Flint — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will deliver a speech on the economy in Potterville Thursday, his campaign has announced.

Trump will speak at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Alro Steel, a distributor of metals and plastics, according to the press release, which didn’t describe the event as a rally and didn’t include a link for members of the general public to register to attend.

“President Trump knows that Michiganders can’t afford another four years of leadership that frivolously spends our hard-earned money,” the press release from the Trump campaign said. “President Trump will make America affordable again and make sure that more of our money stays in our pocketbooks.”

Trump’s campaign appears to be putting Michigan in the spotlight next week. It announced the upcoming event as the Michigan Republican Party convention was taking place Saturday in Flint.

In addition to the Potterville stop, the Republican nominee will speak at a conference of the National Guard Association of the United States on Monday in Detroit, and his running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance will visit the Big Rapids area on Tuesday.

The Detroit and Potterville events will be Trump’s seventh and eighth stops in Michigan of the year.

Trump last visited Michigan on Tuesday, when he spoke about crime during an event that wasn’t open to the public at a Livingston County Sheriff’s Office facility in Howell.

Trump is the only Republican presidential nominee since 1988 to carry Michigan. He won the state against Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 by less than 1 percentage point, 47.5%-47.3%, or about 10,700 votes. But four years later, in 2020, Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden by 3 percentage points, 48%-51%, in Michigan.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

CLARKSTON, MI – Bret Michaels wore three hats, err bandanas, on this night. He was the headliner, master of ceremonies and a fan.

The Poison frontman brought his “Parti Gras 2.0″ to Pine Knob on Friday, August 23. And he brought with him Eagles legendary guitarist, Don Felder, country’s Chris Janson, former Foreigner lead singer, Lou Gramm, and Twisted Sister’s, Dee Snider.

Pine Knob was actually the sight of the very first “Parti Gras” concert anywhere, taking place last summer. At that show, Michaels brought along Jefferson Starship, Night Ranger, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath and former lead singer of Journey, Steve Augeri. And he says he’s going to do a 3.0 in 2025.

The late arriving crowd was treated to a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer as Felder took the stage just before 7:00 p.m.

The crowd filled in quickly as he played mostly Eagles hits for 45 minutes, including “Take it Easy,” “One of These Nights” and “Hotel California.”

The variety show, of sorts, continued with Janson, who acknowledged he was the only country artist at a rock concert.

His 45 minute set included hits “Fix a Drink,” “Good Vibes” and “Buy Me a Boat.” He also did a mashup of “Great Balls of Fire” out of “Redneck Life” and a snippet of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”

His set was energetic and interactive. He was having fun and making sure the crowd was, too.

And that’s exactly how Bret Michaels does it. He is still a ball of energy at 61 as he took the stage just after 9:00 p.m. and kicked things off with some Poison hits with “Talk Dirty to Me” and Ride the Wind.”

“It is good to be, and for real, one of the greatest cities, one of the most unbelievable, hospitable people… Michigan, we love you.”

He then brought Felder and Janson out and the three performed “You’re Mama Don’t Dance” together.

Michaels then introduced another Rock Hall legend in Gramm, who performed three of Foreigner’s biggest hits with “Cold as Ice,” “Hot Blooded” and “Jukebox Hero.”

Michaels looked like he enjoyed watching from the side of the stage just as much as the fans did.

Next came more Poison hits with “Look What the Cat Dragged In,” “Something to Believe In” and “Unskinny Bop.”

As Michaels always does, the son of a military veteran, he brought out a number of area veterans on stage while playing “Something to Believe In,” calling them the real rock stars of the show. It’s always a touching and inspirational part of his concerts.

More rock royalty was next with Snider, who went right into “We’re Not Gonna Take it.” The crowd was so into it, he sang a part of it with the audience without any music.

Snider then performed “I Wanna Rock,” before Michaels joined him for a cover of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” Snider probably received the loudest ovation of the night.

And whether he wanted to or not, Michaels asked him to come back on stage for “Nothin’ But a Good time,” which was still a couple of songs away.

Before that was, you guessed it, Poison’s biggest hit, “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn” before Michaels delivered the final song of the night.

What can you say about this concert, other than, like last year’s “Parti Gras,” it was just pure fun, a variety show where you didn’t really know what to expect next and it was exactly what the crowd paid for.

Yoni Santos, the 16-year-old Honduran who drowned Sunday in Lake Michigan, was a happy and hard-working boy, his family said.

Santos and his girlfriend had gone swimming at Rainbow Beach Sunday afternoon and after a while, realized they had drifted too far from shore.

“They couldn’t feel the sand under them anymore so Yoni gave his girlfriend a push so she could reach shallower water,” his neighbor Casandra Ledesma said.

The push helped Santos’ girlfriend reach the beach but it caused him to drift further into the lake.

“He wasn’t a great swimmer and the waves were too high that day,” Ledesma said. “He went under and never came back up.”

Santos was last seen in the water near the 3100 block of East 77th Street about 3:42 p.m. That’s when he went under and didn’t resurface, police said. Chicago Fire Department divers searched for him but had to stop due to inclement weather.

His uncle, Josue Santos, said he didn’t know Santos had gone to the beach until the police called him to tell him he was missing.

“By the time I got to the beach the fire department had stopped the search,” Josue Santos said. “I wanted to go in and look myself but they wouldn’t let me. They said it was too dangerous. I felt helpless.”

Santos’ body washed up on Rainbow Beach Wednesday morning. That’s when “I got a call saying they had found him,” Josue Santos said. “I had to go ID him and it was… it was him.”

Santos migrated from Honduras less than two years ago and was living with his aunt and Josue Santos on the Southwest Side.

Josue Santos said his nephew wanted to come to Chicago to help provide for his mom and two younger brothers, who were living in Honduras.

“He was like a son to me,” Josue Santos said. “It’s extremely difficult to describe what this has all been like. It makes me so sad to know that my sister will never see her son again. She’s devastated.”

Santos had been sending money to his mother by working as a painter.

“He was a hard worker,” said Ledesma. “He was always working so he could help his mom back home.”

Josue Santos said he’s been grateful for the help he’s gotten from his nephew’s friend.

“Yoni loved to be happy,” he said. “He sought out his own happiness and he loved his friends. Whenever his friends needed help, he was there for them. Now, they’re showing up for us.”

Josue Santos said his family is raising funds to have the body taken to Honduras, where he will be buried.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help with funeral expenses.