Michigan

Michigan Made: Xtended Threads

Published

2 years ago

February 12, 2024

Press Room

(CBS DETROIT) – For this week’s Michigan Made, CBS News Detroit’s Amyre Makupson introduces us to Xtended Threads.

Eva Toby took a life-long struggle and turned it into a triumph.

“I’ve been pretty much this height since I was like 12 or 13. I’m 6-foot-2, so it was just always a struggle. I mean, God bless my parents trying to find me clothes,” said Eva Toby, founder of Xtended Threads.

“One day, I was just so frustrated, and I saw this quote that said, ‘In the absence of resources, creativity is born,’ and that was kind of God’s way of like, ‘Remember that dream you had almost 16-plus years ago? Pick it back up.’ Then here we are today,” she said.

“I am my own brand, I am my own model, and you even see me on the website. Me and another young lady, and that’s another thing to kind of give people a different perspective,” Toby said.

As owner and designer of Xtended Threads, Toby created an athleisure line for tall women.

“The positive thing is that people were so excited for it. There was really a need. That’s what I tell people. I’m literally my own customer … just really feeling that gap and that need,” Toby said.

This is not to say that those longer in-seams and extra fabric didn’t come without a struggle.

“As a Black woman, the funding and the resources that are available, because we need the funding in order to grow the business, and purchase more inventory, and as we’re getting more feedback, and people are like, you should have this and that, and what about this? We need capital to get that started. That’s what I would say is one of the challenges in growing a business as a Black woman,” Toby said.

With faith and persistence, she prevailed.

“My faith is really what keeps me grounded, just really putting everything before God, asking for direction, and of course, with just the support of the growing community, it’s been really, really exciting,” Toby said.

And now, she’s defying those short-sided notions that cute stops a 5-foot-6.

“Our in-seams are longer. Sweatshirts that fit when it comes to length in the arms, which is a struggle,” Toby said.

With sought-after designs that show the sky is the limit.

“It’s a really good feeling … it was a lot of hard work in building it, you know, taking it from the idea of the idea that came back in 2022 to actually releasing it,” Toby said.

Amyre Makupson

Amyre Makupson is a proud native of Detroit, Michigan. She is a graduate of Mercy High School in Farmington Hills.

Source link

Click to comment

Michigan

Short-term rental company sues Michigan over $18.7M tax bill

Published

5 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Press Room

Short-term rental company sues Michigan over .7M tax bill

A nationwide short-term rental company is suing the state of Michigan over a tax audit that found the company owes about $18.7 million in unpaid use taxes to the state.

HomeAway, a Texas-based company best known for its vacation rental platform Vrbo, received a September bill for taxes due from the Michigan Department of Treasury for unpaid use taxes and interest in 2020, 2021 and 2022, totaling $18.7 million, according to the lawsuit filed in the Michigan Court of Claims.

HomeAway maintained in its Dec. 18 filing that it is the homeowners themselves who are responsible for collecting use taxes related to the short-term rental of their homes and remitting those taxes to the state.

“All funds representing use tax collected from guests were disbursed to the hosts,” the company said in its filing.

The state Department of Treasury and HomeAway declined to comment on pending litigation.

The tax fight comes amid a separate, but related, years-long fight in communities across the state and in the Legislature over how to best regulate and, in some cases, tax short-term rentals, which began to grow in popularity in Michigan after the 2008 housing crisis.

The Legislature has toyed with the idea of banning any local regulations over short-term rentals, putting some limits on those local regulations or establishing a statewide policy for short-term rental housing. State Rep. Mark Tisdel, R-Rochester Hills, helped introduce bills this fall that would allow communities to hold a vote on whether to tax short-term rentals locally to pay for essential services such as police or fire. The legislation has yet to receive a hearing.

In its suit filed Dec. 18 in the Michigan Court of Claims, HomeAway maintained that it was cognizant of the state’s 6% use tax and made provisions for its collection. But the ultimate remittance of that tax to the state is left to the homeowner.

When onboarding, according to the suit, a host or homeowner is given options regarding how they collect taxes. In Michigan, they could make it a percentage of the rental amount at booking or collect and remit the tax separately.

In either case, HomeAway argued, the host was responsible for paying the use tax. If the host made it a percentage of the rental amount due at booking, the taxes charged in the booking process were sent back to the host for remittance to the state. If the host indicated he or she would collect and remit on their own, the entire process was left to the host, according to the filing.

“The host acknowledged and represented that the host would handle tax collection from guests independent from HomeAway’s online checkout process,” HomeAway wrote in its filing. “…HomeAway never received or retained any tax amounts.”

In January 2023, the Department of Treasury began an audit of the prior three years, and in June 2025, the department issued a bill for taxes due for the audit period. The department found HomeAway wasn’t responsible for paying taxes if the host indicated he or she would collect and remit on their own. But the department maintained the company was responsible for remitting taxes where the host picked the option requiring the tax to be a percentage of the rental amount due at booking, the lawsuit said.

On Sept. 19, 2025, the Department of Treasury issued an $18.7 million bill, with about $15.1 million owed in use taxes and $3.6 million owed in interest. The bill included a total of $676,246 in use tax and interest for 2020, $8.6 million for 2021 and $9.5 million for 2022.

“The department — for the first time during the audit — alleged that for all bookings for which tax was collected on behalf of and at the request of the host, HomeAway unjustly enriched itself by failing to remit the collected taxes to the department,” the filing said.

The state treasury bills, attached to the lawsuit as exhibits, only note that the money due is for use tax and interest following an audit. There is no mention in the bills of which type of rentals HomeAway was responsible for when it came to remittance of the use tax.

HomeAway, in its lawsuit, denied that it was unjustly enriched, arguing the company didn’t keep any of the tax payments, but instead forwarded them to homeowners to remit to the state.

“It was the hosts — not HomeAway — that were responsible for remittance of use tax to the departments,” the filing said.

HomeAway also alleged the department’s audit violated the federal and state Equal Protection Clauses because it treated HomeAway differently from other similarly situated taxpayers.

“There is no precedent to support the department’s allegation, nor has the department applied this theory to similarly situated taxpayers,” the filing said.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com

Source link

Michigan

Northwestern and Central Michigan are heading for a defensive showdown in GameAbove Sports Bowl

Published

17 hours ago

December 25, 2025

Press Room

Northwestern and Central Michigan are heading for a defensive showdown in GameAbove Sports Bowl

DETROIT — Christmas bowl games often turn into scoring bonanzas, where the first team to 40 points is the winner.

The GameAbove Sports Bowl might be the exception to that rule — 20 points could be more than enough.

The game Friday pits Northwestern and Central Michigan, two Great Lakes schools that combine strong defenses with low-scoring offenses.

The Wildcats (6-6) are 34th in the country defensively, allowing 20.9 points per game, but 103rd on offense at 22.5. The Chippewas (7-5) are built along the same lines, ranking 50th on defense (22.7 points per game) and 93rd offensively (23.8).

“When we turned on the tape, it was like looking in the mirror,” Northwestern coach David Braun said. “Central Michigan is a team that is committed to running the ball and playing great defense. It is a team with great fundamentals and great technique, and a great deal of physicality. Those are the same things we teach at Northwestern.”

Central Michigan coach Matt Drinkall had the same experience when he began preparations for the game.

“I chuckled when Coach Braun said that about looking in the mirror, because we were like, ‘I already know what this film is going to look like before I turn it on,’” he said. “Then you turn it on and it reaffirms everything you want to see from a good football team.”

Central Michigan head coach Matt Drinkall looks on from the sideline during the game against San Jose State during an NCAA football game on Aug. 29, 2025 in San Jose, Calif. Credit: AP/Lachlan Cunningham

Tiernan at home

The Wildcats might focus on the defensive side of the ball, but their biggest star will be playing offense in front of home fans. Offensive tackle Caleb Tiernan was named to the All-Big Ten second team and is considered one of the best linemen in the country. Ford Field is located less than 20 miles from Detroit Country Day, where Tiernan played in high school.

His college career will end in the same stadium as his high school career: He finished his run at Country Day with a state championship won at Ford Field.

“In my junior year, we lost there, so I wasn’t much of a fan of that place,” he said. “But I won in my senior year and the Lions have started to win, so my attitude has changed. I’m extremely excited to play there this year.”

Platoon-style quarterbacking

Central Michigan historically has built around running quarterbacks, but it helps if they can throw a little. This season, the Chippewas are getting that production by using two players at the position.

Joe Labas, who started his career at Iowa, is the passer. He has thrown for 1,676 yards and 12 touchdowns, completing 68.9% of his passes with only six interceptions. He is not a runner, though, having gained minus-4 yards on the ground with no touchdowns.

That’s where Angel Flores comes in. He is second on the team with 519 yards rushing and leads the Chippewas with eight touchdowns. He is not a terrible passer, averaging 7.2 yards per attempt, but he averages fewer than four passes per game.

Fitzgerald leads the defense

Northwestern cornerback Robert Fitzgerald intercepted only one pass but led the Big Ten with 68 solo tackles and six tackles for loss. He can’t be accused of padding his stats against the easiest teams on the Wildcats’ schedule: He had 10 solo tackles and an interception against Michigan, 13 total tackles against Tulane, 10 against Oregon and eight at Southern California.

Heldman key for Central

If the Chippewas have a chance at the Boxing Day upset (the Wildcats are favored by 10 1/2 points, according to BetMGM Sportsbook), they will need a big day from defensive lineman Michael Heldman. The redshirt senior finished the season with 10 1/2 sacks and 16 1/2 tackles for loss, including five sacks and 7 1/2 tackles for loss in the final three games of the season.

Central Michigan won the first two of those games, beating Buffalo and Kent State to get to 7-4 before losing the finale to Toledo.

Source link

Michigan

Michigan State Police trooper notices stolen vehicle in front of him, arrests driver

Published

1 day ago

December 25, 2025

Press Room

Michigan State Police trooper notices stolen vehicle in front of him, arrests driver

December 24, 2025 / 9:30 PM EST
/ CBS Detroit

A Michigan State Police trooper on patrol arrested a driver in Detroit after noticing that the car in front of him was reported stolen.

Police say at about 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the tooper was on northbound Lodge Freeway near Glendale Street and began following the car. MSP says the driver, a 50-year-old man from Pontiac, pulled into a parking lot near Davison Road and La Salle Boulevard, got out and ran away.

The trooper ran after the driver, catching up to him. After fighting with the trooper, the driver surrendered and was detained. MSP says back-up troopers were called before the driver was arrested. MSP says the trooper used his taser several times, but it did not affect the suspect.

The suspect was lodged pending review from prosecutors. MSP says no one was hurt in the incident.

“Another addition for Santa’s naughty list,” said MSP Lieutenant Mike Shaw. “Great work by the trooper getting this suspect off the streets before he could do more harm. The suspect can now spend the holiday in jail waiting for his court appearance.”

Source link