DETROIT – April 10 was an adventurous day for 9-year-old Kyari Harris.

Harris, who goes by the nickname “King”, started his day at Nichols Elementary School on Detroit’s east side, and it ended at a McDonald’s in Lincoln Park.

It was the quick thinking of a DDOT bus driver and a group of Detroit police officers, who were honored on Thursday (April 30) morning by Mayor Mary Sheffield, that made sure he got back home.

“King got in trouble at school, and he knew he would be in trouble when he got home, so he just decided not to come home,” Mary Wynn, Harris’ mother, said on Thursday. “He went to what he would call his adventure.”

That “adventure” started that afternoon when he got off his normal school bus, cut through an alley, then hopped on a second DDOT bus that took him to the Rosa Parks Transportation Center in downtown Detroit.

“He’s never done this before,” Wynn said. “This is my only child. It was like a heart attack.”

“It was something kind of off on this, you know, I was just saying, like, why this kid is getting on my bus and by himself,” asked Thomas Burgan.

Burgan, who has driven for DDOT for six years, was driving the bus when he saw Harris board.

Surveillance footage from inside the bus shows Harris sitting in the back as the bus rolls along.

It starts to empty out as it heads to its last stop, where he spots Harris in the back, confused and holding a clear backpack.

That’s when word went over the radio to be on the lookout for a missing child.

“I said, ‘Man, that’s the kid,’” Burgan said. “He’s sitting in the back. I’m glad that he stayed on the bus until the end.”

Burgan can be seen asking Harris where he’s going. He quickly exits the bus and starts walking toward the nearby McDonald’s.

The bus cameras, along with Burgan’s cell phone, captured him walking away.

“When I took that last picture, I got back on the bus, and I called it in,” Burgan said. “I said, ‘Hey, this is the kid.’”

Harris eventually stopped at McDonald’s, where he was quickly arrested by police and returned to his mother.

While she was not happy about his little adventure, she was thankful to have him back.

“Thank God he was hungry, because if he wasn’t, there’s no telling how far, how much further he would have gone,” Wynn said. “I’m grateful for [Burgan]. I’m grateful that there were cameras on the bus.

“I never paid attention to the fact that there’s cameras on the bus,” Wynn added. “I thank the bus driver for going over and beyond.”

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee food truck operators are fearing for their livelihoods after city leaders voted to limit their hours of operation in the name of public safety.

The Common Council unanimously passed a rule that will force food trucks downtown to close by 10 p.m.

It goes into effect May 9. Aldermen argue it will help prevent people from gathering after bars close.

Food truck owners showed up at City Hall on Thursday morning to say they’re not the problem.

Abdallah Ismail runs the Fatty Patty food truck. He said closing his truck at 10 p.m. will be devastating for his business.

“Most of our sales happen during that time,” said Ismail. “It’s the core of our business at 10 p.m. We need the city to let us talk. We need them to listen to us and find a better solution for us if they can.”

Ismail confronted Ald. Robert Bauman at the city hall demonstration.

Bauman represents downtown, and he said the curfew was put in place at the request of the Milwaukee Police.

He also said the police department believes late-night gatherings at food trucks are a contributing factor to the downtown violence.

Bauman said safety is a top priority.

“If the causation issue is correct that they are a part of the problem then we need to act and if there is collateral damage, that’s unfortunate,” said Bauman. “We regret that but the bigger issue here is economic viability of an entire downtown.”

Ismail said the curfew is unnecessary. He said that’s because the food truck operators have always been willing to cooperate with the police.

“When the police came to us and say close it because there is a problem, we close right away even if it’s a busy day, even if we have a line of people,” said Ismail. “We are already helping the city.”

Bauman said the curfew will move forward as planned, and if it doesn’t work, the Common Council could reconsider the measure.

In the meantime, the food truck operators just hope they can protect their financial livelihood.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed the second attempt by the Minneapolis City Council to give tenants more time to pay rent in the aftermath of Operation Metro Surge, which has pushed immigrant families into housing instability.

Currently, housing providers are required to give renters in Minneapolis 30 days to come up with money to pay their rent before filing an eviction case against them, which is called a pre-eviction notice period. The City Council voted last week to increase that timeframe to 45 days through the end of August.

During the federal operation, many immigrants sheltered at home and did not go to work because they feared being detained by federal immigration agents. As a result, many are struggling to pay rent. Supporters of the ordinance said the measure will give renters more time to access rental assistance, mutual aid or another paycheck to avoid an eviction case in court. 

Other council members, housing providers, and Frey have voiced concern that giving residents more time to pay rent will push them into more debt. In his veto letter on Thursday, Frey wrote that rental assistance is the best solution to support renters. 

“The City of Minneapolis has a longer pre-eviction notice period than most cities in the country,” Frey wrote in his veto letter. “I am not convinced that more time will result in improved outcomes.”

The city has allocated $3.8 million in emergency funds, and the Wilson Foundation agreed to match another $3 million.

Rental assistance at the state level to help immigrant renters due to the surge has stalled at the Legislature. A bill that would allocate $40 million in rental assistance passed the Senate, but is unlikely to pass a divided House. 

“This would have been a tremendous relief for all families, as we would have more time to apply for rental assistance without facing the threat of eviction,” said Alibella Rodriguez, a member of Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia (United Renters for Justice) in a statement. “Instead, the Mayor’s veto is a terrible blow to all families, leaving us vulnerable to losing our homes through eviction — homes that served as the greatest refuge we had during the occupation.”

The 45-day pre-eviction notice period ordinance passed with a 8-5 vote. Nine votes are needed to override a mayoral veto. The council will likely vote on overriding the veto at their next meeting on May 7.

This is not the first time the council has tried to extend the pre-eviction notice period.

Last month, Frey vetoed the council’s vote to increase the pre-eviction notice period from 30 to 60 days. The council failed to override that vote. Council members brought forward an ordinance with a shorter time period hoping it would gain more support. 

“We’re looking at a mere 15 days,” Council Member Aurin Chowdhury said at a news conference last week. “We changed the policy, we compromised, and it was so consequential, it was worthy of us taking up another cycle to bring it back.”

The St. Paul City Council unanimously approved temporarily extending the city’s pre-eviction notice period to 60 days last month.

According to data from the tenant advocacy group Home Line, eviction filings in Minneapolis increased by 3.4% in the first quarter of the year compared to the average between 2023 and 2025. Housing advocates have said that mutual aid efforts have likely helped keep many renters in their homes for now. 

The city will be rolling out more than $6 million in rental assistance to help those affected by the surge. Information about how to access the Minneapolis specific funding can be found here. The Minneapolis funding does not require an eviction case to be filed against the tenant already. Funding is also available through Hennepin County, but an eviction case is required.