The Arab American News
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Republican U.S. Representative John James joins 2026 Michigan gubernatorial race
April 11th, 20250 SHELBY TOWNSHIP – U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township), has announced his candidacy for governor in the 2026 election. He joins a growing list of contenders aiming to succeed the term-limited Gov. Whitmer. James was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022 and re-elected in 2024. He previously ran...
Four Hamtramck City Council members under investigation for election fraud
April 11th, 20250 Four of the six members of the Hamtramck City Council, along with a former member, are under criminal investigation for conspiracy and election fraud related to the illegal acquisition of absentee ballots. This is according to official documents recently released by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, which requested the...
Abdul El-Sayed resigns as Wayne County public health director ahead of potential 2026 U.S. Senate run in Michigan
April 9th, 20250 ANN ARBOR – Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, director of the Wayne County public health department, has officially resigned from his position in preparation for a potential run for the U.S. Senate in 2026. Democratic Senator Gary Peters has announced he will not seek re-election, creating an open field for his seat. In comments to the Detroit...
Michigan sees biggest jobless spike as Trump tariffs fuel economic uncertainty
April 4th, 20250 LANSING – Amid growing fears of an economic slowdown triggered by the tariff war led by President Trump’s administration, Michigan has recorded the largest year-over-year increase in unemployment among all 50 U.S. states, registering one of the worst unemployment rates in the nation, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau...
Trump unveils sweeping global tariffs, calls April 2 “liberation day” amid fears of trade war and inflation
April 4th, 20250 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Holding a large board listing tariff rates, President Trump delivered a speech in the White House Rose Garden Wednesday under the banner “Make America Wealthy Again.” In the address, he announced the imposition of tariffs on imports from various countries based on the principle of reciprocity, aiming to boost...
Religious leaders, human rights activists urge Wayne State University officials to protect students supporting Palestinian rights
April 4th, 20250 DETROIT – On Wednesday, religious leaders and human rights activists in Michigan sent an open letter to Wayne State University President Kimberly Andrews Espy and members of the university’s Board of Governors, expressing deep concern over what they described as repressive campaigns targeting students protesting acts of genocide in...
Governor Whitmer declares April as Arab American Heritage Month in Michigan; Trump ignores it nationally
April 4th, 20250 LANSING – On Tuesday, for the fifth consecutive year, Governor Whitmer announced that April will be recognized as Arab American Heritage Month in the state. This designation celebrates the contributions of Arab Americans to Michigan's culture and economy. In stark contrast, President Trump has refrained from officially recognizing the...
Michigan begins implementing expanded unemployment benefits: Weekly maximum increased by $84
April 4th, 20250 LANSING – As of Wednesday, the state of Michigan began implementing new unemployment benefit rules, under legislation passed last year by the former Democratic majority in the State House and senate and signed into law by Governor Whitmer. The new benefits include a $84 increase to the maximum weekly unemployment payment, raising it...
75 days of chaos
April 4th, 20250 By Mark Haidar It’s been 75 days since Donald Trump took the oath of office for the presidency for the second time. A perfect storm of circumstances and the rewriting of history from his first term led to his slim, non-majority victory in November. After his first term in office, he faced the voters in 2020 and lost by 7 million...
War widens: Israeli aggression spreads across Gaza, Lebanon and Syria
April 4th, 20250 The Weekly Arab Report by The Arab American News staff From the expansion of aggression on Gaza, to blatant violations of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, to the breach of Syrian territory by land and air, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued last week to stoke the flames of war in the Middle East. This comes as a...
How much does a U.S. passport cost in 2025? Here’s what to expect
April 3rd, 20250 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Starting at the beginning of this year, the federal government implemented new procedures and updated fees for obtaining or renewing a U.S. passport, which include increased costs. To obtain a passport for the first time, applicants must pay: $130 for the application fee. $35 for the execution...
Michigan begins enforcing new child car seat rules — what do they include?
April 3rd, 20250 LANSING – Michigan began enforcing new car seat safety regulations for children on Wednesday. These updated rules extend the required time children must remain in age-appropriate safety seats, aiming to improve overall vehicle safety for young passengers. The new law outlines specific requirements based on the child’s age, height...
Palestinian American YouTuber Kat Abughazaleh announces Congressional run
April 1st, 20250 CHICAGO — Katherine Abughazaleh, a Palestinian American influencer and content creator, who has reported on the far right for both Media Matters and Mother Jones, and posts on YouTube as Kat Abu, has announced that she's running for Congress as a Democrat in Illinois' Ninth District. "We need a vision bigger than we've been told is...
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan highlights city’s resurgence in his last State of the City address
March 29th, 20250 Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan delivered his 12th and final State of the City address from the new Hudson's Detroit development, reflecting on the city's transformation during his 12-year tenure. He emphasized Detroit's revival through significant corporate investments, rising home values, improved city services and reduced crime rates after...
Fourth suspect charged in Dearborn murder of Arab American business owner in 2023
March 29th, 20250 DEARBORN – The number of individuals charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Arab American Hassan Mahmoud Salame in Dearborn in 2023 has risen to four, following an announcement last week by the Dearborn Police Department that criminal charges have been filed against 35-year-old Dawanne Midgett for his alleged involvement in......
Trump administration detains Turkish student at Tufts for voicing support for Palestinians, revokes visa
March 29th, 20250 BOSTON - U.S. immigration authorities have detained and revoked the visa of a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University near Boston who had voiced support for Palestinians in Israel's war on Gaza. Rumeysa Ozturk's supporters say her detention, late on Tuesday, is the first known immigration arrest of a...
Dearborn sees major drop in overdose cases and drug deaths in 2024
March 29th, 20250 Last week , the city of Dearborn announced a significant decline in drug overdose cases and related deaths during the year 2024. According to new data, overdose incidents dropped by 34 percent—from 93 cases in 2023 to 61 cases in 2024 — while overdose-related deaths fell by 43 percent, from 14 to just 8 fatalities in the same......
These universities are in Trump’s crosshairs. Many don’t know why.
March 29th, 20250 NEW YORK — When Muhlenberg College learned in January 2024 — as pro-Palestinian protests were sweeping campuses across the United States — that it was under investigation for discriminating against Jewish students, the small liberal arts institution in Pennsylvania took action. The college fired a...
Kennedy to slash 10,000 jobs in major overhaul of U.S. health agencies
March 28th, 20250 WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to reshape federal public health agencies on Thursday, including cutting 10,000 employees and centralizing some functions of the FDA, CDC and others under his purview. The job cuts include 3,500 at the Food and Drug Administration,...
Florida man sentenced to 18 months for threatening Michigan Islamic organization
March 28th, 20250 Last week, a federal court in Detroit sentenced 73-year-old Michael Shapiro, a resident of West Palm Beach, Florida, to 18 months in prison for threatening the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its staff in late 2023. According to court records, Shapiro left six threatening and profanity-laced...
Dearborn youth feed the hungry during Ramadan by turning leftover iftar meals into acts of compassion
March 28th, 20250 DEARBORN – During the holy month of Ramadan, a volunteer initiative in Dearborn has attracted national attention after the Associated Press published a report on a local youth-led organization that collects leftover food from Arab American iftar dinners and redistributes it nightly to the homeless in nearby Detroit. According to the......
A region in crisis from Gaza to Istanbul: War, resistance and power struggles
March 28th, 20250 The Arab American News weekly Arab world report: The Middle East remains in the eye of the storm, with many of its nations burdened by decades-old political, security, economic and social crises. These issues continue to erupt in connection with regional conflicts. Against this backdrop, Iran’s announcement of its willingness to...
$20,000 reward offered in road rage killing of 19-year-old Rawan Baseti
March 28th, 20250 DEARBORN – A month after the tragic death of 19-year-old Rawan Baseti in a fatal shooting that followed a road rage incident, Dearborn police — alongside the crime-fighting organization Crime Stoppers — announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of her killer. The announcement came during a press conference......
How authorities identified a suspect in last summer’s attempted jewelry store robbery in Dearborn
March 21st, 20250 CHICAGO – A report by WDIV-TV Local 4 has revealed details surrounding the arrest of one of the two men who attempted to rob a jewelry store in Dearborn on August 7, 2024. The report states that the suspects traveled from Illinois to Michigan to carry out the crime, only to return empty-handed after being repelled by the store's...
Federal judge transfers case of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil out of Louisiana to New Jersey court in positive legal turn
March 21st, 20250 On Wednesday, in a positive development in the case of the Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, one of the leading figures in the protest movement on U.S. college campuses against the Israeli war on Gaza, a federal judge ordered the case to be transferred to a court in New Jersey from Louisiana, the hardline state chosen by the Trump......
