Author

Lee DeVito
Leyland "Lee" DeVito grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, where he read Metro Times religiously due to teenaged-induced boredom. He became a contributing writer for Metro Times in 2009, and Editor in Chief in 2016. In addition to writing, he also supplies occasional illustrations. His writing has been published in Metro Times, Hour Detroit magazine, Vice, In These Times, and New City.
Updated COVID-19 vaccines available in Michigan next week
By: Lee DeVito - September 15, 2023
An updated vaccine formulated to protect against new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 will be available starting next week, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) said Thursday. The news comes as COVID cases have ticked upwards in the U.S. in recent weeks, and days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized […]
Lee DeVito: WOOD-TV asks reporters to tone down Pride Month coverage for conservative viewers
By: Lee DeVito - June 16, 2023
So far, Pride Month is off to a pretty bad start in Michigan. We’re only halfway through it and already all-Muslim City Council of Hamtramck voted unanimously to ban Pride flags from flying on city property, while someone swapped the books in the LGBTQ+ display at Ferndale’s public library with religious materials. Now, we’ve learned that Grand Rapids […]
Allen Park Starbucks workers unanimously vote to unionize
By: Lee DeVito - April 6, 2023
Workers at a Downriver Starbucks store have unanimously voted to form a union, 12-0. The vote from workers at the store at 23005 Outer Dr. in Allen Park occurred Wednesday, making it the 13th Michigan store to join the Starbucks Workers United campaign. Allen Park store files to be Michigan’s 13th unionized Starbucks “We at […]
Detroit’s Wayne State University announces free tuition for families earning less than $70K
By: Lee DeVito - March 15, 2023
Michigan families with annual incomes of $70,000 or less are now eligible for the “Wayne State Guarantee,” a new program that offers a tuition-free degree from Detroit’s Wayne State University with zero out-of-pocket expenses. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined WSU officials on Monday to announce the program, set to begin in fall 2023. “Students in Michigan […]
Military shoots down unidentified object over Lake Huron
By: Lee DeVito - February 13, 2023
According to officials, a U.S. F-16 jet on Sunday shot down an unidentified flying object over Lake Huron. The object is the fourth “high-altitude object” decommissioned by Air Force jets in North America in recent days, following incidents in airspace over Alaska, Canada’s northern Yukon territory and South Carolina. “Our national security and safety is […]
A Michigan QAnon follower shot his wife and daughter
By: Lee DeVito - September 13, 2022
The daughter of a Michigan man who allegedly shot his family with a shotgun on Sunday, killing his wife and dog and wounding his other daughter, says his personality changed after he became a follower of the QAnon conspiracy theory. The man, 53-year-old Igor Lanis of Walled Lake, was shot dead by police after he […]
The unvaccinated make up the vast majority of Michigan’s COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths
By: Lee DeVito - February 7, 2022
COVID-19 remains largely a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” The overwhelming majority of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in Michigan are among the unvaccinated, the state’s health department said Thursday. According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), from Jan. 15, 2021, to Jan. 14, 2022, unvaccinated Michiganders accounted for 77.6% of COVID […]
Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of defrauding DeVos family, others
By: Lee DeVito - January 5, 2022
Elizabeth Holmes became the youngest female billionaire in America, thanks to her Silicon Valley startup, Theranos, which was once valued at $9 billion. The company promised to revolutionize medicine by running hundreds of diagnostic tests using just a finger prick’s worth of blood, but there was just one teensy little problem — the technology never […]
Parents of 15-year-old Oxford shooter suspect charged after ignoring son’s disturbing behavior
By: Lee DeVito - December 3, 2021
Updated, 4:03, 12/3/21 The parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old accused of firing a gun at Oxford High on Tuesday, have been charged for their role in the deadly school shooting that killed at least four and injured seven. James and Jennifer Crumbley were each charged with four counts of homicide involuntary manslaughter after ignoring […]
Michigan native and journalist Danny Fenster is freed from Myanmar prison
By: Lee DeVito - November 15, 2021
In an abrupt reversal of fortune, metro Detroit native Danny Fenster, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison with hard labor in Myanmar on Friday, was set free on Monday. According to a statement from his family, Fenster is now on his way back to Huntington Woods, where his family lives. “We are overjoyed […]
Shirkey says he’ll crash Mackinac conference despite vaccine mandate, spouts COVID misinformation
By: Lee DeVito - August 18, 2021
Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) says he plans to attend the annual Mackinac Policy Conference, even though this year’s conference requires COVID-19 vaccination — and Shirkey refuses to get vaccinated. The Republican made the comments Monday during an interview on “The Bart Hawley Show” on Jackson’s JTV. “They have this crazy restriction that […]