Michigan
Michigan lawmakers push to block ‘early’ retirement of fighter jet fleet at Selfridge
Washington ― Michigan’s congressional delegation is aiming to use the upcoming defense policy bill to block the Air Force from retiring the A-10 “Warthog” Thunderbolt II “early” in 2026 to ensure the squadron stays at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County into 2027.
Their goal is to minimize the gap between the time when the A-10s will roll out of Selfridge and a replacement flying mission, F-15EX fighters, is supposed to arrive in 2028 in an effort to maintain the workforce of pilots and maintenance staff for the aircraft.
Led by U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, a Charlotte Republican, Michigan lawmakers wrote Wednesday to the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, asking them to use language that requires the Air Force to maintain a minimum fleet size of 162 A-10 aircraft and prohibits early retirement of the A-10s without the approval of Congress.
“This would basically do a transition between the two (platforms) without a significant or sizable gap between them,” Barrett told The Detroit News. “And that’s the big issue we’re trying to stop. Now that we have the commitment for the new F-15EX aircraft, we don’t want the A-10s to go dormant early and present a gap.”
The lawmakers worry that a gap of a year or two between flying missions would potentially see the staff at Selfridge devoted to pilot training, maintenance and other tasks reassigned or placed elsewhere without aircraft at the base.
“Then all of a sudden, you’re scrambling to get them back and build back up,” Barrett said.
His letter comes as members of the committees are meeting to negotiate the final text of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Both the Senate and House-passed versions of the NDAA included language barring early A-10 retirements, but the lawmakers say the House-passed language is stronger “and will ensure the A-10 Thunderbolt II Aircraft fleet cannot be retired earlier than planned,” they wrote.
All members of Michigan’s delegation, including Democratic Sens. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township and Elissa Slotkin of Holly, signed onto the letter except Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit. Peters and Slotkin both sit on the Senate Armed Services panel.
Idaho’s congressional delegation also joined the letter, including GOP Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, whose state hosts an A-10 squadron at Gowen Field that is set to be replaced with F-16s.
“Early retirement of the A-10 Thunderbolt II Aircraft fleet could negatively impact Air National Guard Bases like Selfridge in Michigan and Gowen Field in Idaho,” the lawmakers wrote.
“While both bases have planned for the divestment of the A-10s prior to receiving the F-15EXs and the F-16s, an expedited retirement of the A-10s would have negative consequences on their workforce, including pilots losing currency and certification, as well as maintaining proficiency due to the lack of airframes on which to work.”
The Air Force has long planned to divest the aging A-10 Thunderbolt fleet to spend instead on next-generation aircraft.
The Maryland Air National Guard, based in eastern Baltimore County, deactivated its last remaining A-10s last month, sending most to a boneyard in Arizona and two to Selfridge in Harrison Township, Michigan.
A general picked to serve as the next chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, Kenneth S. Wilsbach, this month reiterated the Pentagon’s plans to send a squadron of F-15EX fighter aircraft to Selfridge on time in 2028, assuming the required infrastructure upgrades are complete.
Wilsbach was responding to a question from Slotkin, who asked him about reports that bureaucrats at the Pentagon were looking to delay or “push out” the arrival of the F-15EXs beyond the 2028 date announced by President Donald Trump in April in Michigan.
That, Slotkin worried, would create a gap between when the A-10s’ pilots and personnel depart and the arrival, potentially years later, of the F-15EXs, causing the base to “lose all that good training and manpower that we have.”
Wilsbach said the Air Force would have to train the new crews and maintenance personnel as they transition from the A-10 to the F-15EX, a process that could take six to 18 months.
“So we’ll have to work on that timing,” Wilsbach said.
Michigan’s delegation and state officials lobbied for over a decade for a fighter mission to replace the A-10 Thunderbolt II squadron at Selfridge that is set to be retired starting next year.
Overruling the Air Force, Trump in late April said he’d send 21 brand-new F-15EXs to the base located on Lake St. Clair, northeast of Detroit, starting in 2028 in a gesture that Trump said should “save this place.”
mburke@detroitnews.com
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources opened applications through Feb. 1 for Michigan’s spring turkey season.
Officials say there are some changes to the 2026 season, such as the number of turkey management units, which are designated areas open to hunters.
“These regulation changes uphold the goals for the spring turkey hunting season: maximizing hunter opportunity while also maintaining satisfactory hunting experiences across the state,” said Adam Bump, DNR upland game bird specialist.
Here’s what to know about licenses for the upcoming turkey season. For more information on other regulations, visit the DNR’s website.
How much do the applications cost?
Turkey season applications cost $5 each and are available online on the DNR’s website, at any license agent or through the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app.
A map of license agents is available online.
Who is eligible to apply?
Hunters aged 17 and older during the hunting period are eligible to apply for a license as long as they have a hunter education certificate or an apprentice license.
Anyone between the ages of 10 and 16 can purchase a turkey youth license. Anyone age 9 and under can participate through a mentored hunting program to receive a license. Youth turkey licenses are valid for all three management units and season dates.
Where and when can I hunt?
In 2026, the DNR announced that it had reduced the turkey management unit from 14 to three — Upper Peninsula, northern Lower Peninsula and southern Lower Peninsula. The units also determine the type of license hunters can obtain and when they can hunt.
View a map of the turkey management units below:
A Hunt 0110 license is for the Upper Peninsula, with an April 18-May 31 hunting season. Hunt 0134 license is valid for the northern Lower Peninsula and is available from April 18 to May 1. The Hunt 0302 license is available for the southern Lower Peninsula from April 18 to May 1. A Hunt 0303 license is also available for the Southern Lower Peninsula (May 2-31).
These licenses have a limited number available.
Other licenses include Hunt 0234, which is for statewide (April 25-May 31), and Hunt 0301, which is for private land (April 18-May 31). Hunt 0234 is valid on private and public lands in the Upper Peninsula and the northern Lower Peninsula, but private only in the southern Lower Peninsula, as well as Fort Custer military lands, with permission.
How can I get a license?
Hunters who apply for a license are entered into a random drawing system. The drawing results are available on March 2.
The Hunt 0234 license (statewide) and Hunt 0301 license (private land) do not require people to enter a drawing. These licenses can be purchased beginning at 10 a.m. on March 16. Hunters can check their drawing results online or on the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app.
“These changes will give hunters longer seasons and bigger units to hunt in,” said Bump.
Anyone who is not selected in the drawing can purchase a leftover license beginning at 10 a.m. on March 9. Anyone who did not enter the drawing can purchase a leftover license on March 16.
How many licenses are available?
There is a 6,000-license quota for Hunt 0110 (Upper Peninsula), an 18,000-license quota for Hunt 0134 (northern Lower Peninsula), a 6,000-license quota for Hunt 0302 (southern Lower Peninsula April season) and an 8,000-license quota for Hunt 0303 (southern Lower Peninsula May season).
Hunt 0234 (statewide) and Hunt 0301 (private land) licenses are unlimited.
Michigan football moved quickly to help fill its running back room on Thursday, adding the No. 1-ranked rusher in the 2024 recruiting class to the roster.
Taylor Tatum, who spent the last two seasons at Oklahoma, signed with the Wolverines for the 2026 season, The Ann Arbor News/MLive confirmed.
Tatum, listed at 5-foot-10 and 212 pounds, has three seasons of college eligibility remaining.
He appeared in 12 games for the Sooners, most of it during his true-freshman season in 2024. That first season, Tatum rushed for 278 yards and three touchdowns, highlighted by a five-carry, 69-yard game in Oklahoma’s season opener against Temple.
Tatum was hampered by injuries in 2025, appearing in just one game against South Carolina, where he rushed once for negative-1 yard.
A former four-star recruit, Tatum was considered the nation’s No. 1 running back in 2024 out of Longview High School in Texas, where he set the school record for career rushing touchdowns (53). He picked Oklahoma over Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, USC, among others.
Tatum was also a member of the Oklahoma baseball team, though he didn’t appear in a game in 2025.
The signing comes just a day after Michigan’s leading rusher in 2025, Jordan Marshall, announced his return to the Wolverines. Since the transfer portal opened last Friday, reserve running backs Bryson Kuzdzal and Jasper Parker have entered. Parker has since signed to play at Arkansas next season.
Meanwhile, Michigan awaits a decision from its other star back, Justice Haynes, who’s left the door open to a return to college. A pair of freshmen backs, Savion Hiter and Jonathan Brown, also joined the team this week.
Tony Alford, Michigan’s running backs coach, was one of three assistants retained by new head coach Kyle Whittingham.
Kyle Whittingham says appeal of Michigan football job was obvious
New Michigan football coach Kyle Whittingham said the appeal of the job was obvious on Sunday, Dec. 28, in Orlando.
Michigan football is primed to win now, new coach Kyle Whittingham said this week on “The Dan Patrick Show.”
The Wolverines have made far too many headlines off the field, which is why Whittingham told Patrick the organization needs to simply get back to focusing on the reason they’re all together as a team − football.
“The place doesn’t need a rebuild, it needs a reboot of trust and getting rid of the drama and just get back to playing Michigan football without all the distractions,” Whittingham said. “It didn’t come from the players. The players were not involved. It was not some player issue – it was just the peripheral.
“Guys here have a great attitude, I met with everyone of them last week at the bowl site. Quality young men, care about academics, excited to be at Michigan, but they’ve dealt with a lot over the last few years.”
Whittingham, 66, takes over as the 22nd head coach in program history after a pair of scandals rocked the previous two men who held his job.
Jim Harbaugh led the Wolverines from 2015-23 − and left on top by winning a national championship − but also was found to have a lack of institutional control in his program by NCAA investigators after two separate NCAA violations occurred under his watch: impermissible recruiting and illegal sign-stealing.
More recently, Sherrone Moore was fired in scandal after he was found to have had a relationship with a subordinate and was subsequently arrested after he allegedly went to her house and threatened his own life − he was jailed for two nights and charged with felony home invasion, misdemeanor stalking and misdemeanor breaking and entering.
Patrick asked if there was any selling point Whittingham needed to hear specifically from Michigan. Whittingham said when he stepped away from Utah in mid-December there were only a handful of program’s he would have even entertained. He called Michigan “a special place.”
“Needed to hear that Michigan was what I thought it was,” he said. “Hey’re committed to winning here, we do have some challenges with entrance requirements, there is a little bit of a hurdle there, but talk about athletes, resources, tradition − it’s all here at Michigan.”
Whittingham also quipped about the irony of previously being a team that wore red (Utah) whose primary rival wore blue (BYU) to flipping that. It’s also not lost on him that his mentor, Urban Meyer, went 7-0 against Michigan in his tenure in Columbus − Whittingham joked at his opening press conference that Meyer’s name alone might be considered a “four-letter word” in Ann Arbor.
“Blue was our rival at Utah for years,” he said. “Now I’ve got to get used to saying, ‘Go Blue.’”
Whittingham is in the throes of one of the busiest times on the college football calendar. The transfer portal opened for a 15-day window Jan. 2-16, setting off a scramble to both retain players, scout the database and find appropriate fits for the team.
Whittingham has only known his roster and coaches for approximately 10 days – he said while down in Florida he was going to “lock himself” in a room at Schembechler Hall in Ann Arbor to watch film on the players on his roster. He has been able to keep Bryce Underwood, Andrew Marsh, Andrew Babalola, Blake Frazier, Evan Link, Jake Guarnera and Zeke Berry − the last two of whom had put their names in the transfer portal before indicating their return to U-M for 2026.
With money flowing, back-channeling frequent and poaching at an all-time high, Whittingham doesn’t see college football’s current model as something that will last as currently constructed for more than a handful of years.
“It is not sustainable, there’s no question about that,” Whittingham said. “Something’s gotta give. Within a 2- to 4-, 5-year window, you’re going to see a major overhaul of Division I football. I think it’s going to become more of a minor league NFL model. I think you’re gonna see a salary cap, collective bargaining, players as employees.
“I think all that’s coming because we cannot maintain this pace.”
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
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