Michigan
He Swam Halfway Across Lake Michigan. Then His GPS Batteries Failed
Last year, Jim Dreyer was twice foiled by bad weather when he tried to swim across Lake Michigan to mark the 25th anniversary of the first time he accomplished the feat. This year, the weather cooperated, at least at first, but he had to call off the 83-mile swim on the third day because of a battery shortage. On Tuesday, Dreyer began the swim from Grand Haven, Michigan, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, towing a dinghy with food and other supplies, the AP reports. In an account of the swim on his website, the 60-year-old says that soon after his support team visited on Wednesday, when he was on track to finish the swim in 60 hours instead of the expected 72, the batteries in the GPS in the support craft began to die.
Dreyer says he placed the bag of eight replacement AA batteries to his left, turned to the right to remove the old ones, and turned to his left to see that the bag was gone. “I tore that supply craft apart looking for them, but to no avail,” he says. “Somehow the bag of batteries must have been pitched overboard.”
- Dreyer says was less than halfway through the swim at that point, but he decided to continue, planning to navigate by his wrist compass and the stars. But, he says, he tends to experience “wild hallucinations during the second night of a continuous swim,” and that’s what happened Wednesday night.
- He says he saw mysterious lights, a Milky Way that filled the entire sky, freighters that shot back and forth, and, in what may have been symbolic, a wall that “suddenly rose up from Lake Michigan right in front of me.” He says: “I could see it vividly. It was made of large steel girders with a metal mesh in between. It’s as if some force was saying, ‘You will not pass.’”
- Dreyer says he swam through the wall and continued toward what he thought were the lights of Milwaukee but got an unpleasant surprise when the support boat arrived on Thursday.
- Dreyer learned that he had spent the night swimming in circles. While he had swum a total of 60 miles, he was still a few miles short of the halfway point, with 45 miles to go, and the weather was about to turn. From Thursday night onward, there “would be 9-foot waves in my face directly out of the west. Pulling the weight of my supplies, this current would have me on a treadmill.”
- He says he decided to call off the swim because if he ran into trouble in 9-foot waves, the Coast Guard, not the support team, would have to rescue him.
- “I did not want to call upon the US Coast Guard for rescue on the taxpayer’s dollar,” Dreyer says, “especially when the purpose of the swim is to raise funds for the US Coast Guard’s Chief Petty Officers Association.”
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- “Basically, in the end, you know, I was alone in the middle of Lake Michigan with just a compass and eyes I couldn’t trust. That pretty much sums it up right there—lost the battle to my GPS,” Dreyer tells MLive.com.
- Dreyer is one of seven people to have swum across Lake Michigan, a feat that was long considered impossible, reports the Detroit Free Press. When he completed the swim in 1998, he became the second person to have crossed all the Great Lakes.
- He says he “definitely” wants to try again, but it’s not clear when. Dreyer says his other commitments include next year’s Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim, in which swimmers will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the tragedy by swimming the doomed freighter’s route from Lake Superior to Detroit.
(More Lake Michigan stories.)
Amazon Prime Day 2026 will span four days next week. Here’s when
Amazon Prime Day 2026 begins next week and will last for four days. Only Prime members benefit from Amazon’s biggest annual sales event.
Prime Day is in full swing, and as Michigan residents scroll though deals, there are Michigan-themed coffee/tea mugs to consider, perhaps for a gift or to spice up your morning sip.
Amazon Prime Day — the 4-day event of discounted items for Prime members — begins at 3:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, June 23, and ends at 2:59 ET, on Friday, June 26.
Here are five fun Michigan-themed mugs to consider as you shop for deals this week:
Michigan coffee mug by Primitives by Kathy
The 18-fluid-ounce Michigan-inspired stoneware mug is designed to represent the state with its scattered wraparound design. It includes a large outline of the state and a deer, surrounded with key words such as “yoopers,” “fudge,” “Big Mac,” “dunes,” “Great Lakes,” “we’re smitten in the mitten,” and others.
It is priced at $11.48 on Amazon Prime. Primitives By Kathy is the name of the company.
Sip and admire a detailed map of Michigan by Xplorer Maps
The founder and owner of the company, Xplorer Maps, illustrates maps by hand on everyday items such as a mug. On Amazon, there is a 16-fluid-ounce mug available that features a map of Michigan on one side with landmarks, and other illustrations of what Michigan is known for on the other side.
It is priced at $19.99 on Amazon Prime.
Represent Michigan with a Detroit Lions coffee mug
There are several Detroit Lions-themed coffee mugs available on Amazon Prime. One design by Rico Industries is a 12-ounce campfire mug fully coated in the iconic honolulu blue shade with a speckled print and the team’s logo.
It is priced at $16.52 on Amazon Prime.
On-the-go Michigan-inspired travel mug
In another busy Michigan design, Swig Life’s 22-ounce insulated travel mug is scattered with the state’s landmarks and key illustrations. The travel mug is cup holder friendly and is stainless steel with a handle.
It is priced at $30.07 on Amazon Prime.
Simple Michigan coffee mug deal on Prime Day
For those who are looking for a more straight-forward design, the coffee mug by Andaz Press via Amazon is perhaps an option. The 11-ounce mug includes a simple print of Michigan’s silhouette with the word “home” beside it.
It is priced at $14.21 on Amazon Prime.
Contact Sarah Moore @ smoore@lsj.com
Lansing — Michigan residents will be able to begin voting this week in the state’s Aug. 4 primary election with nominations for governor, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House and the Legislature hanging in the balance.
Under the Michigan Constitution, by Thursday — 40 days before Election Day — clerks have to ensure that absentee ballots are available for voters and that ballot dropboxes, through which the ballots can be returned, are accessible.
Michael Siegrist, the clerk in Canton Township, said this week marks the start of the election.
“Most of the voters in Michigan are going to have a ballot in their hand within the next week or two,” Siegrist said.
Siegrist, a Democrat and the president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, was referring to the fact that most of the vote in the primary election is expected to come through absentee ballots.
In the August 2024 primary election, as an example, about 65% of the vote in Michigan’s largest county, Wayne County, came via absentee ballots.
Adrian Hemond, a Michigan political consultant and CEO of the firm Grassroots Midwest, said it will be difficult this year for candidates who go into Election Day behind their opponents on absentee ballots to catch up.
“It’s basically the election,” Hemond said of the absentee ballot window.
A larger portion of the vote in primaries comes through absentee ballots than in general elections because there’s usually a smaller pool of voters in primaries and primary participants tend to be more educated about their ballot options.
Before 2018, Michigan voters generally had to have an explanation to cast an absentee ballot, like they planned to be out of state on the date of the election. But in 2018, they approved a ballot proposal that allowed for no-reason absentee voting, broadly providing the option to submit an absentee ballot through the mail, a dropbox or by turning it in at the clerk’s office.
Local clerks can’t begin processing and tabulating the absentee ballots until July 27, at the earliest.
Also, in July, Michiganians can begin voting early in person into a tabulator. The exact date of the early voting window opening depends on decisions made by local clerks, but it has to start statewide by July 25.
In Michigan’s last primary election in a year when the governor’s office was on the ballot, about 2.17 million voters participated, according to the Secretary of State’s tracking.
Both Republican and Democratic primary ballots have contested races for their gubernatorial nominations this year.
On the Democratic side, voters will pick between Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson of Detroit and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. On the GOP side, there are four candidates on the ballot: former Attorney General Mike Cox of Livonia, U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township, businessman Perry Johnson of Bloomfield Hills and state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Porter Township.
Early polling has indicated that Republican gubernatorial race and the Democratic campaign for U.S. Senate might be close. The Democratic U.S. Senate contest has three contenders: former public health official Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham.
Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is the lone Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.
Tony Forlini, the clerk in Macomb County, said he expects voters who are on the permanent absentee ballot list to begin getting the ballots in the coming days. Some of them will turn their filled-out ballots in as soon as they have the chance, Forlini said.
“We’re ready for it,” said Forlini, a Republican who’s running for secretary of state this fall
In Michigan’s largest city, Detroit, election officials are sending out 99,000 absentee ballots for the primary, said Matt Friedman, spokesman for Detroit Votes, the nonpartisan voter information campaign that partners with Detroit’s elections department.
“Voters are starting to receive absentee ballots this week for the primary election, as they have for the third consecutive year in Detroit, under Michigan’s absentee and early voting laws that took effect in 2024 as part of Michigan’s Constitution,” Friedman said.
In the August 2024 primary, about 63% of Detroit’s 84,994 ballots cast were absentee, about 3% were early votes and about 34% were in-person Election Day votes.
cmauger@detroitnews.com,
(FOX 2) – Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel is stepping down from her position, the governor’s office announced.
Hertel led the division for several years while serving under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, including during the pandemic. While she will be tackling a new chapter in her career, it’s unclear where her next position will be.
Amy Epkey has been promoted to acting director of the agency. She will assume the role on July 1.
What they’re saying:
“Amy Epkey brings decades of experience in state government and a proven record of leadership, and I am confident she will continue the important work of the Department of Health and Human Services,” the governor said in a statement. “I also want to thank Director Hertel for her dedicated service to our state. Under her leadership, MDHHS helped Michigan navigate unprecedented challenges, expanded access to health care, strengthened behavioral health services, and improved outcomes for families across our state.”
Dig deeper:
Epkey previously worked in the financial operations administration at MDHHS, overseeing the agency’s $40 billion budget, contracts and grants, as well as finance and accounting.
Epkey has also worked within the state’s environmental and agricultural departments.
Zoom out:
Hertel cited the expansion of behavioral health services, designing two new state-of-the-art psychiatric hospitals, as well as launching the Keep Kids Safe Action Agenda as among her accomplishments.
The Source: The Michigan governor’s office issued a news release that was cited for this story.
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