Michigan
Michigan GOP dissenters sue to oust Kristina Karamo in Kent County Circuit Court
LANSING — Michigan Republicans who want to oust Kristina Karamo as state party chair followed through Friday on their promise to take legal action.
Malinda Pego, who was Karamo’s co-chair and who party dissidents declared acting chair of the Michigan Republican Party when they voted to remove Karamo, sued Karamo late Friday in Kent County Circuit Court, online records show.
That means a judge may decide whether Karamo, who has been in office for nearly one year, is the rightful chair of the beleaguered state party. She has been under fire for lackluster fundraising amid allegations of autocratic rule, a lack of transparency, and improper interference in the workings of county Republican parties.
Karamo did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.
A group of GOP state committee members met in Commerce Township Jan. 6 and said they voted 40-5 to remove Karamo and installed Pego as acting chair. But Karamo had declared the meeting null and void even before it began, saying it was not convened in accordance with state party bylaws.
Then, on Jan. 13, Karamo called a state committee meeting in Houghton Lake, where she and others who attended said members voted 59-1 to reaffirm her position as chair. Members also voted to remove from office Pego and other dissenters.
The anti-Karamo faction is scheduled to meet in East Lansing Saturday morning to elect a permanent chair to take over from the acting chair role assumed by Pego.
Karamo’s backers mostly boycotted the Jan. 6 meeting and her opponents mostly stayed away from the meeting last Saturday. It normally takes a 75% vote to remove the state party chair, though the dissenters voted to reduce that threshold to 60% at the disputed Jan. 6 meeting.
So far, the Republican National Committee has not weighed in on either side of the dispute over the state party chair. As of Friday, the RNC still listed Karamo as chair of the Michigan Republican Party on its website.
Both Karamo’s supporters and her opponents are mostly avid backers of former President Donald Trump, who won the Iowa caucuses Monday and is the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee for president.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.
Michigan
Ex-Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore walks into court hand-in-hand with wife ahead of latest hearing
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Former Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore was spotted holding hands with his wife, Kelli, inside an Ann Arbor district court on Friday morning.
Moore is the subject of a criminal case after he was arrested shortly after being fired due to an inappropriate relationship with a staffer. Soon after the firing, he was jailed after allegedly breaking into the staffer’s house and allegedly threatening to kill himself.
Prosecutors accused Moore of contacting the staffer via phone calls and texts after the breakup, prompting the woman to contact the University of Michigan and cooperate in its investigation. Moore was subsequently fired from his position as head football coach, which prosecutors said prompted him to show up at her home.
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Kelli Moore, left, walks with her husband, former University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore, and his attorney Ellen Michaels at the 14A-1 District Court in Ann Arbor on Friday, March 6, 2026. (Mandi Wright / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Moore then allegedly “barged” his way into the residence, grabbed a butter knife and a pair of kitchen scissors, and began threatening his own life. According to prosecutors, Moore allegedly told the staffer, “My blood is on your hands” and “You ruined my life.”
Moore’s wife also appeared in court in January.
Kelli called 911 over concerns the former Michigan coach was “going to hurt himself” after getting “fired from his job.”
Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore appears in the courtroom, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)
Moore and the alleged victim had an “intimate relationship for a number of years,” a prosecutor said during an initial hearing shortly after his arrest, but had broken up earlier this week.
The alleged mistress did not have her contract with the university renewed, the school confirmed to Fox News Digital earlier this week.
Moore, if convicted, faces more than half a decade behind bars, which would certainly further damage any hopes he may have of getting back on the sidelines.
Moore went 16-8 as Michigan’s head coach, going 8-5 in year one and then 7-3 this past season. He missed a pair of games due to a suspension from the sign-stealing investigation into the school.
Sherrone Moore’s booking photo was obtained by Fox News Digital on Dec. 18, 2025. (Washtenaw County Jail)
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Moore replaced Jim Harbaugh after the team completed a 15-0 season en route to a national championship — Moore was the offensive coordinator of that squad.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj and Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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Michigan
No. 8 Michigan State beats Rutgers 91-87 before closing regular season at No. 3 Michigan
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Jeremy Fears had 21 points and eight assists and Coen Carr also scored 21, helping No. 8 Michigan State hold off Rutgers 91-87 on Thursday night.
The Spartans (25-5, 15-4 Big Ten) will close the regular season on the road against rival and third-ranked Michigan on Sunday.
Michigan State has won five straight games to secure a top-four seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament and a double-bye into the quarterfinals.
The Scarlet Knights (12-18, 5-14) have slumped toward the bottom of the 18-team conference.
Rutgers’ Tariq Francis scored 25 points, Lino Mark had 14 and Emmanuel Ogbole added 13.
Michigan State trailed by a point at halftime and took control with an 11-0 run. Carr dunked three times in 1:13 and Jordan Scott followed with a slam 32 seconds later.
The Spartans had a comfortable cushion until the final minute, when their 10-point lead was trimmed to two. Fears sealed the win with two free throws with 2.9 seconds left.
Jaxon Kohler scored 15 points and Carson Cooper added 14 in the final home game for both seniors.
Michigan State celebrated its seniors after the game, including Nick Sanders, son of Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders of the Detroit Lions.
The school honored a military veteran, as it does every game before the national anthem is played, and the latest was Kohler’s 102-year-old great grandfather, Earl “Chuck” Kohler, who served in the Navy and is one of 12 remaining survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Up next
Rutgers: Host Penn State on Sunday.
Michigan State: At No. 3 Michigan on Sunday.
___
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Michigan
Michigan to distribute marijuana tax revenue: What your city will get
2025 MI marijuana excise tax revenues drop for local governments
In 2025, local government retail license share dropped $4,211 from Michigan marijuana sales for the tax year. New taxes could cut it more in 2026.
Michigan municipalities and counties that allow recreational marijuana dispensaries are set to receive far less money this year than last in their annual portion of tax revenue collected from cannabis sales.
Sales declined in 2025 for the first time since legal recreational marijuana sales started in December 2019.
A total of 114 cities, 39 villages, 81 townships, 75 counties and four tribes will receive payments from the Marijuana Regulation Fund, according to a March 3 news release from Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency. They will get about $54,000 per retail store or microbusiness, based on nearly $94 million collected.
Last year, each eligible government entity received a little more than $58,000 per business based on a total of nearly $100 million in marijuana tax revenue.
Detroit, once again, will receive the most money of any municipality. There are 61 active retailer licenses in Detroit, so the city will get nearly $3.3 million in tax revenue.
State law determines how the money is split. The Michigan Transportation Fund gets 35% of the revenue, which is used for the repair and maintenance of roads and bridges, and another 35% goes to the School Aid Fund to be used for K-12 education. The other 30% is split between municipalities, counties and tribes.
The payments come from revenue collected from the 10% recreational marijuana excise tax. This tax is separate from a new 24% wholesale tax that went into effect Jan. 1. The revenue from that tax will go to fixes for local roads.
Sales at recreational marijuana dispensaries declined by 3% last year to $3.17 billion, down from $3.28 billion in 2024, according to figures from Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency, leading to the smaller payouts. More government entities also split the revenue compared with last year.
Payments to municipalities could get smaller if sales continue to decline. Recreational marijuana sales in Michigan plunged nearly 16% in January compared with December as heavy snow, cold temperatures and fears of higher prices due to the new 24% wholesale cannabis tax kept consumers at home.
While recent trends indicate a cooling period, a February report from Headset, a cannabis market intelligence firm, said the market — one of the largest in the country — has shown resilience over the last two years.
Below are the municipalities that received the most tax revenue:
- Detroit: $3.3 million
- Grand Rapids: $1.5 million
- Lansing: $1.4 million
- Ann Arbor: $1.2 million
- Kalamazoo: $1 million
- Flint: $648,000
- Traverse City, Hazel Park and Adrian all will receive $594,000.
For a full list of municipalities, counties and tribes that will receive marijuana tax revenue, go to www.michigan.gov/treasury.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com
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