belonging in their city.

Maybe such a decision once decided upon will be a warning signal for parents to move out of the city because Detroit will be tagged as “the city with no recreation outlets for children.”

And that is where Detroit is in its present state, where the city council — the legislative body that is supposed to be the conscience of local government — is considering closing all recreation centers in the name of saving millions of dollars in helping address a ballooning budget deficit.

The council signaled last week that it could close… READ MORE AT THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE!

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In an exclusive agenda-setting interview Friday afternoon, Gov. Rick Snyder said the financial crisis in Detroit is one of his major challenges for 2012.

The governor said helping the city work through its financial mess before April when the city could run out of cash is not about controlling the city.

MORE FROM THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE: Where Are The Adults In Detroit’s Broken Government?

“And I always want to be careful,” Snyder explained. “It’s not about us running the city, but working in an environment that fosters a collaborative partnership arrangement, where we can be a supporting resource.”

Snyder said he understands how politics has been driving the conversation around Detroit’s financial woes, but noted that he chose Detroiters with deep roots in the city to help address the crisis.

The review team includes… READ MORE AT THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE

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Fielder and the Tigers agreed Tuesday to a nine-year, $214 million contract, a person familiar with the deal said. The AL Central champions boldly stepped up in the Fielder sweepstakes after the recent knee injury to star Victor Martinez. A week ago, the Tigers announced the productive designated hitter could miss the entire season after tearing his left ACL during offseason conditioning.

CBS first reported the agreement with Fielder.

The person told The Associated Press the deal was subject to a physical. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract was not yet complete.

Several teams had shown interest this winter in Fielder, the free agent first baseman who had spent his entire career with the Milwaukee Brewers. He visited Texas, and the Washington Nationals also got involved in the discussions.

The Tigers won their division by 15 games before losing in the AL championship series to Texas. With Fielder now in the fold, general manager Dave Dombrowski and owner Mike Ilitch have a team that figures to enter the 2012 season as a favorite to repeat in the division — with an eye on winning the franchise’s first World Series title since 1984.

“Everyone knew Mr. Ilitch and Mr. Dombrowski were going to make a move when Victor went down,” outfielder Brennan Boesch said in a phone interview with the AP. “But I don’t think anybody thought it would be this big.”

The move also keeps Fielder’s name in the Tigers’ family. His father, Cecil, became a big league star when he returned to the majors from Japan and hit 51 home runs with Detroit in 1990. Cecil played with the Tigers into the 1996 season, and young Prince made a name for himself by hitting prodigious home runs in batting practice at Tiger Stadium.

In an interview with MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, Cecil Fielder said he was “shocked” by the news that Prince was heading to Detroit.

“He’s been there in Detroit most of his young life so I think he’ll be comfortable in that place,” Cecil Fielder said. “I know Mr. Ilitch is probably excited because he’s been wanting that kid since he was a little kid, so he finally got his wish.”

With Cabrera and Fielder, Detroit will begin this season with two players under age 30 with at least 200 career homers. According to STATS LLC, that’s happened only once before. At the start of the 1961 season, the Milwaukee Braves featured 29-year-old Eddie Mathews (338 homers) and 27-year-old Hank Aaron (219).

Fielder hit .299 with 38 home runs and 120 RBIs last season. He is a three-time All-Star and was the MVP of last year’s event in Phoenix.

The beefy slugger has averaged 40 homers and 113 RBIs over the past five years. He’s also been among the most durable players in the majors, appearing in at least 157 games in each of the last six seasons.

Fielder hits left-handed, while Cabrera is a righty. Manager Jim Leyland will get to decide where to put them in the batting order.

“I don’t think there’s a better right-left combo in any lineup in baseball,” Boesch said. “I’m sure Skip’s wheels are already turning on how to set them up.”

And to think, the Tigers also have the American League’s reigning MVP and Cy Young Award winner — right-hander Justin Verlander.

Fielder’s deal is only the fourth $200 million contract in baseball history, following Alex Rodriguez’s $275 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees, A-Rod’s $252 million, 10-year deal with Texas and Albert Pujols’ $240 million, 10-year contract last month with the Los Angeles Angels.

Among current players, Fielder’s $23.78 million average salary is behind only A-Rod ($27.5 million), Ryan Howard ($25 million), and Cliff Lee and Pujols ($24 million each).

Dombrowski indicated last week he’d probably seek a short-term solution to Martinez’s injury, but he left himself some wriggle room, saying it depended who the replacement was.

Acquiring Fielder opens all sorts of possibilities. For now, Detroit has an opening at DH with Martinez out. But Martinez is in the second year of a $50 million, four-year contract.

One option could be to move Cabrera from first base to third. He played third base regularly for the Florida Marlins before the Tigers acquired him before the 2008 season.

Third baseman Brandon Inge has one year left on a two-year, $11.5 million deal with Detroit.

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Texana Hollis was evicted Sept. 12 and her belongings placed outside after her 65-year-old son failed to pay property taxes linked to a reverse mortgage and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development foreclosed on the home.

Two days later, the department said she could return. But now, HUD said it won’t let Hollis move back in because of the house’s condition. She had lived there about 60 years.

“Here I am, 100 years old, and don’t have a home,” Hollis said, rounding off her age. “Oh Lord, help me.”

Department spokesman Brian Sullivan told The Detroit News that an inspection determined the house “was completely unsuitable for a person to live in.”

“We can’t allow someone to live in that (atmosphere) now that we are essentially the owners of the property,” Sullivan said. “The home isn’t safe; it’s not sanitary. It’s certainly not suitable for anyone to live in, especially not a 101-year-old mother.”

HUD doesn’t want to pay to fix up the house, but Sullivan said the department’s seeking other agencies that might help with the work and get Hollis back into her home.

“We’re not giving up,” Sullivan said. “We’re talking with anybody and everybody about solutions to this situation, but the condition of the property is a challenge.”

After hearing about her longtime friend’s eviction, Pollian Cheeks, 68, offered Hollis a room at her home within a mile of Hollis’ house. Hollis, who once taught Cheeks in Sunday school at St. Philip’s Lutheran Church, agreed to the invitation and has been staying at Cheeks’ house in the meantime.

“Polly’s just as nice to me as anybody could be. She goes out of her way to help me,” Hollis said, holding back tears. “It’s just like living at home, but it’s not my home.”

Hollis’s son took out the reverse mortgage for the $32,000 assessed value of the property, an option that HUD permits for the elderly. HUD took control of the mortgage after the amount paid to the family exceeded the value of the house in 2006.

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In Detroit and elsewhere, the murder of Greene has been the subject of whispers and conjecture for years. The family of Greene filed suit against Kilpatrick and the city, claiming that the powers that be squelched the subsequent investigation.

In November, a federal judge dismissed the case. Now he’s releasing the testimony behind his decision. The Detroit Free Press reports:

Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen said he plans to unseal dozens of items, including the sworn testimony of then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, two former police chiefs and several police executives who were questioned in the case — unless they file objections within 30 days.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the records would be made available.

Rosen said previously he wouldn’t release the testimony of several others, including former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, because they didn’t factor into his decision to toss the case.

Cox lost the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary amid criticism about his handling of the investigation into the Manoogian party rumors. He didn’t take along State Police investigators to his interview with Kilpatrick and declared the rumor an urban legend.

Rosen previously said he also doesn’t plan to release the depositions of Kilpatrick’s wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, who was rumored to have assaulted a stripper at the 2002 party; former Kwame Kilpatrick top aide Christine Beatty; former city Law Department director Ruth Carter; two former Kilpatrick bodyguards, or Darrett King, the man some detectives said they believe killed Greene.

Read more at the Detroit Free Press

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Shelley Hilliard, 19, a transgender woman, was about to be arrested for possession of marijuana Oct. 20 when police offered a way out, according to testimony during a court hearing Thursday. She could set up a drug deal.

With the police listening on speaker phone, Hilliard used her cellphone to call Qasim Raqib, telling him she had someone (an undercover agent) who wanted to buy $335 worth of cocaine and marijuana, according to testimony during Raqib’s preliminary examination Thursday in 36th District Court.

When Raqib arrived at the Motel 6 in Madison Heights 20 minutes later, police arrested him.

As you can imagine, the story does not simply end there. Things took a very ugly turn:

Raqib, 30, of Detroit, was released several hours later. Three days later, the mutilated body of Hilliard was discovered ablaze in the street on Detroit’s east side.

Raqib was charged with the murder. His preliminary exam resumes Jan. 13.

I work with a lot of youth and I can tell you that the “stop snitching” psychology of the streets is still very prevalent. A section of San Francisco has an area where many of those who speaks to the police about crime gets caught up with. Why do you think this is happening and what can be done to stop it? A lot of times when a crime happens in plain sight, no one will talk. The situation may be very innocent, or very sinister- but no one speaks. Police  always say they need people to step forward, yet seem unable to protect those who give information. Why is this happening?

Read the entire story in Detroit News.

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Bing presented a financial and operational restructuring plan update to the council Thursday afternoon. It highlights cost savings from 1,000 imminent layoffs, overdue payments from the Detroit Public Schools district and a corporate tax increase he says will mitigate a cash shortfall.

The 18-month plan calls for $102 million in savings through June and $258 million over the 2013 fiscal year. Auditors had previously warned Detroit could run out of money as early as April.

Bing said members of a state review team won’t uncover any financial issues in the city that his administration doesn’t know about when they meet with his staff in the coming weeks.

A preliminary review last month determined there was “probable financial stress” in city government and that Detroit faces a general fund deficit of about $200 million. The review team is looking into Detroit’s finances – a step in a process that could lead to Michigan taking over the city’s government.

“Do we have financial stress? Damn right we do. We’ve had it since day one,” Bing said.

The review team’s recommendations will be forwarded to Gov. Rick Snyder. City officials have said they want to avoid the need for a state-appointed emergency manager.

City Council President Pro-Tem Gary Brown said he was not as hopeful about the plan as Bing. In the past, including the previous two years under Bing, city budget officials have repeatedly overestimated the revenue coming in to the city treasury, Brown told Bing and mayoral aides.

“It (revenue) just didn’t show up as projected,” Brown said. “And we don’t have a system in place in city government to react.”

In particular, Brown said he has reservations about projected savings from reduced overtime, work rule changes and a reorganization of the municipal bus system’s management.

City labor union leaders have been collaborating with the council and Bing to convince the state that an emergency manager is not necessary. Changes to union contracts and the pension system still are needed to eliminate the city’s long-term structural financial problems.

Bing and union leadership are negotiating medical benefits concessions that can save the city $15 million through June and changes to pensions that would bring about $25 million in savings in the 2013 fiscal year. Bing has said he’ll cut 1,000 jobs early this year to save about $14 million.

“A large percentage of the city’s budget is tied up in labor contracts in terms of hourly wages, health care and retirement issues,” said Mike Boudreau, director of Bloomfield Hills-based O’Keefe and Associates financial turnaround consultants.

“There’s no way around that, but I think it’s unfair to put it totally on (the unions). I think the pain needs to be spread around.”

While Bing’s plan focuses on the next 18 months, Detroit’s structural issues also need to be addressed, Boudreau added.

“I think he’s headed in the right direction, but I think it’s missing the mark,” Boudreau said. “They’ve come forward with plans before that didn’t materialize.”

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All four women found dead where African-American. Two of them were found burnt beyond recognition.

Channel 6 Detroit reports:

The chief said at least three of the victims were working as escorts and had posted ads on BlckPage.com, a website which is similar to Craigslist but allows postings for adult services such as escorts, massages, strippers and fetishes. “The link between the three females and this website specifically dealt with prearranged adult dating services,” he explained.

Police stopped short of calling it the work of a possible serial killer, but Godbee warned people using the site to be careful. “We are not passing judgment on any individual who is utilizing this website, yet we felt it was imperative to alert the public that deciding to meet unknown persons via the internet, can be extremely dangerous,” he said.

Read More At Channel 6 Detroit

The possibility that an outside manager could come in — one who would have broader than ever powers under a rewritten state law — has stirred new concerns among financial ratings agencies and business leaders who have fresh investments in the city. City government, meanwhile, is finding itself forced to re-examine services it provides — including buses, health care and street lighting — and shed what it can no longer afford.

This does not sit well with a lot of folks in Detroit. Clearly this shift in economic control could have a national ripple effect.

The state’s moves have set off an uproar. Under Michigan law, a formal review must precede a state finding that a city’s financial circumstances are so dire as to require an outside manager to take over — and many here view that as the state’s ultimate intent. Mr. Bing, a Democrat, and even groups he has sparred with — the City Council and leaders of the city’s 48 unions, whose contracts are the target of much of the cuts — have pushed back, as have residents. The refrain: Detroiters can take care of Detroit just fine, thanks.

What do you think? If a city or a state cannot manage its money right who should have control over it? Post what you believe is best below.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

The musician’s nonprofit organization joined Hartford Memorial Baptist Church on Wednesday to distribute 100 gift certificates for Meijer retail and grocery stores, along with more than 300 gift baskets.

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Kid Rock, who was born Robert Ritchie, grew up and lives in suburban Detroit. He and the Kid Rock Foundation have been honored this year for their philanthropic contributions by Goodfellows Detroit and the NAACP’s Detroit branch.

Kid Rock is known for dabbling in various musical styles, from hip-hop and hard rock to country and Southern rock.

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Demesha Hunt and Renisha Landers had been considered missing by their family since Sunday morning before this gruesome discovery was made.

VIDEO:

On Monday, a 16-year-old boy noticed a relatively new Chrysler 300 parked between two burned out homes on Promenade Street.  He walked up to the car and saw two dead women in the trunk.

Read more at MyFoxDetroit.com

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Members of the Hustle Boys, a gang formed to promote and organize parties at area nightclubs, allegedly charged admission and sold drugs at the parties in addition to trafficking drugs to and from various states.

“The hard work of dedicated FBI agents, Detroit Police, Michigan State Police and other members of the Violent Crime Task Force helped result in these arrests and ultimately making the streets of Detroit safer,” FBI spokesman Simon Shaykhet said Friday.

Read more at detnews.com.

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Tommie Caldwell, 63, was fatally shot when robbers entered the northwest Detroit home he shared with his wife.

Caldwell was forced back into his home by a gunman Wednesday morning as he exited to head to work.

According to reports, Caldwell struggled with the man and begged him not to hurt his wife before he was fatally wounded. His 64-year-old wife, Alberta Caldwell, was spared.

“He begged them not to hurt her because she’s in remission,” Alberta Caldwell’s sister Ethel Jackson said, explaining that Alberta has been battling breast cancer. “He told her that they were being robbed.”

Read more at the Detroit Free Press.

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D’Andre Lane says the media and police are making him look as if he had something to do with his daughter’s disappearance.

“This is unfair,” Lane said according to the The Detroit News. “I’m the bad guy right now. But I don’t care what people say; if my baby comes home, it won’t even matter.”

But Lane’s lawyer, Terry L. Johnson, says it matters more than his client may think.

“I’ve advised him to stay inside,” Johnson said. “He wants to go out, but I told him it’s not a good idea for two reasons: One, every step he takes will be focused on, and the focus should be on finding his daughter. Second, there’s a safety concern. He’s getting death threats because of the information that’s coming out about him not cooperating with the investigation.”

There are several reasons why the media are focusing on Lane.

When Lane was in police custody, the FBI flew in a polygrapher to administer a lie detector test. A police source told The News Lane scored poorly when asked two specific questions during a failed test: “Did you have anything to do with her disappearance?” and “Do you know where she is now?”

Check out the rest of the story and video of Lane talking to the media at The Detroit News.

Then give us your thoughts on this story once you have read it and viewed the video.

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“You have to put all that aside when it comes to a precious little girl,” said the 39-year-old Gideon, barely avoiding oily pools of filthy rain water in one of dozens of alleys not far from where Bianca Jones is reported to have last been seen.

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More than three dozen volunteers searching for Bianca fanned out in small groups of five to 10 Monday morning through the North End neighborhood, while police continued to pore over D’Andre Lane’s version of how his car was taken during a robbery Friday morning with his daughter in the rear seat.

“If it was my son or me missing I would want somebody looking for me,” said Gideon, moments before peering inside a trash-filled and nearly collapsed garage only blocks from where police found Lane’s car.

She and others who canvassed the area amid 30-degree temperatures that eventually gave way to snow returned a couple hours later to Metropolitan United Methodist Church, many tired but vowing to try again Tuesday if necessary.

Lane, 32, was being held in nearby Oakland County on an outstanding warrant from an unrelated case. But Undersheriff Mike McCabe said Monday afternoon that Lane had been released.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee said Sunday investigators were questioning the truthfulness of Lane’s story. Police also searched his home Monday morning, but declined to provide details.

No suspects have been identified related to the alleged carjacking.

“The search for Bianca Jones is ongoing and continues to be of the highest priority relative to our commitment of dedicated resources to this case,” Godbee said in a statement. “The Detroit Police Department will not comment on the quantity nor the quality of any evidence or information we have gathered to date. However, in the interest of allaying some of the fears of the public regarding the apparent randomness of Bianca’s disappearance, the authenticity and credibility of the original version of events is under intense scrutiny by our investigative team.”

Lane’s lawyer said his client has been straightforward with police and will be so in the future.

“He is a loving father,” Terry L. Johnson said Monday night.

“Contrary to media reports, Mr. Lane has fully cooperated and will continue to cooperate with police agencies to assure the safe return of his daughter, Bianca Jones,” Johnson said.

Banika Jones, the girl’s mother, said before the search began that she last saw her daughter Nov. 26, when family and friends celebrated her birthday. Jones said Lane had taken Bianca to see a movie, brought her back to her mother’s house for the party and then the girl left with her father.

“Please continue to keep searching for Bianca,” Banika Jones said. “We love her and we want her home. Bianca, Mommy has lots and lots of gingerbread men for you when you get home.”

According to Michigan prison records, Lane was jailed for more than three years on drug and firearm possession charges stemming from a 2003 arrest and was paroled in 2007. He also served a more than four-year probation starting in 1996 after being convicted of assault with intent to commit armed robbery and a conspiracy charge.

A pre-sentencing investigation report from 2007 shows that Lane, a father of three other children from three previous relationships, sought to shield his incarceration from his children. A probation officer wrote that Lane did not want his children to come to see him in prison because it was not a place for them to visit.

Banika Jones said Lane has a good relationship with Bianca, who is described as 2 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing about 25 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

“He has unfettered access to her; welcome to come anytime,” she said. “He’s never been anything but loving and committed to her. I know he probably wants to see Bianca home as much as I do.

“I have no information on the investigation. My focus is on finding Bianca. That is what I’m driven to do right now is bring my daughter home. I just want to see Bianca again.

“We are looking for Bianca. We are trying to find her. We are going to bring Bianca home.”

Lane has been close to the Jones family for years, according to Kelly Jones, Banika’s sister.

“They were never officially in a relationship” and there was no “bad blood,” Kelly Jones said of Lane and Banika.

“There was no problem and now Bianca’s gone. Let’s just find her,” Kelly Jones said.

Locating a child that some fear is somewhere shivering in the cold is what prompted Michelle Carter to join the search Monday.

“It was cold,” Carter said after returning with others to Metropolitan United Methodist Church. “We went through the alleys. We searched porches, under debris, moved bags and went through trash. We called Bianca’s name.”

The 39-year-old nail salon owner refused to think the worst and admitted to having no idea what Bianca’s mother may be feeling.

“I don’t want to imagine. No,” Carter said. “Being a mother and not even knowing where your child is … I know is devastating.”

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Deandre Lane’s gray Mercury Grand Marquis turned up half an hour later only six blocks away, but the toddler, Bianca Jones, was nowhere to be found.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee said in a statement Sunday that the search for Bianca is the department’s “priority one,” The Detroit Free Press reported.

Read more at NYDailyNews.com

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The governor has taken steps in that direction, proposing an unprecedented move that could give an appointed manager virtually unchecked power to gut union contracts, cut health insurance and slash services. But city leaders bristle at the notion. Said the mayor: “This is our city. Detroit needs to be run by Detroiters.”

If it happens, Detroit would be the largest American city ever taken over by a state. Michigan has seized control of smaller struggling cities, but until now Detroit was always off-limits.

That changed this week, when Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration said it would begin a review of Detroit’s precarious finances. If the governor concludes that the city’s economic situation constitutes an emergency, he could dispatch a manager who could push the mayor and city council to the sidelines.

It’s not clear how everyday services like trash pickup and bus routes would be affected, but the fixer’s mission would be clear: Do whatever it takes to stop the bleeding.

Democratic Mayor Dave Bing says Detroit doesn’t need the help. He insists the city is reducing a $150 million budget deficit and easing cash-flow problems on its own.

“We know what needs to be done, and we stand ready to do it,” an indignant Bing said.

The financial review starts Tuesday and may last up to 90 days, meaning a takeover could be under way by the end of February.

The same fate has befallen other cities.

Atlantic City agreed in 2010 to let New Jersey take over its finances in an arrangement that allowed the city to spread a $9.5 million deficit over five years, sparing homeowners and businesses a significant property tax increase.

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Corbett signed a law in October enabling a takeover of Harrisburg.

“It terms of a city, I think Detroit stands alone,” said Michael LaFaive, director of fiscal policy at Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a nonpartisan group that espouses free markets.

An emergency financial manager would have the power to privatize utility departments, as well as the bus system and other agencies. A manager also could sell off city-owned parking lots and even Belle Isle, Detroit’s popular island park, LaFaive said.

In a 2001 report, LaFaive wrote about Detroit’s burgeoning fiscal problems and recommended privatization, contracting out services and ways to generate revenue.

“I think they knew what the recommendations were, but their hands were tied a bit by recalcitrant employee unions,” LaFaive said. “Those kinds of bold reforms would be difficult to get over with city council or voters, in general.”

Last month, Bing declared the city government “broken” and said the public’s checkbook would be short by $45 million next year unless Detroit starts saving money fast. In an attempt to ward off an emergency manager, he proposed laying off 1,000 employees — 9 percent of the workforce — and negotiating 10 percent pay cuts with unions.

“If Lansing believes our plan isn’t strong enough, I’d like to hear their suggestions for what they can improve,” the mayor said. He suggested the state help by supplying millions of dollars that he says the city was promised in a decade-old tax overhaul. Detroit has also sought help collecting its income tax.

“It’s our hope that the mayor and city council and labor can cut their own deal that works for the city,” Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon said Friday.

But even after a number of threats from the mayor, organized labor barely budged. Now that a state takeover looks more likely, adversaries have become partners.

“We’re going to sit down and resolve these issues,” said Al Garrett, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25 in Michigan.

A Michigan-based corporate turnaround specialist, James McTevia, said there would be potential pitfalls for any Detroit manager. Pay cuts ordered without negotiation, he said, could make the city’s workforce boil.

“You can breach all the union contracts you want, but if the police and the fire department walked out, you are in deep trouble,” McTevia said.

Detroit has struggled for years after the auto industry collapsed, leaving the city with a much-reduced tax base and a dwindling population of 713,000, down 25 percent in just the last decade.

Managers already oversee Flint, Pontiac and Benton Harbor, as well as the Detroit public schools.

As Benton Harbor’s emergency manager, Joe Harris has ordered firefighter cross-training for police officers, which reduced public-safety costs by a third.

He also negotiated new collective-bargaining agreements with many unions, forcing Benton Harbor employees to pay 20 percent of their health care premiums and contribute 10 percent of their wages to pensions.

In Pontiac, emergency manager Lou Schimmel dismissed the city clerk, the city attorney and the head of public works. He’s also taken smaller steps, such as removing parking meters that cost too much to maintain. And he hopes to save $3 million by having the neighboring community of Waterford take over fire protection.

“It’s daunting anywhere but, yeah, you can fix it,” Schimmel said of Detroit. “First, I’d want a list of all assets the city owns — the land, buildings, operations the city shouldn’t operate and should sell. The lighting system is still run by Detroit. That’s crazy. I’d want to concentrate on privatizing core services. I’d want to get police and fire contracts in line.”

The Citizens Research Council, a nonpartisan group that studies government at all levels, analyzed Detroit’s finances in 2010 and warned that the city “must be restructured.” The city, it noted, owns a small airport, has its own health service, regional water agency and streetlight department, and uses city employees, not contractors, to pick up trash.

Sheila Cockrel, a city council member for 16 years until 2010, said long-term relief is unlikely until the city changes the pension system to a 401(k)-style defined-contribution plan and puts more health insurance costs on employees and retirees.

“The entire structure of the city reflects a 1950s model in which the United States was the dominant economy of the world and automobile manufacturing was the core driver,” said Cockrel, who teaches at Wayne State University in Detroit. “None of that is true anymore.”

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The family of 13-year-old Jasmine Crawley brought the fight club to authorities’ attention after a video of Crowley fighting in the bathroom was posted on the Internet.

Fox Detroit reports:

“It’s a two way responsibility here. We’re not just pointing the finger because, again, I know my niece is not an angel here. I just want to make sure that the schools are involved and that they’re professional and that they’re diligent with handling situations like this,” said Felisia Newby, Jasmine’s aunt.

That’s why they filed a formal complaint with Detroit Police. They want DPS to take action, even if it means disciplining Jasmine. Whatever it takes before it’s too late and a student gets seriously injured or even killed.

Read More At Fox Detroit

Beatings Inside Detroit Middle School Bathroom, So Called 30-Second Game: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Twenty-six-year-old Kalisha Madden was last seen at around 3:00 a.m. on November 28, 2011. She was at her job in the 6600 block of Michigan Avenue.

Kalisha is 4’11″ tall and weighs about 160 pounds. She reportedly has no mental or physical problems.

Anyone with information on her current location is asked to call Detroit Police at (313) 596-5600.

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Suh, penalized with nine personal foul penalties and  fines totaling $42,500 in his first two seasons, has made a name for being one of the dirtiest players in the NFL.

“First and foremost, I’m only going to apologize to my teammates, my coaches, and my true fans for allowing the refs to have an opportunity to take me out of this game,” Suh said. “What I did was remove myself from the situation in the best way I felt and me being held down in the situation that I was in and for that, my intentions were not to kick anybody, as I did not, removing myself.”

Read more at the Grio.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

After years of ever-growing deficits, Detroit Public Schools broke into the black during the past school year, with a $43 million surplus, the district said Monday.

A 10 percent enrollment drop, federal stimulus money and belt-tightening measures allowed the district to reduce spending by $98 million in 2010-11.

But even as Emergency Manager Roy Roberts announced the district’s first surplus since 2007, the Michigan Department of Education warned that the district could slip back into the red this year.

“DPS continues to have a substantial budget deficit and current monthly reports indicate this year’s deficit is continuing to grow,” department spokeswoman Jan Ellis said Monday.

The Detroit Free Press is reporting allegations against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick that came to light after a close friend was charged with money laundering.

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The allegations were revealed in a superseding indictment filed in U.S. District Court in the case against Bobby Ferguson, a close friend of Kilpatrick.

The charges [against Ferguson] are related to Ferguson’s alleged attempts to conceal $1.7 million in extorted payments that he received for no-show work from a contractor.

Today’s indictment also offered a new, stunning allegation that Kilpatrick pocketed a $10,000 kickback in a restroom.

Read more at The Root

Last Tuesday, the new Charter was adopted. It contains ethics reform and enforcement and anticipates policing the complexities of public-private partnerships like the Woodward Light Rail that could, if unwatched, become the source of the next scandal. It eliminates the triggers that forced costly and unnecessary special elections. This new Charter is not perfect, but like the city that conceived it, it is takes steps toward a better future.

Read more in the HuffingtonPost.

The city of Detroit is on the brink of bankruptcy and Bing vowed emergency budget cuts to avoid an emergency takeover of the city.

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“Simply put, our city is in a financial crisis and city government is broken,” Bing said Wednesday night at Detroit’s Northwest Activity Center. ” The reality we’re facing is simple: if we continue down the same path, we will lose the ability to control our own destiny.

“Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I don’t want an emergency manager making decisions for my city.”

Read more at TheGrio

“How can you darken any city?” asked Victoria Dowdell, standing in the halo of a light in her front yard. “I think that was a disgrace. She said the decision endangers everyone, especially people who have to walk around at night or catch the bus.

Highland Park’s decision is one of the nation’s most extreme austerity measures, even among the scores of communities that can no longer afford to provide basic services.

Other towns have postponed roadwork, cut back on trash collection and closed libraries, for example. But to people left in the dark night after night, removing streetlights seems more drastic. And unlike many other cutbacks that can easily be reversed, this one appears to be permanent.

The city is $58 million in debt and has many more people than jobs, plus dozens of burned-out or vacant houses and buildings. With fewer than 12,000 residents, its population has dwindled to half the level from 20 years ago.

Faced with a $4 million electric bill that required $60,000 monthly payments, Mayor Hubert Yopp asked the City Council to consider reducing lighting. Council members reluctantly approved it, even in an election year.

“We knew it was going to hurt,” Councilman Christopher Woodard said. “We’re all hurting.”

In late August, contractors from DTE Energy began rolling through the streets, taking out two-thirds of the light poles.

“It is a winning proposition, but that doesn’t make it a winner with the citizens who find themselves in the dark,” Woodard added. “We had to watch our backs when we got out of our cars before. Now we have to watch them even more closely.”

Unless the government gets an unexpected infusion of cash or sees an uptick in its dying tax base, many parts of Highland Park will remain beneath a shroud every night.

The city’s monthly electric bill has been cut by 80 percent. The amount owed DTE Energy goes back about a decade, but utility executives hesitated to turn off the juice.

“We are extremely concerned with public safety,” said Trevor Lauer, vice president of marketing and renewables for the Detroit-based utility. “We recognize that street lighting is something that contributes to public safety.”

Now, he said, the company has “a municipal lighting customer I’m confident can pay its monthly bill.”

Most of the 500 streetlights still shining in Highland Park are along major streets and on corners in residential areas. DTE Energy has listed the city’s overdue bill as an uncollectable expense.

The leader of a nonprofit group that works to reduce energy costs for low-income families said he’s not heard of any other communities becoming so desperate to save money that they turned off streetlights. It might be a sign of things to come.

“If it works in Highland Park, I could not imagine other cities not looking at that as one option,” said David Fox, executive director of the National Low Income Energy Consortium in Alexandria, Va.

In its heyday, Highland Park was one of Michigan’s urban jewels, with large yards, spacious homes and tree-lined streets.

Henry Ford put his first moving assembly line here, and his factory eventually churned out a car every minute. By 1930, the city had grown to 50,000 people.

Ford later moved his primary manufacturing operations to River Rouge, southwest of Detroit, in search of room to expand. Highland Park survived that loss. But it never recovered from Chrysler’s decision in the 1990s to move its world headquarters 50 miles north to Oakland County.

“That took away $6 million” in taxes, Woodard said. “That was a lot of money to not have anymore. It was a major industrial operation moving out of here. When Chrysler moved out, things started to happen.”

Small businesses catering to Chrysler workers began to fail, and the city struggled to pay its bills. And like Detroit, which lost 250,000 residents from 2000 to 2010, people moved out, leaving hundreds of abandoned houses.

In 1980, the census counted 27,000 people living in Highland Park. By 2010, that number had fallen to 11,776.

The median household income is $18,700, compared with $48,700 statewide. And 42 percent of the city’s residents live in poverty.

“It’s pretty ghetto,” Cassandra Cabil said from her front yard. Voices drift in the darkness from down the street, but the speakers can’t be seen.

The 31-year-old short-order cook works odd hours and sometimes makes it home late at night. She watched recently as crews removed the streetlight and pole from in front of her rented home.

“It’s really dark unless people have their lights on,” she said. “There’s a lot of vandalism going on, people breaking into these houses.”

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U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen said in his opinion that the attorney representing Tamara Greene’s three children failed to prove the city or Kilpatrick interfered with the probe into her slaying.

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Greene, who performed under the name Strawberry, was rumored to have danced in 2002 at a never-proven party at the mayor’s official Manoogian Mansion residence. She was shot multiple times in April 2003 while sitting with a male acquaintance in a car outside her Detroit home. The man was wounded but survived.

Rosen agreed with lawyers for the city and Kilpatrick that there was “no evidentiary basis” for a legal finding that Kilpatrick obstructed or interfered with the investigation into the murder.

Kilpatrick resigned as mayor in 2008 after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in state court. He served time in a county jail but later spent 14 months in state prison for violating his probation in the earlier case. He was paroled Aug. 2, but faces a federal corruption trial in 2012 on fraud, tax and racketeering conspiracy charges.

Rosen said lawyers for Greene’s family seem to believe that Kilpatrick must have interfered with the murder investigation because he regularly meddled with top police brass when he was mayor. But the judge said past wrongs don’t necessarily fit new cases.

Rosen said there is a “dearth of evidence” connecting Kilpatrick or any of his allies to any interference with the homicide investigation.

Kilpatrick repeatedly has denied interfering with Greene case and that there ever was a party.

“For what it is worth, it seems unlikely that it will ever be established with any degree of certainty whether this rumored party, or something like it, actually took place,” Rosen wrote. “The witness accounts produced by plaintiffs lack specificity, rest to some extent on inadmissible hearsay, and contradict one another in various respects.”

“On the other hand, it seems fairly well documented at this point that Defendant Kilpatrick kept an active social calendar during his days as mayor of Detroit. Nonetheless, whether this particular party occurred at this particular locale at this particular time is likely to remain an unsolved mystery.”

The court gave the Greene family’s attorney, Norman Yatooma, every opportunity to prove his case, said James Thomas, Kilpatrick’s attorney.

“There was not one bit of evidence, after 41 depositions and tens of thousands of pages of discovery,” Thomas said. “There clearly are no facts, and as a result, all these years of speculation, all these years of wondering now come to the culmination that … the decision is there is no case.

“We’re happy that, at least at this stage that it’s over.”

John Schapka, supervising assistant corporation counsel for the city, also said Yatooma lacked evidence to support his claim that Kilpatrick, his aides and others interfered with the Greene probe.

Yatooma, who was on vacation when Rosen released his ruling, said he already is working on an appeal.

“I’m shocked. I’m disappointed. I don’t understand it,” he said. “We weren’t there asking the judge for a check. My young clients lost their mom. Let them go before a jury of other moms and dads and let them decide.”

Two months into the school year, many students have still not received their textbooks for the upcoming school year.

Detroit After-School Program Turns Boys To Gentlemen

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The Grio reports:

The 2011-2012 Detroit Public School year started on Sept. 6, with thousands of homes and streets all over the city adorned with signs that had the two-word slogan “I’m In” everywhere. Nearly two months into the school year, the one thing that is not in a lot of Detroit Schools right now are books.

“I know there is a shortage and there is an order and they are still sharing books,” said Andrew Hayes, whose son is a third-grader at Fisher Magnet Elementary on the city’s east side. “There are a lot of frustrated parents. They want the kids to have what they are supposed to have. At the beginning of the year, we were told that every student would have the textbooks. It’s seven weeks into school.”

Teachers at Cass Technical High School — the city’s largest high school — say that they are short nearly 2,400 textbooks in all grade levels. According to the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the deficiencies range across all subjects including English, chemistry, geometry, Spanish, and U.S. history.

Read more at TheGrio

DETROIT — Brenda Scott Academy’s elementary school principal Ronnie Sim has started a “Gentleman’s Club” for boys to teach them not only the three Rs, respect, responsibility and reasoning, but manners as well.

Sims’ after-school program meets three times a week and students are required to wear jackets and ties.

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BET.com reports:

Now, the 80 boys of the Brenda Scott Academy’s Gentlemen’s Club gather twice a week in the gymnasium and learn to properly shake hands, maintain eye contact and dress neatly. In addition to Sims’s revamp of the three “R’s”, boys are also introduced to Sims’s four T’s; Take Time To Think. And there is a dress code: older boys are required to wear jackets and all the boys must don ties; the tying of which is a part of the club curriculum itself.

“What I hope is that these boys will break the cycle of male irresponsibility,” said Sims. “I want them to make better choices.”

Read More At BET

Organized by Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh, the job fair featured hundreds of job openings available only to individuals with a felony on their record.

“In this tough job market, we know that it is difficult, regardless of whether you have a felony or not, to find a job,” Pugh said. “But we feel that population needs just a boost of confidence and some hope that there are employers out there who will give them second chances.”

Read more at the Grio.

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5. Watts Riot, 1965

In 1965, three members of a black family in Los Angeles were locked up by police for protesting the arrest of their brother. Fueled by unemployment, poor schools and housing discrimination, discontent in the Watts neighborhood erupted and people began to loot, vandalize, and clash with police and white motorists. The riot lasted for six days. Thirty-four people were killed, 1,032 injured, and 3,952 arrested. Police commissioner, William Parker, fueled the fires by saying that the rioters acted “like monkeys in a zoo”

A California gubernatorial commission found the causes of the riot to be high unemployment, poor schools, and other inferior living conditions.

4. Detroit Riots, 1967

In 1967, police raided a after hours party in Detroit and tried to arrest 82 people who were celebrating the homecoming of two soldiers from Vietnam. This resulted in a neighborhood protest that lead to looting, vandalism and arson. Once again the National Guard was called in after five days of rioting. At the end of the chaos, 43 people were dead, 1189 injured, and over 7000 were arrested.

The Detroit Free Press cited the causes of the riot as racism, economic inequality, and poor housing.

3. Notting Hill Riots England, 1976

Riots with roots in racism and police brutality are not unique to the U.S. In 1976, during the West Indian carnival in Notting Hill, London, West Indian youths revolted against arbitrary mass arrests and began clashing with the police, throwing bottles and other objects at police and their vehicles. The causes for the riot are often cited as an occupational police presence and unemployment among the West Indian youths.

2. Los Angeles Riots, 1992

One of the most prominent riots of the 20th Century was the 1992 civil insurrection sparked by the acquittal of four officers in the videotaped beating of Black motorist Rodney King. After the officers were acquitted, African Americans began to protest at the Los Angeles County courthouse and LAPD headquarters. A large group of Black citizens convened at the corner of Florence and Normandie confronted a group of officers, who then retreated because they were outnumbered. By the evening the crowd on Florence and Normandie began looting and attacking white motorists, including truck driver Reginald Denny.

Looting, arson and violence continued and eventually the National Guard was called in. The riots wound up killing 53 people and causing more the one billion dollars worth of damage.

The Christopher Commission sited the causes of the L.A. Riots as high unemployment, racial profiling and police brutality.

1. French Riots, 2005

In October of 2005, two teenagers in a Paris suburb were chased by police into a power station where the boys were electrocuted. Protests and unrest subsequently ensued. Civil unrest spread to poor housing projects in other parts of France including violence, arson and clashes with police.

Almost 9,000 cars were burned and 3,000 people were arrested and 126 policemen and firefighters were injured. The BBC listed the causes of the riot as unemployment and discrimination against immigrants.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab answered questions from U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds before pleading guilty to all eight charges he faced, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted murder.

“Are you therefore pleading guilty freely and voluntarily?” Edmunds asked.

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“That’s right, yes,” Abdulmutallab replied.

Edmunds reviewed the charges and possible penalties with Abdulmutallab before he entered his pleas, including that he faces a sentence of up to life in prison.

He’s accused of trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 with a bomb in his underwear on Christmas 2009. The bomb didn’t work, and passengers jumped on Abdulmutallab when they saw smoke and fire.

Prosecutors’ evidence was stacked high. Abdulmutallab was badly burned in a plane full of witnesses. The government said he told FBI agents he was working for al-Qaida and directed by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical, American-born Muslim cleric recently killed by the U.S. in Yemen.

There are also photos of his scorched shorts as well as video of Abdulmutallab explaining his suicide mission before departing for the U.S.

Officer Joseph Weekley, a member of the Detroit Police Special Response Team, was indicted on an involuntary manslaughter charge after a nearly yearlong Michigan State Police investigation into the May 16, 2010, death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

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Aiyana was on a sofa on the first floor of a two-family home when Detroit police tossed a flash grenade through a window and burst through the front door. Detroit police have said Weekley’s gun accidentally discharged after he was bumped or jostled by the girl’s grandmother.

A film crew with the A&E Network’s “The First 48″ crime reality cable TV show was shadowing Detroit police on the raid. The TV show tracks murder investigations during the first two days after a slaying, and Aiyana’s death put a spotlight on the growing number of reality shows focusing on law enforcement.

Prosecutors announced Tuesday that the TV show’s principal photographer, Allison Howard, also was indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

According to the indictment, Howard, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is accused of lying to prosecutors about showing or giving video footage of the raid to “third parties.” It did not specify who the third party was, but after the raid, an attorney for the family told reporters they had seen a few minutes of the video footage.

Further details about the charges against Howard were not immediately available. Assistant prosecutor Robert Moran told a judge on Tuesday that the investigation into the girl’s death was delayed seven months “because of the perjury,” but he did not elaborate. All Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy would say was that “impediments” surfaced during the investigation. She declined to provide more details.

A judge entered a plea of not guilty for Howard on Tuesday at a court hearing. A message seeking comment was left with her Detroit-area attorney, Robert Harrison. A message seeking comment also was left after business hours Tuesday for an A&E spokeswoman.

A judge also entered a plea of not guilty for Weekley at the afternoon court hearing. The involuntary manslaughter charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. He also faces a charge of careless discharge of a firearm causing death.

“He knows he was acting as a police officer in a dangerous mission,” Weekley’s lawyer, Steve Fishman, said of his client.

“I don’t think anybody realizes how their lives change,” Fishman said of police officers involved in shootings. “People think they’re androids and robots, and they’re wrong.”

Soon after Aiyana’s slaying, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing banned reality television crews from tagging along with police. He also admonished then-Police Chief Warren Evans for not telling him that he was permitting TV cameras on raids.

On May 18, 2010, an attorney representing the girl’s family in a civil suit against the city and police department and told reporters that he viewed three to four minutes of video footage of the raid and that it showed a group of black-hooded officers approaching the house before the flash grenade was thrown through the window and the shot being fired.

“We know there’s only one shot,” attorney Geoffrey Fieger said during the press conference last year with Aiyana’s family. “It’s vividly depicted in the videotape … right after the throw and the explosion of the bomb. At that point the officers rush into the home.”

Fieger declined to say what footage he viewed and said he did not retain a copy. A message seeking comment from Fieger was not immediately returned Tuesday.

The focus of the raid was Chauncey Owens, the fiance of Aiyana’s aunt. Owens was wanted in the May 14, 2010, shooting death of 17-year-old Je’rean Blake outside a nearby convenience store. Owens was found in the separate upstairs apartment.

Owens pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder in Blake’s death. On Tuesday, Worthy also announced that Charles Jones, the girl’s father, had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Blake’s slaying. Jones did not have an attorney on Tuesday and phone number for him and his family could not immediately be found.

“It is alleged that after an argument, Jones accompanied Owens to the scene of the shooting and aided, abetted, and encouraged Owens during the murder of Blake,” Worthy said in a statement.

Charles Jones was expected to be arraigned Wednesday. A pretrial hearing is scheduled Friday for Weekley and Howard.

Weekley was released on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond. Howard was required to come up with a $5,000 of a $50,000 bond to be released.

“Our condolences remain with all affected by this tragedy. We must use this difficult moment to continue bringing our community and police department together,” Bing said in a statement.

Texana Hollis was evicted Monday and her belongings were placed outside the home. Her son, Warren Hollis, said he didn’t pay the bill for several years and disregarded eviction notices.

“I kept it from her because I didn’t want to worry her,” Warren Hollis told WXYZ-TV for a report that aired Monday night. “I was just so sure it wasn’t going to happen.”

Wayne County Chief Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Hollises took out an adjustable-rate mortgage in 2002. A default and foreclosure notice was filed in November.

“They ended up owing $80,000 on the home,” Szymanski said. “Warren indicates he did not make the payments. He got the notices, but threw them away.”

County records show that property taxes were paid on the home through summer 2010. A winter tax bill of $55.95, including interest and fees, was unpaid, and a $778.44 summer tax bill was due this month.

A neighbor was letting Texana and Warren Hollis live in a rental house across the street from the home they shared, and Texana Hollis’ belongings were being moved there. Others, including a nonprofit organization, were working to get her back into her home.

On Monday night, she was taken to a hospital for evaluation after she became disoriented.

Szymanski said county officials were asking questions and looking into what they can do to help. He said the county has worked with 10,000 taxpayers to keep them from going into foreclosure.

“The teachable moment here is for people not to stick their head in the sand,” he said.

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Police officers entered the plane when it landed in Detroit and detained three passengers who were questioned by the FBI.

WXYZ reports:

People on the plane tell Action News the two men in question spent long periods of time in the plane’s lavatories. It’s not clear how the woman was involved.

“They were going back and forth through the aisle,” passenger David Mungia said, describing the behavior of the two men who were taken away by police.

“One of the guys was in the bathroom for at least ten minutes,” Mungia said.

Authorities are not saying what was going on inside the lavatories but ABC News is reporting the unidentified passengers were making out.

Read More At WXYZ

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Franklin, a Detroit native, also welcomed Obama to the White house when she sung “Let Freedom Ring” at his inauguration in Jan. 2009.

Her performance will be held at the Mosaic Youth Theater, and will be free and open to the public.

The public should expect to go through airport-like security and should bring as few personal items as possible. No bags, sharp objects, chairs, umbrellas, liquids or signs will be allowed inside the speech area.

Read more at the Huffington Post.

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Detroit is seeing a housing crisis that was sparked by a huge decline in the population. The city’s population decreased 25% in the past decade, according to Census Bureau.

Nation columnist and MSNBC contributor Melissa Harris-Perry, said because Detroit is a city that’s struggling in a lot of ways, this brilliant program. “Police officers are valuable in our communities. We want to get them into our communities,” she said.

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A relative escorted Kilpatrick from a Southern Michigan Prison facility in Jackson to a sport utility vehicle waiting outside. Kilpatrick smiled but did not address reporters as he climbed into the SUV, which headed toward the Detroit area under police escort.

In a statement issued ahead of his release, Kilpatrick thanked all those who prayed for him and said he would speak openly about his time behind bars after he has reunited with his family. He planned to rejoin his wife and three sons near Dallas, where his parole will be overseen by Texas authorities.

“Detroit, I will return to speak frankly with you about this experience because it has affected all of us,” he said in the statement.

Before leaving the prison, Kilpatrick changed into his own clothing: jeans and a peach-colored shirt, state Corrections Department spokesman John Cordell said. Kilpatrick’s brother-in-law, Daniel Ferguson, and a lawyer greeted the former mayor and walked him outside, Cordell said.

Cordell said Kilpatrick told them: “It’s good to be out. I’m on my way.”

The 41-year-old Kilpatrick was released on parole but still faces a federal corruption trial that could send him back to prison.

Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and resigned from office as part of a plea deal in 2008. A judge found he had lied at a civil trial to cover up an extramarital affair with his chief of staff – in a lawsuit that cost Detroit $8.4 million.

The former mayor was imprisoned in May 2010 for failing to disclose assets and surrender sufficient funds that could have reduced his $1 million restitution to the city. Kilpatrick still owes Detroit more than $800,000 and a judge recently ordered that all profits from his upcoming book be placed in escrow to help pay off the debt.

The Wayne County prosecutor’s office opposed Kilpatrick’s release.

His federal trial on fraud, tax crimes and a racketeering conspiracy is scheduled to start in September 2012. In an 89-page indictment filed in December, the government described a pay-to-play scheme in which Kilpatrick and his father, Bernard, took kickbacks and bribes to steer city business to certain contractors.

Both men have pleaded not guilty. Bernard Kilpatrick is not in custody.

People charged with felonies typically aren’t granted parole but the U.S. attorney’s office did not object to Kilpatrick’s release.

The Democrat served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1996 to 2001 and was minority floor leader from 1998 to 2000. He was elected mayor of his hometown in 2001 and served from 2002 through his September 2008 resignation.

Kilpatrick spent 99 days in the Wayne County Jail and in early 2009 joined his family in a Dallas suburb where he worked as a salesman for Covisint, a subsidiary of Detroit-based software company Compuware Corp.

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At the same time, America is facing similar peril _ joblessness, deficit, and national sense that things are not getting better.

The Grio explores the relationship asking is America in danger of becoming Detroit.

Read more at The Grio.

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