Detroit voters will pick 2 candidates from a large field vying to become next mayor

Detroit voters will pick 2 candidates from a large field vying to become next mayor

DETROIT (AP) — Voters in Detroit will see a mayoral ballot without Mike Duggan's name on it for the first time since 2012 as they go to the polls Tuesday to narrow the field ofnine candidatesjockeying to succeed him in the job. The continued growth of the city could be at stake since Duggan has helmed Detroit as it exited the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history and surged back to respectability following decades of mediocrity. The former prosecutor and medical center chief has overseen a massive anti-blight campaign and pushed affordable housing developments across the city. The top two vote-getters in the nonpartisan primary will move on to the general election to determine who takes office in January. Duggan didn't seek reelection as he launches an independent campaign for Michigan governor next year. A long list of candidates The field of nine features the Detroit City Council president, a current council member, former council member, pastor of a megachurch and a popular ex-police chief. Council President Mary Sheffield is seen by many as the leading candidate in the primary, dominating campaign fundraising. She first was elected to the Detroit City Council in 2013 at age 26. She has been council president since 2022. Saunteel Jenkins was elected in 2009 to the City Council where she spent one four-year term. Jenkins later became chief executive of a nonprofit, which provides utility assistance for families. Either would become Detroit's first female mayor. Current Councilman Fred Durhal III also is on the primary ballot. He has been on the council since 2021 and was a Michigan state representative from 2014 to 2019. The Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. has been senior pastor at Triumph Church for about 27 years. The Detroit-based church has more than 40,000 members across a number of campuses. Kinloch also was an autoworker and member of the United Auto Workers union. Former police chief James Craig came to Detroit in 2013 amid the city's bankruptcy crisis and remained in charge of the police department untilretiring in 2021. Craigfailed to make the Republican ballot for Michigan governor in 2022due to fraudulent signatures on campaign petitions. In 2024, hedropped a Republican bidfor an open U.S. Senate seat. Other candidates include attorney Todd Perkins, digital creator DaNetta Simpson, business owner Joel Haashiim and entrepreneur John Barlow. The stakes for Detroit The next mayor will inherit a city on much firmer footing than the oneDuggan was elected to lead in 2013when an emergency manager installed by the state to oversee the city's flailing financesfiled for bankruptcyon its behalf. Detroit shed or restructured about $7 billion in debt and exited bankruptcy in December 2014.A state-appointed boardmanaged the city's finances for several years. Detroit has had 12 consecutive years ofbalanced budgets. Developers have built hundreds of affordable housing units in the city, and more than 25,000 vacant and derelict homes and buildings have been demolished. The next mayor, though, will be under pressure to maintain that progress and continuing to keep the city's growth — financially and in people — going. In 2023, the census estimated thatDetroit's population roseto 633,218 from 631,366 the previous year. It was the first time the city had shown population growth in decades. Detroit also is becoming a destination for visitors. The 2024NFL draft held downtown set a recordwith more than 775,000 in attendance. New hotels are popping up in and around downtown. But perhaps the most visual example of the city's turnaround has been the renovation of the once-blighted monolithicMichigan Central train station. For decades, the massive building just west of downtown symbolized all that was wrong with Detroit. That's before Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Motor Co. stepped in and bought the old Michigan Central and adjacent properties. It reopened in 2024 following a six-year, multimillion-dollar renovation that created a hub for mobility projects. While no longer a manufacturing powerhouse, Detroit's economy still is intertwined with the auto industry which currently facesuncertainties due to tariffsthreatened and imposed by theTrumpadministration. Stellantis, the maker of Jeep and Ram vehicles, has two facilities in Detroit.The automaker said last monththat its preliminary estimates show a $2.68 billion net loss in the first half of the year due to U.S. tariffs and some hefty charges.

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August 04, 2025

Detroit voters will pick 2 candidates from a large field vying to become next mayor

Detroit voters will pick 2 candidates from a large field vying to become next mayor DETROIT (AP) — Voters in Detroit will see a mayoral ball...

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Australia selects Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for $6.5B warship deal

Australia selects Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for $6.5B warship deal

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) —Australiasaid Tuesday it accepted a Japanese company's bid for a lucrative and hotly contested contract to build Australian warships, expected to be worth 10 billion Australian dollars ($6.5 billion). Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Mogami-class frigate won the deal over rival Germany's MEKO A-200 from Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems.Japan'sgovernmentlobbied heavily for the dealafter missing out onAustralia's submarines contractto a French company in 2016. "This is clearly the biggest defense industry agreement that will ever have been struck between Japan and Australia," Defense Minister Richard Marles told reporters when he announced the deal Tuesday. "In fact, it's really one of the biggest defense exports that Japan has ever engaged in." The fleet of 11 naval vessels will replace Australia's ageing fleet of ANZAC-class ships. Three of the frigates will be built in Japan, with the first scheduled to be operational Australia in 2030, and the remaining eight due for construction in Australia. Australian news outlets reported that the German company's bid had emphasized their vessel's cheaper price and their greater experience building ships abroad. But Pat Conroy, Australia's Minister for Defense Industry, said the Mogami-class frigate was a "clear winner" when assessed by "cost, capability and meeting our schedule of delivery." The vessels have a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 kilometers) and 32 vertical launch cells capable of launching long-range missiles. The frigates can operate with a crew of 90, compared to the 170 needed to operate the ANZAC-class ships. Mitsubishi's win was a boon for Japan's defense industry, which has not built naval vessels abroad before. Japan, whose only treaty ally is the United States, considers Australia a semi-ally and has increasingly sought to deepen bilateral military cooperation amid ongoing regional tensions in thedisputed South China Sea. "We welcome the decision by the Australian government as a major step to further elevate Japan's national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner," Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Tuesday. Nakatani said co-developing the frigate will allow the two countries to train and operate with the same equipment and further improve operability and efficiency. Japan set up a joint taskforce of government and industry in an effort to win the bid. Australian officials said work on a binding commercial contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the government of Japan would now begin, with a finalized agreement expected in 2026. They did not say how much each ship would cost or confirm a total figure for the package, citing ongoing negotiations. But Conroy said the government had allowed AU$10 billion for the project over the next 10 years. It forms part of the AU$55 billion that Australia has budgeted for the navy's entire surface combatant fleet during the same period. —- Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed from Tokyo.

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August 04, 2025

Australia selects Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for $6.5B warship deal

Australia selects Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for $6.5B warship deal WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) —Australiasaid Tuesday it acce...

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Australian Foreign Minister Wong says foreign interference not tolerated after Chinese woman arrested

Australian Foreign Minister Wong says foreign interference not tolerated after Chinese woman arrested

By Kirsty Needham and Liz Lee SYDNEY/BEIJING (Reuters) -Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday that Australia would not tolerate surveillance of its community by foreign governments, after a Chinese woman was charged with foreign interference and denied bail by a court. The woman, who has not entered a plea, appeared in court in Australia's capital Canberra on Monday after police charged her with "reckless foreign interference" for allegedly monitoring a Buddhist group in the city on behalf of a Chinese security agency. The court heard the woman's husband was a vice captain in a public security ministry in a Chinese province, and she had visited the Chinese consulate in Canberra in the days after her property was raided by police, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. In a series of television interviews on Tuesday, Wong said she couldn't comment on an individual case, but added Australia was taking a stand against foreign interference. "We do not tolerate harassment, intimidation, surveillance of Australians and we have a strong framework to deter foreign interference in our democracy," she said in an ABC radio interview. It is the third time charges have been brought under foreign interference laws introduced in Australia in 2018, and the first time a Chinese national has been charged under the legislation. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement the ministry "was not aware of the specifics of the case" but would closely follow developments and "safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens." "China has never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, and firmly opposes any attempts to disrupt normal people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between China and relevant countries under the pretext of 'foreign interference'," the spokesperson added. A court suppression order has prevented media reporting the woman's name. The woman, who is also a permanent resident of Australia, faces a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment if she is convicted, according to Australian Federal Police. Police allege the woman was tasked by a Public Security Bureau of China to covertly gather information about the Canberra branch of Guan Yin Citta, a Buddhist group. China's embassy in Canberra did not respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney and Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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August 04, 2025

Australian Foreign Minister Wong says foreign interference not tolerated after Chinese woman arrested

Australian Foreign Minister Wong says foreign interference not tolerated after Chinese woman arrested By Kirsty Needham and Liz Lee SYDNEY/...

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Victim in Epstein case decries ‘political warfare’ in effort to release grand jury transcripts

Victim in Epstein case decries 'political warfare' in effort to release grand jury transcripts

Two victims of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse have filed letters to the court condemning the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury testimony and cited the lack of respect they feel has been showed toward them byPresident Donald Trump and his administration. Both of the victims remained anonymous in their writings sent on Monday, with one calling the latest handling of the so-called Epstein Files "political warfare." "Dear United States, I wish you would have handled and would handle the whole 'Epstein Files' with more respect towards and for the victims. I am not some pawn in your political warfare. What you have done and continue to do is eating at me day after day as you help to perpetuate this story indefinitely," one of the victims wrote. Another victim argued that priority has only been on protecting "wealthy men." "(I) feel like the DOJ's and FBI's priority is protecting the "third-party", the wealthy men by focusing on scrubbing their names off the files of which the victims, "know who they are,'" one of the victims wrote. While neither letter outwardly requests federal Judge Richard Berman in New York to keep the transcripts under seal, both strongly urge him to take all necessary precautions in concealing victims' identities. One of the victims suggested that a third party review the release of the documents to ensure that no information related to the victims is revealed. The other victim told the judge that it is an "upmost priority" for any information regarding identify of the victims be redacted. Both emotional letters submitted to the judge showed clear frustration towards the administration's handling of the files. "I appreciate your time reading my short thoughts and feeling and my anxiety and frustration is NOT aimed at you, obviously. It is aimed at the very government here, the ones asking to release these transcripts, exhibits, etc., of which the victims are not privy to while they have concluded that there is nothing more to see on the files they hold. Yet no one has seen them, but them," one of the letters read. "I am beside myself." Victims in the case were asked to respond to thegovernment's request to releasegrand jury transcripts by August 5. The Epstein files have become a mounting problem for the Trump administration as the demand for them to be released has only increased over the past few months. Both the Justice Department and the FBI have struggled for months on how to release material related to the Epstein investigation. The documents require heavy redaction in order to protect victims and witnesses that were involved in the probe. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the release of the documents, giving out information in binders to right-wing media influencers at the White House. Those influencers criticized the information, saying that much of it was old news. After two months of promising to release more information, the administration turned quiet. CNN recently reported that in May, Bondi had briefed Trump on the files and that his name appeared several times. On July 7, the Justice Department released an unsigned memo about the files saying that it does not plan to release more information. The letter also said that there was no "client list." Trump has continued to experience backlash from members of Congress, his political base and the public on the lack of transparency. The Justice Department asked the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York to unseal grand jury transcripts in the investigation on July 18. The department also asked a judge in the Southern District of Florida to release grand jury transcripts, but the request was swiftly denied. The judge overseeing the Justice Department's request for the unsealing of grand jury transcripts has asked the government additional questions to answer before Tuesday as to why he should grant their request. This story has been updated with additional details. CNN's Evan Perez, Kara Scannell and Aaron Blake contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

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August 04, 2025

Victim in Epstein case decries ‘political warfare’ in effort to release grand jury transcripts

Victim in Epstein case decries 'political warfare' in effort to release grand jury transcripts Two victims of Jeffrey Epstein's ...

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Attorney General Bondi orders prosecutors to start grand jury probe into Obama officials over Russia investigation

Attorney General Bondi orders prosecutors to start grand jury probe into Obama officials over Russia investigation

Attorney General Pam Bondi directed federal prosecutors to launch a grand jury investigation into accusations that members of the Obama administration manufactured intelligence about Russia's 2016 election interference, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. A grand jury would be able to issue subpoenas as part of a criminal investigation into renewed allegations that Democratic officials tried to smear Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign by falsely alleging his campaign was colluding with the Russian government. It could also consider an indictment should the Justice Department decide to pursue a criminal case. The move follows a referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who declassified documents in July that she alleges undermine the Obama administration's conclusion that Russia tried to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. Gabbard requested that the Justice Department investigate former President Barack Obama and top officials in his administration for an alleged conspiracy. Soon after Gabbard's referral, Bondi announced that the DOJ was creating a"strike force"to assess the evidence released by Gabbard and "investigate potential next legal steps which might stem from DNI Gabbard's disclosures." The Justice Department declined to comment. CNN has reported that the allegations from Gabbardmisrepresent what the intelligence community concludedover Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election. While Gabbard insisted the Russian goal in 2016 was to sow distrust in American democracy and not to help Trump, the unsealed documents don't undercut or alter the US government's core findings in 2017 that Russia launched a campaign of influence and hacking and sought to help Clinton lose. Fox Newsfirst reported Bondi's grand jury request. CNN's Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report. This story is breaking and will be updated. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

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August 04, 2025

Attorney General Bondi orders prosecutors to start grand jury probe into Obama officials over Russia investigation

Attorney General Bondi orders prosecutors to start grand jury probe into Obama officials over Russia investigation Attorney General Pam Bond...

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