UPDATE: Bank of America now gives Consumerist its side of the story, saying it could not foreclose on the property because the homeowner had filed for bankruptcy. [More]
detroit
Foreclosed-Upon Homeowner On The Hook For Squatters Because BofA Won’t Assume Title To House
By 2.25.13 — Updated: 2.26.13
Woman Sues TSA, FBI, Frontier Airlines After Being Detained & Strip-Searched
By 1.22.13
Back on Sept. 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, an Ohio woman was one of three people detained by authorities at Detroit Metro Airport, where she claims she was strip-searched and held without cause for four hours. [More]
Detroit To Lose Again When Everyone Else Gets Free World Series Taco Bell Tacos
By 10.26.12
With the Phillies nowhere near the baseball postseason, the only reason I’ve been watching the World Series is to add to my Ken Rosenthal bow tie Pinterest page and to see which player would be the first to steal a base and thereby win free Taco Bell tacos for the entire nation. [More]
Homeowner Has To Share House With Squatter Because Police Can’t Do Anything
By 10.12.12
A couple years back, a woman in Detroit thought it would be a great idea to snap up a house for $23,000, but after a series of unexpected twists, that homeowner and her 1-year-old daughter are now sharing that house with a squatter who refuses to leave because she says she has a lien against the house. [More]
MGM Grand In Legal Fight With Michigan Over “Virtual Beer Pitchers”
By 10.1.12
If you’re splitting a pitcher of beer between pals and you’re all imbibing at a decent enough rate, the beer in said pitcher will stay reasonably fresh. But how about a device that lets you buy a pitcher’s worth of beer, but only pours it out when you want more to drink? The folks at the MGM Grand Detroit think it’s a pretty cool idea. Unfortunately, the state of Michigan seems to think it would violate the state’s ban on alcohol vending machines. [More]
Detroit Sneaker Store Offers Free Nikes To Kids Who Show Up For School
By 8.14.12
October 3 is Student Count Day in Detroit. A headcount will be made of all the kids in school that day, and that figure will be used to determine state and federal funding. It will also earn free sneakers for every student who decides to show up. [More]
Neighbors Resort To Prank-Playing In Attempt To Drive Out Squatter
By 5.30.12
Last summer, a home in the Palmer Woods section of Detroit became vacant when the homeowner walked away on the mortgage. Not long after, a moving van pulled up and a new neighbor moved himself in. Thing is, he wasn’t the new owner — and there wasn’t much the neighbors could do about getting him out. [More]
Woman Sues "Drive" For Not Having Enough Driving
By 10.11.11
A woman has filed a lawsuit against the movie Drive because she felt the moving didn’t have enough driving in it relative to what was promised in the movie trailer. [More]
Detroit Bureau Uses Money Meant To Feed Poor To Buy $314 Trash Cans
By 8.2.11
Three stainless-steel trash cans with motion-activated sensor lids: $314.93 each. A 500-lb capacity ottoman for the cafeteria: $469. Mahogany-finished conference room table: $3,000. The line items sound extravagant enough on their own. When you learn that they were to makeover a Detroit city office that handles the federal money for feeding and clothing the poor, and the credenzas and sofas and such came out of that money, it’s time to get livid. [More]
More Chrysler Workers Suspended For Drinking During Work Hours
By 7.19.11
For the second time in less than a year, workers on Chrysler manufacturing lines have been caught on camera — and subsequently suspended for — drinking (and possibly smoking a controlled substance) during work hours. [More]
High Gas Prices Aren't Giving The Blues To Motown Car Makers
By 5.18.11
When gas hit $4 a gallon in 2008, Detroit’s Big Three auto makers took it on the chin as American demand for big, fuel-thirsty SUVs and trucks suddenly disappeared. But even with gas prices again hovering north of $4, American car companies are whistling a much happier tune–all the way to the bank. [More]
Toyota Announces Lower Production Until November
By 4.22.11
Toyota says it will take until the end of the year before post-quake production levels return to normal. [More]
Detroit Loses 25% Of Population In A Decade
By 3.25.11
The rallying cry of “Detroit, What?” may have to be changed to “Detroit, Who?” following US Census results that show the Motor City has lost 25% of its population from 2000 to 2010. [More]
Bank Of America Donating 10 Homes To Detroit To Attract Cops To Live In The City
By 3.23.11
If there’s one thing — aside from general ineptitude — that Bank of America’s mortgage division has a surplus of, it’s abandoned and foreclosed properties. Meanwhile, the city of Detroit has a lack of police officers living within city limits. Now the city will have 10 more houses for cops to live in and BofA will have 10 fewer buildings they can’t unload. [More]
Detroit Mayor Offers $1,000 Homes To Cops, Firemen
By 2.8.11
In a bold offer that speaks volumes about Detroit’s housing market as well as its state of public safety, the city’s mayor has offered to provide homes for as little as $1,000 to police and firefighters. [More]
PCRM Asks Detroit Mayor To Issue Moratorium On New Fast Food Restaurants
By 1.3.11
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the group behind that TV ad equating Big Macs with death, is continuing its war on the fast food industry, asking the mayor of Detroit to stop the proliferation of fast food eateries within city limits. [More]
Burger King Customer Dies After Being Punched In Face By Employee
By 12.10.10
Earlier today, a fight broke out between an employee at a Detroit Burger King and a 67-year-old customer. In the end, one man was behind bars and the other was dead. [More]
Mom Arrested For Faking Kid's Leukemia To Scam Donations
By 10.5.10
A Detroit-area mother was arraigned this weekend on charges that she had faked her 12-year old son having leukemia to scam for donations. She shaved his head and eyebrows, drugged him with opiates in his apple sauce, and started posting Facebook updates about his condition and her need for help paying his medical bills. [More]
