Restaurant grade system fails • NAACP fires back at Karamo lawsuit • Competing endorsements in 7th District
Detroit City Council votes down restaurant grade sign system
Councilman Scott Benson's measure would have required Detroit restaurants to post a color-coded sign outside of their business.
WEDNESDAY NEWS HIT - A proposed ordinance requiring restaurants to make public their health inspection grades is no longer on the menu in Detroit.
The City Council voted 6-3 rejecting the measure that Scott Benson has been pushing for the past three years.
"This is really important," Benson said. "All you have to do is go back to 2018, to Popeyes selling pest-inflated meat. You have to go back to 2021 just last year, to Church's Chicken. They were selling rotten, moldy old meat."
And who could forget the famed Lafayette Coney Island getting shut down in September after videos of rats inside the restaurant surfaced on social media.
Benson's measure would have required Detroit restaurants post a color-coded sign that would display outside their business.
Green would mean they passed their last health inspection and are good to go. Yellow would mean they are in the enforcement process. Red would mean the health department shut the restaurant down.
But many saw the ordinance as too burdensome on businesses.
"The ordinance does nothing more than create an uneven playing field, exempting food trucks, pop-up restaurants, gas stations that provide prepared meals, and pitting them against brick and mortar establishments," said one critic during public comment.
Benson says upwards of 90% of Detroit restaurants passed their health inspections. And similar ordinances bolstering transparency and food safety are in place in cities like San Diego, San Francisco and Columbus, Ohio.
Detroit won't be joining them just yet.
"While today was a setback, it's not the end," Benson said. "So what we'll do, we'll go back and look and see how we can get something like this through, and something my colleagues will support, at least five of them."
Council President Mary Sheffield voted against the restaurant grading ordinance.
"Despite my opposition to the ordinance at this time, I support my colleague, member Benson, in his attempt to enhance public safety as it relates to food services," she said. "While I could not support the ordinance in its current form, I am committed to finding a solution that will result in enhancements to our ability to protect the public."
Sheffield also said this measure could come back in another form next year if certain changes are made to it.
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Detroit City Council votes down restaurant health inspection sign ordinance
Green would mean they passed their last health inspection and are good to go. Yellow would mean they are in the enforcement process. Red would mean the health department shut the restaurant down.
Michigan candidates get competing endorsements
If there's any sign of the strangeness of the election, it's the competing round of endorsements in the 7th Congressional District race. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, received an endorsement for the seat from Republican Liz Cheney last night. And two days ago, her opponent Republican Tom Barrett was endorsed by former Democratic Party member Tulsi Gabbard.
The race, which has become one of the most expensive in the country, presents a captivating window into the political season with just a week to go before the election. Tens of millions of dollars are being channeled into the race, which features a two-time incumbent battling a well-known state House representative.
While the race is a local one for the citizens of counties that surround Lansing and along the I-96 corridor, it also has national implications with the balance of power in the U.S. House expected to flip from Democrats to Republicans.
This week, Gabbard appeared in a campaign video endorsing Barrett after she left the Democratic party in September. Cheney visited East Lansing to stump for Slotkin last night. See more about the event here.
NAACP fires back at Karamo lawsuit
The NAACP is calling out Kristina Karamo for her lawsuit that seeks to stop Detroit from voting with absentee ballots. Rev. Wendell Anthony, the president of the Detroit chapter of the civil rights organization said the suit, which was filed last week, seeks only to disenfranchise voters from the city.
"There's no evidence of voter fraud, there is no pattern of mail-in ballot abuse," he said. "It is simply a lawsuit in search of a violation. It's not voter protection, it's really voter suppression."
Karamo leveled several unfounded claims about fraudulent ballots and shady voting practices in the city during her Monday press conference. Her position as the Republican Party's candidate for Secretary of State makes the lawsuit significant since it's coming from someone who is running to govern election systems in Michigan for the next four years.
Neither Janice Winfrey nor the city of Detroit's election officials have commented on the lawsuit. But Anthony made it clear Tuesday that he would not tolerate voter intimidation or any efforts that prevent registered voters from making their voices heard. In Detroit, 47,000 absentee ballots have been received by the clerk, the secretary of state said.
DPD sued for $50M in Porter Burks shooting case
The family of a 20-year-old man who was shot and killed by Detroit police while in the midst of a mental health crisis have sued the department for $50 million. Porter Burks was shot at 38 times by four police officers after he charged at them with a knife in October.
Attorney Geoffrey Fieger chastised the department for not identifying the officers involved in the shooting. "You don't even need to be a police officer to understand there must have been 1,000 different things that could have been done other than shooting him," he said
Body cam footage of the incident was released shortly after the shooting, sparking an outcry from the public over the use of force. Chief James White defended the officer's actions.
It could take up to 2 ½ years before this case is heard in Wayne County courts. Fieger said they may also file another separate suit in federal court for civil rights violations.
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Geoffrey Fieger seeking $50 million from Detroit police officers who shot Porter Burks
Attorney Geoffrey Fieger is seeking $50 million from the Detroit police officers who shot and killed Porter Burks.
More fallout from UM-MSU brawl
A total of eight Michigan State players have been suspended for their role in the alleged assault of University of Michigan players following Saturday's game.
Four additional players have been suspended as of Tuesday afternoon: Malcolm Jones, Justin White, Jacoby Windmon, and Brandon White - in addition to the original group of Tank Brown, Khary Crump, Angelo Grose, and Zion Young while police are investigating. Michigan State announced that the suspensions will remain active until the investigation concludes.
Gemon Green, the University of Michigan football player seen being attacked by Michigan State University players after Saturday's game, has hired a lawyer. Video showed a brawl involving at least 10 MSU players when two U of M players entered the Michigan Stadium tunnel. Green suffered a concussion.
"Not only does Gemon Green deserve to be compensated for his injuries, severe consequences in this case will deter others who might think they can get away with brutally beating an opposing player and getting a slap on the wrist. I’ve got news for the MSU players who did this to Gemon. They are going to feel the full extent of the law," his lawyer said.
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Daily Forecast
Temperatures are warming up for an unseasonal start to November weather. This week will be full of temperatures reaching the 60s and 70s - the first time a full week in November has ever done that in Michigan.
What else we're watching
- The Powerball jackpot has climbed to $1.2 billion, shooting up over the past few days as no one has managed to pick the winning numbers. Do you have your lucky numbers picked out?
- FedEx is teaming up with a nonprofit to give out hundreds of winter coats to Detroit children in need. The collaboration between the delivery service and Operation Warm is a 15-year partnership.
- A self-serve tap room has opened in Royal Oak in the former Roak space. It's owned by the same people who oversee Eastern Market operations and the Ferndale Project. Check them out on The Nine today.
- Wyatt's law, the bill that created a registry that keeps updates on offenders with a registry, is now officially in effect. The journey the bill took spans years.
- If someone is struggling with voting, they can call 866-OUR-VOTE hotline for help. The nonpartisan election protection line will answer any questions or help with any challenges that someone may have.
First-edition copy of the US Constitution to be auctioned off
A first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution from 1787 – one of only two still in private hands – will be auctioned by Sotheby's next month and is expected to fetch bids of up to $30 million.
Approximately 500 original copies of the Constitution were printed for delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Thirteen of them are still in existence, 11 of which are on display for the public at various locations, including the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Library of Congress, the Delaware Hall of Records and the Huntington Library.
Last year, Sotheby's auctioned off the only other privately held copy for $43.2 million to Chicago hedge-fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin, who loaned it to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.