Michigan
Public comment window opens on Michigan copper mine air permit
LANSING, MI — Michigan regulators are requesting public comment on an air pollution permit application for a proposed copper mine in the Upper Peninsula.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) says it’s taking comment until Nov. 13 on an air permit for the Copperwood Mine in Gogebic County and holding a virtual public hearing on Oct. 30.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Michigan
Is Michigan-Minnesota still a rivalry? As Big Ten expands, the Little Brown Jug endures
![Is Michigan-Minnesota still a rivalry? As Big Ten expands, the Little Brown Jug endures Is Michigan-Minnesota still a rivalry? As Big Ten expands, the Little Brown Jug endures](https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/09/25132246/GettyImages-1712276818-scaled.jpg?width=1200&height=630&fit=cover)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Jon Falk is the foremost protector of the Little Brown Jug and the rivalry it represents.
Falk spent 40 years as Michigan’s equipment manager before retiring in 2013. When Bo Schembechler hired him in 1974, he put Falk in charge of three sacred artifacts: the Paul Bunyan Trophy for the Michigan State rivalry, the Big Ten championship trophy and the Little Brown Jug.
Falk took that duty seriously. The jug has been associated with the Michigan-Minnesota rivalry since 1903, when it first appeared on the Michigan sideline. It has survived World Wars, pandemics, the Great Depression, a mysterious disappearance in the 1930s and many rounds of conference realignment. It even survived a brush with disaster in the late 1980s when Falk’s daughter was playing in the equipment room and nearly knocked it over.
“It’s a valuable piece of pottery,” Falk said.
Falk is an unabashed apologist for the Michigan–Minnesota rivalry, a series that was still being highlighted as one of college football’s greatest rivalries in the late 1960s by the likes of Sports Illustrated’s Dan Jenkins. In the decades since then, Michigan-Minnesota has become more of a niche rivalry than a national event, eclipsed by The Game between Michigan and Ohio State, the Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama, the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma and other high-stakes games.
That’s partly because Michigan rarely loses possession of the jug, which has been in Ann Arbor for all but four years since 1967. It’s also a result of scheduling changes that turned Michigan-Minnesota into an occasional rivalry instead of an annual one. Saturday’s meeting is only the fifth game in the series in the past 10 seasons.
The Gophers and Wolverines played every year from 1929 through 1998 before a pair of two-year breaks in 1999 and 2000 and 2009 and 2010. The meetings became even less frequent with the switch to the East-West divisional alignment in 2014. When the Big Ten added four teams from the Pac-12 and scrapped its divisions, the league announced 12 protected rivalries that would be played every year. Michigan-Minnesota didn’t make the list.
The rapid pace of change in college football has sparked fears that some of the sport’s quirks and historical oddities could lose their significance. Falk, 75, is part of a generation of oral historians who want to make sure relics like the Brown Jug aren’t forgotten.
“The Little Brown Jug has always been valued here,” Falk said. “There’s years that we don’t play them. Of course, we play Ohio State and Michigan State every year. (Those games) are no more important than the Little Brown Jug.”
Michigan leads the series 77-25-3. (Danny Moloshok / Getty Images)
Falk knows the history of the jug by heart. Before a game at Minnesota in 1903, Michigan coach Fielding Yost sent a student manager named Tommy Roberts to buy a 30-cent Red Wing Pottery jar to hold water for the team. The reasons aren’t entirely clear, though it’s been suggested that Yost feared someone might tamper with Michigan’s water supply.
Minnesota dueled Michigan to 6-6 tie, the first time in 30 games under Yost that Michigan wasn’t victorious. Minnesota fans rushed the field with two minutes remaining, forcing officials to end the game early. In the chaos, Michigan left its water jug behind. A custodian named Oscar Munson found the jug and took it to Minnesota’s athletic director. Once tempers cooled and the series resumed in 1909, the teams agreed that the winner would get to keep the jug.
In 1931, rumors began to circulate that the jug had gone missing from its place in Michigan’s administration building. The Associated Press reported the Jug had been discovered in an “infrequently visited storeroom” inside the Michigan Union and suggested some unknowing person had removed it, thinking the humble piece of pottery looked out of place among Michigan’s other trophies.
That wasn’t the end of the story. The following day, the AP issued an updated bulletin saying the jug was still missing. After learning of the jug’s disappearance, pranksters had begun planting imitations around Ann Arbor, much to the chagrin of Phil Pack, Michigan’s publicity director and the keeper of the jug.
“Pack prowled around in a cider mill today, looking for clues,” the AP reported. “He found a lot of jugs — but not the little brown one.”
In November 1931, the Michigan Daily reported that four men drove up to a gas station in Ann Arbor in a “large Cadillac touring car” and rolled the “old brown water jug” onto the ground. The men had hats pulled over their eyes, and the car’s license plate was smeared with mud. The gas station attendant thought the license plate resembled one from Minnesota, and an official narrative emerged: Minnesota fans had stolen the jug from Michigan’s administration building, then dumped it at the gas station when news of the theft began to spread.
Despite skepticism from Minnesota, Yost insisted the jug recovered at the gas station was the authentic one. Two years later, another jug turned up in a clump of bushes near the University of Michigan Hospital. Yost recognized this jug as the authentic one, conceding the one recovered at the gas station two years earlier was a fake. According to the official history, the jug that will be handed to the winner of Saturday’s game is the authentic one purchased by Tommy Roberts 101 years ago.
“As far as we know, it’s the same jug,” Falk said.
![go-deeper](https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/09/21232910/USATSI_24295099-1024x683.jpg?width=128&height=128&fit=cover&auto=webp)
GO DEEPER
Michigan proved it can win ugly against USC. That’s all that matters — for now
It’s a point of pride for Falk that Michigan lost the jug only three times during his 40 years as equipment manager. The first time was in 1977, when unranked Minnesota upset No. 1 Michigan 16-0 — in part, Falk said, because Minnesota’s groundskeepers left the sprinklers on all night, leaving the field a soggy mess.
In 1986, Schembechler entered the Minnesota game on the cusp of breaking Yost’s school record for coaching victories. Michigan’s players collected $500 to purchase a plaque that Falk was going to present to Schembechler after the game. Minnesota upset Michigan that day, and the players spent another $200 to change the engraving. Falk presented the plaque to Schembechler the following week after Michigan beat Ohio State in Columbus, making good on quarterback Jim Harbaugh’s guarantee.
Michigan won the next 16 games against Minnesota, which hired Glen Mason as its coach in 1997. Mason, a former assistant coach at Ohio State, once ribbed Falk for being a poor host and not even bringing him a cup of coffee when the Buckeyes played in Ann Arbor. From that point forward, Falk always showed up with a cup of coffee in hand.
Minnesota came close to beating Michigan in 2003 and 2004, losing each game by a field goal. Before the 2005 game at Michigan Stadium, Falk made his customary walk to the visiting locker room to greet Mason.
“I’ve got the cup of coffee,” Mason told him. “Now I want to get the jug.”
Minnesota beat Michigan 23-20 that day on a last-second field goal. The Gophers boarded their charter flight, jug in hand, and were greeted by a throng of fans at the airport. Mason called his wife and told her to meet him at Murray’s, a well-known Minneapolis steakhouse, for a celebratory dinner. When he pulled up to the restaurant, he had the jug sitting next to him in the car.
Mason planned to leave the jug outside, but the restaurant valet was worried it might get stolen. So Mason toted the jug inside and kept it on the table next to him at dinner as fans lined up to take pictures with the famous trophy.
“I turned around and saw a guy standing there with the jug in one hand and his martini glass in the other,” Mason said. “He’d had a few, and I thought, ‘He’s going to break that sucker.’ The picture’s still up in Murray’s.”
When Harbaugh was hired as Michigan’s coach in 2015, he invited Falk back as a special adviser. Michigan lost the jug in 2014, Brady Hoke’s final season, and one of Falk’s proudest moments was being asked by Harbaugh to retrieve the jug from the Minnesota sideline after Michigan regained it in 2015.
“I’ll tell you, I cried and I ran onto the field for the first time in my life,” Falk said. “I grabbed that jug and we all walked off into the Michigan locker room.”
Now fully retired, Falk has handed off all jug-related duties to Gary Hazelitt, Michigan’s equipment director. Falk doesn’t have an official role with the program but said coach Sherrone Moore has welcomed him with open arms. He has a spot in the Michigan Stadium press box and greets players in the locker room after games, just as he did for 40 years as equipment manager.
“When you’re 75 years old, you’re doing the best you can,” Falk said. “To be honest with you, it’s being around the kids and being in the locker room that keeps you young.”
![go-deeper](https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/09/02131107/GettyImages-2169673135-scaled-e1725297101860-1024x512.jpg?width=128&height=128&fit=cover&auto=webp)
GO DEEPER
Controversy, mystery and lore: How the Big House at Michigan embodies college football
For many years, Falk kept the jug locked away in the equipment room, fearing something might happen to it. Eventually, he decided it “wasn’t fair to the jug” to have it hidden in storage all year. Michigan began displaying it in Schembechler Hall, and it now sits in a trophy display that was added as part of Michigan’s recent locker room renovation.
Michigan-Minnesota doesn’t generate the same buzz as the Michigan State or Ohio State game, but players still consider this a rivalry. Wide receiver Fredrick Moore said Michigan has been talking about the jug “since the summertime,” and keeping it in Ann Arbor has been a point of emphasis this week.
As long as Falk is around, that’s not going to change.
“If you see the faces of these kids Saturday,” Falk said, “whoever wins, when they swoop in and take that Little Brown Jug, it’s the proudest day of their life.”
(Top photo: Bailey Hillesheim / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Michigan
REPORT: Vice Presidential nominee to attend Michigan vs. Minnesota
![REPORT: Vice Presidential nominee to attend Michigan vs. Minnesota REPORT: Vice Presidential nominee to attend Michigan vs. Minnesota](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_1000,h_562,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/wolverine_digest/01j56jky0rpt01n00930.jpg)
According to a report from the Washington Post, vice presidential candidate Tim Walz will attend the Michigan vs. Minnesota football game this weekend as part of his campaign stop in Michigan. According to a campaign official, Walz intends to meet with students in Ann Arbor to “speak about the importance of registering to vote and the power of their participation.
Given the fact that he has served as the Governor of Minnesota since 2018, it’s not all that surprising to see that Walz selected this particular game to attend.
As for the game itself, Michigan (3-1) enters the matchup as a 9.5 point favorite over Minnesota (2-2). The Wolverines have won four straight against the Golden Gophers and 26 of the last 28. The game will kick off at Noon on FOX.
– Enjoy more Michigan Wolverines coverage on Michigan Wolverines On SI –
Michigan
Lobbyist sold his condo to a lawmaker at a loss while another rents rooms to legislators
![Lobbyist sold his condo to a lawmaker at a loss while another rents rooms to legislators Lobbyist sold his condo to a lawmaker at a loss while another rents rooms to legislators](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/6d4856d54e38e91ada8daaa19d244347d4a0a6f8/c=0-38-540-342/local/-/media/DetroitFreePress/2015/04/21/B9317061464Z.1_20150421111207_000_GRDAILNQP.1-0.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Michigan lawmakers and lobbyists are doing deals that would raise red flags in other states, but we have no rules for such financial transactions here.
Watch Eye On Michigan ask lawmakers about all the free meals they accepted
Lobbyists lavished millions of dollars in free meals and trips on Michigan lawmakers. See what happens when we ask officials about all their freebies.
A lobbyist sold his downtown Lansing condo to a state representative at a financial loss in the largest-ever financial transaction between a lobbyist and a Michigan legislator over the last 20 years, an Eye On Michigan investigation into freebies influencers lavish on lawmakers revealed.
Over the last 20 years or so, lobbyists reported spending more than $6.3 million on meals and trips for lawmakers and state officials. Eye On Michigan reviewed the 17,500 transactions that transpired between influencers and legislators from 2001, the first year for which data was available, to 2023, the last full year for which data is available.
The vast majority of those interactions between lobbyists and lawmakers involved food and travel. But the professionals who make a living influencing state officials are also required to report to the Michigan Secretary of State their financial transactions with legislators.
That’s why Nathan Piwowarski, while registered as a lobbyist, disclosed that he sold his condo to then-state Rep. Phil Potvin, a Republican from Cadillac. Piwowarski bought the condo for $106,900 in 2003 and sold it to Potvin for $79,000 in 2011, according to property records (Piwowarski told the Secretary of State he sold it to Potvin for $78,000).
Potvin refused to discuss the transaction, but Piwowarski said he sold the condo for fair market value. Michigan law does not require an independent evaluation of that claim, unlike other states where the hefty exchange would be closely scrutinized.
Had a sale like the one in question occurred in Washington state — ranked first in the country for disclosure policies by OpenSecrets — it could be reviewed by the state legislature’s independent ethics review board.
Jennifer Struss, the board’s counsel, told Eye On Michigan that if the condo sale was reported to the board, they would conduct an investigation to figure out if it was sold below market value and, if so, why.
“Is the lobbyist expecting the legislator to do something for their clients in a sort of quid-pro-quo thing?” Struss said. “That’s how we would look at it.”
The board would then make its findings and recommendations available to the legislature for potential hearings, censure or removal. A similar mechanism doesn’t exist in Michigan, Secretary of State officials told Eye On Michigan, adding that a complaint would have to be filed in order for them to investigate.
Michigan law does not forbid or regulate financial transactions between lobbyists and lawmakers.
Piwowarski told Eye On Michigan that while he was registered as a lobbyist, he never engaged “in any lobbying as it’s understood under the statute.”
He and a colleague “thought it would be a bright idea” to register him as a lobbyist, but it “never panned out.”
Piwowarski did once testify before the Michigan House Judiciary Committee on behalf of the State Bar of Michigan’s Estate Planning Section, House records show. He did so in 2018 when Potvin was no longer in office and he said he was not paid for his lobbying effort.
Piwowarski never testified before any of Potvin’s committees, according to the House Clerk’s office.
Piwowarski said he bought the condo with his wife when they both attended graduate school at Michigan State University. He said the couple tried to sell it when they moved away, but struggled because of the recession.
“It was very difficult to sell the place and so we rented it out for a few years,” Piwowarski said. “When Phil was elected, he was aware that I still owned a condo down there and we sold it to him for the price that we’d listed it for previously.”
Piwowarski said he’s known Potvin since he was around 10 or 11 years old — the two went to church together and Potvin was a scout leader when Piwowarski was a Boy Scout, he said.
Potvin did not return messages. His wife told Eye On Michigan she would pass on a message, but added she was unsure if he would respond as he “hasn’t held public office for years.”
Potvin sold the condo in 2017 for $70,000.
Other lawmakers have real estate dealings with a lobbyist.
Nine lawmakers rented rooms in a house across the street from the Capitol.
Public records show Rep. Greg Alexander, R-Carsonville; Rep. Timmy Beson, R-Bay City; Rep. Ken Borton, R-Gaylord; Sen. John Damoose, R-Harbor Springs; Rep. Gina Johnsen, R-Lake Odessa; Rep. Brad Paquette, R-Niles; Rep. David Prestin, R-Cedar River; Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen; and Rep. Curt Vanderwall, R-Ludington paid rent to “Capitol House LLC,” which is owned by lobbyist Scott Everett.
Piwowarski said “the way influence is achieved in Lansing is largely undisclosed” and said it was interesting that Eye On Michigan took an interest in a “fair market value transaction” from more than a dozen years ago. He said further disclosures of the business arrangements of legislators and their spouses would be helpful.
Piwowarski, asked if he thought the public had any interest or concern over transactions like the sale of his condo, said “until I started getting calls about this maybe six months ago, no.”
The time period he referred to is when Eye On Michigan began making requests for comment.
Eye On Michigan is a student investigative reporting program based in Detroit and East Lansing. Our mission is to recruit and train the next generation of watchdog reporters, provide high-quality investigations to Michigan news organizations at no charge and to increase diversity in investigative reporting by engaging and inspiring high school students in under-served communities. To support our work, please consider making a donation.
-
News1 week ago
Secret Service Told Trump It Needs to Bolster Security if He Keeps Golfing
-
Business1 week ago
U.S. Steel C.E.O. Says Nippon Deal Will Strengthen National Security
-
Politics1 week ago
New House Freedom Caucus chair reveals GOP rebel group's next 'big fight'
-
News1 week ago
Toplines: September 2024 Inquirer/Times/Siena Poll of Pennsylvania Registered Voters
-
News1 week ago
Disney trips meant for homeless NYC students went to school employees' families
-
Politics1 week ago
Biden admin moves to reinstate Trump-era rule, delist gray wolves from endangered species list
-
Politics7 days ago
Dem lawmakers push bill to restore funding to UN agency with alleged ties to Hamas: 'So necessary'
-
World1 week ago
What’s South Africa’s new school language law and why is it controversial?