1994 in Michigan


Events from the year 1994 in Michigan.

Top Michigan news stories

Newspaper editors and broadcast news directors voted on the top news stories in Michigan for 1994 as follows:
  1. Republican election victories. November 8 election in which John Engler was reelected to a second term as Governor and Spencer Abraham was elected U.S. Senator. In the Michigan gubernatorial election, 1994, Engler defeated Democrat Howard Wolpe by a margin of 61.5% to 38.5%. In the United States Senate election in Michigan, 1994, Abraham defeated Democrat Bob Carr by a margin of 52% to 43% with Libertarian Jon Coon receiving 4% of the votes.
  2. Proposal A tax reform. On March 15, voters approved Proposal A by 65% to 35%. The proposal shifted funding for schools from property taxes to sales taxes. The proposal raised the state's sales tax from 4% to 6% and increased the tax on cigarettes by 50 cents.
  3. Jack Kevorkian and assisted suicide. On May 2, a jury acquitted Jack Kevorkian in connection with the death of Thomas Hyde who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. The trial was the first test of Michigan's assisted suicide law, adopted by the Legislature to stop Kevorkian from continuing his efforts to assist terminally ill patients to end their lives. After the verdict, Kevorkian told reporters: "I'm prosecutable. I'm just not convictable." Days later, on May 10, a Michigan appellate court issued separate rulings that persons assisting suicide could be prosecuted for murder, and Michigan's assisted suicide law was technically invalid but that a revised ban would be constitutional.
  4. Growth in the Michigan economy.
  5. Charter schools. A judge ruled charter schools unconstitutional, and the Legislature then acted to authorize and fund them.
  6. Booming auto sales.
  7. Deep winter freeze. Severe cold weather struck the state in January.
  8. Detroit prison break. On August 21, 10 prisoners escaped from the Ryan Regional Correctional Facility in Detroit. Nine of the escapees were captured. The tenth was found dead.
  9. Day-care/child custody decision. On July 8, a 69-year-old Macomb County judge ordered that custody of three-year-old Maranda Ireland-Smith be removed from her 19-year-old mother and instead be awarded to the father. The judge found that the mother's use of commercial day care while attending classes at the University of Michigan was not in the child's best interest, whereas the father's mother was willing to care for the child full time. The decision drew national attention and criticism from working parents. The New York Times wrote that the order was "an affront and threat to the millions of women for whom day care is the difference between ignorance and an education, poverty and a decent income, dependency and self-reliance." The decision was reversed on appeal in 1995.
  10. Deckerville child abuse trial. Stephen Rogers of Deckerville and his live-in girlfriend, Trudy O'Connor, were convicted of first-degree child abuse after Rogers' nine-year-old daughter was found by police in February 1994 chained to urine-soaked bed in dark closet. Rogers was sentenced to 10–15 years in prison, and O'Connor was sentenced to a six-to-15 year term.
In separate balloting by Michigan Associated Press newspapers and broadcast stations, the state's top sports stories were selected as follows:
  1. Nancy Kerrigan assault. On January 6, an assailant hired by the ex-husband of Tonya Harding struck Nancy Kerrigan's right knee with a club as she walked through a corridor at Detroit's Cobo Arena following a practice session at the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Kerrigan was treated for her injuries at Hutzel Hospital.
  2. Firing of George Perles. On November 8, after the 1994 Michigan State Spartans football team began the season with nine losses and no wins, George Perles was fired as the team's head coach. He had been head coach for 12 years and was the second winningest coach in program history. Nick Saban was hired as his replacement on December 3.
  3. Baseball strike. On September 14, the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike began. The strike resulted in the cancellation of the final weeks of the season as well as the World Series.
  4. World Cup in Michigan. The 1994 FIFA World Cup had several games played at the Pontiac Silverdome, including a 1-1 tie between USA and Switzerland.
  5. Isiah Thomas. Isiah Thomas was offered a $55 million contract with the Pistons but took a post with Toronto instead.
  6. Detroit Red Wings lost in first round of playoffs and Bryan Murray fired as GM.
  7. The 1994–95 NHL lockout.
  8. Grant Hill signed. The Pistons selected Grant Hill with the third overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft.
  9. The 1993 Michigan Wolverines football team, including Colorado's victory in the Miracle at Michigan.
  10. Scott Mitchell signed. After losing Erik Kramer to free agency, the Detroit Lions on March 7 signed free agent quarterback Scott Mitchell to an $11 million contract, including a $5 million signing bonus.

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