Michigan
How Michigan State football will deal with Indiana without LB Jordan Turner for a half
MSU football: Video analysis of the Spartans’ 24-17 loss at Michigan
Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch and Detroit Free Press MSU beat writer Chris Solari break down the Spartans’ 24-17 loss at Michigan.
EAST LANSING — The loss to Michigan cost Michigan State football one of its best defensive players for 45 minutes of football
It’s an inopportune loss at an unfortunate moment — with No. 13 Indiana’s high-powered offense up next.
Linebacker Jordan Turner will miss the first half of Saturday’s game against the Hoosiers (3:30 p.m., Peacock), leaving the Spartans without their leading tackler in the heart of their vastly improved and swarming defense.
“Very unfortunate. A little bit of a crazy call, in my opinion,” fellow linebacker Jordan Hall said Wednesday. “But we gotta keep pushing on, keep moving on. We’ll miss him in the first half, but we’re going to keep preparing out through the week and get ready for him to contribute like he always does in the second half.”
On the final play of the third quarter in Saturday’s 24-17 loss to the Wolverines, Turner crashed down as U-M’s Alex Orji took a shotgun snap and faked a handoff. Turner met Orji in the hole, with the running quarterback spinning off the initial contact for a 3-yard gain.
During the TV timeout between the quarters, replay officials reviewed the hit and cited Turner for a targeting penalty. He was ejected from the game, missing the final 15 minutes. U-M scored four plays later, with running back Donovan Edwards throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to tight end Colson Loveland as the Spartans’ linebackers and safeties overplayed the run with Turner out of the game.
“We practice making the right form tackles, so it’s not something that I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m going into a tackle,000 like, I need to keep my head up.’ It’s just something that we practice and it becomes routine,” Hall said. “Sometimes in the heat of the moment, depending on the angles and whatnot, stuff happens. Which I think happened in JT’s case in the slightest bit.”
MSU coach Jonathan Smith on Monday said the school challenged the call to the Big Ten after the game, and league officials denied MSU’s appeal. Turner will be eligible to play in the second half for the Spartans (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) against the Hoosiers (8-0, 5-0), per NCAA targeting rules.
That likely will move Hall, a sophomore, into Turner’s spot next to Cal Haladay in the middle of Joe Rossi’s defense, which held U-M leading rusher Kalel Mullings to just 18 yards on 13 carries Saturday and limited Iowa star Kaleb Johnson to 98 yards (75 of which came on one late touchdown run) on 14 attempts in an win a week earlier. It also will expand the already-growing role of senior Darius Snow and Wayne Matthews III.
Turner leads the Spartans with 48 tackles, with five of them coming in Saturday’s game at U-M. The 6-foot-1, 231-pound fifth-year senior, who transferred to MSU from Wisconsin in the offseason, also has three sacks, an interception and two QB hurries.
“He’s really important. Obviously, you’ve seen the plays that he’s made,” Snow said of Turner. “He’s not just a good football player, but he’s a great leader and vocal. We’re just gonna have to play, and we’ll get him back in the second half, which is cool. But I have confidence in Jordan Hall, I think he’s a great player.”
MSU ranks 45th in the nation in run defense, allowing 129.6 yards on the ground, and is tied for 23rd nationally in giving up 315.9 yards per game. The Spartans will try to continue that trend against Indiana’s high-powered offense that ranks sixth in the nation in total offense (487.6 yards), 24th in rushing yards (200.6) and second in the Football Subdivision in scoring (46.5 points)
Hoosiers starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke suffered a thumb injury on his throwing hand during a game two weeks ago and sat out Saturday’s 31-17 home win over Washington. Rourke had surgery last Monday but, according to ESPN, the Ohio University transfer is expected to try and play against the Spartans.
Backup Tayven Jackson was 11-for-19 for 124 yards with an interception along with passing and rushing TDs against the Huskies, while running back Justice Ellison, a Wake Forest transfer, ran 29 times for 123 yards and a score.
“The only thing I know is they’re going to have a quarterback,” MSU secondary coach Blue Adams said Wednesday. “My approach is the guy that they put in is going to be the guy to give them the best chance of winning. And I think in college football, especially at the level that we we play on, I think every quarterback is a legitimate quarterback. They can throw the ball well, and they can call plays and manage the game well.
“So the only thing I can kind of prepare for is that dude is going to be a good player, and so we kind of attack it that way.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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For much of April, showers and melting snow has swamped Michigan, flooding homes, businesses, cottages, roadways; threatening and destroying infrastructure, including dams, and forcing what is likely hundreds of Michiganders to evacuate.
The unusual weather put the entire state under a flood watch.
It’s not over.
To help, the state’s Emergency Operations Center — which was activated on April 10, along with the governor’s state of emergency declaration — created a digital map identifying shelters and damaged areas.
There also is a livestream of the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex.
As of Monday morning, the water level at the dam had dropped slightly, and was less than 8 inches below the top, which is still a threat to both the community in the event of a spillover — or structural failure.
The map, which the emergency center is calling a dashboard, shows warming and cooling centers and where people can get food. It tracks where the tornadoes touched down, and the roadways that are under water, were eroded away and are completely washed out.
The emergency center also is providing more information on its website on how to ask for help, what state and federal assistance might be available, and how to get emergency email alerts from the State Police.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com
Detroit — Michigan Democrats rallied their largest group of delegates in the party’s history at a state convention Sunday, even as they attempted to mend divisions that emerged during the Israel-Gaza war.
Delegates to the Michigan Democratic Party’s endorsement on Sunday elected a slate of largely progressive candidates, picking Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II as their nominee for secretary of state, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit as the nominee for attorney general and unseating University of Michigan incumbent Regent Jordan Acker in favor of Dearborn attorney Amir Makled.
Gilchrist will face off in November against the Republican nominee, Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini, while Savit will compete against the GOP nominee for attorney general, Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd, as well as a handful of third-party candidates.
About 7,252 delegates participated in Sunday’s convention at Huntington Place in Detroit, a record for the party, Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Curtis Hertel said.
The state Democratic Party declined Sunday to disclose the vote totals for its nominees at the convention, which is held every four years for party activists to pick nominees for every statewide office except governor and U.S. Senate in lieu of a primary election.
The chosen nominees come as the state approaches massive midterm elections, in which every statewide seat is up for grabs in the November election, as well as the 148 seats in the state House and Senate, where Democrats hope to capture a majority.
In caucus rooms at Huntington Place, Democratic leaders urged unity behind messages of affordable health care, accessible housing, opposition to President Donald Trump’s executive actions and a commitment to sweeping statewide seats in November. There was also recognition, in some meeting rooms on Sunday, of the issues that divided the party in 2024 amid protests of the Biden administration’s support of Israel in the Israel-Gaza war, and the need to fully mend those divisions in advance of the Nov. 3 election.
During the convention program on Sunday, the Israel-Gaza conflict appeared to remain a sensitive issue among some convention-goers. Protesters shouted repeatedly for a point of order, with one holding a sign that said: “Put the Palestine human rights resolution back on the agenda.” And the loudest booing, by far, occurred when U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and Acker, both pro-Israel candidates, were announced on stage in their respective U.S. Senate and Board of Regents races.
Malinda Salameh was among those booing at Huntington Place, in part to protest candidates’ support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The 31-year-old UM alumnus registered too late to be a delegate on Sunday, but attended as a guest and intends to vote in the U.S. Senate primary. Stevens has long been aligned with AIPAC, while her two Democratic primary rivals, physician Abdul El-Sayed and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, have sworn off AIPAC’s campaign cash.
“Unfortunately, they need to understand that we as people cannot stand for this anymore,” Salameh said. “We don’t want any foreign interests messing with our politics. We want money out of politics. And I think that people are sad because they’re not being heard.”
During Acker’s nomination speech, as crowds booed, Wayne County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch warned that delegates were not learning from the party’s 2024 electoral losses.
“There’s one thing that November 2024 should have taught us, is that the enemy is not in this room,” Kinloch said.
In caucuses, Democrats reckon with a divide
Abbas Alawieh, a cofounder of the Uncommitted National Movement, active in the 2024 election, told delegates, while campaigning for a state Senate seat Sunday morning, that he remained determined to ensure Arab American and Downriver communities are represented within the party.
He told The Detroit News Sunday that the party had done a good job over the past two years in making more room for all members. The record attendance, he said, is proof the Michigan Democratic Party is “trying to be the big tent party and we’ve got to continue growing that.”
“It’s clear that anti-war voters of all stripes, including Arab Americans in Michigan, are going to be critical to our path forward as Democrats,” Alawieh said. “As Democrats, we have to be proactive about reaching out to disaffected voters and voters that we’ve lost to the Republican party.”
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, pushed delegates to ask candidates seeking their vote real questions about actions to combat neighborhood pollution or their stances on federal actions in the Middle East. Pushing for those discussions among candidates will ultimately help improve the party, she said.
“We’re not anti-Democratic Party,” Tlaib said. “We’re trying to make the Democratic Party better.”
El-Sayed, a Muslim Democrat running for U.S. Senate, told members of the party’s Jewish Caucus that he would focus on issues affecting all communities, including allying against “anti-religious bigotry.”
“A lot of folks want us to pay attention to things that we might disagree on happening 6,000 miles away rather than reminding us about the things we agree on happening right here in our state,” El-Sayed said.
Regent candidates debate ‘elephant in the room’
Earlier in the day, the state party’s Jewish Caucus also heard from candidates who expressed a commitment to maintaining a place within the party for Jewish candidates and voters.
Acker, a Jewish Democrat fighting to retain his seat on the University of Michigan Board of Regents, and his fellow incumbent Paul Brown argued Acker had been targeted in his role as regent and in the nomination race. Brown called it the “elephant in the room”
Acker and Brown were running to retain their seats against Makled, a Dearborn attorney who represented several students who faced charges after protests calling on UM to divest from weapons manufacturing and Israel.
Brown argued that Acker had borne the brunt of attacks during the campus unrest and the nomination campaign.
“There’s one difference between Jordan and I,” Brown told members of the Jewish Caucus, “and that is, Jordan is Jewish, and I am not.”
Acker, a personal injury lawyer, said he wouldn’t be cowed by efforts to oust him from the board and credited Jewish Democrats with being significant leaders in civil rights fights over the decades.
“We have a message that we can send today, that we will not be pushed out of this coalition,” Acker said.
Makled, for his part, encouraged members of the Arab American Caucus also to hold their ground within the party.
“We want to make sure this electorate, this convention is giving an image of unity to the Democratic Party, that we’re collectively trying to push the better foot forward, but we’re also not afraid to stand up and speak for our issues as Arab Americans,” Makled said.
The contest between Makled and Acker was particularly heated.
Makled was criticized for reposting, and later deleting, praise for Hezbollah and antisemitic remarks on his social media account, deleted posts.
And The Guardian on Friday reported that Acker appeared to have made obscene sexual comments about a Democratic party strategist and lewd comments about a female U-M student in Slack messages.
When asked Simday about the messages by The News, Acker said the allegations were “ridiculous” and “fake.”
Acker’s attorney, Ethan Holtz, later sent a statement to The News alleging Acker “has never been on Slack” and that the messages contained elements that appeared to be “doctored.”
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
Emergency responders navigate Black Lake looking to rescue flood victims
Officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection were on Black Lake looking for flood victims April 17, 2026.
The Cheboygan River level remained elevated Sunday as forecasters continued to issue fresh warnings about flooding in the region, though measurements at the dam were trending gradually downward.
The river was 7.56 inches below the top of the dam as of 12:45 p.m. Sunday, about a quarter of an inch below the prior measurement taken at 8:30 a.m., according to Michigan State Police. Levels had fluctuated around the seven-inch range below the dam’s top late Friday and Saturday after surging substantially higher earlier in the week.
State officials alerted the public about the emergency at the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex on April 10 when the river was 18 inches below the dam’s top. It then fell 2 inches to 20 inches below cresting on Saturday before starting five consecutive days of rising levels, raising concerns over the potential for a major flood disaster downstream in and around the city of Cheboygan.
Scattered snow showers are possible in Cheboygan and other parts of the northern Lower Peninsula on Sunday and into Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service. Much of the remainder of the week is expected to be sunny.
The weather agency on Sunday morning posted a flood warning for Cheboygan and Emmet counties that’s in effect until 8 p.m. Tuesday. “Expect many areas of slow moving or standing water,” it said.
People should stay away from flooded roads to avoid being swept away, the agency said, adding that “river banks and culverts can become unstable and unsafe.”
The Cheboygan County Sheriff’s Office also warned of “significant debris” flowing through local waterways and urged residents to stay away. The sheriff listed on its Facebook page more than a dozen road closures as of Sunday.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development urged residents Sunday to keep animals and farm equipment safe. It said livestock should be moved to higher ground, and utilities for lower-lying farm building should be switched off. Building doors and windows should be left partially open to “equalize pressure and help prevent buildings from shifting.”
The agency also broadly warned about the dangers of floodwater, given that it can contain harmful bacteria, sewage, toxic chemicals and debris. Pets should be kept way, the MDARD said. And all food and utensils should be kept away from it.
Michigan State Police scheduled a meeting at 6 p.m. Sunday to provide the public an update on the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex situation. It will take place at the Cheboygan Opera House, 403 North Huran St., in Cheboygan. Residents can also join remotely via Zoom, with details on the agency’s social media pages.
lramseth@detroitnews.com
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