Detroit Finds

Today on Stateside, Governor Whitmer last week ordered state agencies to stop working on a proposed tunnel intended to house replacement pipelines for Enbridge's Line 5. We hear about the legal opinion from Dana Nessel that prompted that order, and how Republican lawmakers are reacting to the news. Plus, a conversation with the paleontologist who worked to unearth Spinosaurus, the largest predatory dinosaur ever discovered. 

Listen to the full show above or find individual segments below. 

Whitmer, Nessel clash with Republican state lawmakers over fate of Enbridge tunnel

• The Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority was created to oversee the construction of a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac. The tunnel would encase new oil and gas pipelines to replace Enbridge Energy's aging Line 5. Last week, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released an opinion that said the law creating the authority is unconstitutional. Shortly after, Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered state agencies to stop all work related to it. 
• Jim Malewitz has been covering Line 5 for Bridge Magazine’s Michigan Environmental Watch. He breaks down what Nessel's opinion means for the tunnel project moving forward, and tells us how Republican lawmakers and other proponents of the tunnel plan are responding.

Move over, T. Rex: UD-Mercy paleontologist on unearthing  the world’s largest carnivorous dinosaur

• Still believe that Tyrannosaurus rex was the ruler of the ancient dinosaur world? Think again. Thanks to the work of Nizar Ibrahim, a paleontologist and comparative anatomist from the University of Detroit Mercy, we now know that the North African native Spinosaurus was the largest-known predatory dinosaur to roam the earth. Ibrahim tells Stateside the story behind his discovery of this “lost giant of the Sahara." 

Ice boating: 'The most fun you can have with your clothes on'

• It may be spring in Michigan, but the winter fun isn't over yet. With ice still 12 inches thick on some inland lakes, ice boating enthusiasts are still setting sail across the frozen waters. Jacob Wheeler went to watch some of these boats sail on Lake Leelanau near Traverse City for the latest installment of Points North, a new weekly show from Interlochen Public Radio. 

Ear-piercing whistle gets Calvin College sophomore into Guiness Book of World Records

• Ever wonder what a record-breaking whistle sounds like? Take a listen to Stateside's conversation with Calvin College sophomore Andy Stanford. He recently broke the world record for highest whistle tone ever recorded — 8372 Hz — earning a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. But be warned: the record-breaking whistle is a very high-pitched, and not particularly pleasant, noise. 

New president of Detroit NAACP talks group’s history, relevance in today’s civil rights issues

• It is shaping up to be an important year for the Detroit branch of the NAACP. It will be in the national spotlight as host of the 110th NAACP National Convention this July. It also recently chose a new leader to head the largest NAACP branch in the country. Kamilia Landrum is the organization's new executive director. She joined Stateside to talk about her top priorities for the Detroit branch, and how a more-than-century-old organization is responding to the civil rights challenges of the 21st century. 

Bacon: MSU is “gutsy as all get-out” as they head to the Final Four

• On Sunday, the Michigan State Spartans took a victory lap at the Breslin Center in front of thousands of elated fans after an unexpected victory over Duke. Today, they’re back at work preparing to participate in the Final Four. Michigan Radio’s sports commentator John U. Bacon weighs in on the Spartans’ win over Duke ahead of their face-off against Texas Tech this weekend.

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With the news of a Supercuts franchise coming to downtown Farmington, we thought we’d check in with some of downtown’s existing salons and barbershops. For as quaint a shopping district as downtown Farmington is, there is a preponderance of hair stylists when compared to the number of other types of businesses downtown.

Ruby Blu Salon. Joe’s Headquarters. Legato Salon & Spa. Decades of business in downtown Farmington between them. We reached out and this is what we heard.

Christie Jaber, owner, and stylist at Joe’s Headquarters

Christie Jaber worked at Joe’s Headquarters for roughly five years before purchasing it from Joe over a year ago. Joe still works a few days a week, keeping consistency for a business that’s been downtown for more than a decade. Christie says that Joe’s Headquarters is a family, from stylists to the customers, and that’s one of the reasons that people keep coming back.

"Joe wanted out and he was going to sell it to a random person and I couldn’t let it happen. We’re not uppity, we’re not pretentious. Everyone cares about each other and each other's clients," Christie says.

"One of my favorite things about Farmington is that Farmington people love to keep their money in Farmington."

Diane and Karlyn Cassidy, owner and manager, mom and daughter, at Legato Salon & Spa

This is the fourth salon Diane Cassidy has owned in downtown Farmington, a business owner here since 1985. After three locations of her Village Clippers, Diane bought Legato Salon & Spa in 2005.

"I heard a quote a long time ago, ‘When you embrace your community, they never let you fail.’ I believe that is still true today," Diane says.

"We’ve been lucky to serve this community for so many years. It was wonderful when I began my business in 1985 and it’s even better today."

Her daughter, Karlyn, is big on downtown Farmington, too--for salons, barbershops, and otherwise.

"There are a lot more young people coming to the area. It’s a lot busier. Downtown has gotten a facelift with its beautification efforts," Karlyn says.

"It’s becoming more of a destination."

Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith.

Opening Day has finally come for Detroit Tigers fans! And not for a lack of waiting. I’m not talking about the long winter, longing for fresh buds of spring to bring back our favorite pastime. I’m talking about the seemingly equally arduous delay to the game today.

Originally slated for an unusual 3:37 p.m. start in Toronto, apparently someone forgot to use their United States to Canadian time decoder ring and got confused. Twenty minutes after the initially announced time — with both of the fanbases up in arms over the delay — it was re-announced that the game would begin at a much-later 4:05 p.m. The first pitch was eventually thrown four minutes later than the re-announced mark. This is how space probes to Mars get lost, folks.

The matchup began with Jordan Zimmermann of the Detroit Tigers opposing Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays on the mound in a pitcher’s duel that most did not expect. Through six innings, Zimmermann flirted with perfection, while Stroman brought a no-hitter into the sixth, after recording a quartet of walks in the previous frames. Nicholas Castellanos brought the dual no-nos to an end with a sharp grounder up the middle in the top of the sixth. Zimmermann’s perfect game finally came to an end in the seventh inning on an infield single fielded by Josh Harrison that was thrown wild to first base.

The first several innings were mostly unremarkable offensively. The first inning started off with a four-pitch walk to Harrison, which was quickly erased by a fielder’s choice grounder by Castellanos and a subsequent ground ball double play by Miguel Cabrera. Zimmermann made short work of the Blue Jays with a fly out and two groundouts.

Candelario started the second inning off with a fly out, followed by a Niko Goodrum walk and caught stealing, culminating with Stewart striking out to to finish the frame. Zimmermann would continue his mastery with unthreatening contact. The same would apply for the Tigers until a Castellanos base-on-balls in the fourth inning. At this point, the pitchers were working quickly, though Zimmermann was much more efficient than Stroman. Also, Jack Morris was in mid-season form on the TV broadcast, sharing random anecdotes about bird hunting and his personal accolades.

Stroman’s no-hitter was eventually broken up in the top of the sixth inning, with a sharp grounder up the middle by Castellanos. The Tigers would also strand their first runner in scoring position that inning after a sharp grounder by Cabrera to third base ended the threat.

Candelario opened the seventh with a line drive to right field, only to be stranded by fly outs by Goodrum and Stewart, along with a strikeout swinging by Grayson Greiner. The bottom of the seventh saw Zimmermann retire his twentieth-straight batter on a line-out to right field. The perfect game finally came to an end on a ground ball fielded by Harrison that was thrown wide of first base.

The Tigers went down on three straight strikeouts in the top of the eighth inning. Joe Jimenez was brought in to replace Zimmermann to start the bottom of the frame after only 70 pitches thrown. The pace of the game remained the same, and despite a walk, Jimenez handled the Jays with very little trouble.

Embarrassingly, the Tigers went down again on three more strikeouts in the top of the ninth, with the heart of the order — Castellanos, Cabrera, and Jeimer Candelario — all going down swinging. Victor Alcantara was brought in to face Toronto in the bottom of the inning, and despite giving up a line-drive single, he managed to put away the Jays with little trouble.

The 10th inning is when things finally got exciting. After Goodrum led off the inning with a line-drive double to right field, Christin Stewart finally erased the Tigers’ goose egg in the scoring column with a two-run home run.

Shane Greene was brought in to close the game out, and he started strong, striking Justin Smoak out looking. He got the next batter out quickly with a pop-up to the catcher. Pillar would ground out to seal the win for the Tigers and the save for Greene.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the game:

Good: Jordan Zimmermann looked extremely impressive, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning in an uncharacteristically efficient manner. He was pulled prematurely in the eyes of many after only throwing 70 pitches over seven innings.

Bad: There is no bad today. It’s Opening Day, the Tigers won, and Jordan Zimmermann looked great.

Ugly: The half-hour delay at the beginning of the game. With Opening Day happening mid-week and people taking time out of their work schedules to watch the game, it’s not a good look when you can’t start an event you’ve been planning for months on time. I’m not sure whose fault it is, but let’s not let this happen again, mmkay?

Performance of the Game: Greg Maddux’s doppelganger, Jordan Zimmermann.

The Tigers’ next game is on Friday against the same Toronto Blue Jays, with a much more regular start time of 7:07 p.m. Matthew Boyd is expected to take the mound opposite of Matt Shoemaker in the second of a four-game season-opening series for the two clubs.

Michigan visionaries in the fields of AI, mobility and autonomous vehicles showcased Detroit as an automobility hub with their best demos, hacks and networking at the Consumer’s Electronics Show (CES), a global convention in Las Vegas of consumer technologies. Many Detroit-based companies, some which have a presence in the PlanetM Landing Zone, headed there to showcase the technologies they’re building in Michigan.

Startups including Ann Arbor’s Intvo to Bloomfield Hills-based Karamba Security joined more than 4,500 exhibitors at CES, adjacent to the exhibition areas of industry giants such as Bosch, Google and LG Electronics.  The technology companies launched new products, announced new partnerships and engaged more than 180,000 attendees on topics ranging from robotics to augmented reality to smart cities.

“The conference was an opportunity to meet with potential investors, other founders and Detroit-area startups that will help Intvo evolve,” said Assam Alzookery, CEO and founder of the early-stage company that uses AI to help autonomous vehicles better understand people and pedestrian behavior.

“CES offers a world stage for validating your business proposition. We received live, instant feedback on our startup and business model,” said Alzookery, who said Intvo officials met with OEMs like Ford, FCA and Mercedes as well as automotive suppliers including Magna and Bosch. Now, Alzookery said Intvo is now working with one of the investors it met at CES to close on its first seed round funding.

“For Bosch, it was a chance to show its evolution into a global IoT company,” said Alissa Cleland, head of communications and CSR for Bosch North America. CES served as the global debut of its future concept vehicle, the Bosch IoT Shuttle, which showcases the systems and components it has developed for automation, connectivity and electrification of shuttle systems. The company also launched #LikeABosch to highlight Bosch’s people-focused approach to IoT.

CES was an ideal spot to highlight its “deep roots in the mobility startup community, both regionally and globally,” Cleland said. In 2018, Bosch—a PlanetM Landing Zone member—acquired Detroit-based startup SPLT and made a strategic investment in Mojio, allowing both with access to the Landing Zone services including wrap around services provided by the Detroit Regional Chamber and Michigan Economic Development Corporation

“At CES, we announced a new partnership with Mojio to co-develop solutions in connected services for both manufactures and consumers, beginning with vehicle communication and diagnostics as well as crash detection and notification,” Cleland said. “Mobility services are a central element for the future mobility landscape at Bosch. We believe that cooperation and collaboration within the industry will help build the ecosystem for market development.”

Karamba Security CEO and Co-founder Ami Dotan said he and company representatives worked for four months before CES to set up 350 meetings during the all-important conference. A staff of 12 Karamba officials met with people around the clock while also doing a live hacking demonstration that highlighted how its cybersecurity programs block attacks on autonomous and connected vehicles.

“Part of what I noticed at CES is how 2019 is a different era. You don’t have to convince the OEMs, suppliers and other companies that cybersecurity should come hand in hand with the safety of cars, passengers and pedestrians,” Dotan said. “CES was a great experience because people were more aware that there are solutions at hand.”

Intvo, Karamba Security, SPLT, and Bosch are all members of the PlanetM Landing Zone, a coworking space for global mobility startups and automotive companies in downtown Detroit. Through the Landing Zone, members can connect, share and collaborate to drive innovation in next-generation mobility. For more information on the PlanetM Landing Zone, visit www.planetmlandingzone.com.

Visit Driven and learn how the Detroit region is leading the world in next-generation mobility.

Bowling is fun, free bowling is even better.  The Kids Bowl Free program is offering every child (15 and under) an opportunity to bowl for FREE every day during the summer.  How awesome is that? There are more than thirty Metro Detroit Kids Bowl Free Locations.

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