Top stories
The top Michigan news stories of 2006 included:
- Jennifer Granholm's reelection as governor, defeating Republican millionaire Dick DeVos by a margin of 56% to 42%;
- Michigan voters approved Porposal 2, a ballot proposal limiting university and government affirmative action programs;
- 50 troops from Michigan died in the Iraq War in 2006;
- The death of Gerald Ford;
- The trial and conviction of Mark Unger of Huntington Woods for murdering his wife Florence Unger;
- Seven-year old Maddie Trudel's battle with bone cancer ending with her death on November 26;
- The murder of a New Baltimore couple and a Flint man by parolee Patrick Selepak and his girlfriend Samantha Bachynski;
- The murder of Ricky Holland by foster-adoptive parents Tim and Lisa Holland of Jackson;
- The growth of deaths from fentanyl;
- The two-week search in May for Jimmy Hoffa's body at the Hidden Dreams Farm in Milford Township;
- Criminal charges for willful neglect against two Detroit 911 operators for smissing a young boy's calls as pranks after his mother collapsed and died;
- Detroit teachers strike lasting 16 days in August and September;
- The accidental swap of identification of two woman in an April 26 van wreck, one dead (Laura VanRyn), the other (Whitney Cerak) in hospital, with the VanRyn parents spending weeks praying bedside and reading to the woman they thought was their daughter, only to learn that their daughter was dead.
The top sports stories of 2006, as ranked by the Detroit Free Press, were:
1. The Detroit Tigers compiled a 95–67 record, won the American League penant, and lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 World Series.
2. The death of Bo Schembechler on November 17, the eve of the Ohio State game.
3. The Michigan Wolverines compiled an 11–21 record in the regular season, losing to Ohio State with the teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2, and lost to USC in the 2007 Rose Bowl.
4. The July 3 retirement of Steve Yzerman after 22 seasons and three Stanley Cups.
5. Super Bowl XL was played at Ford Field in Detroit on February 5.
6. The Pistons and Red Wings both posted the best records in their leagues, but neither made it to the finals. The Pistons lost the in the Eastern Conference finals to the Miami Heat, and the Red Wings lost in the first round to the Edmonton Oilers.
7. Ben Wallace declared free agency and signed a $60 million contract with the Chicago Bulls.
8. The Detroit Lions finished with the worst record in the NFL at 3–13.
9. The Detroit Shock won the WNBA title.
10. Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, who trained in Canton, won the silver medal in ice dancing, the first ice dancing medal for an American pair in 30 years.
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Notable Michigan-related deaths in 2006 included Gerald Ford, Bo Schembechler, and Wilson Pickett.
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