Michigan
Did a Michigan congressional candidate’s husband throw himself out of a moving car in her ad? • Alabama Reflector
This story originally appeared on Michigan Advance.
Michigan State Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet’s husband, Joseph Rivet, may serve as a Bay City commissioner by day, but could a late career pivot to performing stunts be in the works?
In a recently released ad for McDonald Rivet’s campaign to succeed U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, in Congress, Joseph Rivet is presented as jumping out of a moving vehicle, apparently frustrated with hearing his wife talk about cutting taxes.
“We felt it was really important to tell my record on the largest tax cut for working families in Michigan’s history, and I do talk about it incessantly,” said McDonald Rivet, D-Bay City.
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Democrats in the Michigan Legislature, holding a trifecta in Lansing for the first time in 40 years, passed a bill in early 2023 that was introduced by McDonald Rivet to boost the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) from 6% to 30% of the federal credit.
She’s facing Paul Junge, a former immigration official under former President Donald Trump. As for his economic policy, Junge told the Michigan Advance that the U.S. needs to lower the tax burden for working families and seniors and take action on lowering inflation. He said Trump’s campaign proposals of no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security and extending the Trump tax cuts are a “a great start.”
The Rivets wanted to “change the tone” in the race against Junge, said Rivet, who’s a former member of the state House. Junge is making a third bid for the U.S. House after previously losing to U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, in 2020 and Kildee in 2022.
“There’s so much negative. I spend so much time explaining to people that records are distorted in the negative stuff,” Rivet said. “But the reaction to this has just been refreshing, for us too. People have just been very responsive, and they appreciate that it’s taking a completely different tact to how we talk about Kristen’s priorities.”
After the commercial began airing, Rivet said he went shopping and, upon arriving at the register, the cashier told him, “Well, I’m glad to see you’re OK.”
“That’s the kind of response we’ve been getting, with a big smile on her face,” Rivet said. “It took me, like, five seconds to realize. You know, I’m like, what? And then I realized, oh, she saw the commercial.”
McDonald Rivet said that after she spoke at a recent event, people were more interested in taking selfies with her husband than with her.
“That sort of upbeat response, and just making people smile and giving them an opportunity to say some lighthearted things, has just been sort of fun,” Rivet said.
While Rivet said he felt a sense that he could do his own stunts, he added that “the smarter folks at the production company suggested that a professional union stuntman would be a far better thing to do. So I relented to their expertise.”
Rivet said he did not see this year’s remake of “The Fall Guy” – noting that he watched the original series starring Lee Majors – he said he was impressed with the professionalism of the stunt team.
“They knew my height, weight … they tried to make sure the stunt man really did sort of resemble my build and all those kinds of things,” Rivet said. “And they were serious. He practiced. They have a whole stunt safety team who goes through everything to make sure that everything’s done safely. It was impressive to watch.
But don’t rule out a second career just yet, he said.
“I still – if somebody’s a little more flexible with the chance of a nearly 60-year-old guy hurting himself, breaking something, then I might be willing to do it,” Rivet said. “I understand [Tom] Cruise does his own stunts, so, you know, who knows? I thought I was up for it, but they decided to err on the side of caution.”
While McDonald Rivet said there was a debate on staff about whether the ad was “too over the top,” she said she knew when she first read the script that the ad would be a hit.
“I read the script for the first time and literally laughed out loud,” McDonald Rivet said. “I had to put the paper down, I was laughing so hard.”
“It’s good fun and great substance,” McDonald Rivet said. “Politics doesn’t have to be awful. Every ad doesn’t need to be rooted in hate and fear. We can just talk about what we’ve done, and I think if you can get people to laugh and understand that you’re a human being … that’s good politics, too.”
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: [email protected]. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.
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2025 MI marijuana excise tax revenues drop for local governments
In 2025, local government retail license share dropped $4,211 from Michigan marijuana sales for the tax year. New taxes could cut it more in 2026.
Michigan municipalities and counties that allow recreational marijuana dispensaries are set to receive far less money this year than last in their annual portion of tax revenue collected from cannabis sales.
Sales declined in 2025 for the first time since legal recreational marijuana sales started in December 2019.
A total of 114 cities, 39 villages, 81 townships, 75 counties and four tribes will receive payments from the Marijuana Regulation Fund, according to a March 3 news release from Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency. They will get about $54,000 per retail store or microbusiness, based on nearly $94 million collected.
Last year, each eligible government entity received a little more than $58,000 per business based on a total of nearly $100 million in marijuana tax revenue.
Detroit, once again, will receive the most money of any municipality. There are 61 active retailer licenses in Detroit, so the city will get nearly $3.3 million in tax revenue.
State law determines how the money is split. The Michigan Transportation Fund gets 35% of the revenue, which is used for the repair and maintenance of roads and bridges, and another 35% goes to the School Aid Fund to be used for K-12 education. The other 30% is split between municipalities, counties and tribes.
The payments come from revenue collected from the 10% recreational marijuana excise tax. This tax is separate from a new 24% wholesale tax that went into effect Jan. 1. The revenue from that tax will go to fixes for local roads.
Sales at recreational marijuana dispensaries declined by 3% last year to $3.17 billion, down from $3.28 billion in 2024, according to figures from Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency, leading to the smaller payouts. More government entities also split the revenue compared with last year.
Payments to municipalities could get smaller if sales continue to decline. Recreational marijuana sales in Michigan plunged nearly 16% in January compared with December as heavy snow, cold temperatures and fears of higher prices due to the new 24% wholesale cannabis tax kept consumers at home.
While recent trends indicate a cooling period, a February report from Headset, a cannabis market intelligence firm, said the market — one of the largest in the country — has shown resilience over the last two years.
Below are the municipalities that received the most tax revenue:
- Detroit: $3.3 million
- Grand Rapids: $1.5 million
- Lansing: $1.4 million
- Ann Arbor: $1.2 million
- Kalamazoo: $1 million
- Flint: $648,000
- Traverse City, Hazel Park and Adrian all will receive $594,000.
For a full list of municipalities, counties and tribes that will receive marijuana tax revenue, go to www.michigan.gov/treasury.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping everything from classroom conversations to social media, and leaders at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) say West Michigan is positioning itself to help determine how the technology is used, responsibly.
The university’s College of Computing is launching the West Michigan Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) Consortium, aimed at helping businesses, researchers and the community better understand how to use artificial intelligence.
Right in the heart of Grand Rapids, along the Medical Mile, the consortium will meet at the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health (DCIH) every week, with quarterly meetings open to the general public.
The effort is aimed at helping West Michigan industries adopt AI that fits their specific needs, while problem-solving for security, bias, privacy, and ethical concerns.
Right in the heart of Grand Rapids, along Medical Mile, the consortium will meet at the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health (DCIH) every week, with quarterly meetings open to the general public. (Abigail Taylor/WWMT)
Marouane Kessentini, Ph.D, Dean of the GVSU College of Computing told News Channel 3 that a wide range of companies in the region are bringing forward questions of where, and how, to ethically integrate artificial intelligence into their practices.
“Here in West Michigan, we have a high concentration of many industries, health, manufacturing, and of course high-tech companies,” said Kessentini. “The first questions are about security, privacy, ethics and bias. It’s not just about deploying tools. It’s about deploying them responsibly.”
Kessentini said the consortium will focus on training, research and community education, with a heavy emphasis on data privacy, cybersecurity and misinformation.
“There are many examples where AI systems were trained on data that wasn’t diverse,” he said. “That can lead to inaccurate results. That’s why testing and training are critical.”
The consortium will bring together faculty researchers, students, and industry leaders, with weekly meetings planned to develop guidance for using AI at scale.
The goal is to help companies validate AI outputs, clean and manage data, and identify bias before systems are put into real-world use, especially in high-risk industries like healthcare and manufacturing.
Some projects will involve software design, others will focus on creating public data sets that are reliably sourced, but anonymized for safe use, and many more are yet to be ideated.
Some projects will involve software design, others will focus on creating public data sets that are reliably sourced, but anonymized for safe use, and many more are yet to be ideated. (Abigail Taylor/WWMT)
The initiative is backed by $1,031,000 in federal support, through the Community Project Funding (CPF) process, resources that U.S. Representative Hillary Scholten (D-MI-03) said she advocated for among members of congress in Washington.
“West Michigan should be leading the way in how artificial intelligence is developed and used, and that starts with investing in people and institutions we trust,” said Rep. Scholten. “This funding will help GVSU bring together educators, industry, and public partners to build AI systems that are ethical, secure, and transparent while preparing students for good-paying jobs and strengthening our region’s economy. I’m proud to support this work and to continue delivering federal investments that ensure West Michigan remains at the forefront of responsible innovation.”
It’s important that AI is useful, but also safe…
GVSU also launched an online certificate portal that is open for community members interested in learning about ethical AI use, for free.
Kessentini said the training is for the general public to learn how to navigate the technology, including the risks and limitations.
“It’s important that AI is useful, but also safe,” said Edgar Cruz, master’s student with a badge in cybersecurity.
Cruz is currently researching how AI systems can be attacked or manipulated with poisoned data, specifically as it relates to vehicle-to-vehicle communication, where AI helps self-driving cars exchange information like speed and position.
“We want to ensure that the system is robust and safe,” he said. “Because obviously people are involved.”
Kessentini said the consortium is designed to be a public resource, not just an academic project.
Quarterly community meetings will be open to the public, and training materials are available online through the College of Computing website.
“This is innovation with purpose,” he said. “We want to start here in Grand Rapids, but we want to make a global impact.”
Jim Harding, Michigan’s new offensive line coach, has one goal coming out of spring practice: he wants to have a set starting five plus a solid sixth lineman for good measure.
Michigan begins spring practice March 17 and concludes with the spring game on April 18.
Harding, appearing on the Michigan in-house podcast, “In the Trenches” hosted by Jon Jansen, joined new Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham’s staff from Utah, where Whittingham was head coach the last 21 years. Harding spoke about a number of topics, including returning to the Midwest — he grew up in Maumee, Ohio, and his wife is from Farmington Hills — and his love for the Detroit Tigers, but most important was his discussion about building the Wolverines’ offensive line.
“I’d like to establish the starting five where you feel good that when you go into fall camp,” Harding said on the podcast that posted Wednesday. “Those are the guys that are working together immediately from Day 1.”
Harding said he uses a sixth lineman — he terms that player the “rhino” — quite a bit and would like to have at least two ready to go. The Wolverines also need depth at center considering only Jake Guarnera has snapped in a game.
“And then just having that physicality, nastiness of the offensive line,” Harding said. “Just kind of develop that.”
Since arriving earlier this year at Michigan, Harding said he’s been impressed by the linemen and their desire to work hard on conditioning and developing their craft by asking questions and wanting feedback. They have gone to dinner as a group to get to know each other away from the facility, and Harding has enjoyed the process.
“The things that you can’t measure right now is our physicality or our toughness, things like that,” Harding said. “I’m confident that it won’t be an issue, but that’s kind of the next step once we get pads on, (finding out) who are kind of the Alpha dogs in the room that are going to set the tone for the unit, and then, obviously, the offense. But really pleased with what I’ve seen so far.”
Harding shared offensive coordinator Jason Beck’s approach to installing the offense.
“The way (Beck) runs it, everything’s on the table Day 1 in practice,” Harding said on the podcast. “So we’ll get a script with, if you count red zone, probably 60 or so plays, and any play can be called. It’s really unique, and I’d never done it this way, but Coach Beck, actually calls it like he does in the game. There are no scripts, and so we’ll just move the ball down the field, and if it’s a third play and it’s third and 3, well he’s going to call a third-and-3 call.
“So you really have to have the kids prepared for all 60 of those. And then the next day there’ll be maybe different formations and things like that once we get the concepts down in the O-line room for the run game. Now it’s just a matter of dressing up different things. It’s a lot of stuff early on, because every run scheme we have could be called on that first day, every pass protection we have could be called on that first day. So it’s a front-loaded installation.”
achengelis@detroitnews.com
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