The WNBA is returning to southeast Michigan for the first time since 2009, when the highly decorated Shock moved to Tulsa.

Detroit — It’s official: Detroit is getting its WNBA team.

The WNBA announced Thursday night that its Board of Governors has formally approved previously announced expansion teams for Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia.

The WNBA announced in June 2025 its intention to set up shop in each of those cities. Cleveland will begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030.

Detroit’s WNBA team will play its home games at Little Caesars Arena — the third full-time tenant of the building, joining the Pistons and Red Wings — and is expected to have its own standalone practice facility.

This marks a return of the WNBA to Michigan. The Detroit Shock played at The Palace of Auburn Hills from 1998-2009, winning three championships, in 2003, 2006 and 2008, under head coach (and former Pistons “Bad Boy” Bill Laimbeer). The team then was sold and moved to Tulsa, Okla., after longtime Pistons and Palace owner Bill Davidson died in 2009, and the franchise now is the Dallas Wings.

Detroit’s new WNBA team, which has yet to announce a nickname (the Shock remains a possibility, but not a formality), is to be owned by a group of investors led by Pistons owner Tom Gores and wife Holly. The ownership group includes several high-profile investors, including Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp and husband Steve, General Motors CEO Mary Barry and husband, Lions quarterback Jared Goff and wife Christen, former Piston and NBA Hall-of-Famer Grant Hill and wife Tamia, and Fab Five legend Chris Webber, among several others.

Little Caesars Arena is expected to undergo millions in renovations to add in locker-room facilities for the new WNBA team, and a 75,000-square-foot practice facility (along with a 100-square-foot youth sports facility) is planned for east Detroit, near the Belle Isle bridge.

The WNBA, which launched in 1996, has 15 teams, and will expand to 18 by 2030, amid the recent spike in popularity of the sports, with the emergence of star players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers.

The WNBA and the Players Association recently agreed on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that will see team salary caps rise to $7 million in 2026, from $1.5 million in 2025. Average salaries will approach $600,000.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984

MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man accused of beating a longtime friend with household appliances now faces additional scrutiny after the victim later died from his injuries.

What we know:

The accused is 51-year-old David Tisser. He has been charged with the following:

• Battery to an elderly person – intentionally causing great bodily harm, use of a dangerous weapon
• Battery to an elderly person – intentionally causing bodily harm

If convicted, he faces up to $110,000 in fines and up to 46 years in prison, including a possible five-year dangerous weapon enhancer. However, now that one of the victims has died, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office will be reviewing additional charges.

The backstory:

According to a criminal complaint, the incident happened just after 7 p.m. April 1 at a building near 15th and National.

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Investigators say Tisser first kicked in a door and injured a 72-year-old man before forcing his way into another room belonging to 64-year-old Steve Stegall.

Stegall’s daughter, Sheronica McIntyre, said her father knew Tisser and considered him a friend.

The complaint says Tisser struck Stegall in the head and face using multiple items inside the room, including a microwave, mini-fridge and television, before pushing him down a stairway as he attempted to leave.

What they’re saying:

 McIntyre reiterated this.

“He went to open the door, David Tisser forced himself in his room. He beat my dad severely with a microwave and picked up a refrigerator, yes, to beat my day with appliances over the head,” McIntyre said. “He threw him down the stairs severely and my dad says that’s when he hit his head. He was left with a TBI in severe bleeding up the brain.”

Stegall was taken to the hospital with a head wound requiring five staples, a forehead injury requiring 15 stitches and brain bleeding that doctors described as potentially life-threatening.

McIntyre said her father was placed in a coma for three days following the attack. She said he later woke up and described the assault.

“This happened to my dad, being a good person because he believed they’re showing grace,” McIntyre said.

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Stegall died Wednesday, according to McIntyre.

“I’m the only child, he’s my only parent, this is my last parent. This is my dad,” McIntyre said. “He was somebody my dad thought was a friend, so yeah, I want justice for my dad. You know he wasn’t insane. When he did this, he wasn’t insane. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

What’s next:

A competency exam has been ordered for Tisser, with the report expected in court May 4, according to court records.

His cash bond was set at $10,000.

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A water main break at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in south Minneapolis sent water pouring through multiple floors on Thursday, disrupting normal operations and forcing delays and cancellations of some scheduled surgeries. Hospital staff and utility crews worked quickly to contain the leak and assess the damage in clinical areas.

Why it matters

As a major teaching and referral hospital in south Minneapolis, any disruption to Abbott Northwestern’s operating rooms and emergency services is significant, especially given the hospital’s heavy surgical caseload. The incident comes as Allina Health is in the midst of a campus revitalization project to boost operating capacity later this year.

The details

According to KARE 11, water flowed through three floors of the hospital and ‘the issue is impacting portions of the ER and OR,’ with some scheduled surgeries delayed or canceled. Crews were on site working on repairs, but it was not yet clear how long those repairs might take or whether any patient care had been moved off-site.

• The water main break occurred on Thursday, April 9, 2026.

What’s next

Further updates are expected as repair work continues and damage assessments wrap up. KARE 11 reported that it has reached out to Abbott Northwestern and plans to share additional details once they are available.