The Free Press came up with a list of the top stories in Detroit for the year 2009. I reviewed the list and thought it was great. So enjoy...
NEW MAYOR: Out with the old ...
Detroit voters said good-bye in November to the scandal-plagued era of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, electing Dave Bing as mayor for a 4-year term and posting five new members to the City Council.
The council's new faces, including openly gay former newsman Charles Pugh, replace the likes of Monica Conyers, who pleaded guilty to bribery this year, and Martha Reeves, the Motown star who called it quits and hosted a going-away bash for herself -- gifts accepted.
CORRUPTION PROBE: 'Do it, baby!'
On June 26, a normally fiery and sometimes bombastic councilwoman stood before Judge Avern Cohn in U.S. District Court in Detroit and admitted, almost inaudibly, that she had accepted bribes.
This wasn't the Monica Conyers of Shrek fame, who once dared then-council President Ken Cockrel Jr. to "Do it, baby" when he threatened to adjourn a meeting during an outburst in which she likened him to the large green fictional movie character. This was Conyers becoming the biggest catch of the year in the feds' ongoing public corruption investigation.
The wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers was one of 11 people charged so far in the continuing investigation, which also netted Kandia Milton, the former deputy mayor under Kwame Kilpatrick and one of Kilpatrick's childhood friends. Milton pleaded guilty this month to bribery conspiracy.
FINANCIAL MANAGER: School shake-up
Former Washington, D.C., Deputy Mayor Robert Bobb blew into town in March and quickly gained accolades statewide for public promises to balance the Detroit Public Schools' budget, jail crooks and reform schools.
As emergency financial manager, he fired principals, went after employees cheating the system and convinced voters to ante up $500 million for construction.
He had to admit he couldn't balance the budget -- the $219-million deficit was tougher than his no-nonsense grit -- and he took some heat for budgeting $93 million for outside consultants. But there's always next year -- the governor promised to appoint him for an additional year, until March 2011.
RESTITUTION: Kilpatrick's money
Months after his release from jail and the pursuit of a new life in a mini-mansion outside Dallas, ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick found a way to keep Detroit near and dear: by wrangling with authorities over the rate of his restitution to the City of Detroit.
Kilpatrick's insistence that he had a mere $6 to spare per month toward his $1-million agreed-upon debt landed him a few new court dates.
In fact, his restitution hearing spanned two months at the end of the year and will go into January.
Meanwhile, revelations in court from the former hizzoner on the witness stand ranged from his claim that he did not know whether his wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, had a job to his disclosure that four mighty Detroit businessmen lent him $240,000 to embarrassing personal details such as paying $15,000 for his wife to have cosmetic surgery.
He'll learn in January what the judge thinks of all this.
MONROE MYSTERY: Nevaeh's killing
Hundreds of people searched for her, borne by relentless local and national cable news coverage and the hideousness of someone snatching a 5-year-old from outside her mother's apartment on May 24 in Monroe.
And when two fishermen found the body of Nevaeh Buchanan 10 days later, the news grew more sickening.
Whoever killed her buried her in concrete, possibly while still alive, in a shallow grave next to the River Raisin in Raisinville Township.
Nevaeh's killer still walks free.
IN THE LEGISLATURE: Smoking ban
After much delay and gnashing of stained teeth, the legislature in December finally approved a statewide smoking ban, meaning if you light up in most bars, restaurants and other public areas after May 1, you're breaking the law.
By the by, the ban as approved does not apply to the gaming floors of Detroit's three casinos, which lobbied heavily that if their smoke-filled rooms were included, every last one of their customers would bolt for American Indian-run casinos.
U-M ALLEGATIONS: Rich Rod under scrutiny
In August, a Free Press investigation quoted current and former University of Michigan football players as saying coach Rich Rodriguez worked them beyond NCAA limits. An internal investigation launched, and the NCAA joined in, even announcing a few weeks later that they'd found enough smoke to keep looking for fire.
The response to the Free Press investigation was loud and hurtful from Rich Rod supporters -- but the invective died down dramatically as the Wolverines' losses mounted on the field.
TRAIN-CAR CRASH: Deadly decision
On July 9, a 19-year-old driver with a suspended license tried to beat a train on Hannan Road in Canton, swerving past a stopped vehicle and around crossing gates, only to find instantaneous death. An Amtrak passenger train plowed into the car and dragged it nearly a mile.
Not only did the driver die, but all four of his passengers. The victims ranged from age 14 to 21.
A railroad video camera captured the horror, and the widely viewed tape caught the driver clearly at fault. The crash happened in an instant, but its impact lingered on.
GREAT LAKES: Crazy, cartwheeling carp
Like the Y2K paranoia before them, Asian carp tantalized us this year with worry for our Great Lakes.
Whether the carp turn out to be an exaggerated concern remains to be seen. But the possibility of the alien invaders snaking their way into Lake Michigan led Illinois authorities to poison a stretch of river in December, killing tens of thousands of fish, but only one confirmed bighead carp.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox even sued to have Illinois close off possible routes for the fish into the big lake. Carp haters say the big nasties could damage the Great Lakes fishery with their voracious appetites.
You may remember these fish from their photos: They jump out of the water, sometimes by the dozens, when boats pass by. At the Redneck Carp Tournament on the Illinois River, contestants in boats earn points by smashing the fishies out the air with baseball bats.
