Latest news with #Livonia
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Associated Press
Express Wash Concepts Accelerates Detroit Metro Market Growth; Announces 8th Clean Express Auto Wash Grand Opening
Free Signature Washes May 30 – June 8 at 20340 Farmington Road in Livonia COLUMBUS, Ohio and DETROIT, May 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Express Wash Concepts (EWC) today announced the grand opening of its 8th metro Detroit Clean Express Auto Wash located at 20340 Farmington Road in Livonia. Express Wash Concepts currently operates 118 express wash locations across Pittsburgh, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus and Hampton Roads. Looking ahead, more than 25 new sites are set to break ground or open by the end of 2025— including five throughout Detroit. 'As a homegrown, locally operated company, we're proud to make a lasting impact with each grand opening— helping our customers protect their vehicles, supporting our team members, and giving back through meaningful community partnerships,' said John Roush, Founder and CEO of Express Wash Concepts. 'As we continue our Detroit metro area growth, we remain focused on delivering industry-leading value, outstanding customer care, and providing an exceptional wash experience that exceeds expectations.' From May 30 -June 8, 2025, the Livonia Clean Express will celebrate its grand opening with all customers receiving a free 'Ceramic 4 Ultra' signature wash ($22 value). Customers can also join the Wash Smart Unlimited Club and receive 50% off their first three months— plus, for every new sign-up, Clean Express will donate $10 to Elmwood Blessing Box, a local nonprofit providing discreet access to food and essential items for neighbors in need. Additional Clean Express grand opening promotions include a $50 Clean Express gift card for $25 with all proceeds donated back to Elmwood Blessing Box. Once purchased at the Livonia wash, gift cards are redeemable at any Clean Express or EWC location. Clean Express offers state-of-the-art wash equipment, complimentary professional grade vacuums, industry-leading customer service, with all washes backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. The popular Wash Smart Unlimited Club enables members to easily clean and protect their vehicles, while enjoying the convenience and value of truly unlimited washing at any Express Wash Concepts location. About Express Wash Concepts: Express Wash Concepts (EWC) operates 118 award-winning, express car wash locations across six states under the following brands: Moo Moo Express Car Wash, Flying Ace Express Car Wash, Clean Express Auto Wash, Green Clean Express Auto Wash and Bee Clean Express Car Wash. EWC brands feature fast, high quality and environmentally friendly express tunnel wash experiences and free vacuums. The company's popular Wash Smart Unlimited Club offers members the convenience and value of truly unlimited washing at any location. For more information, please visit View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Express Wash Concepts
CBS News
19-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Bond proposal aims to replace decades-old Livonia library
If you've been to the Bennett Library in Livonia, Michigan, you might notice not much has changed since it first opened in the mid-1980s. While the city could spend more to keep the building around for a few more decades, it's exploring ways to build a new one that would bring it into the 21st century. There are talks about funding a brand new library with an upcoming bond vote in August. "We typically go to Redford Library because they just did this big renovation and the kids love it so much," said Livonia resident Ashley Cooper. Even though Cooper grew up going to the local library and even lives closer to it, her kids prefer the newer one down the road in Redford. "They also have tunnels and a play section where they have a turf. They even have a rock-climbing wall, and it's pretty cool. It's all decorated," she said. Cooper says libraries do much more now than when she was a kid growing up in Livonia, and those working here agree. Unfortunately, they can only do so much with the building designed more than 40 years ago. "Just walking around and trying to find an outlet to plug in your device is going to be very challenging," said Livonia library director Kristen Edson. Those challenges keep them from being able to evolve with the community they serve, according to Edson. "Things like podcasting studios, 3D printers, laser printers that requires a lot of power in a specific room. You need ventilation that's appropriate for the space as well," she said. From an engineering point of view, a new building might be a better option than trying to improve the current one. "You're going to spend a lot of money making it passable, but for a little more money, you get something that's a little more compliant to exactly what you want it to be," said assistant City of Livonia engineer David Lear. A bond vote on August 5th could make that a reality. If it passes, Livonia taxpayers could see an average increase of roughly $12 per month to fund the $150-million bond over the next 25 years. In return, they would get a new library, a new police headquarters, upgrades to several fire stations, and more. The city already has ideas to combine the potential new library with a new city hall building, but they want to hear from residents about exactly what goes in it. You can tell them what you think during an open house they're planning for June, with that big vote once again happening on Aug. 5.
CBS News
12-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Quality Metalcraft reports 41 permanent layoffs at its Livonia site
Tariff deal between US and China; Dundee High wrestling team under investigation; more top stories Tariff deal between US and China; Dundee High wrestling team under investigation; more top stories Tariff deal between US and China; Dundee High wrestling team under investigation; more top stories Quality Metalcraft is reporting that 41 of its 351 employees in Livonia, Michigan, are subject to permanent layoff. The details of the layoff were related in a WARN Act notice filed with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. The layoffs began April 21. "The company has sought to find solutions that would allow it to continue its business operations without a plant closing or mass layoff," the notice that was filed May 8 said. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, also known as WARN act, requires companies going through mass layoffs and / or site closures to issue advance public notice to the state's labor department, should that step meet certain requirements for the size of company or number of people involved. Quality Metalcraft on Schoolcraft Road is involved with motor vehicle parts manufacturing.
Washington Post
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
New independent movement wants to deny both parties a House majority
LIVONIA, Mich. — During focus-group sessions in this bellwether state, two groups of swing voters were asked last month to give an instant assessment of the two political parties. The Democratic Party came under attack: 'old, slow … lost … a joke … rudderless.' The image of today's Republican Party wasn't much better, viewed largely through President Donald Trump: 'far right, no middle … a joke, too … united … delusional.' Behind the screen that blocked her from the participants, Lura Forcum nodded with approval. As president of the Independent Center, Forcum is leading a bid to rally voters who dislike both major parties around alternative candidates who will appeal to the vast middle. A former marketing executive, Forcum has joined up with several disaffected former Republican-leaning operatives to do intense research on voter attitudes. Their next step will be to recruit candidates willing to take long-shot bets at winning House seats and upending a political system that's been built around a two-party Congress since just after the Civil War. The sessions, conducted over 90 minutes each in mid-April, showed these voters would like more options. They overwhelmingly voted for either Trump or Kamala Harris, but not out of abiding respect toward either major party. 'You have two actors who've insulated themselves from competition, but what it's allowed them to do is stop responding to the market. So, of course, it's going to invite in a competitor,' Forcum said in a follow-up call Thursday. Her cohorts, Adam Brandon and Brett Loyd, are the top political strategists. Brandon served as president of FreedomWorks until last May, when he had to shutter the libertarian-aligned organization that lost relevance in the Trump era. Loyd, who once served on Trump's polling team, now runs a nonpartisan polling and data firm while overseeing the research and focus groups for the Independent Center. Their objective is both relatively small and, in terms of impact, potentially massive. Rather than trying to run a third-party presidential campaign that would require billions of dollars and untold resources to get ballot access in all 50 states, they hope to win up to a handful of House races with centrist candidates who will not accept support from either major party. In this era of such narrow margins, that might deny Republicans and Democrats the 218 votes needed for the majority and create a protracted negotiation for a coalition government. 'We're going to that new center. So I will say that people are scared of this being a spoiler. Yes, we're trying to wreck the system. We're trying to disrupt the entire duopoly,' Brandon said during Thursday's video call. For three straight elections, the House majority has not topped 222 seats. Currently, House Republicans hold just 220 seats. Picking off three to five seats might be enough to block either party from the minimum needed for the majority. Brandon envisions a House with a small bloc of independents who can negotiate and determine which party gets the majority, based on the independents' demands. 'We want a debt commission. We want to start studying this issue. We want to start backing this type of reform,' he said. The three understand the uphill nature of their task. Not since 1990, when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) won his first congressional race, has a new candidate won a House race as an independent. And for more than 140 years, either Democrats or Republicans emerged from elections with a clear House majority. But Loyd noted that the House provides so many possible openings, unlike a presidential race or a massive Senate campaign. 'There's 435 seats in the House. We've got 435 chances,' he said. Their ripest targets would be the highly educated suburban districts that have swung back and forth over the past 15 years. But some solidly Republican or Democratic districts, with incumbents who haven't worked hard in an election in a long time, also offer opportunities. The most competitive House races in a midterm election draw roughly 300,000 voters, with fewer than 250,000 casting ballots in noncompetitive races with seemingly entrenched incumbents. Those latter races also see as little as $1 million in total spending. Their pitch is either incredibly naive or ahead of the times, in terms of campaign finance laws and technology. They only want their candidates to raise enough money to hire a few top aides. All other functions of the campaign will be handled through a super PAC (somehow no one else bought the rights to 'Independent PAC' until now) that will fund voter mobilization and advertising. And they want their candidates to emerge as late as possible in terms of filing deadlines to get on ballots, a type of political sneak attack for which the traditional parties are not preparing. The Independent Center doesn't have a single galvanizing issue. Ross Perot's Reform Party movement in the 1990s grew out of concerns about the national debt, while the Republican Party emerged in the 1850s with its antislavery agenda. They intend to rely heavily on AI to mine issue trends in districts to find the right issues to move independents. This agenda is more focused on a broken political system. With so much voter cynicism, Loyd imagines how one of his candidates could mock the other two major-party nominees in a general election debate. 'Wouldn't it be great if the candidate could win without raising millions and millions and billions of dollars from lobby groups and special interests? Wouldn't that be great?' Loyd proclaimed. Exit polls showed a surge in voters calling themselves independent, growing from 26 percent in 2020 to 34 percent in 2024. Ideologically, moderates are now the dominant force in politics: 42 percent of voters considered themselves moderate last year, compared with 35 percent identifying as conservative and 23 percent liberal. Recent conventional wisdom has focused on the concept that most independents regularly vote with one major party or the other, with less than 10 percent of all voters truly being up for grabs in a close campaign. Forcum doesn't buy that prospect. With a PhD in consumer psychology and years in academia, Forcum believes both political parties have ignored the growing bloc of independents while devoting most of their budgets to negative ads that appeal to their most faithful supporters. 'We're leaving out all these people in the middle who dropped out of politics because it is unpleasant, absurd and inhumane,' she said. 'And if we're offering them a path to political engagement that's more pleasant than that, I think that we have a huge opportunity. I don't think it's nearly as crazy as it otherwise would sound.' A year ago, Brandon spoke at a political conference aligned with traditional Reagan-Bush conservatism. He told the crowd that they had lost to the MAGA movement, that it had fully taken over the Grand Old Party. 'It was literally like I killed a cat in the room,' he said. 'I came off the stage and not one person wanted to talk to me.' Except Forcum, who walked up to him and found a kindred spirit. Loyd also had his own disillusionment with traditional politics. In 2016, he was flying high with Kellyanne Conway's polling company, correctly predicting a Trump surge that propelled him to an upset victory. Three years later, when the reelection team's polling leaked, showing Trump headed for defeat to Joe Biden, he got fired. 'You're catering to the fundraising crowd. And it's truly childish,' Loyd said of polling for traditional party candidates. Their target audience is younger voters, particularly in the millennial and Gen Z groups. They have grown up in a culture where they can choose anything to watch or listen to, not constrained by what the main TV and radio stations are offering at that moment. 'If you're under 50, you get it,' Brandon said, describing how his pitches to donors go. In Livonia, about 20 miles west of downtown Detroit, Loyd questioned two groups of 10 voters, only two over age 50. While nine voted for Trump and five voted for Harris, the others either did not vote or voted for a third-party option. Loyd asked them about next year's Senate race in Michigan. Only one said, right now, he would support the Republican. Two were undecided, and two said they would vote for the Democrat. Five said, if the right candidate appeared, they wanted to vote for an independent. Now this new group needs to find candidates and prove independents can win. 'We have got to get it right once or twice, and that's all it's going take,' Brandon said. 'Prove the point, and then it's going to be a groundswell.'
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
AQ's Buttles is Player of the Week
Kendall Buttles of Aquinas tossed two no-hitters and totaled 50 strikeouts through four games last week for the Li'l Irish. On Wednesday, she struck out 12 on her way to a no-hitter against Livonia. Then on Friday, she picked up 14 strikeouts in a win over Pal-Mac. In a Saturday double header, the eighth grader had a 12-strikeout game against Hornell in Game 1 to lift Aquinas to the win. In Game 2, she earned her second no-hitter of the week with another 12-strikeout performance against Marion/Gananda. Buttles has led the Li'l Irish on a four-game winning streak, making her our Player of the Week. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
