Washington ― The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated nearly $461 million in disaster aid this week to Michigan, Detroit and Wayne County to help individuals, businesses and localities recover from flooding, tornadoes and storms in late August 2023, officials said Tuesday.

The funding was approved in late December as part of a stop-gap spending package to fund the federal government into March.

Tuesday’s announcement by HUD included nearly $12 billion in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds for communities across 24 states and territories. About $346.9 million was allocated for Detroit, $70.4 million for Wayne County and $43.7 million for the state of Michigan.

“This $12 billion in disaster discovery funds will help rebuild homes, develop affordable housing, assist impacted small businesses, and repair roads, schools, water treatment plants and other critical infrastructure,” Acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman said in a statement. 

“The impacts of these funds will be felt for years to come ― especially for disaster survivors and communities in the most impacted areas.” 

The agency said the funds may be used to replace damaged affordable housing, strengthen infrastructure through repairs, upgrades and activities to increase the resilience of public facilities and infrastructure including roadways, water systems and utilities. 

The money may also bolster “economic revitalization” including support for small businesses and job creation or to implement disaster mitigation measures to reduce risk of damage from future extreme weather and disaster events, according to a news release.

HUD indicated the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program is for responding to presidentially declared disasters like the the tornadoes and storms that hit the state Aug. 24-26, 2023.

Seven tornadoes touched down in Michigan on Aug. 24 that year as part of severe weather system that caused two deaths, downed trees, damaged buildings and spurred flooding. Four of the twisters hit Wayne County, just one day after parts of the county were doused with seven inches of rain that wreaked havoc on air travel at Detroit Metro Airport.

At the time, the storms prompted Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency.

The National Weather Service said one tornado in eastern Ingham County had traveled along Interstate 96 for 1.5 miles, causing so much damage that the highway had to be shut down in both directions.

The confirmed EF2 tornado packing wind speeds of up to 125 miles per hour flipped vehicles and leveled forested areas along a stretch of highway between Webberville and Williamston, snapping trees in half.

President Joe Biden issued that disaster declaration months later in February 2024.  

Staff writer Craig Mauger contributed.

mburke@detroitnews.com

Michigan football doesn’t like Ohio State.

It’s a statement that certainly is not “new” to the Wolverines’ fanbase — or anyone who knows anything about college football — but it was one that was reaffirmed in front of the entire world on Monday, in an entirely different arena.

During Monday night’s WWE Monday Night Raw at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, a sign appeared on the Netflix live stream that pointed out the Wolverines’ streak vs. Ohio State: “1,864 DAYS SINCE OSU BEAT MICHIGAN,” the sign read.

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The sign, of course, is in reference to the Wolverines’ dominance against the Buckeyes over the last four year on the gridiron — all of which has come under Ryan Day’s tenure at Ohio State.

Michigan’s win streak began on Nov. 27, 2021 with a 42-27 romp over Ohio State at Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines then followed that up with a 45-23 win in 2022, a 30-24 victory in 2023 and then this season’s 13-10 win on Nov. 30, 2024. Over the course of its four-game win streak, Michigan has not only outscored Ohio State 130-84, but also kept the Buckeyes out of the College Football Playoff twice.

Of the Wolverines’ last four wins against the Buckeyes, perhaps none is more historic than the most recent, when Sherrone Moore’s squad upset Day’s Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium after being a near 20-point underdog. Moore improved his record to 2-0 against the Buckeyes, with his first win coming in 2023 when he served as Michigan’s interim head coach. Meanwhile, the Wolverines made Day just the fourth coach in Buckeyes’ history to lose four consecutive games to Michigan.

To make Michigan’s win this year even sweeter, Ohio State was eliminated from competing in the Big Ten championship game — and potentially earning a first-round bye to the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes, however, made the CFP as an at-large, and will compete in Friday’s Cotton Bowl semifinal for a chance at the national championship game.

The Wolverines will look to extend their win streak to five against the Buckeyes on Saturday, Nov. 29 at The Big House in Ann Arbor.

James Djonkam 
Defensive end 
Eastern Michigan 
6-3, 245 
1 year remaining (Gr.) 

Eastern Michigan’s James Djonkam, a native of Springfield, returned to the Commonwealth of Virginia on Monday when he committed to Virginia Tech.

COMMITTED‼️ @CoachPryVT @jcprice59 @Coach_Marfo pic.twitter.com/n5lxEvu2QI

— Da Ginger Freak (@Jamesdjonkam55) January 7, 2025

Djonkam was a linebacker for the Eagles, where he was a Second Team All-MAC pick after racking up 98 tackles — good for 11th in the FBS — along with 11.5 tackles for loss and three sacks in 2024. He was a three-time conference defensive player of the week and had fantastic PFF grades: 83.1 for overall defense, 84.5 for run defense, a 76.0 mark for tackling and a 91.2 in pass rushing.

However, Tech Sideline understands that he’s set to play defensive end for the Hokies. (In fairness, his coverage grade was 48.3 this year.) He was an edge out of West Springfield High School but landed at Independence Community College in Kansas, where he spent a season before transferring to Arizona State. After playing 174 snaps in two years with the Sun Devils, Djonkam moved to Ypsilanti, Mich., and had a breakout year.

In his career at the FBS level, he’s recorded 133 tackles, 14 TFLs and three sacks. He had some notable games in 2024, highlighted by his 22-tackle performance on Nov. 20 vs. Buffalo. He followed it up with a 17-tackle outing in the season finale at Western Michigan and had five tackles for loss in those two contests. He also started the year with a 13-tackle game at UMass.

Djonkam is the Hokies’ third pickup on the defensive line this offseason but the first end, joining tackles Jahzari Priester (Hampton) and Arias Nash (Mercer) — the latter of whom committed earlier Monday. He joins a room that features just one returning play-maker in Keyshawn Burgos, who has 803 career snaps. The rest of the group has 425 combined. Djonkam brings 664 to Blacksburg.

He was a dual-sport athlete in high school. As a junior on the gridiron, he recorded 133 tackles, 15 TFLs and seven sacks. Meanwhile, he averaged 14.7 points per game as a senior on the hardwood.

Djonkam wasn’t highly ranked out of high school but had several offers after a year at the JUCO level, where he recorded 64 tackles, 12.5 TFLs and three sacks. Liberty, New Mexico State, North Texas, Texas State, Toledo and UTSA were interested, but he chose Arizona State. This time around, Michigan State and West Virginia also pursued him. He has one final year of eligibility because of the JUCO ruling, courtesy of Diego Pavia.

Overall, Djonkam is Tech’s 14th portal acquisition and the eighth on defense, five of which are defensive backs.

For more information on Virginia Tech’s comings and goings in the portal, click here for Tech Sideline’s roster management page.

James Djonkam links: 

Eastern Michigan bio 
ESPN