Detroit, MI
Fans chant ‘U-S-A!’ while George Strait honors law enforcement at Ford Field concert
The country music legend performed Saturday night in Detroit.
Chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” broke out Saturday night during George Strait’s concert at Ford Field, as the country legend introduced “The Weight of the Badge,” his tribute to law enforcement from his 2019 album “Honky Tonk Time Machine,” just hours after the apparent assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally.
On stage, the 72-year-old stalwart was thanking law enforcement for their hard work during the lead up to the song. “We appreciate you very much,” Strait said, adding, “especially after today.” That sparked a roar from the crowd, as Strait paused and let the moment take hold.
News of the shooting had spread slowly through the Ford Field crowd during the lead up to opener Chris Stapleton’s set, as some fans flashed headlines to one another on their phones. Strait never mentioned Trump by name, but at the conclusion of the song he held his hand over his heart, as photos of Bradley Reckling, the Oakland County deputy killed last month in what was described as an ambush, flashed on the stage’s video screens at the close of the song.
Those were heavy moments in what was otherwise a jovial celebration of Strait’s 40-plus year career in country music. It was his first local concert since a 2014 visit to the Palace of Auburn Hills, and it’s not necessarily his last in the Motor City: While he put a bow on his touring career a decade ago, he’s been touring steadily since his return to live music over the last few years, and he played to a packed audience of 47,065 fans on Saturday night.
His 30-song set, which lasted two hours and 10 minutes, included classics from his catalog, covers of songs by country music Mount Rushmore candidates Waylon Jennings (“Waymore’s Blues”), Merle Haggard (“Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck was Still Silver)”), Willie Nelson (the Merle Haggard duet “Pancho and Lefty”) and Johnny Cash (“Folsom Prison Blues”), and songs from his forthcoming new album “Cowboys and Dreamers,” which is due in September.
Then there was a song dedicated to the tequila brand Strait is invested in (“if it’s not your favorite, you just haven’t tried it,” Strait told the audience prior to “Codigo”) and a piece of Jimmy Buffett-adjacent vacation-baiting (“MIA Down in MIA”), so it was even a little crass, but Strait stood his ground and gave Detroit a serenade to remember.
“Ooh, what a crowd!” Strait said early in the show, following “The Fireman.” “I love Detroit. I’m thinking about moving up here maybe, I don’t know!” It’s a nice sentiment, but Strait is a Texas guy through and through, and on stage in his black hat, blue jeans and tucked in button up shirt, he looked like he was still in Texas. (Strait is so Texas that eight of the 11 members of his backing band also hail from the Lone Star state; give him credit for staying on brand.)
Strait, who hit the stage at just before 9 p.m. and was introduced to the stage as “MCA recording artist George Strait,” which gave him the feel of a rookie artist just getting his legs underneath him. He kicked things off with “Stars on the Water,” his cover of the Rodney Crowell song from his 2001 album “The Road Less Traveled,” and he then rolled through a list of crowd pleasers — “I Got a Car,” “Here for a Good Time,” “Check Yes or No,” “Run” — that were comfortable and familiar, and fit like a favorite coat.
He was joined by Stapleton for a trio of songs, and the pair went back and forth with each other before launching into “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame,” a Stapleton-penned song from Strait’s upcoming album. “I’ve been trying to get you to cover it for 15 years,” Stapleton told Strait, to which Strait replied, “the only reason I did is because you sang it with me.” “Fair enough!” Stapleton said. Earlier in the evening, the country Southern rocker blazed through his own 80-minute set, ripping through his hits “Nobody to Blame,” “Starting Over” and “Tennessee Whiskey” and showing off his electrifying blend of rock and roll, soul and blues.
Strait’s sound is more classically country, and he plays the troubadour role on songs like “I Can Still Make Cheyenne” and “Amarillo by Morning,” songs which invoke images of lonely cowboys, dusty highways and broken hearts. Strait hasn’t lost a step in his delivery and he sells these stories with conviction, the same way he still lands the punchline at the close of “All My Ex’s Live in Texas”: you know it’s coming, but you can’t wait until it gets there.
Strait’s production on the massive stadium stage included a couple of giant video screens on either side of the stage, and a couple of video screens behind him and his band. Nothing fancy, but then neither is Strait. He’s straight down the middle.
While working Haggard’s “Are the Good Times Really Over,” Strait did manage to get a dig in on Ford, in the stadium that bares the company’s name, no less. “I wish a Ford and a Chevy would still last ten years, like they should,” Strait sang, adding a bonus zing at the end, “… and maybe run on gasoline.” Strait isn’t trying to rock the boat, he just calls ’em like he sees ’em, and it’s gotten him this far, so there’s no sense stopping now.
agraham@detroitnews.com
Detroit, MI
Why a Detroit family’s $300 brick repair job turned into a fraud investigation
DETROIT – What started as a seemingly routine home repair quickly unraveled into something far more troubling for one Detroit family.
A man appeared to be posing as a contractor — arriving in construction gear and accompanied by two teens — showed up April 7 at a west side Detroit home, offering to do brick work for about $300. But according to the homeowner’s daughter, the situation started to seem fishy — and expensive — fast.
Tameka Kelly said the trio told her 76-year-old mother they were with “State Line Construction” and began working almost immediately.
“I just felt used and taken advantage of,” Kelly said, looking back at the situation.
“They kept working — kept putting cement down, I said, ‘you might want to tell them to stop.’ He said, ‘well right now it’s $1129.’ I said, ‘my mother‘s not paying you $1000,’” Kelly said.
At one point, the man even offered to repair the bottom of the home’s wheelchair ramp — something Kelly said her sister, who lives with her mother, relies on daily. But she refused because something just didn’t sit right.
“I gave him the $300,” Kelly said, hoping they would just leave. “I thought, well, he knows where my mom lives. I don’t want him coming back trying to do something to my mom‘s house or something to our vehicles.”
Kelly later tried to confront the man, who identified himself as Brian Lopez, and called the number on the invoice.
“When I called he was like, ‘no no no brickwork no brickwork’ I said, ‘yes you did. You were just here. I said I don’t forget a voice,’” she said.
But the biggest red flag came when she looked closer at the address listed on the invoice.
The address — 70 West Maple in Troy — turned out to be a McDonald’s.
“I really got upset when I found out that address was to a McDonald’s,” Kelly said.
Initially, Kelly said when she tried to file a report with Detroit police, she said they told her the situation was a civil matter and she could not file one. She then filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Now, Detroit police tell Local 4 they will be taking Kelly’s fraud report, and once that is completed, an investigation will follow.
State Line initially told Local 4 they were not familiar with a Brian Lopez, then an attorney for State Line construction told Local 4 that, after checking the company’s records, there is no Brian Lopez that works for the company. As a matter of fact, the attorney said, State Line Construction does not do cement or residential construction. He said they focus on electrical work.
Attempts by Local 4 to reach the man going by the name Brian Lopez with the number given were unsuccessful.
Kelly said she felt compelled to speak up to prevent others from falling victim.
“I’m really upset about it, and I don’t want it to happen to anybody else,” she said.
Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.
Detroit, MI
Detroit Pistons already facing must-win Game 2 vs Orlando Magic
Pistons vs Magic Game 1 reaction, lessons learned and what must change
Omari Sankofa II, Shawn Windsor and special guest Bryce Simon react to Detroit Pistons’ Game 1 NBA playoff loss to Orlando Magic, April 19, 2026, at Little Caesars Arena.
How in the world did things get so bad so fast for the Detroit Pistons?
In just one outing in the 2026 NBA playoffs, they went from top-seeded darlings of the Eastern Conference to punching bags punked by an 8-seed short on rest but long on resilience and toughness.
“I would say they ‘outphysical-ed’ us today,” Pistons wing Ausar Thompson said after the Orlando Magic stole Game 1 of the first-round NBA playoff series, 112-101, at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday, April 19. “One, because they got more rebounds than us. They forced more turnovers.”
Yes, this was always going to be a physical series. Though you would think the Pistons, owners of the NBA’s second-best defense and playing at home, would have a sizable advantage.
It also should have helped them that they were coming off six days’ rest, as opposed to the Magic coming off winning a play-in game just 47 hours earlier.
It didn’t help that Pistons star Cade Cunnigham was playing in just his fourth game since suffering a collapsed lung and missing 11 games. He scored a game-high 39 points, but he didn’t operate as smoothly as usual, with just four assists (far off his 9.9-assist season average) while committing three turnovers.
Another indictment of the Pistons’ worrisome play: Tobias Harris (19 points) was Cunningham’s only teammate who scored in double digits. Meanwhile, all five Magic staters did so, led by Paolo Banchero’s 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting.
And just like that, the Magic came out firing, scoring 35 points in the first quarter and never trailing.
“Yeah, just that we came out a little too tight, lax, whatever the word is, maybe both for some of us, but just didn’t come out with the right energy,” Cunningham said. “Gave them life further on. And then, you know, we had to deal with that for the rest of the game. We were better in stints, but can’t dig a hole like that.”
He’s right. The Pistons can’t dig a hole like that in Game 2 on Wednesday night. Because if they do, and they lose, the Magic would not only have homecourt advantage – they got that with Sunday’s victory – but could close out the series without another win in Detroit, with three of the next four games coming in Orlando.
That’s precisely what makes Game 2 a must-win game for the Pistons. It’s bad enough they lost the opener at LCA, where they were 31-9. But now they’ve let the Magic set a hard-edged tone in the kind of the game that could lead them to steal the series.
“I know that they feel great about this game,” Cunningham said. “This was a big win for them. They came in, they handled their business and stole one on the road. That’s what you want to do in the playoff series.
“So I’m sure that they feel great about that. Obviously, we’re sick about losing this one. It’s a long series, though. There’s no confidence dropped from us. We know that team. They know us. So it’ll be a long, fun series.”
Cunningham might be right, because the Pistons are arguably the better team. They have enough talent and more depth.
What the Pistons don’t have is the advantage of desperation. They had an excellent season from start to finish, closed with a 60-22 record, and wrapped up the East’s top seed on April 4.
The Magic, meanwhile, have been playing with fire (and not always the good kind) down the stretch, while their fifth-year coach, Jamahl Mosley, entered the postseason on the hottest of hot seats after his squad went 0-7 in road playoff games over the past two seasons.
To make things even worse, the Magic lost the regular-season finale to the Boston Celtics – well, their reserves, at least – to blow their chance at the 7-seed and homecourt in the play-in tournament. Then Orlando lost to the Philadelphia 76ers (on the road, of course) in the first play-in game before beating the Charlotte Hornets (in Orlando) to advance to a best-of-seven series – featuring four road games – vs. the Pistons.
Now, it looks like the Magic have found their form, as they routed the Hornets, 121-90, and stunned the Pistons. And just like that, Mosley went from hot seat to just plain hot.
Banchero wouldn’t go so far as to say the victory set up his team to steal the series, but he didn’t deny it was exactly the kind of start Orlando needed.
“It’s just a good win for us as a team getting it on the road against a great team and 1-seed,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we got to come back Wednesday, you know, reciprocate it, you know?
“They’re not going to lay down. They’re going to turn it up. So we’ve got to be ready for that. And it’s just one-game-at-a-time mentality, you know? That’s what it’s got to be. It’s the first of four.”
Yes, it’s just the first of four wins the Magic needs to advance. If the Pistons don’t find an answer quickly, the math – and hardly anyone else – won’t be on their side when they head to Central Florida this weekend.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
Detroit, MI
Game 21: Tigers at Red Sox, Garrett Crochet battles both Detroit and the weather
After getting absolutely annihilated in his previous start on Monday in Minnesota to the tune of 11 runs in just 1.2 innings, Garrett Crochet is set to retake the mound today and convince us all that everything will be fine as far as he and his health are concerned.
Unfortunately, he won’t just be battling the Tigers. Mother Nature is once again destined to play a roll in today’s match up, and here’s how the radar looks inside of an hour from first pitch:
The good news is the initial batch of heavier precipitation has moved out and east of Boston, but more unsettled weather still lurks to the west ahead of a slow moving front. That mess will push through eastern Massachusetts over the next several hours, filling in the current dry slot. While this incoming precipitation won’t be as heavy as what fell at times earlier today, it will come attached with colder and windier conditions, so a miserable weather game lies ahead (if they even try and play through it at all — The Yankees did not and waited around for three hours before starting their game against the Royals at 4:20pm). The other option will be to just wait until after sunset when it will be dryer, but still very cold and windy.
When they do get started, today’s lineup includes Roman Anthony leading off in leftfield, Andruw Monasterio at first base, and Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida, and Marcelo Mayer all starting on the bench with an opposing left-handed starter on the mound in Framber Valdez for Detroit.
OTM’s own pitching guru Jacob Roy will be around later to handle the postgame wrap and tell us if we should should be freaking out or breathing a sigh a relief when it comes to Crochet.
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