Michigan
Michigan Legislature OKs trial court funding extension, stalls bill to create new plan
The Michigan Legislature voted Wednesday to continue allowing local courts to assess costs on defendants who either are convicted or plead guilty.
Without the extension, that authorization is set to expire May 1. A bill now headed for the governor’s desk would extend that to the end of 2026.
Representative Kelly Breen (D-Novi) supported extending the sunset on that funding mechanism. But she said lawmakers need to come up with a permanent fix, so courts no longer rely on fines for funding.
“We need to ensure that there is no, even an appearance of impropriety that judges are making decisions simply to generate court revenue. We can’t have that. And it results in unequal access to justice,” Breen told reporters after Senate session Wednesday.
Breen sponsors a bill that would require the State Court Administrative Office to propose a new, uniform statewide court funding system to the state Legislature by May 2026.
Breen emphasized it would then be up to lawmakers to decide whether to accept those recommendations or have the office try again.
Republicans, however, were skeptical of the plan.
Representative Andrew Fink (R-Hillsdale) said he doesn’t like how the bill relies on the State Court Administrative Office rather than lawmakers to propose a solution.
“That’s an inherently legislative responsibility to appropriate funds. And so, as we think through the best way to do that is, I don’t like the idea of asking SCAO to think through it, develop it, and just hand us its recommendations, which I believe we’ll then be pressured to adopt,” Fink said.
Fink said he’d prefer the Legislature taking the lead on coming up with a new trial court funding plan.
The issue of trial court funding has been a pressing matter for years.
A 2017 state law passed under then-Republican Governor Rick Snyder created a Trial Court Funding Commission to review concerns and come up with recommendations for lawmakers to pass. The commission issued its final report in 2019.
“Those recommendations were handed to the Legislature in 2019 with the hopes that the Legislature, which is the policymaking branch of government would lead, would take them up, and would have this healthy conversation. Now, for a variety of reasons, that just didn’t happen,” State Court Administrator Tom Boyd said.
That report mentions state and federal court cases in which the issue of how having a court rely on fines it imposes to fund itself could constitute a conflict of interest. While the state’s policy was upheld in a 2019 decision, Michigan Supreme Court Justices noted flaws within the system.
Boyd said a possible fix would still allow courts to assess fines and rely on other sources of local funding aside from fees for criminal proceedings. But creating a new Trial Court Fund to handle revenue from those court costs, as required in Breen’s bill, would add an extra layer of protection to avoid the appearance of a court having a motive to charge high fees.
Originally, the two bills were tie-barred, meaning one couldn’t become law if another didn’t. But, in a move to ensure the sunset extension had enough Republican support in the Senate for the bill to take immediate effect, Senate lawmakers broke the tie-bar.
The changes meant the bills went back to the House of Representatives, for that chamber to concur with the Senate’s actions.
The concurrence vote on the sunset extension, which had been sponsored by Republican Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport), passed with wide bipartisan support. But Breen’s bill requiring a new proposal for funding the courts did not receive enough support to continue forward.
House Democrats will likely try again once two new Democratic members are seated next week.
Two employees who refused to serve a man and his wife because he was wearing a hoodie with President Trump’s name on it were fired after a video of the heated encounter went viral.
Erika Lindemyer and her husband, Jake, were forced out of a Smoothie King franchise location in Ann Arbor, Michigan, following a fiery clash with two young female workers on Sunday.
The employees claimed they didn’t “feel comfortable” serving the couple because of Jake’s pro-Trump hoodie, as captured by Erika in a viral video.
Jake and Erika fired back at the pair and insisted that they were being “discriminated” against based on their “political views.”
“We were just wanting a smoothie and you literally looked at us and I asked you if everything was OK and you said ‘We don’t feel comfortable serving you’ because of my husband’s hoodie. That is discrimination,” Erika spat.
“Okay, well, have a great day,” the first employee said.
“That is illegal,” Erika tried to insist again.
“I said Trump discriminates [against] us,” another employee chimed in.
“Okay, well that has nothing to do with us getting a smoothie!” Erika guffawed.
“OK, well that’s who you support though, that’s who you love,” the first employee chided.
“What’s embarrassing is that we’re American citizens and I wanted to get a smoothie,” Erika huffed.
The second employee noted that they “have a right to refuse service” and directed the couple to the exit.
“You asked a question and [the other employee] gave you an answer. Have a great day. Have a great day. The door’s right there,” the second worker said.
Trump merchandise. Leftism/X
Erika threatened to call the police while storming out, but it’s unclear if she did.
In a separate video shared Monday, one of the workers joked that she might’ve “accidentally started a race war” and called on the public to help remove Erika’s video.
“I am a minor and she recorded me without my permission. The people in the comments are all white and they’re all being hella racist, guys, please help me get this video taken down,” she implored.
Smoothie King confirmed that the girls involved in the viral confrontation “are no longer with the business” as of Monday.
“As a brand, Smoothie King is committed to ensuring our stores are a place free of discrimination of any kind, where every guest and team member is treated with care and respect,” the company wrote on X.
The owner of the Ann Arbor franchise location will also enforce “mandatory retraining for all employees that outlines our guest experience standards.”
In early December, a woman who worked at a Target in California was berated by a customer for wearing a Charlie Kirk “Freedom” T-shirt.
When the employee insisted she was allowed to wear the red shirt, the irate customer accused her of supporting “a racist.”
The medical center where the agitated customer worked was bombarded with upwards of 6,000 “profanity-laced” phone calls after online sleuths doxxed her personal information.
Ann Arbor — The Wolverines won the outright Big Ten regular-season title with two games to go, but it came at a great cost.
L.J. Cason, Michigan’s backup point guard and a key piece of the rotation, tore his right ACL in the championship-clinching win at Illinois. Just like that, Cason’s season was over and Michigan was hit with a brutal blow.
But when adversity strikes, opportunity knocks. While the team won’t be the same without Cason, coach Dusty May believes Michigan has backcourt pieces who can step up and make up for the loss.
“This is a great opportunity for Roddy (Gayle Jr.), Trey (McKenney) and Nimari (Burnett) to play more, and those guys are really good players,” May said Monday. “Our rotation has been nine and nine, I think, is too deep. It’s playing too many guys, if you want to optimize everyone. But we felt like we had nine guys that deserved to play, that gave us a different element.
“We look at this as another challenge, but it’s also an opportunity for guys to play a little bit more, to play longer periods, to play through a mistake, to play a little bit different role. We do feel like these guys are a lot better than they were earlier this year, so we’re prepared to handle whatever comes at us.”
May said he doesn’t know exactly when Cason tore his ACL, and neither does Cason. The sophomore guard fell to the court and got up favoring his right leg on two separate occasions against Illinois.
The first instance came in the final minute of the first half, when Cason tipped a long rebound ahead and chased it down to start a fast break. After he grabbed the ball in the air and bounced it backward between his legs to a trailing teammate, Cason went down. He got up hobbling, was subbed out and went back to the locker room.
Cason briefly checked back in during the second half and scored a driving layup a minute into his shift. But on Michigan’s next possession, he fell down after trying to score through contact and got up limping again. Shortly after that, Cason motioned to the Michigan bench to be taken out of the game and he exited for good.
“At halftime, the training staff came and said basically he’s passed all of his jump test. He just did the bike. He says he’s 100% ready to go. I was surprised, because I was expecting him to be out,” May said. “I said, ‘What about the test?’ They said both of his knees are loose, so it’s hard. We don’t feel that anything is torn.
“He comes back in. He lands funny again. … It’s unfortunate for him because he was playing so well. When an ACL pops on a noncontact injury, you’re like, ‘Man, what could we have done different?’ When it happens on a funny, quirky play, usually those are the ones that aren’t preventable.”
May added it hasn’t been determined yet when Cason will undergo surgery. Given the typical recovery timeline for a torn ACL ranges anywhere from nine to 12 months, May said Cason redshirting next season is a possibility that’s “on the table.”
“That’s certainly been discussed as well, and then that impacts the recruiting decision-making,” May said. “But right now, we’re still trying to figure out when he’s going to have it. What’s the timeline? Does it make sense to go ahead and sit out next year? … We haven’t made any definitive decisions, because all the information is so inconclusive.”
Moving forward, the plan isn’t to have just one guy replace Cason, who averaged 8.4 points and 2.4 assists in 18.6 minutes per game, shot 40.2% from 3-point range and served as a facilitator when starting point guard Elliot Cadeau wasn’t on the court. It’ll be a by-committee approach.
That said, Cason’s absence is certainly going to put much more on Cadeau’s shoulders. The Wolverines can ill afford to have Cadeau commit unnecessary fouls and miss long stretches at a time. Without Cason, Cadeau is the one guard who can break down opposing defenses off the dribble and create for others.
“This will force Elliot to be much more solid with his defensive decision-making when it comes to fouling,” May said. “He doesn’t have that insurance policy anymore named L.J. behind him, because L.J. came in and carried the load several games for our group. That’s not there anymore.”
While Burnett, Gayle and McKenney haven’t had to be facilitators in their roles this season, May expressed confidence all three can take on minutes with the ball in their hands and initiate the offense.
Even beyond the guards, May noted the team has “other capable weapons” who can serve as triggers on offense depending on the matchup, like forwards Yaxel Lendeborg and Morez Johnson Jr. and big man Aday Mara.
Add it all together, May feels the Wolverines can find a way to absorb the blow, fill the void and forge ahead with Cason sidelined.
“We have enough to overcome what L.J. brought to the team,” May said. “I don’t know if he’s the best backup point guard in the country, but I can’t think of one that’s better. We’re losing a lot, but once again, we’re not going to sit here and look at it from that angle.
“This is an opportunity for all these other guys to do a little bit more, and they’re more than capable. It’s on us to find the right rotations and situations. Without a doubt, we have a lot of confidence in our roster.”
jhawkins@detroitnews.com
@jamesbhawkins
The Michigan State Police is looking for the driver of a Jeep that the agency said hit one of its patrol cars on Lodge Freeway in Detroit Sunday night.
According to officials, the incident happened at 7:50 p.m. on the northbound side of the freeway near Shaefer Highway. The agency said a trooper was investigating a crash and had the patrol car parked on the right shoulder of the freeway with its emergency lights on when it was rear-ended by the Jeep.
“The impact forced the patrol car to strike the concrete wall on the right shoulder,” according to the agency.
The Jeep then went across three lanes of the freeway and hit a median wall, officials said. The driver, identified by law enforcement as a 29-year-old Detroit woman, left the vehicle and fled the scene.
Michigan State Police First Lieutenant Mike Shaw said that while the trooper was evaluated and cleared at the scene by medical personnel, he was still taken to the hospital as a precaution.
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