Detroit, MI
Insider: Thanedar features Whitmer in a Mother Day’s campaign message
U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar tried to appeal to female voters ahead of Mother’s Day this past week with a glossy mail advertisement that arrived in mailboxes in the 13th Congressional District — 13 weeks before the Aug. 6 Democratic primary.
The advertisement’s message talked about Thanedar’s mother and wife, Shashi, with a photo of his family and the moms in this life.
“In Congress, I have tried following the lessons these strong women have taught me,” Thanedar wrote. “I’ve worked to empower women — by defending abortion rights, fighting for equal pay and fighting against discrimination in any form.”
Curiously, the ad also featured another mom — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a fellow Democrat who gave Thanedar’s chief primary opponent, state Sen. Adam Hollier, a job as director of the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency.
Thanedar’s mailer didn’t identify Whitmer in writing, it just has a photo of him and the governor. But the image suggests Thanedar has the support of the state’s chief executive in his reelection bid against Hollier and Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters in a primary where the victory will almost assuredly prevail in the November general election.
Whitmer did not authorize Thanedar to use her image in the advertisement, said Helen Hare, spokeswoman for Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell political action committee.
“The use of this photo for campaign purposes is not authorized, and the Governor has not made an endorsement in this race,” Hare said in a statement.
More: Hollier congressional bid for ballot at risk over possible forged signatures
Uncommitted Dems pan ‘sanitized’ convention
The Uncommitted National Movement is demanding a meeting with top Democratic National Committee officials after a report that White House and Democratic leaders are discussing making the party’s August nominating convention partially virtual in an effort to minimize the threat of disruptions at the high-profile gathering.
Leaders of the Uncommitted movement, which began in Michigan, said the party is trying avoid debate over President Joe Biden’s support for Israel and his position on Palestinian rights. They aren’t having it.
“The DNC’s attempt to sideline genuine discourse and sanitize the convention undermines the spirit of democracy that our party’s voting base expects them to champion,” said Abbas Alawieh, a spokesman for Uncommitted.
“Open the party doors to genuine debate, let delegates speak freely, and show that the party still stands for the basic tenets of freedom and democracy.“
Abbas said the group wants a meeting with senior planners of the convention and DNC Chair Jaime Harrison to ensure delegates may attend in person and “speak freely.”
Politico reported that some party officials are pushing to make the August convention in Chicago hybrid similar to their COVID-era convention four years ago, with a mix of in-person speeches from Biden and others and also pre-recorded content and fewer opportunities for demonstrators or hecklers to interrupt.
The conversation comes amid campus protests around the country over the war and demonstrators often showing up at venues or in audiences where Biden speaks. Anger over Biden’s support for Israel in the Gaza war spread across communities in Michigan, spurring more than 100,000 residents to cast “uncommitted” ballots in protest during the Democratic presidential primary in February.
The Uncommitted movement won delegates in Michigan’s 6th and 12th congressional districts. Abbas on Saturday won his bid to represent the Uncommitted movement at the convention as a delegate for the 12th Congressional District. Rima Mohammad, former president of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education, won to represent the 6th.
More: Biden’s threat to halt U.S. weapons to Israel draws immediate GOP blowback
Raimondo to Mackinac
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo is the latest speaker announced for the 2024 Mackinac Policy Conference, hosted by the Detroit Regional Chamber at month’s end, organizers said last week.
“We’re looking forward to hearing a one-on-one discussion with her about her extraordinary career, from her leadership of the Department of Commerce and her leading role in the development of many of the policies and administration that we think have been critical to our biz including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” said businesswoman Suzanne Shank, chair of this year’s conference. “That was a big get in our view.”
The conference will also feature a bipartisan debate among the top-polling U.S. Senate candidates at 5:30 p.m. May 30 based on a survey by the Lansing-based polling firm Glengariff Group.
Three Republicans and three Democrats have been invited to participate: Democrats Elissa Slotkin of Holly, Hill Harper of Detroit and Nasser Beydoun of Dearborn and Republicans Mike Rogers of Brighton, Sandy Pensler of Grosse Pointe Park and Justin Amash of Cascade Township. Television journalists Devin Scillian of WDIV (Channel 4) and Rick Albin of WOOD-TV will moderate the debate.
“We are working with all of their offices to confirm them for this opportunity,” Detroit Chamber President and CEO Sandy Baruah said.
“The format will allow both parties obviously to be on the stage at the same time. We think this is a unique format that really pushes candidates to speak to a broad audience, as opposed to speaking to their base voters. It creates a different dynamic.”
Others speakers on the agenda include Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing and Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, U.S. Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, and Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, state House Speaker Joe Tate, University of Michigan President Santa Ono, Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz, NBC News’ Chuck Todd and Suzanne P. Clark, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
State GOP plans for convention
The Michigan Republican Party has begun making plans for the Republican national convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee from July 15-18.
Michigan’s delegates for the convention will be staying at a hotel in Madison, Wisc., according to a party email, reviewed by The Detroit News.
“The hotel is just over an hour from the Fiserv Forum,” wrote Tyson Shepard, executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, in a recent message to delegates.
Delegates also selected Anne DeLisle of Genesee County, chairwoman of the 8th Congressional District Republican committee, to be the delegation chairman. And they chose Pete Hoekstra, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, and Bronwyn Haltom of Kalamazoo County to represent the state on the convention’s platform committee.
More: Insider: Trump to headline conservative group’s convention in Detroit
More: Man acquitted of aiding Whitmer kidnap plot now running for sheriff
Tweet of the week
The Insider report’s “Tweet of the Week,” recognizing a social media post that was worthy of attention or, possibly, just a laugh, from the previous week goes to journalist Rachel Louise Just.
Just, who previously covered Michigan politics but now works in Arizona, responded to news that a TV show is in the works that’s planned to be a new version of “The Office” but based around a newspaper in a Midwestern town.
clivengood@detroitnews.com
mburke@detroitnews.com
cmauger@detroitnews.com
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
Detroit, MI
Terrion Arnold ‘maintains complete innocence’ in kidnapping, theft case
I represent Mr. Terrion Arnold in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred on February 4, 2026, in Tampa, Florida, which resulted in the arrest of five individuals on serious felony charges.
To be clear, Mr. Arnold had no involvement whatsoever in the activities that led to those arrests. He did not participate in, nor was he present for, any conduct related to the alleged offenses. There is no evidence in police reports, text messages, or witness statements that implicates Mr. Arnold in any way.
In fact, after direct communication with the lead prosecutor, it has been confirmed that no charges have been filed against Mr. Arnold in connection with this matter.
Recent media coverage has referenced an Order issued by Circuit Judge J. Logan Murphy, which improperly suggests Mr. Arnold’s involvement in the incident. That same Order also incorrectly identifies Ms. Devalle as Mr. Arnold’s girlfriend. Both assertions are false, misleading, and entirely unsupported by the record.
Mr. Arnold categorically denies these unfounded claims and maintains his complete innocence. He was not involved in the crimes allegedly committed on February 4, 2026, in Tampa, Florida.
We strongly urge members of the media to refrain from perpetuating inaccurate or speculative narratives. The facts are clear, and they do not support any claim of wrongdoing by Mr. Arnold.
Detroit, MI
Robert ‘Fish’ Jenkins helped Detroit students soar in sports and life
There was a time when many Historical Black Colleges had swimming teams. The late Robert ‘Fish’ Jenkins benefited from that era and then he spent much of his adult life lifting up youths in Detroit.
Black heritage tours teach travelers what they missed in history class
So much of America’s Black history isn’t taught in schools, but travelers can learn about some of those experiences on the road.
Cody Godwin, USA TODAY
The celebration of Black History Month throughout February provides an opportunity to share stories about Detroiters that have positively impacted the lives of others in a variety of ways.
And included among those stories that have been shared this month is a “Fish” story that is unique, without exaggeration.
That is because this story is about the late Robert “Fish” Jenkins Sr., a longtime Detroit educator and a groundbreaking coach, whose superpower was his ability to create life-changing opportunities for young people in unconventional spaces.
In 1969, Jenkins arrived at Detroit’s Northern High School as a physical education teacher and coach. During Northern’s heyday, the high school, formerly located on Woodward Avenue at Owen in the city’s North End, produced a host of high-profile sports stars, including basketball greats Bill Buntin — a two-time All-American center at the University of Michigan during the 1960s — and Derrick Coleman — the first overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft. And record-breaking sprinter Marshall Dill, Track & Field News’ High School Athlete of the Year in 1971, who set world records in the 300-yard dash while running for Michigan State University.
However, Jenkins specialized in coaching sports that were a little less popular among young people in Detroit, particularly Black students. Jenkins coached teams at Northern — and for one year at East English Village Preparatory Academy after he retired from teaching in 2001 — to 24 Detroit Public School League championships in swimming, golf and soccer.
“No matter what the sport was, he had the formula to make a team a champion,” Robert Jenkins Jr. said about his father, who died on Jan. 14 at the age 86.
“But more than that, my father had a profound impact on the minds of every student he touched. He brought golf, and all the lessons golf teaches, to the North End. And, in the summer, he had members of the swim team teach the younger kids in the neighborhood how to swim, which taught his swim team members how to give back to the community.”
During the evening of Feb. 22, Robert Jenkins Jr. took pride in sharing stories about young people who were coached and mentored by his father across multiple decades that went on to become “doctors, educators, business leaders, and parents” that have made positive contributions to the city of Detroit.
Robert Jenkins Jr. also described some of the friendly interactions that his dad had with notable people like U.S. Olympic sprint champion Wilma Rudolph and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Dick Barnett at Tennessee State University, where the elder Jenkins received the education and training that he needed to teach and coach student-athletes in Detroit.
But earlier that day, an equally compelling “Fish” story was told by another community member.
“Mr. Jenkins was a very important person in my life and he is one of the reasons why I have always tried to do my part when it comes to providing opportunities for young people in our city,” said Gary Peterson, who has coached young swimmers in Detroit for 47 years, including at Detroit’s King High School, where he coaches boys and girls swimmers today.
Long before Peterson coached high school swimmers — and youth swimmers of virtually all ages when he was a full-time swimming instructor for the city of Detroit’s Recreation Department — Peterson was on the swim team at King High School (Class of 1974), when Robert Jenkins Sr. came into his life.
“There were coaches at other schools that helped young swimmers that wanted to improve and go to another level, and Mr. Jenkins was one of those coaches,” said Peterson, who was coached at King High School by Clyde James, a lifelong friend and teammate of Jenkins on the Tennessee State University swimming team during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when they brought national attention to the school’s swimming program.
“Mr. Jenkins would make his pool at Northern available to students from other schools that wanted to get in extra practice. Then, as I got closer to going to college, Mr. Jenkins was the person who introduced me to the colleges that were recruiting Black high school swimmers.
“At that time, there were more than 20 HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) that had competitive swimming programs. Today, there is only one (Howard University in Washington, DC). But back then, Mr. Jenkins wanted to make sure we had the opportunities and exposure, which included sending a small group of us to South Carolina State for a recruiting trip.
“Afterwards, Mr. Jenkins even came over to King from Northern to present me with my scholarship to South Carolina State, while I was sitting in a King classroom. I couldn’t believe it and I was ecstatic, but everything that he did for me and other young swimmers in the city he did so willingly. And that’s what I always thought I was supposed to do as a coach.”
Peterson said he would do even more with Jenkins when Peterson returned to Detroit from Orangeburg, South Carolina, after graduating from college.
“In the late 1980s, a team I was coaching at Johnson Recreation Center and Mr. Jenkins’ team at Northern, traveled to Washington DC as one team in February to compete in the Black History Invitational Swim Meet. And that tradition of Detroit competing as one team at that meet continued every year until COVID,” said Peterson, who also recalled that Jenkins coached softball and even junior varsity football for a time, in addition to swimming, golf and soccer.
“Just as Mr. Jenkins thought it was critical for us to come together and take our kids to DC for that swim meet because it was the biggest showcase for Black swimmers, he wanted all the young people he coached to have good training and exposure. And in my case, as the son of sharecroppers, I can say that Mr. Jenkins inspired me as well, as a swimmer and a coach.”
Every time Peterson walks into King High to coach the current group of swimmers at the school, he said he is reminded of Jenkins and other important people that paved the way for Black swimmers in Detroit.
For example, in 2023, the natatorium at King was rededicated as the Clyde James Natatorium by the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Peterson says the renaming was not only a salute to James, who was a finalist in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Championships in the 100-yard butterfly during the 1960-61 season while swimming for Tennessee State, but also a tribute to the fabled swimming program that was once housed at the Brewster Recreation Center, which helped to develop James, Jenkins and many other Detroit swimmers that competed nationally. Brewster’s early swimming program was led by the legendary Clarence Gatliff, an all-city swimmer at Cass Tech during the 1920s.
Another pleasant reminder of the history and evolution of Black swimmers in Detroit that Peterson sees when inside King High is 54-year-old Robert Jenkins Jr., an educator like his father, who is teaching personal finance this school year at King and hopes to honor his father’s legacy this summer by offering a swimming and golf program to students.
“I want to make sure that Detroiters understand my father’s legacy,” said Jenkins, a 1989 graduate of Northern High School, who explained that his father and mother (Norma Jean Jenkins) taught him and his sister (Dr. Marlo Rencher) that “we don’t half do anything.”
And that includes community service.
“My father was a servant leader and he would offer encouragement to any young person he was around, not just the students he coached. And paying it (that support) forward was a lesson he always taught in the process.”
Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott’s stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.
Detroit, MI
Fox 2 Detroit anchor Amy Andrews updates viewers on her medical leave
TV and newspapers: Detroit media history
The Detroit Free Press has been publishing since the mid-19th century.
Fox 2 Detroit (WJBK-TV) morning news anchor Amy Andrews took to social media on Thursday, Feb. 26, to share with viewers why she has been off the air again.
Andrews posted on Instagram that she is on a “physician-directed medical leave” as she continues treatment for dysautonomia, which she described as “a disorder of the autonomic nervous system that affects things like heart rate, blood pressure, and circulation.”
Wrote Andrews, “For me, it can cause significant dizziness, vision changes, brain fog, and sudden drops in blood pressure, making live television unsafe until it’s properly stabilized.”
According to the Dysautonomia Project, a nonprofit collaborative effort to provide education on the condition, an estimated 70 million people across the globe have some form of dysfunction to the autonomic system that regulates “functions that are automatic in nature such as heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, excretion, perspiration, temperature regulation, pupil dilation, circulation, and respiration” and more.
“Often dysautonomias are invisible illnesses. Patients may not look sick, and yet they have symptoms that make it difficult to work, go to school, and perform activities of daily living,” the collaborative effort says.
Andrews explained on her post that she doesn’t take her decision to step back from work lightly “I love what I do, and I love serving this community. Right now, my focus is following my doctors’ guidance so that I can return safely and consistently.”
She added, “I miss our mornings together more than I can say. Please know I am working hard, I am not giving up, and my goal is to return as soon as I am medically able. Thank you for the incredible support so many of you have shown me over the years. It means everything.”
Andrews received several supportive comments to her posting, including from Local 4 News (WDIV-TV) anchors Rhonda Walker, Karen Drew and Jason Colthorp.
“From your friends and competitors across town: Get well soon. Hope to look up and see your face soon,,” wrote Colthorp.
Andrews, who is an anchor of “Fox 2 News Mornings,” returned to work in September 2025 after an extended absence for what she said at the time on social media were health issues, describing symptoms like “extreme dizziness, balance issues, brain fog and blurred vision.”
Before that, in July 2025, she wrote online to thank staffers at the Michigan Institute for Neurological Disorders (which has several locations in metro Detroit) for taking “amazing” care of her and wrote shortly afterward in August 2025: “My neurologist was able to rule out what would’ve been a devastating diagnosis! … However, that means I move on to different specialists and different tests until we figure this out.”
Andrews has been open about her medical challenges in the past and is also an advocate for mental health awareness. Through social media, she revealed in 2022 and 2024 that she had taken medical leaves to deal with depression and anxiety.In 2021, she underwent back surgery to remove herniated disc fragments in her lower back after an injury suffered during a vacation in Florida.Andrews is an alum of Indiana University, Oakland University and the Specs Howard School of Media Arts. She worked at TV stations in Colorado, Nevada, California and the Flint and Saginaw market before joining Fox 2 Detroit in 2011.
She is involved with many community causes including Gleaners Community Food Bank, C.A.T.C.H Children’s Charity, the Crohn’s Colitis Foundation of America, Habitat for Humanity, the American Heart Association and Angels of Hope, according to her Fox 2 Detroit biography.Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
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