Welcome Home Danny Fenster!

an offer she couldn’t refuse — the opportunity to lead a station, something she’d always wanted to do. Drutz has received many honors for her work including Emmy Awards and being named Broadcasting & Cable’s General Manager of the Year. A multiplication buff, she figures she’s driven to and from work at least 20,000 times — even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic — when she went to work every day to be alongside her team.

To celebrate her trailblazing, fearless and compassionate leadership, Channel 4 recently threw a retirement party for Drutz in a tent outside the station featuring an appearance by the Detroit Youth Choir of America’s Got Talent fame. She says she and her husband plan to stay in Detroit but will likely spend winters in a warmer climate. The next chapter of her career will focus on nonprofit work.

“I have a strong desire to give back to the community, particularly helping Detroitarea organizations,” she said. “This is a part of my life I’m really looking forward to.”

Marla Drutz and Rhonda Walker at her retirement party Former U..S Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson, right, poses with journalist Danny Fenster in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Monday following his release from prison.

Journalist held in Myanmar prison is back home in Huntington Woods.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL

AAmerican journalist Danny Fenster is back home in Huntington The news came just days after Fenster, the managing editor of the online magazine Frontier Woods after having spent 176 days in a Myanmar prison. The good news came early Monday, Nov. 15, from former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who had been visiting the country on a humanitarian mission regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. A Myanmar military spokesperson confirmed Fenster had been “released and deported.” According to a statement released by Richardson, Fenster traveled through Quatar on his multi-day journey back to the United States. “This is the day that you hope will come when you do this work,” Richardson said in a statement emailed from his office. “We are so grateful that Danny will finally be able to reconnect with his loved ones, who have been advocating for him all this time, against immense odds.” Richardson is known for traveling to nations where the U.S. has poor diplomatic relations to obtain the freedom of detained Americans. Myanmar, was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a military court for spreading false or inflammatory information, contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations. The Fenster family released the following in a statement: “We are overjoyed that Danny has been released and is on his way home — we cannot wait to hold him in our arms. “We are tremendously grateful to all the people who have helped secure his release, especially Ambassador Richardson, as well as our friends and the public who have expressed their support and stood by our sides as we endured these long and difficult months. “I don’t know how we could ever express our gratitude. On behalf of the Fenster-RaceyKurzweil families, we say THANK YOU and we love you so much.”

The Detroit Jewish News is working on a full-length feature about Danny Fenster. Look for it in the Dec. 2 issue.