The Detroit Pistons just concluded their fourth consecutive losing campaign, finishing the regular NBA season with a 25-41 record. Some basketball pundits have said there are plenty of reasons to smile when looking into the crystal ball of the Pistons’ future.

 However, after giving Detroit area fans a noteworthy run of six consecutive NBA Eastern Conference Finals, watching the 2012 NBA Playoffs unfold still leaves a void in my basketball spirit. The question is why am I feeling a void, when the Pistons have posted 25-41, 30-52, 27-55, and 39-43 records since 2008-09?

Just think, in 2007-08 our Pistons had a 59-23 record and lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. It now seems like a thousand years ago. The main question is when will this gallant franchise right itself and get back into the NBA hunt for a title?

With a shortened year due to the lockout and a roster of unproven talent, the expectations for the 2011-12 Pistons season were set at a low bar. The Pistons weren’t expected to make the playoffs or become the Cinderella team of the NBA.

Also, this was head coach Lawrence Frank’s first season at the helm. He followed a string of unsuccessful  coach selections by Pistons President Joe Dumars. Flip Saunders, Michael Curry and John Kuester all have had recent shots at being the face of the franchise.

The Detroit fans are eager to see the Pistons get back to their winning ways. Could it come sooner than expected? Will next season be the one?

Many are saying Dumars has found his guy in Frank. Did Frank, unlike Kuester, start the process of changing the mentality of the team and create a positive vibe with his players? The popular theory is he will be the coach for many years to come.

“We started the season 4-20, but finished it over .500 the rest of the way,” Frank told me. “I’m disappointed that we did not make the playoffs or finish .500. With us sitting at home watching the playoffs, hopefully it will be motivation for some. No doubt we have to get better, starting with me.”

Frank does indeed have a solid nucleus to revamp the franchise. Point guard Brandon Knight and guard Rodney Stuckey are a decent backcourt pair. They may not be as good as the Bad Boys era — the Pistons who had one of the best backcourts in the NBA with Dumars and Isiah Thomas. Years later, Dumars paired Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups as they helped lead Detroit to a championship in 2004.

As the season progressed, Frank turned the team over to his young point guard. Knight made great progression as the season went on and earned his stripes as a rookie. With a full offseason and continuous development with the team, Knight can be the leader the Pistons need.

“As the season went on I felt better about what I could contribute to this team,” Knight said. 

“I know I have work to do to get better and compete with all the great point guards in this league. I plan to stay in Detroit in the offseason and work on the things I can to take my game to another level and help this team get better.”

For many seasons, head coaches tried to make Stuckey into a point guard. 

With the growth of Knight, Stuckey was able to slide over to shooting guard and highlight his natural ability as a scorer. Stuckey drives the lane as well as anybody in the NBA and has had some big fourth quarters for the Pistons.

Another bright spot for the Pistons was center Greg Monroe. He put together a fine campaign for Most Improved Player this season, averaging 15.4 points and 9.7 rebounds, including an impressive 31 double-doubles.

Monroe established himself as one of the better centers in the league and will stay in that elite company as his game continues to evolve.

It’s unclear where Detroit will draft on June 28, but the draft carries a deep pool of talent, especially in the frontcourt.

The Pistons need to find a consistent power forward to play next to Monroe. 

Frank played musical chairs at that position last season, rotating a large number of players at that spot (Jason Maxiell, Austin Daye, Charlie Villanueva, Ben Wallace and Jerebko). All are useful role players off the bench, but the Pistons need a real beast to complement Monroe. 

There is plenty at stake on the Pistons’ offseason.

(MoneyWatch) Newly minted shares of Facebook (FB) were due to start trading at 11 a.m. ET Friday, but a trading glitch delayed the action. The IPO has sent investors scrambling for a piece of one of the hottest public offerings to ever hit the tape. CEO Mark Zuckerberg opened the NASDAQ exchange remotely Friday morning from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters. Priced at $38 per share but expected to zoom higher in the early going, the offering could raise $18.4 billion for the social networking web site.

The offering price also means the company is valued at $104 billion -- and that's before any runup in the share price. Even the opening sticker price makes Facebook the biggest-ever valuation by an American company at the time of its offering and the second-largest U.S. IPO ever behind Visa.

At the $38 share price, Facebook ranks as the 36th company in the world, just above French petroleum company Total, and the 23rd largest U.S. company, as measured by stock market value (number of shares outstanding multiplied by the stock price). That makes it larger then Amazon.com and Cisco Systems.  It doesn't rank quite so high when it comes to sales, however -- Facebook is 909th in terms of annual revenue.

Facebook has 900 million users, and that number is growing. The question is how to make more money off of them. Right now the company reports "revenue per user" of $5.11, compared with $30 per user for Google. 

But while there is much anticipation and excitement surrounding Facebook's initial public offering, it is unlikely that individual investors can actually obtain shares at the $38 offering price - generally, large institutional investors get first dibs on the offering price while private investors may end up paying a higher, market order price. The Wall Street Journal reported that trading firm Knight Capital Group had a client willing to pay $4,000 a share

Donna Summer died Thursday morning after a battle with lung cancer.

Lovingly named the "Queen of Disco," the 63-year-old was in Florida at the time of her death, according to TMZ. Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, the 5-time Grammy award winner rose to fame in the '70s with hits like "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls" and "Love to Love You Baby."

Following the news of Summer's passing, the singer's family released a statementsaying that they "are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy."

TMZ also reports that Summer was working on a forthcoming album at the time of her death.

"RIP #DonnaSummer - dined with her a few months ago, and she sang Amazing Grace to guests with stunning power. Great lady, wonderful talent," Piers Morgan tweeted about the late singer.

Summer is survived by her husband, Brooklyn Dreams co-founder Bruce Sudano, their two children -- Brooklyn and Amanda -- and her daughter, Mimi, from a previous marriage.

Homelessness is decreasing in Michigan, according to a new report released by a public-private coalition dedicated to helping homeless people find housing.

Michigan's Campaign to End Homelessness found there were 6,143 fewer Michigan residents who were homeless for any part of 2011 than who were homeless during 2010.

The report found that about 94,000 people in Michigan were homeless in 2011, compared to a little over 100,000 in 2010.

"It's a significant change in that it's the first decrease we've seen in a number of years," said Eric Hufnagel, executive director of the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, which serves as a central clearinghouse for the state's HMIS data.

"We've seen the trend go upwards for a number of years due to the state's economic downturn." He added Michigan's housing crisis had also been a reason for the high numbers.

HMIS data obtained from the Homeless Action Network of Detroit found there were 19,213 total homeless people in the cities of Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park in 2011, a decrease of 5 percent from 2010.

Hufnagel said the recent revitalization of Michigan's economy had helped bring numbers down.

But while homelessness may be decreasing across the state, the numbers of Michigan residents living in poverty are increasing. MLive reports that Michigan's poverty raterose from 13.5 percent in 2009 to 16.8 percent in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the state's highest numbers since 1984.

According to Hufnagel, agencies have made efforts to get people into homes rather than shelters.

"Money is being used more effectively by agencies and communities," he said. "Organizations are working together in particular counties to address the issue of homelessness."

Families were the group with the biggest declines in homelessness, with an 8.7 percent decline. The amount of single individuals who were homeless fell 3.2 percent.

According to the report the decrease affected most of the state, with homelessness falling in six of Michigan's eight regions. The most significant decreases were 18.8 percent in South Central Michigan, 11.8 percent in West Central Michigan and 10.4 percent in the Upper Peninsula.

The data also showed that, during the last three years, 70 percent of those who made use of homeless shelters in the state did not return to them once they left.

Governor Granholm launched Michigan's Campaign to End Homelessness in 2006 as a 10-year effort to end homelessness in the state. The campaign includes over 60 partner organizations.

For more information visit www.thecampaigntoendhomelessness.org.

(CNN) -- Just over two weeks after the fatal shooting, and less than a month before an arrest was made, police in Sanford, Florida, urged prosecutors to take George Zimmerman into custody after arguing his killing of Trayvon Martin was "ultimately avoidable."

This disclosure came out Thursday, part of a wealth of information released that is related to the case, including the medical's examiner's finding that the 17-year-old Martin had traces of drugs in his system in an autopsy conducted hours after his death.

Overall, the newly released material paints the most complete picture yet of how investigators built the case, as well as its complexity. The police perspective was most succinctly stated in a March 13 "capias request" -- a request that someone be taken into custody -- sent to the state's attorney. It speaks to the fact that Zimmerman ignored a police dispatcher's advice not to chase Martin, as well as his communications with Martin prior to the shooting.

New documents shed light on Trayvon Martin killing

"The encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman, if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement, or conversely if he had identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen and initiated dialog (sic) in an effort to dispel each party's concern" the request said. "There is no indication that Trayvon Martin was involved in any criminal activity."

In his 911 call just before the shooting, Zimmerman had speculated that the teen looked like he was "up to no good or he's on drugs or something."

Martin's blood contained THC, which is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, according to autopsy results released Thursday. The autopsy was conducted February 27, the day after the teenager was shot dead.

Toxicology tests found elements of the drug in the teenager's chest blood -- 1.5 nanograms per milliliter of one type (THC), as well as 7.3 nanograms of another type (THC-COOH) -- according to the medical examiner's report. There also was a presumed positive test of cannabinoids in Martin's urine, according to the medical examiner's report. It was not immediately clear how significant these amounts were.

No precise levels on the urine were released.

Dr. Michael Policastro, a toxicologist, cautioned against reading too much into the blood THC levels, adding that one cannot make a direct correlation between those findings and a level of intoxication.

He also noted levels of THC, which can linger in a person's system for days, can spike after death in certain areas of the body because of redistribution.

And Dr. Drew Pinsky, an addiction specialist who hosts a show on CNN's sister network HLN, added that marijuana typically does not make users more aggressive.

Concentrations of THC routinely rise to 100 to 200 ng/ml after marijuana use, though it typically falls to below 5 ng/ml within three hours of it being smoked, according to information on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website.

While some states have zero-tolerance policies for any drug traces for driving while impaired, others set certain benchmarks, the website of California's Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs notes. In Nevada, that equates to 2 ng/ml for THC and 5 ng/ml for THC-COOH, also known as marijuana metabolite. The cutoff level in Ohio is 2 ng/ml for THC and 50 ng/ml for THC-COOH.

According to the medical examiner's report, which was one of several documents on the case released Thursday by the office of special prosecutor Angela Corey, Martin died from a gunshot wounded to chest fired from "intermediate range," within 36 inches.

The autopsy report lists the manner of death as a homicide.

What happened that night?

Zimmerman, 28, is charged with second-degree murder for killing Martin in the Sanford neighborhood where the African-American teen was staying.

Martin's father, Tracy, had taken his son with him to Sanford, about four hours away from the boy's home and where the father's fiance lived, after the teen was suspended for 10 days from Michael M. Krop High School in Miami.

According to records obtained by the Miami Herald, Martin had been suspended from school three times: once for writing graffiti on a door, another time for school truancy and the last time due to drug residue being found in his backpack.

Speaking of her son's suspension to CNN's Anderson Cooper, Sybrina Fulton said, "Whatever he had dealings with the school, it was not criminal, it was not violent, he's never been arrested."

Just before the shooting, Zimmerman called 911 to complain about a suspicious person in his neighborhood.

In the call Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, said he was following Martin after the teen started to run, prompting the dispatcher to tell him, "We don't need you to do that."

Zimmerman apparently disregarded that advice.

Much has been made about whether Zimmerman during that call used a racial epithet in referring to Martin. But an FBI analysis, released Thursday, determined that the word could not be definitively identified "due to weak signal level and poor recording quality."

A screaming voice could be heard on other 911 calls placed by neighbors, with some speculating those screams came from Martin and others that they belonged to Zimmerman. The FBI did not make a final determination either way, citing several reasons including the fact they came during "an extreme emotional state," there weren't enough words to make a good comparison and the sound quality was low and distant.

FBI analysis -- Zimmerman's 911 call (pdf -- strong language)

Zimmerman claimed, according a police report released earlier, that he'd been "assaulted (by Martin) and his head was struck on the pavement."

According a report from the Sanford Fire Department, released Thursday, Zimmerman had "abrasions to his forehead," "bleeding/tenderness to his nose," and a "small laceration to the back of his head" when emergency personnel arrived at the scene at 7:27 p.m., six minutes after they were first called.

By that time, Martin had no apparent pulse, according to the fire and EMS report. Emergency personnel attempted mouth-to-mask resuscitation and chest compressions, to no avail. He was pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m.

Prosecutors have said Zimmerman, who is a white Hispanic, killed the unarmed teenager unjustly after profiling him. Zimmerman, who has pleaded not guilty, has said that he shot Martin in self-defense.

The start of the trial hasn't been set.

The case put a spotlight on race relations, spurring protests nationwide and drawing prominent civil rights leaders to central Florida denouncing the actions of Sanford police and calling for Zimmerman's arrest. Special prosecutor Angela Corey announced he'd been charged on April 11, weeks after Sanford police initially declined to do so.

It also raised questions about gun laws, as well as the merits of the "Stand Your Ground" law in Florida, and similar laws in other states that allow people to use deadly force anywhere they feel a reasonable threat of serious injury or death.

CNN's Vivian Kuo and Danielle Dellorto and InSession's Jessica Thill contributed to this report.

Despite their $1.1 trillion worth of buying power, African Americans are still largely underrepresented in the business sector when it comes to ownership, accounting for just 7 percent of all businesses, according to the U.S. Census in 2007, when the entrepreneur landscape was last surveyed.

Programs like the Venture Capital Access Program (VCAP), a partnership between Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater New York (HBSAANY) and The National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) are aiming to turn the tide, however.

A report last year indicated that black-business ownership may actually be on the rise, yet still, the challenge of funding lingers.

Bloomberg Businessweek's Diane Brady looked at the impact startups can have in providing jobs and stopping the erosion of the country's middle class and offered a closer look at why the disparity exists.

Black borrowers face “a perception out there that African Americans have an inferior skill set and expectations,” argues R. Donahue “Don” Peebles, chairman and CEO of Peebles Corp., an African American real estate developer. “How do you start a business if banks won’t lend?” asks the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Smaller nonprofit players such as Seedco Financial, which extends money and technical assistance to low-income entrepreneurs, may help some deal with the funding gap.

VCAP hopes to provide some of that capital as well, linking women and diverse entrepreneurs nationwide with access to venture capital that Ed Dandridge, President and Chief Executive Officer of NAIC, says is essential to innovation and job creation.

According to a press release on the program, entrepreneurs can apply through The Marathon Foundation website at www.marathonfdn.org. VCAP applicants will be reviewed in a series of screenings conducted by the Marathon VCAP selection committee, HBSAANY, and NAIC board members. Finalists will be announced Monday, June 18th and will present their business plans to HBSAANY angel investors at a Pitch Night in New York City on Wednesday, June 27th.

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Pastor Marvin Winans' SUV remains missing as of Thursday morning and so do the men who punched, kicked and robbed the famous gospel singer.

Winans' was pumping gas Wednesday afternoon at a Detroit Citgo station on the corner of Linwood and Davison when at least two men ambushed him.

The carjackers took his deep purple Infiniti QX56 SUV, a couple hundred dollars in cash and his watch.

The legendary pastor is well known in Detroit and for his family's gospel music. Winans recently gained attention when he gave the eulogy at Whitney Houston's funeral . He told 7 Action News that he did not believe his attackers recognized him.

Pastor Winans said he felt something was wrong when he came out of the gas station's convenience store.

He said several men followed him out and assaulted him while he was pumping gas.

They robbed him, punched him and even ripped off his pants. Pastor Winans says he's OK, but is more saddened that it has come to this.

“This kind of nonsense just has to stop," he said Wednesday afternoon. "It’s just the savageness of what’s happening in the streets. We just have to take a look at ourselves and say this has to stop,” said Pastor Winans.

Winans went to a hospital Wednesday night to have his hand examined following the incident.

His left hand was bandaged as Pastor Winans spoke to WXYZ's Carolyn Clifford during an interview late Wednesday night.

"Given the gravity of the situation, it was minor," said Winans of the injuries he sustained to his hand. He said his finger would remain bandaged for about eight weeks.

Winans said he was disturbed that this happened "in the middle of the afternoon" and, at first, "nobody came to help."

In February, security cameras at another Detroit gas station recorded video of an 86-year-old man who was carjacked as others passed by and ignored him .

"Your life has to be bigger than sitting in a gas station and robbing innocent people," Winans said in a message to his carjackers during the interview Wednesday night.

Earlier this week, Detroit police told 7 Action News about a new trend in carjacking incidents in the city. They said some carjackers were using prostitutes to setup and distract victims .

Grosse Pointe Shores residents will be asked in August to vote about whether they would like their city to secede from Wayne County. Their decision will guide the city council as to whethera committee devoted to studying a move to Macomb County should continue to pursue the idea.

The discussion began as an update from the council's Move to Macomb Committee liaison, Dan Schulte, and evolved into a vote from the council to garner a decision from the city's own residents.

Schulte said the study has shown that the move would save residents money and potentially improve county services. The estimated savings is about 4 mills, which currently equals about $1.2 million for the city. The savings for a resident owning a home valued at $100,000 would be about $440 annually, Schulte said. For a $1 million home, the savings would be about $4,400 annually, he said.

Councilmen Alexander Ajlouni and Bruce Bisballe questioned why Wayne County residents would ever agree to let the Shores secede considering it is wealthiest city within Wayne County and the largest source of revenue.

Schulte was not dissuaded by their thoughts but said historically when a city has wanted to leave one county to join another, voters have allowed it to happen. Bisballe said he does not believe such a request to Wayne County voters has a chance.

Other council members began questioning what Wayne County voters would be told to persuade them to let the Shores go and whether Macomb County would come through on their promises as outlined thus far in the study. Schulte said he did not believe such a move would require a campaign but councilman Robert Gesell disagreed, saying he believes something of this magnitude would require a hefty campaign including television commercials.

"Sometimes you can cause more harm by trying to oversell something," Schulte said.

Schulte wanted to put it before Wayne County residents for a vote but other council members felt it was more appropriate to find out what the majority of Shores residents want first.

Councilwoman Kay Felt said before such a decision is put before the entire county, she wants to know what how everyone in the city feels about making such a move. Gesell echoed her thoughts.

Schools were a major factor in even establishing the Move to Macomb Committee, when the former council asked the city's attorney, Mark McInerney, to check into whether such a move would change the status being within the Grosse Pointe Public School System.

The answer, shared months ago and repeated tonight, is the district would not change so for those students who currently attend Grosse Pointe Public Schools, they would continue doing so even after the city joined Macomb County.

McInerney, who also represents the school district, said for a district to even consider redrawing its boundaries would be a lengthy, laborious process. Residents of the Shores who would still live within the district would also be allowed to vote on school related issues, he said, despite living in a different county.

The move is something that requires the majority votes from each counties' registered voters, meaning Wayne County registered voters would have to approve the Shores exit and Macomb County registered voters would have to approve the Shores addition.

Resident Gloria Anton, who is on the study committee, addressed the council and said her work showed the Shores contributes $10 million in revenue to Wayne County but county officials cannot provide information about what services they provide in return.

Anton also questioned why any Shores resident would oppose such a move, explaining saving money is appealing to everyone.

Immediately behind her, however, was resident Jim Jacobs, who spoke against it. Although it has been stated now that Grosse Pointe Public School district lines would not be redrawn, Jacobs believes it is not out of the realm of possibilities once the Shores would officially be part of Macomb. That is not a risk he's willing to take, he explained.

The chatter among those attending the meeting Tuesday competed with the council's discussion, to the point that Mayor Ted Kedzierski had to use his gavel a few times to quite the crowd. Other attendees also asked some to quiet down.

Ajlouni said he was not prepared to vote on the issue Tuesday. The topic was originally on the agenda as an update from the committee, not as an action item or recommendation from the committee.

Kedzierski began trying to table the topic until the next meeting but Schulte then said he did not want to leave the meeting without a motion to get it on a ballot for voters.

Then discussion morphed into how such a move could be accomplished without the vote of all of Wayne County. Bisballe suggested that the committee approach lawmakers and state legal officials about getting the law changed to reflect a choice of a city's residents when the city straddles county lines.

There are very few cities within the state that straddle two county lines as the Shores does, which worked in their favor when attempting to keep their municipal court/judge, Bisballe said, explaining it could be used to address this unique situation as well.

Ultimately, the council voted unanimously to put an "advisory vote" on the August primary ballot for Grosse Pointe Shores residents only to say whether they are interested in leaving Wayne County and joining Macomb County.

They also approved a motion by Bisballe to have the study committee host at least two public meetings between now and the August primary for the benefit of residents to provide them information so they may be informed voters on the topic. The motion included that representatives from Wayne and Macomb counties will be invited to share their selling points of why Grosse Pointe Shores should be located in their respective county.

The date and times of those meetings are to be posted, according to their approval.

There are a host of additional issues that would need to be considered, including the maintenance and care of the seawall in Lake St. Clair, which is currently handled by Wayne County. Mayor Ted Kedzierski said he would like to know if Macomb County is going to take on that responsibility.

There would also be other, smaller yet time intensive changes residents would have to make, such as altering wills and a host of other personal documents, Bisballe said.

At a time when the city is financially strapped, revenues are down, and crime is spiraling to unprecedented levels, Detroit is set to take another financial hit. This time not from the city itself, but from neighboring Ohio where the push to establish four casinos there is going to chip away at the city’s coffers.

            Our leaders are noticeably silent on this issue that will seriously affect jobs in Detroit —

 not that they can do much about it because we live in and acknowledge the free market enterprise principles that allow for competition in the marketplace.

            The bare fact, according to McKinsey & Co., is that with the existence of the Ohio casinos, Detroit would stand to lose $30 million in annual casino tax revenue by 2015.

Why?

Because a significant number of patrons of the casinos in Detroit — MGM, Greektown and Motor City — come from places like Toledo, Ohio. With Ohio now competing against Detroit, those patrons would no longer see the need to drive the distance to Detroit to gamble.

 The Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland opened on Monday, the Hollywood casino in Toledo will open May 29 and two more are set to open in Cincinnati.

            For Detroit, no matter where we stand on the morality of gambling, all three casinos create jobs for residents of the city and contribute to the treasury.

             Just last year, all three casinos contributed $177 million to the city’s $1.2 billion general fund, and if that amount is now slashed by $30 million, it means Detroit would have to cut or reduce services.

This is a crucial economic issue for the city, and could create more headaches as the city attempts to move forward. The unemployment numbers are deplorable as is the case with urban centers around the nation, with more than 50 percent of young Black males being unemployed.

And anyone who thinks the high rate of crime in Detroit is not tied to the economic climate we find ourselves in is living on another planet.

While the bleeding economic atmosphere is not a justifiable reason for crime, including armed robbery and selling drugs, and commiting acts of violence, the reality is that some of the young men involved in heinous crimes are not only acting out of desperation, but out of an economic need, even holding their victims at gunpoint at places where a lot of financial transactions takes place,  such as gas stations and shopping malls.

Because they do not see any alternative, they take to guns and drugs, literally transforming some of our neighborhood streets into war zones. Some of the culprits are repeat offenders, others are young people pressured by their peers to take to the streets as a rite of passage as opposed to being meaningfully engaged in activities that will help them become productive, despite the absence of employment.

A dire economy makes matters worse because it creates a “survival of the fittest” climate in which too many of our young people are turning to criminal activity instead of interpreting it as a climate to make use of their talents in a way that allows them to find a sense of achievement now and assures their futures.

This is the reality we live in. This is the truth that Detroit must face.

Abraham Joshua Herschel reminded us that “in a democracy, some are guilty but all are responsible,” and in this current tough economic climate, we are all responsible for the crisis. Our leaders cannot abdicate themselves from an economic dispensation where jobs are hard to come by, and its relation to the high ratio of crime been committed in Detroit.

 They now have to be creative and discover how to widen the city’s revenue base.

When the city starts losing millions of dollars in casino tax it would, among other things, mean job losses. The dependents of those employees will feel the pinch including their children. It would also mean fewer people visiting Detroit and patronizing the entertainment centers, restaurants and everything else the city has to offer.

Certainly, the challenge for the three casinos in Detroit will be to become more competitive as Ohio competes for the same clients that made Detroit the Las Vegas of the Midwest.

The fact of the matter is that Detroit will have to start making projections about the city’s economic future and how to be prepared when bad news such as this comes.

Unfortunately we are very reactive, and not proactive. The writing was already on the wall about the casinos in Ohio.

Now, some are beginning to feel the heat after a national study validated the fears of some about why Ohio will undercut Detroit and underscores why this moment  in the era of a consent agreement is even more important.

            As Detroit goes through a chapter of financial surgery with the appointment of Jack Martin as chief financial officer, along with the Financial Advisory Board, the mayor and City Council, we hope that the Ohio situation will prove that we can be a community that thinks prudently and makes plans so as to be prepared when unexpected things happen in the future.

            Dr. Benjamin Mays, former president of Morehouse College and a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., once said, “The man who outthinks you, rules you.”

            That is what Ohio is doing to Detroit.

            What will be our city’s response?

            Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle and the author of a six-part series on the Obama presidency, including “Obama and Black Loyalty,” published last year. His latest book is ”Obama and Christian Loyalty” with an epilogue written by Bob Weiner, former White House spokesman. His upcoming books in 2012 are  “Obama and Jewish Loyalty” and ”Obama and Business Loyalty.”  Listen to him every Thursday morning on WDET 101.9 FM Detroit and every Sunday, 9 to 10 p.m., on “The Obama Watch” program on WLIB 1190 AM-New York. E-mail  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .