Michigan
Big Ten late at night | The state of Michigan can sleep easy tonight
Big Ten late at night | The state of Michigan can sleep easy tonight
Tom Izzo’s historic night
Tom Izzo has tied Bob Knight for more career Big Ten wins.
As has always been the case, winning, particularly winning to such a magnitude takes a lot of sacrifice – some comfortable, some not so much.
But there’s no arguing it is an achievement, and one that looked doubtful to happen on Saturday until a freshman took over.
Jase Richardson announces himself
Every Michigan State flaw was on display and amplified with Michigan State’s lead play maker, Jeremy Fears, out with a stomach bug. Also, Xavier Booker out with the stomach bug.
But that’s nothing to how upsetting to the stomach Oregon played in the second half.
A double-digit first half lead turned into a double-digit loss by Oregon, 86-74.
Oregon turned every Michigan State turnover in the first half into points, but in the second, it showed every flaw in its own offense. There’s not a team more prepared to make Michigan State’s offense look like a well oiled machine. Oregon’s defense was put in a vice in the second half, and then it started to turn the handle itself to make it even tighter.
For Michigan State, Jase Richardson, the prodigal son, got his first start and went for a bananas 29 points on 9 of 13 shooting and 8 of 9 from the free throw line. It was the exact offensive explosion a team void of go to guys needed.
Was his outburst good enough to break through Izzo’s stubborness and starting rotaiton going forward or will it all be back to normal when the Spartans’ tummies clear up?
Trusty Dusty
Is there anything more disrespectful than beating a team and then having to half disown any interest in coaching them next year while the current coach is still around?
Well, Dusty Mays did his best to do that while still being a delightful, liked gentleman of scholar and hoops at Michigan.
Indiana looked like crap, then came back, then looked like crap, and then made it close before ultimately collapsing in on itself at the end of a 70-67 loss at home to the Wolverines.
Hard to say the Wolverines looked great, but this game is really going to come down to Mays after game press conference where he was asked about the IU job. Which, I get, it’s an impossible question to entertain. He went all the way to good guy, aw schucks with it, but it also wasn’t as definitely no as I would have expected. His roots are with the Hoosiers as a manager, and while he does coach for a school with a lot of money, great buildings and equipment, and stuff like that, it’s also a school that is offering $12 tickets for the #7 Purdue Boilermakers ticket on Tuesday which will be a matchup of two of the three teams with two losses in the conference.
I’ll be honest, I think IU is a way overrated job, and couldn’t imagine answering to IU fans everyday, but you’re also always going to be second fiddle at Michigan. Then again, Michigan’s had a LOT more success that Indiana in the last two decades. Maybe it’s the best of both worlds – success without expectation.
Anywho, Woodson has now said he will resign, but refuses to answer questions about it or talk to media, proving once again he just doesn’t understand the duty of a college coach and remains one of the worst hires in big time college basketball history. The Big Ten will be better for him leaving IU.
When you beat a bad team but media really likes you
People really want to believe in Illinois I guess. Illinois handled Minnesota on the road, 95, 74, and Will Riley was terrific – 27 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists good.
Generally, not gonna get that excited personally about beating Minnesota, but some people are asking if Illinois is back. The one good thing you can say about this game is that Illinois was 9 of 16 from three. Illinois’ offense has been insanely three-point centric to the detriment of its skillset and record.
But Illinois is starting to look a lot like a front runner team to me.
Let’s hold judgment on their return until after they go through the end of season gauntlet they having coming up.
Iowa winning hearts, losing ball games
Kudos to Iowa, continuing to fight after losing Owen Freeman for the season.
74-63 is a lie of a final score. Iowa was in it till late till Wisconsin pulled away in the final couple minutes.
John Blackwell continues to be great and Wisconsin will get a week to rest and prep before coming to Mackey Arena to take on the Boilers. Wisconsin isn’t really in the picture in the Big Ten, but it has games against Purdue and Michigan State still so it can have a hand in its own destiny.
Six games is way way way too much
UCLA dominated Penn State, 78-54, and I’ll be honest, I went to the gym because the entire day from noon to midnight was filled with Big Ten games.
UCLA is at a deficit with conference record, but it’s hard to argue it isn’t looking like one of if not the most complete team in the Big Ten. (If you ignore offense.)
High knees needs to go
Northwestern’s season is officially cursed. Announced this week, the Wildcats lose another starter for the rest of the season with Jalen Leach out with an ACL injury. He joins Brooks Barnhizer as gone for the year for Chris Collins.
Speaking of gone, Collins got yeeted out of the Northwestern-Washington showdown in the first half by official Mr. High Knees hiimself. High Knees has officially replaced Courtney Greene as the most problematic official in the Big Ten.
Officiating in general is a plague on the Big Ten. Not sure there’s any real avenue of improvement, but it’d be one thing all 18 teams could agree on. It’d probably help to stop sending officials from west to east coast on back to back nights. Just one guy’s opinion.
Anyways, Washington wins 76-71 over a depleted Northwestern team.
Two Super Bowl Sunday early afternoon games
For those sports hungry addicts, Maryland will play host to Rutgers and Nebraska will host Ohio State tomorrow starting at noon and then going at two o’clock on the Big Ten Network.
Both should be good games. Dylan Harper made Rutgers look like world beaters in their last game and Maryland has been one of the Big Ten’s hottest teams but has to make ammends for an upset loss to Ohio State in its last game. Should be a good showdown.
Ohio State goes into Nebraska, not an easy place to win, and Ohio State needs to handle business against lower ranked teams to stay in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament.
Lot of NBA talent in these two games. Should be a good one.
A decade of Celebrate Michigan: See the images that won from 2015 to 2025
The Detroit News’ Celebrate Michigan photo contest is 20 years old. We’ve assembled the best of the best: Winners and runners up from 2015 to 2025.
The Detroit News
Gotion Inc. has asked a federal judge to order the Michigan township where it was supposed to call home to repay the roughly $23.7 million it owes the state in taxpayer-funded incentives.
Green Township’s actions opposing Gotion’s planned battery parts plant made it all but impossible to move forward, the company argued, leaving Gotion in default under its agreement with the state and on the hook for the $23.7 million in taxpayer-funded incentives it received for land purchases and improvements.
“Now that it is clear the project cannot move forward in the face of this continued opposition and the state of Michigan’s withdrawal of support, Gotion seeks to add these constitutional claims and request damages as a result of the township’s breach of the development agreement and violation of Gotion’s constitutional rights,” a May 29 court filing in the case said.
Last week’s filing seeks to amend an earlier lawsuit Gotion filed against Green Township over zoning changes that made its development all but impossible to proceed.
In February, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Gotion’s lawsuit, arguing that it was moot because the state had already found the project in default and had demanded back roughly $23.7 million that had been given to the subsidiary of a Chinese company to purchase and prepare land in Green Township. In light of that ruling, Gotion is seeking to amend its lawsuit to seek additional damages.
“…the Sixth Circuit implied that given the facts of the dispute at this point, the correct form of damages for Gotion’s breach of contract claim against the township is likely monetary damages and no longer injunctive relief,” Gotion said in the May 29 filing.
The amended filing includes demands for damages arising from the “millions” Gotion paid or spent in reliance on the project moving forward, lost profits the company would have made if the manufacturing facility were built, attorney fees and an amount “not less than $23,670,873.56 for funds advanced towards land and development costs related to the project that the state of Michigan is now claiming should be repaid.”
Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office, which is seeking to recoup the $23.7 million on behalf of the Michigan Strategic Fund, said it was aware of Gotion’s May 29 filing against Green Township and is “monitoring the situation.” The office declined further comment, citing attorney-client privilege.
Gotion first sued Green Township in March 2024 after the board — all of whom had been replaced in November 2023 with members concerned about the Gotion project — rescinded two resolutions needed for the project to move forward. Gotion sued in federal court for breach of contract, and a U.S. district court judge issued a preliminary ruling in Gotion’s favor.
But the Sixth Circuit later blocked the case after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration, last fall, found Gotion to be in default of its grant agreement.
The state’s finding of default was in part due to the Green Township lawsuit. The company’s agreement with the state prohibits involvement in a suit that “would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the project or the grantee’s performance of its obligations under this agreement.”
The state also maintained Gotion’s “cessation of eligible activities” for a period of 120 days constituted an “abandonment” in violation of the grant agreement.
The Michigan Strategic Fund said it would seek to recoup the $23.7 million used to purchase and prepare land for Gotion in Green Township.
The Gotion project in Green Township was fraught with controversy shortly after its announcement. The company had planned to locate a battery parts plant in the Big Rapids area, creating up to 2,350 jobs and receiving about $175 million in taxpayer-funded incentives for the project.
Local opponents pushed back on the project because of the secretive nature with which it was negotiated, the unknown environmental effects of the project and Gotion’s parent company in China. Those concerns were amplified by Republican candidates in 2024, including both Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump.
The legal maneuverings with Gotion have already come at a cost to the township.
For the past three years, the state Treasury Department has flagged Green Township in Mecosta County because its expenditures have exceeded the amount of money authorized in its annual budget. In a corrective action plan submitted to Treasury last month, the township said its deficits were “primarily due to the legal fees.”
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
A group of residents on Holland Road in Taylor, Michigan, say they are now doing everything they can to keep their neighborhood the way it is after some of them received a letter saying the city is considering rezoning their neighborhood.
“People across the street from me could have warehouse front property instead of woods and nice residential homes,” said Matthew Streicher.
Streicher, whose family has owned property on Holland Road for more than 100 years, says that has been his concern after he received a letter from the city about a proposed rezoning from residential to light industrial directly behind his home near Wick and Holland roads.
“So that’s when I also decided to start knocking on doors around here and saying this is what is going on, we need to speak out and have a voice as to what happens in our backyards, literally,” said Streicher.
Streicher told CBS News Detroit that three of his neighbors received that letter, informing residents that there’s a possibility of a new cold storage warehouse development if this land is rezoned.
“Nothing that belongs in a neighborhood,” said Tim Adkins.
“Heartbreaking, heartbreaking, you know,” said Denise Haggadone.
Many who live on Holland Road say this possibility is even more disturbing because of how long everyone has lived on this quaint road. And these same homeowners say that an industrial facility would only bring in more traffic and take away natural green space, most likely hurting their property value as well.
“It’s nice to see the wildlife, you know, there’s so few places left,” said Adkins.
On Tuesday, CBS News Detroit spoke off-camera with City Council Chairman Charley Johnson, who also lives on Holland Road. Johnson says he understands all of his neighbors’ concerns and agrees with them.
He says the company proposing this rezoning has every right to do so, and that the planning commission will vote on it Wednesday evening.
“It’s sad, I raised my kid here, and he’s planning on having this home after I pass or retire or what have you,” Haggadone said,
The residents hope to see a big turnout at Wednesday’s planning commission meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, at Taylor City Hall.
The Sterling Heights City Council is set to consider a resolution Tuesday evening opposing tax policy bills in Lansing that one councilmember contends put every municipality “at risk.”
The Michigan House voted in May to pass several bills that would slash property taxes across the state, but skipped a vote on a bill needed to replace some of the more than $5 billion in lost tax revenue.
At its Tuesday evening meeting, Sterling Heights City Council is slated to consider the adoption of a resolution opposing Michigan House Bills 5872 through 5879 due to “their potential negative impact on local government revenue, financial planning, and administrative operations,” a city document said. Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool said the city would lose about $5 million in annual revenue from the bills. He said there’s no “guaranteed replacement” for the lost revenue, and the city would need to cut services, he said.
“So we’re deeply concerned about that,” he said.
The House’s sweeping tax cuts can’t be implemented without the passage of a separate bill levying a loosely defined 6% sales tax on services that has yet to be revealed. Republicans who control the House did not hold a vote on the sales tax hike bill, which remains in committee.
All combined, the four property tax cuts passed by the House are estimated to result in a tax revenue loss that could progress from $5.5 billion to $7.5 billion a year, according to a series of nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency analyses.
Vanderpool, the Sterling Heights city manager, said he wants the state Legislature to work “hand in hand” with cities, townships and villages to come up with a solution for “guaranteed revenue replacement.”
“We are more than willing ― I think our reputation precedes us ― to work with our state legislators hand in hand to come up with viable solutions that … may reform property taxes without harming communities across the state,” he said.
Sterling Heights Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko said the legislation reduces the city’s revenue without a guarantee of what it will be replaced with. She said that in the future, the legislation could prevent the city from maintaining positions that it has promised residents it would maintain, including public safety roles.
“When they put the burden on our local government, they’re actually putting it on the residents of whatever community it is,” she said.
State Rep. Steve Frisbie, a Calhoun County Republican, previously said that Michigan residents need to see tax relief immediately. He noted a ballot proposal collecting signatures last year would have eliminated all property taxes in the state. That citizens’ initiative, known as AxMiTax, fizzled out and won’t be on the ballot this fall.
“They realized that our property taxes are too high and they demand that we take action now,” Frisbie said.
More on the bills
The cuts passed by the House in May would eliminate the 6-mill State Education Tax and eliminate the 0.75% real estate transfer tax assessed on the sale price of real estate.
House Republicans also signed off on eliminating the personal property tax. That bill, largely intended to benefit utility companies, is tied to separate legislation that requires utilities such as Consumers Energy and DTE Energy to pass on personal property tax savings by cutting electric and gas rates for their residential customers. It also requires utilities to freeze rates for two years.
Jennifer Varney, Sterling Heights’ finance and budget director, said the elimination of the personal property tax would result in a $4.3 million annual revenue loss for the city. She said the personal property tax refers to the taxes that businesses pay on their assets, such as their machines and vehicles.
Another tax on the chopping block is the so-called “pop-up tax,” an increase in a property tax bill that occurs when a house transfers from one owner to the next in Michigan, uncapping a constitutional limit on the property tax increase on a home’s taxable value.
Under the state Constitution, a property’s taxable value cannot increase by more than the rate of inflation or 5% each year. But when a property is sold, that cap lifts and is reset at a new, often higher taxable value, resulting in a “pop-up” in property taxes.
Varney said the “pop-up” is the only way cities “recapture” the true value of a home. Michigan also has the Headlee Amendment, a state law that requires local governments to roll back millage rates if taxable property values rise faster than the rate of inflation.
“If you take away the pop-up … and you keep the rollback of the millage, you’re basically limiting any kind of growth in taxable base for municipalities,” she said.
Staff Writer Beth LeBlanc contributed.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
-
Pennsylvania6 minutes agoCrash in Warminster Township, Pennsylvania, leaves 1 person dead, police say
-
Rhode Island9 minutes agoClergy sex abuse bill passes RI Senate on unanimous vote. What’s next
-
South-Carolina14 minutes agoThe 3 Democrats vying for SC governor’s seat take jabs at each other in SCETV debate
-
South Dakota21 minutes agoTornado watch in effect as severe storms target South Dakota
-
Tennessee24 minutes agoTennessee Baseball Breakout Star Announces He Won’t Enter the Transfer Portal
-
Texas29 minutes agoCentral Texas soldier dies in Iraq during training incident, Department of Defense says
-
Utah36 minutes agoNew program at University of Utah aims to keep up with growing Utah industry
-
Vermont39 minutes agoVermont seeks dynamic pricing for state park access
