Michigan

Michigan State football gets its own cross-state transfer in ex-U-M LB Semaj Bridgeman

Published

2 years ago

May 17, 2024

Michigan State football gets its own cross-state transfer in ex-U-M LB Semaj Bridgeman

As if the instability of the NCAA’s transfer portal era hasn’t already overtaken college sports, particularly football, Friday night it reached a new level.

Michigan State football and Michigan made a virtual trade.

Shortly after losing starting safety Jaden Mangham to the rival Wolverines, the Spartans picked up a commitment from U-M transfer linebacker Semaj Bridgeman.

The 6-foot-2, 246-pound native of Philadelphia has all four years of eligibilty remaining after taking a redshirt during the Wolverines’ College Football Playoff championship season last fall. Bridgeman was a four-star recruit and the nation’s No. 300 overall player and No. 23 linebacker in the 2023 class, according to 247 Sports’ composite ratings.

OFFSEASON CHEAT SHEET: Can’t keep up with Michigan State football roster moves?

MSU faces U-M on Oct. 26 in Ann Arbor.

Bridgeman is new Spartans coach Jonathan Smith’s 24th incoming transfer since being hired in late November and 12th addition since spring practice ended April 20. He was the third player Friday to pledge to play this fall in East Lansing, along with safety Nikai Martinez (Central Florida) and cornerback Jeremiah Hughes (LSU).

With the Spartans, Bridgeman joins a linebacker room that continues to stockpile depth and talent under new defensive coordinator Joe Rossi.

Jordan Turner (Wisconsin) and Wayne Matthews III (Old Dominion) arrived in January as transfers, joining senior stalwart Cal Haladay, rising sophomore Jordan Hall, veteran Darius Snow and true freshman early enrollee Brady Pretzlaff during spring practice. MSU also picked up pledges in the past month from Marcellius Pulliam of Miami (Florida) and landed commitments from two of the state’s best linebackers for 2025 in Charles “DJ” White from Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and DiMari Malone from Macomb Dakota.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

Subscribe to the “Spartan Speak” podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

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Michigan

Michigan man pleads guilty to using fake Social Security cards in $550K fraud scheme

Published

9 hours ago

April 17, 2026

Press Room

Michigan man pleads guilty to using fake Social Security cards in 0K fraud scheme

A Southfield man has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing driver’s licenses, Social Security cards and equipment to create fake documents, federal prosecutors said.

Jerome Antwan Andrews, 41, pleaded guilty Thursday to possessing the driver’s license information and Social Security numbers of more than 250 people in a scheme that caused more than $550,000 in fraud losses, U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said.

As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors say Andrews admitted to having an embosser, a laminator, a card cutter and an ID card printer and admitted that his business model was aimed at creating and selling fake Social Security cards and driver’s licenses in the names of real people.

“Jerome Antwan Andrews and his criminal associates stole more than $1.5 million by submitting hundreds of fraudulent claims to a pandemic program intended to help unemployed American workers. Today’s conviction of Andrews represents yet another attack in our war against fraud. It sends a stern warning that my office will relentlessly investigate those bad actors greedily lining their pockets with U.S. taxpayer funds,” said Anthony P. D’Esposito, Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.

Andrews faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the pecuniary gain or loss, according to prosecutors. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Department of Labor investigated Andrews’ case.

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Michigan

Northern Michigan lake drained after dam failure in Alcona County

Published

21 hours ago

April 17, 2026

Press Room

Northern Michigan lake drained after dam failure in Alcona County

Barton City — This week’s flooding across northern Michigan is being blamed for the collapse of a privately owned dam in Alcona County, washing away the small lake that the structure held back.

Buck’s Pond was reduced to mud this week after its privately owned dam failed, destroying the gravel road over the 94-year-old dam structure.

The dam burst around 8 p.m. Monday, sending all of the water in Buck’s Pond north through Comstock Creek to Hubbard Lake, a large recreational boating lake in Alcona County that’s ringed by summer cottages and year-round homes, said James Plohg, who owns property on the lake.

“As it was rising, it started like just washing little parts of it away,” Plohg told The Detroit News on Thursday. “And then it just got so big that it wasn’t able to contain it. And it just opened up.”

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy classifies the Buck’s Pond Dam as a low-hazard dam because its rupture has little downstream impact on other water infrastructure and property.

Lakes in the Green Association, a local homeowners group, owned the dam, according to state records.

It was last inspected in August 2017, according to records in the Michigan Dam Inventory, the state’s catalog of data on the ownership, age and condition of 2,552 dams scattered across Michigan’s Lower and Upper peninsulas.

State records indicate the dam was in “satisfactory” condition, able to withstand a 100-year flood and that it “meets applicable tolerable risk criteria.”

Plohg said the demise of the Buck’s Pond Dam will leave a hole in his and his neighbors’ remote corner of rural Alcona County, located between Oscoda and Alpena.

Plohg said he’s been in contact with state lawmakers who represent Alcona County, hoping they could secure state funding to rebuild the dam — and restore Buck’s Pond.

“It was beautiful,” Plohg told The News. “I mean, people come here to fish. There’s the beach over there. Little kids came to swim, picnics, meetings, a lot of boats, pontoons go around the island. We had (boat) parades on the lake. It’s not much of nothing right now.”

“This doesn’t describe how nice it used to be,” Plohg added.

clivengood@detroitnews.com

DavidG@detroitnews.com

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Michigan

Michigan man didn’t turn right on red. So another driver hit him with ax, police say

Published

1 day ago

April 16, 2026

Press Room

Michigan man didn’t turn right on red. So another driver hit him with ax, police say

70-year-old man arrested, faces assault charge

GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich. – A Michigan man was struck with an ax after not turning right at a red light at an intersection on Tuesday, according to police.

Just before 2 p.m. on April 14, a 74-year-old man driving near the intersection of Woodmere and Hannah in Grand Traverse County sat through a red light instead of turning right, Local 4’s NBC affiliate in Traverse City reported.

Police said a 70-year-old Traverse City man was in a car behind the 74-year-old man and followed him to the Traverse Area District Library,

Once the 74-year-old man got out of his car, the 70-year-old man allegedly approached him and attacked him with an ax, injuring the 74-year-old in his left upper arm. Both men then left the area.

The 74-year-old man drove himself to a local hospital and is being treated for his non-life-threatening injuries.

The 70-year-old man was later arrested at his home and faces a charge of assault to do great bodily harm.