Midwest
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer among Kamala Harris VP choices with ‘middle of the road’ police record: union leader
Vice President Kamala Harris’ list of potential running mates is rumored to include Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whose record with law enforcement has been mostly played in “the middle of the road,” one police union leader said.
Whitmer, who is in her second term as governor after climbing the political ranks, would bring experience as an attorney should she team up with Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate.
Crime has been a significant issue for parts of Whitmer’s state, where Detroit was recently named one of the five most dangerous cities in America. She has faced criticism for a controversial program helping migrants after an illegal immigrant was charged with murdering a woman in Grand Rapids.
“Gretchen Whitmer is enabling Joe Biden’s open border policies by handing out cash to anyone who will take in unvetted illegal immigrants, undoubtedly risking the safety of our neighborhoods and communities,” Tudor Dixon, a Republican who ran against Whitmer for governor in 2022, previously told Fox News Digital.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is rumored as a potential running mate for Kamala Harris. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Christopher Kierkus, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Michigan’s Grand Valley State University, said on Monday, though, that “if someone had asked [him if] Governor Whitmer’s administration and her approach has made crime worse [or] better,” he would say that “it hasn’t made a huge difference.”
Kierkus said that Whitmer has focused on gun crime, changed safe storage laws for firearms and enhanced opportunities for red flag reporting laws in an attempt to cut down on gun violence.
“I don’t think the data is back on that about whether it’s been successful,” Kierkus said. “My gut feeling is that it won’t make a difference, but that may be my bias on the issue.”
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer campaigns on behalf of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, at a house party in Durham, New Hampshire on July 25, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Mike Sauger, the president of the Michigan Fraternal Order of Police, said that Whitmer has been “favorable as it pertains to officer wellness funding and funding for police recruits in the academy.”
“However, I think she’s played the middle of the road for the most part,” Sauger told Fox News Digital on Monday. “Michigan, like many states, has a lack of qualified candidates for police jobs, and no real effort has been made for retention either.
“We have not had any legislation, anti-police or controversial toward the police introduced this session, so we wouldn’t be able to tell how Gov. Whitmer would respond if forced to pick a side.”
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President Joe Biden, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and US Senator Debbie Stabenow, arrive to tour the 2022 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, on September 14, 2022. – Biden is visiting the auto show to highlight electric vehicle manufacturing. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s unclear where Whitmer stands as a potential running mate for Harris. Whitmer told CBS Mornings on Monday that she has not been part of the vetting process so far.
“Everything’s truncated, and [Harris] is going to make that decision probably in the next six, seven days,” Whitmer said. “I would imagine we’ll know who her running mate is, and we’ll get ready for convention.”
Whitmer said that she intends to serve out the remainder of her term as Michigan’s governor until 2026.
Last week, she told reporters that she was “not interested in doing [anything] other than this job for the next two and a half years,” as she signed Michigan’s education budget – but it is unclear whether she could be persuaded to vacate the seat if she were tapped for vice president.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative meeting at the Hilton Midtown on Sept. 19, 2023 in New York City. (John Nacion/WireImage)
Whitmer’s political career took off in 2006 when she won a special election to the state senate, serving in that chamber until 2015, and becoming its first female Democratic leader from 2011 to 2015.
During a debate on abortion in 2013, Whitmer garnered national attention for a speech on the Michigan state senate floor on abortion in which she shared her own experience with sexual assault.
For six months in 2016, she served as Ingham County’s prosecutor. Two years later, she was elected governor, ousting state Attorney General and Republican nominee Bill Schuette.
She secured her second term in 2022 against Dixon, a businesswoman and conservative political commentator.
Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is serving her second term. (AP Photo/Al Goldis, File)
In July 2022, Whitmer signed an executive directive to reduce crime and gun violence, saying that “as a former prosecutor, public safety [was] a top priority for [her].”
“Today, far too many families in Michigan do not feel safe in their neighborhood because of crime and gun violence,” she said at the time.
“That is unacceptable – we must stop the violence and hold people accountable,” she continued. “We need to tackle both crime and gun violence simultaneously because they are inextricably linked to nearly 1 in 3 reported violent crimes involve a firearm… that’s why I worked to give law enforcement the resources they need in my bipartisan budget.”
If Whitmer were selected as Harris’ running mate, both tickets would have a candidate who nearly fell victim to a plot against them.
In October 2020, the FBI announced the arrest of 13 men for orchestrating a domestic terror plot to kidnap the Michigan governor, as well as other charges related to using violence to overthrow the state’s government.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
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Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee oversight body asks for more police pursuit policy changes
Milwaukee police chief says police pursuits a ‘balancing act’
Norman called deaths in police pursuits sad, but said the department needs to hold people accountable. He cited reckless driving specifically.
A Milwaukee oversight body is pushing for further restrictions on how the city’s police decide to chase vehicles, but isn’t ready to move those forward yet.
At its March 5 meeting, the city’s Fire and Police Commission mulled a recommendation the Milwaukee Police Department no longer chase drivers for reckless driving after an attempted traffic stop and stop other chases for reckless driving if it raises danger to the public. The department’s pursuit policy has been a point of contention for years and has come under intense scrutiny after nine people died from police chase crashes in 2025.
But that recommendation was tabled and sent to commission committee for further discussion, after concerns it needed to be further tweaked and receive more police department input.
“I’m trying to find incremental changes we can make to reduce chases,” said Commissioner Bree Spencer, who sponsored the recommendation.
Spencer said she was hesitant to push for policy changes that were too sweeping or too permissive. She said that had happened in years past, when pursuits were heavily restricted in 2010 and then later opened up in 2017 in response to reckless driving, following a then-Fire and Police Commission order.
As has become the norm at the commission’s meetings, a lengthy public comment period was held where some were critical of the proposed changes. Some called for dashcam footage of pursuit-related deaths to be released, as policy requires in officer shootings, and for the city’s costs of police chase-related lawsuits to be publicized.
“Police chases do not keep our community safe,” Angela Lang, the co-executive director of Black Leaders Organizing Change, said during public comment.
The Fire and Police Commission’s proposed recommendation comes after the department voluntarily removed speeding as a permissible reason to chase someone who is recklessly driving. However, that move was met coldly by members of the public and the commission, which is the oversight body for the department, who said it didn’t go far enough.
Generally, department policy considers pursuits “justified” under six circumstances, among those being when an occupant is involved in a violent felony.
Milwaukee Assistant Chief Craig Sarnow said the department was content with its previous change, when commissioners asked him for feedback on the proposed recommendation.
Both the Fire and Police Commission’s drafted recommendation and police department’s change focus on reckless driving chases. Those make up an overwhelming amount of all chases that officers in Milwaukee make – with officers citing reckless driving as the initiating reason in 742 of the 970 chases in 2025, according to police data.
The Fire and Police Commission’s recommendation is also the first time the body has exercised that power since state legislation, 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, was passed. Before that legislation was passed, the commission held the ability to outright change police department policy, but the law shifted that to the city’s Common Council.
Some have called for the Fire and Police Commission to more aggressively issue recommendations like these.
The recommendation will now move to the commission’s Oversight and Accountability Committee. The decision was made after commissioners said they sought more time to tweak the language and for police to provide input.
License plate reading camera use scrutinized
The department’s use of license plate reading cameras, a system known as Flock, came under scrutiny from many attendees at the meeting as well, who called for the city to ban it. Many noted the recent criminal charges brought against Josue Ayala, an officer who prosecutors say improperly used the system to track a former partner and another person.
Ayala resigned and is facing a misdemeanor charge of attempted misconduct in public office. Ayala had previously faced claims of lying and excessive force but was not placed on a Milwaukee County District Attorney’s list of officers with a history of dishonesty, bias or integrity concerns until recently.
That was despite, in 2022, a federal public defender issuing a complaint against Ayala, saying he exaggerated so much in his testimony and reports that it almost seemed “like a compulsion.”
Milwaukee police officials like Heather Hough, the department’s chief of staff, said they were never made aware of that previous concern against Ayala.
“Had we received the information from defense counsel about these concerns they would have been investigated,” she said in an email to the Journal Sentinel.
But that goes against the role of the defense bar, outside experts and defense attorneys locally told the Journal Sentinel. Prosecutors have the ethical duty to share potential Brady material and serve the public, whereas defense attorneys’ obligation is to their client.
Milwaukee police began using Flock cameras in 2022. MPD has a $182,900 contract with Flock for the use of the technology. That contract is active through January 2027 and passed without requiring approval from member of the city’s Common Council, a point criticized by attendees.
The scrutiny against Flock came despite it not being on the meeting’s agenda. Attendees held signs that said things like “GET THE FLOCK OUTTA HERE” and called for the city to be “de-Flocked.”
David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.
Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis police investigating 3 shootings within 20 minutes
Minneapolis police say they are investigating three separate, unrelated shootings that happened within the span of about 20 minutes Thursday night.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Minneapolis police say they are investigating three separate, unrelated shootings that happened within the span of about 20 minutes Thursday night.
Minneapolis shootings
What we know:
Authorities responded to a shooting at about 6:29 p.m. on the 400 block of Taylor Street NE.
Less than 10 minutes later, police responded to a shooting on the 2000 block of West River Road.
At about 6:46 p.m., police responded to a shooting on the 800 block of Franklin Ave. E.
Police say their preliminary information indicates each shooting had one victim. All injuries appear to be non-life threatening.
Shootings not connected
What we don’t know:
Police say in their investigation, it doesn’t appear that the three shootings are related. Authorities have not made any arrests.
The incidents remain under investigation.
Indianapolis, IN
How to Watch 2026 Indianapolis SX, Talladega GNCC, and MXGP of Argentina Live on TV – Racer X
The ninth round of the 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship will take place on Saturday, March 7, as Lucas Oil Stadium hosts the Indianapolis Supercross. This will be the third round of the 250SX East Division championship and will be our second Triple Crown event of the ’26 season.
Check out how to watch the Indianapolis SX below, plus check out the full race day schedule, the entry lists, injury report, track maps, AMA national numbers refresher, live timing link, and anything and everything else you need to know for Indianapolis for Saturday.
What you need to know the most for the Indianapolis SX: the Triple Crown races begin just after 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific.
On Saturday, qualifying can still be seen on Race Day Live beginning at 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT on Peacock. The Race Day Live broadcast will end with the two last chance qualifier races to determine the gate picks for the main program/night show Triple Crown races.
The SMX Video pass broadcast—which is available only outside of the United States—will start at the same time. Once again, there are Spanish and French broadcasts as a part of the 2026 SMX Video Pass this year, just as they were last year.
Viewers can also listen to audio from the full night show broadcast each and every weekend of SMX in its entirety on SiriusXM Radio (with Indianapolis also starting at 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific).
The Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC Racing) Series is back in action this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The Talladega GNCC will have both Saturday’s pro ATVs (2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST) and Sunday’s pro bikes (1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST) broadcasted live by the RacerTV crew.
And the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) kicks off this weekend with the MXGP of Argentina on Saturday (qualifying) and Sunday (points-paying motos). You can watch the action live on both days on MXGP-TV.com or catch the delayed broadcast of the second motos on CBS Sports (might want to DVR this with the late night time!).
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