Former Detroit mayor and four-term City Council member Ken Cockrel, Jr., who has served Detroit with honor and distinction has announced that he will not seek reelection in this November’s municipal elections, according to a release from Cockrel’s office. After 18 years of continuous public service, Cockrel said that it is time for him to refocus. “I feel the time is right for me to seek new challenges, new opportunities and new ways to help Detroit,” Cockrel said. Cockrel was first elected to City Council in November 1997 after serving for three years on the Wayne County Commission.

He was reelected in 2001 and again in 2005 when he became City Council president. His current term began in January of 2009. During his more than 15 years on the council he has passed and fought for laws ensuring that Detroit’s contractors are paid timely, stiffer zoning regulations of liquor stores, pawn shops and group homes, and expanded city job opportunities for ex-felons. Cockrel became mayor in September 2008 following the resignation Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Though he did not win election to the post in the May 2009 special election to fill the seat, he had a significant impact during his brief time as mayor.

As mayor, Cockrel restored people’s trust and faith in city government. Successful efforts included negotiating the creation of the regional authority that now operates and is expanding Cobo Hall and avoiding city bankruptcy after a credit rating downgrade impacted a municipal credit swap agreement. He also led an effort to put police back in neighborhoods by opening several new police mini-stations, reopening the 10th Precinct, and facilitating the creation of Detroit’s first mobile precinct to support major events and community-based policing.

Cockrel is also the founder and chair of the Detroit City Council Green Task Force and has championed a sustainable agenda for the City of Detroit. He has passed both anti-idling and green purchasing ordinances and spearheaded the adoption of Detroit’s Non-Motorized Plan, which thus far has produced 62 miles of bike lanes in the city. Also while mayor, he created an Office of Energy and Sustainability and launched a curbside recycling pilot project that continues to this day. A cum laude graduate of Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Print Journalism, Cockrel is a former reporter for the Detroit Free Press, the Grand Rapids Press and the Cincinnati Inquirer.

He is also a former columnist for The Metro Times. Cockrel is a graduate of the inaugural class of the Michigan Political Leadership Program at Michigan State University as well as the Program for State and Local Government Officials at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In fall 2011 he earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Irish-American University in Dublin, Ireland. He is currently chair of the City Council’s Committee on Budget, Finance, and Audit and the vice chair of the Committee on Planning and Economic Development.

He also serves as a board member of the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy, the Detroit Jazz Fest, and Tour Detroit. In addition he is a member of the advisory boards for Bridging Communities and ACLU Michigan. Ken Cockrel, Jr. and his wife, Kimberly, have two sons, Kenneth III and Kyle Vincent, and three daughters, Kennedy Victoria, Kendal Imani and Kayla Lanette. Cockrel said that though he will be leaving the City Council table, he intends to remain active in neighborhood, civic and political affairs.

“I’m not going anywhere. I will definitely remain a staple on the Detroit scene,” he said. “I truly believe that Detroit’s best days are ahead of it and I’m eager to be a part of it.

Today, April 26, 2013, 4:00 pm
E 3rd St & Water St, Rochester, MI | Get Directions »

MI Earth Day Fest is the premier, biggest Earth Day event in Michigan, and with 50,000 expected, one of the largest on the planet. Featuring exhibits, products, presentations, entertainment, food and family fun, MI Earth Day Fest will highlight environmental issues and solutions through education, innovation and longterm sustainability strategies. Admission is free. Visit www.miEDF.org.

Virgin America's New In-Flight Flirting App

Traveling alone? A Virgin America flight, might be your best airline choice. The airline's new in-flight entertainment system allows passengers to pinpoint their next love interest with Virgin's digital seat map, browse the menu and have a drink, snack or meal sent over.

Passengers can also follow up with a text through the seat-to-seat messaging system. Virgin launched the service this week to mark the start of its Los Angeles to Las Vegas service, but it's available on all of its U.S. flights.

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson introduced the new feature in a video:

(CNN) -- Here are some of the latest developments in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation:/p>

-- "Members of the MIT community" are being asked -- at the request of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's campus police chief and the Middlesex County district attorney's office -- to provide authorities with information related to the night of April 18, MIT administrator Israel Ruiz said in a letter posted on the school's website. Authorities have said they believe MIT police officer Sean Collier was killed that night by the suspected Boston Marathon bombers,
-- The Middlesex County District Attorney's Office hopes to bring charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for his alleged role in incidents last week in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, spokeswoman Stephanie Guyotte said Thursday. Authorities have said they suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his late brother, Tamerlan, killed Collier in Cambridge and later were involved in a chase -- during which they allegedly throw bombs out their windows -- and shootout that ended in nearby Watertown. "We're still investigating," Guyotte said.
Previously reported:
-- Russia raised concerns to U.S. authorities about Zubeidat Tsarnaev, the mother of the Boston Marathon bombings' suspects, in 2011 at the same time they asked the U.S. about her son Tamerlan, several sources told CNN.
-- Also, U.S. authorities added both the mother and son to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, database -- a collection of more than a half million names maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center, an intelligence official said.
-- FBI agents interviewed the mother as part of the investigation into Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whose case was closed after several months.
-- Tamerlan Tsarnaev's phone number was traced to numbers that came up in two other investigations into terror suspects, according to a senator who attended classified briefings about the Boston attack investigation. The connection between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the two other suspects was "twice removed," meaning he was in contact with people who had been in contact with the suspect, a U.S. government official said.
-- Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said investigators believe the Boston bombing suspects were planning another attack "likely in the Boston area." "The notion they decided to go to New York was a rushed event after this thing unraveled on them," Rogers said.
-- Thirty-four of the more than 260 people wounded in last week's explosions were still being treated Thursday evening in Boston-area hospitals, according to a CNN tally. Only one of them -- at Boston Medical Center -- is in critical condition. At least 14 people underwent amputations because of the blasts.
-- The mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects said Thursday that she'd called an ambulance to take her husband, Anzor Tsarnaev, to a hospital in the southern Russian city of Makhachkala. It was not immediately known whether Anzor Tsarnaev was ever admitted to a hospital and, if so, if he is still there.
-- Federal agents who swarmed the residence of University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth students on Friday "went in heavy" because they thought the surviving Boston Marathon bombings suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, might be inside, a federal law enforcement source told CNN.
-- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev shared a cell phone with a Russian-speaking student from Kazhakstan who was detained in the raid, something the law enforcement source said authorities had determined through cell phone records and their social media interaction. This other student was in a picture with Dzhokhar shot last year in New York's Time Square.
-- This student and another taken into custody in the raid continued to be detained Thursday. The young men, both foreign exchange students from Kazhakstan, are being held by federal authorities on alleged visa violations.
-- The two students, who haven't been identified by name, are not thought to be linked to last week's attack in Boston, sources stress. Yet investigators hope they can better piece together the suspected bombers' movements before and after the marathon. "These guys are not being cut loose immediately, and there's a reason why," the federal law enforcement source said.
-- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev revealed to investigators that he and his brother intended to drive to New York and "detonate additional explosives in Times Square," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. Bloomberg said the FBI told New York officials this information Wednesday night.
-- FBI Director Robert Mueller traveled to Boston on Thursday on a trip that was scheduled before the bombings, an FBI official said. He is also meeting with members of the field office who are working on the bombings case.
-- At least one of the two bombs used in Boston -- the second to explode -- was detonated by remote control, a law enforcement official told CNN on Thursday. Previously, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Maryland Democrat and member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, said Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev used a remote control device similar to those used to control toy cars to detonate both bombs at the marathon.
-- A body found Tuesday is that of Sunil Tripathi, a missing Brown University student who was falsely identified by some on social media as being one of the Boston Marathon bombers. The Rhode Island State Medical Examiner's office said Thursday that the body has been identified as that of Tripathi, missing since March 15. No foul play is suspected in his death, the office said.
-- No firearm was found in the boat where the surviving Boston Marathon attack suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was found, several sources from different agencies familiar with the investigation said Thursday. Authorities had said in a criminal complaint there was a standoff between the boat's occupant and police involving gunfire.
-- A ranking Democrat on a House intelligence subcommittee said Thursday that he does not believe the FBI and the CIA failed to share relevant information with each other regarding Boston Marathon attack suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Sources told CNN previously that Russia had separately asked the FBI and the CIA to look into Tsarnaev in 2011. "This information was put in a database, it was shared among different agencies, it was shared with a joint terrorism task force, and that's exactly what should happen," U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, said Thursday. "So I don't think this was a situation where either agency was withholding something from the other. ... Some are racing to say that the FBI dropped the ball or the agencies weren't talking to each other, and that just doesn't seem to be the case." Schiff is a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence.
Case raises questions about post 9/11 intelligence reforms
-- The father of bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told reporters that he could leave the Russian region of Dagestan on Thursday for the United States. The father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said previously that he will cooperate in the bombing investigation in Boston, where his lone surviving son, Dzhokhar, is hospitalized and charged in the case.
-- The suspect's mother said Thursday in Dagestan that U.S. officials "already told us they will not let us see Dzhokhar." Zubeidat Tsarnaev earlier said that she believed the bombings were staged and fake. But she also said she feels sorry for the victims and is resolute in her belief that her sons were not involved. Zubeidat Tsarnaev is wanted on 2012 felony charges of shoplifting and property damage in Massachusetts, according to court officials. It is unclear whether returning to the United States would lead to her arrest.
-- Russian President Vladimir Putin urged closer cooperation between with the United States on security issues in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. "This tragedy should motivate us to work closer together," Putin said during a live televised call-in session in Moscow on Thursday. "If we combine our efforts, we will not suffer blows like that."
-- The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev remains in the custody of the Massachusetts chief medical examiner, a spokesman for the medical examiner's office said. Terrel Harris also said the cause of Tsarnaev's death has yet to be determined.
Boston suspects' dad coming to U.S. Boston bombing suspect was on FBI radar Re-examining slayings after bombings Bombing suspects' mother speaks to CNN
-- Months after the FBI cleared Tamerlan Tsarnaev after a request from Russia to investigate him, Russia also approached the CIA to look into Tsarnaev's shift toward Islamic extremism, a government official tells CNN. But the information provided by the Russians in November 2011 was "basically the same" information that had been given to the FBI, the government official said, adding that the communication sent to the CIA was a "warning letter."
-- Investigators are looking into the possibility Tamerlan Tsarnaev -- who was married with a young daughter, whom he frequently cared for while his wife worked as a home health aide -- may have helped finance the bomb plot through illegal drug sales, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
-- The name of one Boston Marathon bombing suspect was included in U.S. law enforcement and counterterrorism databases, but he was not on any watch list that would have prevented him from flying or required additional screening when he left or entered the country, intelligence and law enforcement officials said.
-- Human rights activist Kheda Saratova in Makhachkala, Dagestan, told CNN that the parents of the Tsarnaev brothers talked Wednesday with U.S. investigators and the Russian Federal Security Service.
-- Vice President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday at a memorial service for Collier, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus officer who authorities say was killed by the suspected Boston Marathon bombers last week.
-- Biden referred to the suspects as "two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knock-off jihadis."
-- Citing terrorists in general, he said, "They do it to instill fear, to have us -- in the name of our safety and security -- jettison what we value most, and the world most values about us: our open society, our system of justice that guarantees freedom, the access of all Americans to opportunity, the free flow of information and people across this country, our transparency, that's their target."
-- The suspects in last week's bombings in Boston may have been planning to "party" in New York, that city's police commissioner, Ray Kelly, said Wednesday, citing comments from the younger brother. "Information that we received said something about partying, having a party," he said.
-- Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been "brainwashed" by a friend from Cambridge, Massachusetts named Misha -- an Armenian who had converted to Islam -- said the dead man's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni.
-- Elmirza Khozhgov, a former brother-in-law of the brothers, said the elder Tsarnaev introduced him to a man named Misha, but "I didn't witness him making him radical."
-- A spokeswoman for the Islamic Society of Boston said no one in the group's network appeared to have heard of the person named Misha.
-- The spokeswoman, Nichole Mossalam, said the group was prepared to hold a funeral for the dead brother but had not been asked to do so. Several of the group's imams said they would not be comfortable presiding over a funeral for the elder brother, so the organization would probably ask a lay person to officiate, she said.
-- The surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has indicated to investigators that it was his brother, not any international terrorist group, who conceived the attack, a U.S. government source said.
-- The source said preliminary interviews with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev suggest that the brothers were self-radicalized jihadists.
-- James Taylor sang at the memorial service at MIT, accompanied by the MIT Symphony Orchestra and a vocal ensemble from the university.
-- The suspects received welfare benefits as children, the state government says; Tamerlan received them for his family through last year.
-- Authorities reopened the site of the bomb blasts Wednesday to pedestrian traffic after replacing missing bricks and patching up concrete.
-- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has cited the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as motivating factors behind the attack, a U.S. government official said Tuesday.
-- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remains hospitalized in fair condition.

In an unprecedented move, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing pulled petitions for a mayoral campaign as the May 14 deadline approaches without filling in the petition box that stipulates a run a for reelection this afternoon at the second floor of the Coleman A. Young Building in the City Clerk's Office.

If Bing decides to run for another term, his inclusion will shake up the race and make the field of candidates, including former Detroit Medical Center CEO Mike Duggan and Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, more competitive.

Bing has been mum about his reelection prospects for a while, until this afternoon when his office issued a brief statement indicating press availability at the clerk's office.

"I have not obtained signatures. I've been in contact with citizens. The window is obviously open. I've said for several months that I've not made my mind yet. That is still true. The first step of the process is picking up signatures," Bing told a gathering of journalists.

Bing will need 500 signatures submitted to City Clerk Janice Winfrey's Office by May 14, the cutoff date to submit signatures for a mayoral run.

"When I make the decision to win then I'm in it to win it. This is a huge decision for anybody who is going to run," Bing said. "If I'm going to go another four years I've got to make sure I touch base with all the people."

If he jumps in the race as the incumbent, Bing said he will declare that he's running to continue to fix Detroit noting, "We've made some positive things happen."

In an era of an Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) overseeing Detroit, some critics have dismissed the mayor's race as having less significance because the EFM, Kevin Orr, potentially could be in charge of the city beyond the stipulated18 months he's required to stay.

 "I accept the fact that the emergency manager is here and has the final say. I'm going to work with that team. I'm a team player," Bing said. "It's about fixing the city. We've got a lot of people that need help. The goal has to be about fixing the city. It's not going to be an easy decision."

Bing said continuing to fight the emergency manager is counterproductive because "I think the city is better off working with the emergency manager as opposed to working against him. We need the state involvement and support. We need outside support."

Bing will hold another media availability in the coming days during which he will declare whether or not he is officially in the race for mayor.

Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle. He is the author of a book series on the Obama presidency. His book "Obama and Black Loyalty," published in 2010, follows his recent book, "Obama and Christian Loyalty," with an epilogue by Robert S. Weiner, former White House spokesman. Thompson is also a political news analyst at WDET-101.9FM Detroit (NPR Affiliate) and a member of the weekly "Obama Watch" Sunday evening roundtable on WLIB-1190AM New York and simulcast in New Jersey and Connecticut

 DETROIT — A Detroit Department of Transportation bus crashed into a Ford Taurus that ran a stop sign at Evergree south north of Joy in Detroit Wednesday morning injuring several passengers,

No one was seriously injured, said Detroit Police Officer Rickey Townsel. Evergreen Avenue near the crash site south of Joy Road remains closed.

the DDOT bus ended up on the front lawn of a nearby home.

It appears to have struck a tree when veering off the road. 

No further details have been released at this time.

Despite the emancipation of African Americans and the District of Columbia becoming the first thriving slave territory to free more than 3000 Blacks several months before President Abraham Lincoln rendered the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, many today, reflecting on the long and sometimes difficult journey, say the battle for real political, social and economic empowerment is not over, especially when some African Americans are still fighting for the right to vote in 2013.

A battle the Detroit Branch NAACP, the largest chapter of the nation’s storied civil rights organization, says must continue as the group hold its 58th Annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner on April 28 at Cobo Convention Center under the theme “Freedom Must Never Be Defaulted, It Must Forever Be Exalted,” during which it will honor individuals who exemplify the continued struggle for the liberation and advancement of Blacks in all facets of life.

And Washington, DC, in particular, recently commemorated the 151st Emancipation Day honoring an African American leader, Loretta Carter Hanes, for her commitment and dedication to raising the public’s conscience about the history of the Emancipation at an event attended by Black luminaries.

Clarence Davis, a leading historian in the nation and public administrator of the DC Office of Public Records and chairman of the Emancipation Day Committee, in an exclusive interview with the Michigan Chronicle said Blacks, “have an obligation to commemorate in Detroit, Washington, D.C., Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angles, Houston and all over the country, the triumphant struggle over slavery through the abolitionist and emancipation movement.”

Davis said at a time when African Americans continue to face many hurdles, including discrimination in varied forms and challenges to voting rights, it is important to commemorate it as a living memorial to the many African Americans who gave their lives in the quest for freedom.

“African Americans the country over must never forget the history and our plight in the struggle from indentured servitude, slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, and the suffering of oppression in America,” Davis said. “Thus our remembrance of this struggle is commemorated through emancipation as the first historical landmark in our celebration for freedom.”

Georgia Congressman John Lewis, an icon of the Civil Rights Movement and architect of the 1963 March on Washington, in an editorial published earlier this year in the Washington Post, said, “Evidence proves there are forces in this country that willfully and intentionally trample on the voting rights of millions of Americans. That is why every president and every Congress, regardless of politics or party, has reauthorized Section 5.”

Lewis, who will be in Detroit in May at the Max M. Fisher Music Center to be honored at the 15th Annual Ford Freedom Award, spoke out as the U.S. Supreme Court was considering a challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires states with a history of voter suppression to clear with the U.S. Department of Justice before any changes to voting laws.

“The right to vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democracy. I risked my life defending that right. Some died in the struggle. If we are ever to actualize the true meaning of equality, effective measures such as the Voting Rights Act are still a necessary requirement of democracy,” Lewis wrote.

Lewis would later challenge the conscience of members of Congress when he read the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution during the debt limit battle, noting, “It was a moral imperative, something this nation had to do to begin to free itself from the blight of selling human beings for profit. President Lincoln and others used their power to right a moral wrong and changed the destiny of this country forever. It is one example of the best kind of contribution legislators can make to society.”

Davis, the historian, agrees and said that is the reason why recognizing Emancipation Day in the nation is important to remind tomorrow’s leaders of the challenges confronting them.

“The history of the peculiar institution of slavery is our story to hold before the world in the commemoration of emancipation and as a paradigm and testament for all who yearn to be free,” Davis said. “The commemoration of emancipation is our conscience that reminds us to never forget the pain, death, and affliction suffered by many through slavery, oppression, suppression and degradation.”

The commemoration of emancipation must become a living chronicle to teach the uniformed about our plight in the struggle for freedom, liberty, justice and equality, Davis said.

“We must keep the conscience of emancipation alive as we continue to fight the battles of disenfranchisement that were so prevalent in the 2012 election,” he said. “As noted in the election of the first African American president, Barack Obama, our struggle for freedom, liberty, justice and equality is not over. Therefore, we must be forever vigilant in fighting against the oppressive forces that want to take us back to the darks days of racial oppression.”

Cynthia Brock-Smith, secretary of the District of Columbia, underscored the importance of recognizing individuals like Hanes who “organized community programs to commemorate the lost history of Emancipation Day celebrations. Because of Mrs. Hanes’ unwavering commitment to bring back Emancipation Day, it is now a public legal holiday.”

First Lady Michelle Obama, delivering the keynote address at the 2012 Congressional Black Caucus Dinner, said the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation is an indication of the long pilgrimage that has now produced the first Black president.

“It is the story of continuous, breathtaking progress from one generation to the next. It’s the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle,” Obama said. “It’s the story of men and women who said to themselves, I might not fulfill my dreams, but if I march, if I stand strong on this bridge, if I endure another night in this jail cell, then maybe my children will fulfill their dreams, maybe my grandchildren will.”

And many now look to the Obama era as the beginning of another chapter in the African American experience and what it means for Blacks to mark emancipation with special significance.

“The commemoration of emancipation is the fuel that drives the forces for freedom struggles of all types around the country today,” Davis said.

Bankole Thompson is editor of the Michigan Chronicle and the author of the forthcoming book “Rising From the Ashes: Engaging Detroit’s Future With Courage.” His book “Obama and Black Loyalty,” published in 2010, follows his recent book, “Obama and Christian Loyalty” with an epilogue by Bob Weiner, former White House spokesman. Thompson is a political news analyst at WDET-101.9FM (NPR affiliate) and a member of the weekly “Obama Watch” Sunday evening roundtable on WLIB-1190AM New York and simulcast in New Jersey and Connecticut. E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit his personal page at www.bankolethompson.com.