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Detroit Lions announces 2025 Inspire Change Changemaker Nominee for making a difference in their community

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Detroit Lions announces 2025 Inspire Change Changemaker Nominee for making a difference in their community


DETROIT – Today, Alycia Meriweather has been announced as the Detroit Lions 2025 Inspire Change Changemaker – an annual award given to local leaders who are making a difference in their community across the NFL’s Inspire Change initiatives four pillars of education, economic advancement, police-community relations or criminal justice reform.

Meriweather is the Deputy Superintendent of External Partnerships and Innovation for the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) and has been making a difference in the community for over 20 years.

As a Detroit native, she has dedicated her life and profession to education. Her career at DPSCD has included the positions of lead teacher, Executive Director for the Office of Science Education, the Director of the Detroit Mathematics and Science Center, Executive Director for the Office of Curriculum, and Interim Superintendent. With each role, she combines a deep understanding of traditional education with creative approaches to meet the diverse needs of students and teachers.

In 2023, Meriweather partnered with the Detroit Lions to organize a CPR/AED training for 400 DPSCD faculty members at Ford Field and provide 30 training kits to DPSCD facilities for continuous training of staff and students. She also coordinated DPSCD’s involvement in the 2024 NFL Draft, giving over 2,000 local students unique opportunities throughout the week in Detroit.

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Through mentorship, Meriweather has inspired lifelong resilience and success in her students, often going above and beyond, including taking students into her home for periods of time while their families worked through housing and financial problems.

Meriweather will be recognized at the Detroit Lions Inspire Change game on Dec. 15 for her extraordinary work in pursuit of social justice. She will also receive a $10,000 donation from the NFL Foundation, paid directly to a non-profit organization of her choice.

“We are proud to announce Alycia Meriweather as the Detroit Lions 2025 Inspire Change Changemaker,” said Detroit Lions Vice President of Detroit Lions Foundation and Community Relations Roxanne Caine. “Throughout her career, she has been an invaluable partner to our club. Her passion and dedication to promoting equitable education and creating unique learning experiences for Detroit teachers and students perfectly embodies the spirit of the Inspire Change Changemaker award.”

“It is an incredible honor to be selected by the Detroit Lions as their Inspire Change Changemaker of the year,” said Meriweather. “I represent all of the Changemakers in the Detroit Public Schools Community District – our students, teachers, parents, staff and administrators who work hard every day to create better opportunities and outcomes for young people in the City of Detroit.”

“This year’s Changemakers have shown exceptional commitment and fervor in championing social justice,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “Their remarkable stories and commitment to giving back should inspire all of us to do more. The NFL and its clubs are proud to congratulate and thank these individuals for their unwavering dedication to making a difference.”

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For more information on Inspire Change and the Changemaker Award, visit NFL.com/Changemakers.



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Detroit, MI

Detroit man arrested following manhunt for double murder in Tennessee

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Detroit man arrested following manhunt for double murder in Tennessee


STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – A 28-year-old man from Detroit has been arrested for the murder of two people in Tennessee.

Troy Hutchinson and Rodrell Jeter were shot and killed Nov. 16, 2025, outside Nashville, Tennessee. A third man was hospitalized with critical injuries.

Police believe four men were traveling from Detroit to Atlanta in a Ford Bronco when the fourth man opened fire on the victims before leaving in the vehicle. The Bronco was found abandoned in Kentucky, just south of Cincinnati in Ohio.

Jeter and the man who was hospitalized were both from Detroit, while Hutchinson is from Atlanta.

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A motive for the shooting remains unknown.

In late November, police identified the suspect as Dashonn Moten. He was indicted on 17 counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and two counts of felony murder.

After nearly two months, Moten was arrested Friday, Jan. 10, in Sterling Heights and is awaiting extradition to Tennessee for his arraignment.

If convicted, Moten faces possible execution.

Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.

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Detroit, MI

Thompson: The new year brings a promising future for Detroit students

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Thompson: The new year brings a promising future for Detroit students


Detroit Public Schools Community District often gets a bad rap due to declining enrollment issues or longstanding challenges that led to the historic takeover of the school system before voters returned it to an elected board. 

And in many cases, that is the lens through which the school system’s performance is examined and viewed across the state. But there are hidden stories of progress within a school system that is still struggling to define itself and to give young Detroiters hope for a meaningful future. 

I saw that first-hand last week at Denby High School, part of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, on the city’s east side, where hundreds of young Black and Brown male students gathered in the basketball gym for the annual policing and prosperity forum. 

The annual event initiated and led by tenacious Detroiter Sharlonda Buckman, the district’s assistant superintendent for family and community engagement, is one of the hidden jewels of the public school system and brings together male students from various high schools to discuss their interaction with law enforcement. On the panel were senior and junior police officers from the Detroit Police Department, as well as the district’s public safety chief, Labrit Jackson, all of whom took hard questions from the students about how to navigate the complexities of the criminal justice system. 

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Before the start of the forum, I met three students: 17-year-old Justin Montgomery, 17-year-old Exavier Ward and 16-year-old Wesley Lewis, all students of Denby. 

The three of them live on the east side and are serious and determined students who believe they have an obligation to be worthy ambassadors of their communities. 

“I just got a scholarship from Cleary University for track and field and cross country and I just signed the papers so I can be committed,” Ward told me. “I am excited for the new year and I’m ready to live my adult life.” 

His parents are also joyful about his future because, “out of all of my siblings, I’m going to be the first one to go to college. I want to major in cybersecurity,” he says. 

Montgomery is scouting Oakland University or Central Michigan University and is also interested in a trades school. He’s keeping his options open.

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“I have been here for a while and I’m ready to get out of high school. The experience has been good for me,” he says. 

For Lewis, graduating in 2027 will make him the first in his family to be committed to college. That alone keeps him upbeat for the new year as he prepares for the challenges and the pressures of being an 11th grade student. 

“I’m really ready to go to college. I’m looking at Kentucky State University, Wayne State University and Michigan State University,” he says. “I probably would major in music in college because I currently play the piano. But sometimes I get nervous about college because I feel like it is going to be harder than high school.” 

These impressive young men speak to the vitality of the school system and the need to continue to nurture and support them.

The forum on policing and prosperity reinforces that need. 

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“This forum is so important because we give the students an opportunity to have a voice and talk about the things that are important to them and how they interact with law enforcement,” says Marty Bulger, the district’s senior director of male mentoring.

“Even a more dynamic piece is the fact that because the city has seen a reduction in violent crime, we believe as we reach our young people, we will continue to see a decline. These young men are our future leaders.”  

 X (formerly Twitter): @BankoleDetNews

bankole@bankolethompson.com

Bankole Thompson’s columns appear on Mondays and Thursdays in The Detroit News.

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Detroit, MI

How are Lions fans feeling after Bears’ thrilling win vs. Packers?

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How are Lions fans feeling after Bears’ thrilling win vs. Packers?


The NFL showed on Saturday why they’re the best league in professional American sports. Both Wild Card games were phenomenal, and the dramatic finishes in each game were jaw-dropping. But let’s put aside the thrilling Rams vs. Panthers finish, because the nightcap was far more interesting to Detroit Lions fans.

The Chicago Bears somehow mounted yet another fourth-quarter comeback against the Green Bay Packers in what is already a defining moment in Ben Johnson’s career as the Bears head coach. I got a sense from most Lions fans that they were rooting against Johnson and the Bears for obvious reasons: It’s tough to watch your offensive coordinator go out there and win the division and beat the Packers in the playoffs in his first year.

But there was also a strong contingent of Lions fans out there after Saturday’s outstanding drama reminding people that the Packers remain enemy No. 1—a sentiment I happen to agree with.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

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How are you feeling after the Bears’ wild win over the Packers?

My answer: I was definitely among the people rooting against the Bears on Saturday night. For me, it was less about Ben Johnson and more about the Bears being exposed as somewhat fraudulent. Their defense is bad and over-reliant on turnovers, and the last-second comebacks are completely unsustainable. In both of those senses, Saturday was a miserable failure for those narratives. I mean, this statistic is absolutely ridiculous:

And as much as I hate to do it, I have to give the Bears defense credit for changing up their gameplan out of the half, making Jordan Love look uncomfortable for the final two quarters, and holding Green Bay to just six second-half points without even forcing a turnover. As for the comebacks, they can’t keep getting away with it, right???

All of that said, I was still grinning ear-to-ear after the game. For one, I just love dramatic, entertaining football. I’ll take that result any day over the Packers beating the Bears 42-0.

Additionally, the Packers just had their hearts ripped out. One of the most pompous and smug franchises in all of sports now has to sit there and come to terms with blowing an 11-point lead in the final five minutes to their biggest rival. They have to marinate in a 1-4 record in their last five playoff games. And now they have to seriously consider whether their coach—once billed as one of the winningest coaches in NFL history—is the right guy to lead them into the future.

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So I’m still brimming with schadenfreude this wonderful Sunday morning, and no amount of “did you write this article from Cancun?” comments will hurt me.

What are your thoughts on the game and the NFC North? Scroll down to the comment section and sound off!



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