Detroit, MI
Would Detroit’s Brandon Graham come out of retirement for Lions? No, but …
Brandon Graham is enjoying retirement these days after playing 15 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, going out in style with the Eagles’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.
It was Graham’s second Super Bowl championship, with the first coming after the 2017 season, when he strip-sacked Tom Brady, forcing a fumble that helped the Eagles defeat the New England Patriots, 41-33.
Graham, who played at Detroit Crockett and then at Michigan, where he was first-team All-American in 2009, suffered a torn triceps injury, forcing him to miss the postseason before he returned to play 13 snaps at defensive end in the Super Bowl win.
When asked how he felt, and if he still stays in game shape, Graham told The Detroit News on Wednesday: “It’s all healed up good, and I’m fine. I work out every day.”
The Detroit Lions have questions marks on their defensive line, with especially with the injuries to defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike out for the season following an ACL injury, defensive tackle Alim McNeil still rehabbing from an ACL injury, and defensive ends Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport coming back from injuries.
Would Graham, 37, entertain coming out of retirement if the Lions called?
“I’m retired, enoying life in retirement the last five months,” Graham said. “The only team I’d come out of retirement for is the Eagles, the only team I’ve ever played for. I’m loyal.”
But, what if the Lions did call him?
“If they were offering me something crazy,” Graham said. “Sure, it would be cool to play for the hometown team. It’s all about how I’m valued by them. What would be expected of me because I’m more than just a player. I know I can still play, but if it’s worth it because there’s only so long you can bang your body … but, yes I do still have something left in the tank.”
Graham is known for his leadership, immense talent and durability where he played more games (218, including postseason games) and more seasons (15) than any other player in Eagles’ history, and don’t forget the 76½ sacks during the regular season (and 82 in all).
Graham still has his love for Detroit.
“I still stay in touch with my coaches at Crockett, Coach (Rod) Oden’s son Jacob is now playing at Michigan, and my high school math teacher and coach (Gerald) Guerrant’s son, Dakota, is playing for them at Harper Woods. It was great to see Jacob win a state title at Harper Woods, something we never did when I was in high school.
“I went to Michigan’s camp this summer and talked to the recruits and got a chance to talk with Jacob. It was a great experience, trying to tell them all to make the right decisions, surround yourself with the right people with God in the center of it all. That’s what I did because it’s been a day-to-day grind, for sure.”
If the Lions don’t call, Graham will enjoy retirement and his time with his wife Carlyne and their sons, 9-year-old Emerson and 6-year-old Bryson. He said he plans to come home and see his grandparents in the not-so-distant future.
“Right now my title is retired, but I’ve had offers come my way, media stuff,” Graham said. “I’m excited to find out what I love to do next.”
david.goricki@detroitnews.com
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was wrong to determine Michigan met federal health and environmental standards for ozone pollution or smog in the Detroit area in 2023, a federal appeals court judge has ruled.
U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Helene White on Dec. 5 issued a split decision in a case about how environmental regulators measured Detroit air quality in 2022, when wildfire smoke drifted over Detroit and affected the air quality monitor readings for a few days in June.
Michigan considered those days “exceptional events” because of the wildfire smoke and didn’t include the high ozone pollution readings in its calculation to the EPA.
With those days tossed, the state was able to argue in 2023 that Michigan met federal air quality standards for ground-level ozone pollution. The seven-county Metro Detroit region had previously been out of compliance with the ozone standards.
The Sierra Club sued, arguing the wildfire smoke did not meaningfully change ozone readings and that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy failed to analyze how local pollution sources contributed to the ozone levels on those days. The environmental advocacy group also challenged the EPA’s finding that the region met federal standards for ozone pollution.
White determined the exceptional events designation was appropriate, siding against the Sierra Club in deciding the EPA and EGLE correctly analyzed the smoke’s impact on ozone readings in June 2022.
She sided against EPA in deciding the EPA was wrong to put Michigan back into attainment for ground-level ozone without Michigan adopting control measures that would cut volatile organic compounds, which contribute to ozone pollution.
EPA determined the Detroit area was out of attainment for ground-level ozone on April 13, 2022. Michigan regulators did not impose control technologies for ozone-causing pollutants by the deadline in early 2023. Instead, they asked EPA to redesignate the area as in attainment with the air quality rules.
Michigan was obligated to implement control technologies even though it had submitted a redesignation request, White said in her order. Control technologies include efforts to reduce volatile organic compounds from being released from manufacturing plants and industrial sources, according to EPA documents.
Sierra Club member and Detroit environmental justice activist Dolores Leonard cheered the outcome of the case.
“Without this victory, EPA’s decisions would have let Michigan avoid the rules needed to reduce pollution and keep the air we breathe safe,” Leonard said. “At a time when asthma rates are rising in Detroit, especially in Black communities, that’s unacceptable. With the backing of this federal court decision, our community will continue to push the state of Michigan to take much-needed action to relieve ozone pollution in this area.”
The Clean Air Act requires those pollution control measures to be implemented even after the EPA puts an area back into attainment to ensure the air quality remains healthy, said Nick Leonard, executive director of Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, which argued the Sierra Club’s case.
White’s order means the EGLE will have to reapply for the attainment of the ozone standard, Leonard said.
“At the very least, I would say they have to correct the legal deficiency, which was that they didn’t enact the pollution control rules that are typically required for areas that are in non-attainment for this long,” he said.
The EPA is reviewing the decision, its press office said. The office did not respond to a question about whether it would ask Michigan to adopt volatile organic compound control measures as a result of White’s decision.
The EGLE also is reviewing the ruling, spokesman Dale George said.
“While EGLE was not a party to the case and is not able to speak in detail about the legal outcome, we were encouraged that the court supported the use of exceptional events demonstrations and acknowledged the sound science behind EGLE’s determination that the Detroit area met the health-based ozone standard,” George said.
Leonard said he was disappointed but not surprised that White ruled against the Sierra Club’s arguments that EGLE and the EPA did not correctly account for wildfire smoke’s impact on ozone readings in 2022.
That issue is going to plague communities as climate change causes northern wildfires to become more common and kick smoke into Michigan, he predicted.
“If we start to essentially cut out bad air quality days because of the claim they were partially influenced by wildfire smoke … , you create this disconnect between the regulatory systems that are meant to protect people and the actual air pollution that people are breathing,” Leonard said.
ckthompson@detroitnews.com
The deal, which is pending a physical and has not been confirmed
Detroit, MI
Detroit-area teen charged in carjacking at Applebee’s restaurant bound over to circuit court
A 15-year-old boy who is accused of carjacking a woman last month at an Applebee’s in Roseville, Michigan, is heading to circuit court after waiving his preliminary examination, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.
The teen is charged with one count of carjacking, third-degree fleeing a police officer, two counts of malicious destruction of personal property, assault with a dangerous weapon, assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer, operating without a license and failure to stop after a collision.
The teen appeared for a probable cause hearing on Dec. 10 and waived his right to a preliminary examination. He will be arraigned on Jan. 5, 2026.
He remains in at the Macomb County Juvenile Center under a $250,000 cash/surety bond. If he posts bond, he is ordered to wear a GPS tether, be restricted to his mother’s house and have no contact with the victim, witnesses or Applebee’s.
Prosecutors allege that on Nov. 24, 2025, the teen forcibly took a woman’s 2016 Jeep Patriot in the restaurant’s parking lot. The teen took off in the vehicle and crashed it on Gratiot Avenue.
“The allegations and charges in this matter are serious. Carjacking is a violent offense that carries life-altering consequences for victims and offenders alike,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said in a statement. “To the young people of Macomb County, understand that the choices you make today will determine the path available to you tomorrow. We want every youth in this community to succeed, but that starts with stepping away from dangerous decisions before they lead to irreversible outcomes.”
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