In a new U.S. House interview transcript, Michigan’s Senate majority leader (until Sunday) tells Jan. 6 committee investigators about more than his rebuffs of serial overtures by Donald Trump after the 2020 election. Besides describing four calls from the then-president and their 90-minute meeting, Mike Shirkey recalls amusing details from…

This veteran journalist chooses self-sacrifice rather than staying after about a dozen pending newsroom layoffs at the Detroit Free Press, where he has been editor and vice president since September 2017. Cuts expected two days after Christmas reflect nationwide budget-tightening by Gannett, the paper’s owner. “I essentially made the decision…

Mari Manoogian and Mike Shirkey barely have anything in common. Each served in Michigan’s Legislature, neither was on 2022 ballots and both gave departure speeches Wednesday. That’s about all they share. She’s a 30-year-old progressive Democrat from Birmingham who served two terms in the House, representing my district. The daughter…

Social media can bring a bath of warm words or a multi-day group hug, and not just on birthdays or amid emotional family events. Even a business shutdown opens a spigot of sensitivity when kind, thoughtful folks are among your followers. Eulogies for Deadline Detroit, where I was a writer…

This may be my last shot at journalistic self-indulgence, so thanks for clicking. Fact is, a newsman can’t slink off-stage silently. Writers write. So here’s a quick glide through a half-century of shaping words into paragraphs now that my closing act fades into an archive in the cloud. Career steps…

By foot, van and camelback, we marveled at vivid contrasts during a two-week tour of diverse regions in September 2021 — “We’ll go through all four seasons,” driver-guide Hamid Bidbid said on Day 1, and so it seemed along rocky coasts, dry riverbeds, high mountain passes and waves of Sahara dunes. …

Chad Selweski, who put in three decades at The Macomb Daily, has more knowledge and insights about that county’s politics than anyone I read. But this 58-year-old hasn’t been in Detroit for a while, a new essay clearly shows. As another veteran of daily newspapering who’s also a suburbanite, I…

Gone away is the cool bird. Here to stay is an angry new bird. A holiday carol is reshaped into an ode for our seasons of discontent, with respect for composer Felix Bernard’s original words. Alarm bells ring, are you listening On the news, folks are bristling A troublesome sight We’re unhappy each night Gawking in a torn-asunder land Gone away is the cool bird Here to stay is an angry new bird He tweets a mean verse As we fume and curse Gawking in a torn-asunder land

“It was really interesting to see how Malia and Sasha reacted” to the election. Their dad tells why at his farewell news conference. Need yet another reason to cherish this guy? Me neither, though I just heard one at his farewell news conference. More than one, actually, but the others…