COMPENDIUM: HOW OUTSIDERS VIEW DETROIT

A Baseball Icon Soaks Up A Lot Of Lasts

THE NEW YORK TIMES

MARCH 17, 2023

BY JAMES WAGNER

MIAMI — On April 23, 1939, Álex Carrasquel, a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators, was summoned from the bullpen in the fourth inning of a game to face Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees. He was the first Venezuelan-born player to appear in a Major League Baseball game and, since Carrasquel, 461 players born in the baseball-crazed South American country have followed in his footsteps, according to Baseball Reference.

None, though, has been better than a right-handed batter who made his major league debut on June 20, 2003. Miguel Cabrera, a skinny 20-year-old prospect who homered that day and helped the Florida Marlins win the World Series later that season, has been crushing baseballs ever since. But the wear and tear of 2,699 regular season games has taken its toll, and there is only so much more Cabrera’s cranky right knee can take. Over the winter, Cabrera, the designated hitter of the perpetually rebuilding Detroit Tigers, reiterated that 2023 would be the last season of his career.

So as Cabrera, 39, gets ready to hang up his spikes, he is soaking up a lot of lasts, starting with his fifth and final World Baseball Classic. Cabrera, who was selected as the team’s captain, said he hoped that this farewell lap would begin with a title in the quadrennial tournament, which Venezuela has never won, despite his participation in every edition since the event began in 2006. He is one of seven players in MLB history to record both 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. Three of them (Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray) were voted into the Hall of Fame, two were suspended during their careers for performance-enhancing drugs (Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro), and Albert Pujols, who retired last year, will not be on the Cooperstown ballot until 2028.

Seeking Energy Security From Michigan To Puerto Rico

ENERGY NEWS NETWORK

MARCH 17, 2023

BY ANGELA LUGO-THOMAS

After Hurricane Maria left millions of Puerto Ricans without electricity in 2017, Casa Pueblo became an energy oasis for the small mountain town community of Adjuntas.

decimated the island’s power grid, I was struck by the many similar challenges facing my birth home and my adopted one.

Both Michigan and Puerto Rico are increasingly plagued by severe weather worsened by climate change. That comes in the form of more frequent and severe hurricanes in Puerto Rico. We see more frequent and severe thunderstorms — and, more recently, thundersnow — and ice storms in Michigan.

And Highland Park and Adjuntas have old, outdated electric infrastructure that is highly vulnerable to severe weather. … get this with the older technology, and because of that I want to switch,’” Zhang says.

That led to today’s model, which can haul up to 2,235 pounds and tow up to 10,000 pounds, as well as power a home in the event of an outage via Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power system.

The nonprofit is doing what some residents in Highland Park, Michigan, want to do — running an entire neighborhood on a solar-powered microgrid. Groups like Soulardarity and Parker Village in Highland Park want the city to be as resilient as Adjuntas the next time DTE loses power.

I visited Adjuntas in February to learn more, and then came back to Highland Park to face days of power outages after the Feb. 22 ice storm and the March 5 “thundersnow.”

I wanted to know — can Highland Park follow Adjuntas’ lead?

While there are substantial regulatory barriers currently in place in Michigan that prevent residents from implementing many of Adjuntas’ resiliency options — like community solar and microgrids — regulators and advocates are pushing to change that...

Home to Puerto Rico

I’ve lived in Detroit since 1979 and Highland Park since 2000 but was born in Puerto Rico. And like so many in the diaspora who are no longer living there or have never lived on la isla, I still call Puerto Rico home.

When I visited in February, five years after Hurricane Maria

HOW FORD BUILT THE F-150 LIGHTNING, ITS MODEL T FOR THE EV REVOLUTION

FAST COMPANY • MARCH 2, 2023 • BY JESSICA BURSZTYNSKY

Ford is No. 21 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2023.

Since the first Ford F-150 rolled off the production line in 1974, customers have been relying on the rugged pickup truck for help in all manner of situations. But one thing it couldn’t do until 2022 was power your home for up to 10 days during an electrical outage.

Wanting to take on one of its biggest bets and electrify the iconic truck, Ford turned to veteran engineer Linda Zhang to deliver. Zhang, who has been with the automaker since 1996, was tasked in 2018 with leading a team to roll out the company’s first all-electric F-150 pickup, dubbed the F-150 Lightning. The company started delivering models in May 2022.

When it came to reimagining the nation’s top-selling truck in an electric format, Zhang says it was a top priority to leverage the brand of the F-150, building a vehicle with capabilities on par with the original, while adding a host of premium features that justify the $56,000 price (about $20,000 more than the starting price of a standard F-150). “Part of what we’ve tried to do is make sure that, from a vehicle development perspective, we are providing the customer with a great vehicle they can look at and say, ‘I really can’t existing basin and created stacks of basalt much thicker than average. The Greenstone Flow alone pooled to some 1,600 feet deep. “It was so massive that it differentiated within the rift. You can see it across the green and black rocks of the Keweenaw Peninsula. It’s a fascinating place.”

Since Ford has never “been in the business of powering homes,” the company had to figure out new ways to test its claims, says Alex Avila, the engineer responsible for the capability. Ford ended up building two model homes on its Michigan campus that Avila essentially moved into to ensure the truck could power a home, as well as flying to Utah to test a home in another state. “When we talk about innovation, I think about it not only in terms of innovating our products, but also innovating how we test our products, how we validate our products,” Avila adds.

Since a bulky engine isn’t taking up the front of the car, Ford included a 14.1-cubic-foot “mega power frunk,” or front trunk that has power outlets and USB chargers, ultimately making it a waterproof, lockable storage space that can hold 400 pounds. The Lightning is also equipped with up to 9.6 kilowatts of onboard power and 11 built-in outlets.

Owners can monitor their vehicle (and find nearby charging stations) via the FordPass app, and can leverage the truck’s new Intelligent Range feature that tells them how long they have until their next charge based on factors like speed and route topography.

HOW TO EXPLORE A BILLION-YEAR-OLD VOLCANIC MYSTERY ALONG LAKE SUPERIOR

Detroit would be the largest U.S. city to introduce a so-called land-value tax. Like most U.S. cities, Detroit calculates property taxes by estimating the value of a property’s land and buildings and charging a fixed percentage each year.

communities, not only in Detroit but across the state,” Mr. Tate said.

Other mayors and housing advocates see Detroit as a crucial test case for this tax policy, one that could open the door for other cities to follow.

CAMPBELL SAYS LIONS POSITIONED BETTER TO ‘SWING WITH THE BIG BOYS’ SPORTS

ILLUSTRATED • MARCH 28, 2023 • BY

CHRISTIAN BOOHER

Under the proposed change, the city would replace some property levies with a single tax on the land value only, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Detroit Lions have become a darling in national circles throughout the 2023 offseason. Head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes will enter the season with much higher expectations than in previous years.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • FEB. 23, 2023 • BY

JACQUELINE KEHOE

A billion years ago, if you’d looked out from the top of Michigan’s now densely forested Summit Peak, you’d have seen a fiery, volcano-lit battleground. Steaming fissures, molten rocks, and lava flows dominated the landscape.

The dramatic scene was caused by one of the Earth’s grandest volcanic events. “Around 1.1 billion years ago,” says Esther Stewart, a geologist for the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, “the continent we call North America started to rip apart.” The Midcontinent Rift caused a nearly 1,300-mile horseshoe-shaped gash from Lake Superior west to modern-day Kansas and east toward Ohio.

Driving along Lake Superior, from Michigan through Wisconsin into Minnesota, visitors can retrace the results of this billion-year-old story via cascading waterfalls, red sandstone sea caves, and towering cliffs. It’s a hidden landscape for most travelers to the Midwest — unless you know what to look for.

A molten history

Geologists agree the Midcontinent Rift was caused by a mantle plume — a chimney of extra-hot rock that rises from deep in the Earth’s interior, stretching the land above until it breaks — similar to how Hawaii was formed. (Imagine a wax bubble inside a lava lamp rising — then splitting the bubble above.) The rift largely produced flows of basalt, runny lava that formed low-lying shield volcanoes. “You’d have fissures, these big long cracks,” Stewart says. “They might have been kilometers long with this runny basalt lava coming out of them.”

But unlike most basalt flows — such as the Columbia River basalts covering Washington State — the lava didn’t make it far. “The Lake Superior area is a very unusual case,” says Tyrone Rooney, professor of igneous petrology and geochemistry at Michigan State University. “Most of the time, flood basalts erupt onto a flat area and then spread out.” Instead, he describes how these lavas filled up an

Some geologists, including Stewart, argue mountain formations to the east reversed the rift; others, like Rooney, believe it was the continent moving at high speeds — much faster than today’s fingernail-esque pace. “When you do that sort of movement,” he argues, “it does all sorts of things to the mantle beneath. It’s still an area of active research.”

Regardless of the reasons why, over roughly 30 million years, the Midcontinent Rift produced more than 240,000 cubic miles of volcanic rock — 44 times the volume of all the Great Lakes combined.

Now imagine what we’d see if the water weren’t there.

“Below Lake Superior, it’s insane,” says George Hudak, says the senior geologist at the University of Minnesota Natural Resources Research Institute.

DETROIT AIMS TO SPUR NEW HOUSING, BOOST PROPERTY VALUES WITH TAX CHANGE

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL FEB. 14, 2023

BY KONRAD PUTZIER

Detroit city officials are weighing a radical change to the way the city taxes property, which proponents say will help revitalize the city and become a model for the Rust Belt.

That means owners of vacant land would see their tax bills skyrocket, while the tax bill for many homeowners and commercial-property owners would fall. That in turn would push up home values and encourage more property owners to build, said Roderick Hardamon, a local real-estate developer who supports the change.

Black homeowners have been hit particularly hard by declining values in recent decades, and proponents say the change could help shrink the region’s racial wealth gap.

The tax change has a couple of legislative hurdles to clear. First, it would need state approval. Then it would need to win a majority of Detroit voters through a ballot measure.

There is no clear timetable for either right now. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has said the city is “80 percent of the way to a solution” on a new tax system, a spokeswoman for his office said.

The speaker of Michigan’s House of Representatives, Joe Tate, supports the new tax policy, which is also backed by a number of advocacy groups, economists and property developers.

“Reducing the tax burden creates stronger

Pundits and fans alike are high on the team’s recent success, both on and off the field. Holmes and company followed a strong finish to the 2022 season by adding multiple marquee free agents.

Many believe the Lions will be contenders for the NFC North crown in 2023. This is the belief within the walls of team headquarters, as well. Campbell made it plenty clear during his appearance at the annual owners’ meetings that he expects the team to battle with the best.

“It’s about raising the expectations, you know?” Campbell told reporters. “We need to be thinking that way. Everything about what we do has to have that type of purpose. Our standard has always been about winning, man. You’re trying to win every game. But, ultimately, I think, to take the next step, you’re shooting for the division.”

Detroit’s third-year head coach believes the Lions can do damage in the postseason, provided they earn the right to participate. He’s praised the home-field advantage Ford Field provided in the past, and thinks it could be key for Detroit, should it secure a home playoff game.

He’s set the goals high for Detroit in 2023. The moves in the offseason, paired with the culture already installed, have set the team up nicely to compete heading into next season.

“You do that, you win the division, you get a home game and the rest takes care of itself,” Campbell explained. “Every team should want to go to the Super Bowl, every year, I said that two years ago, of course. I think we are positioned much better to swing with the big boys this year.”…