Donald Trump ran hours late to a rally in Michigan Friday, causing thousands of his supporters to leave while others huddled in cold weather to await the former president at an outdoor rally in the battleground state. The Republican presidential nominee was delayed for an interview with Joe Rogan, the nation’s most listened-to podcaster, that stretched to three hours in Austin, Texas. Trump is aggressively courting younger male voters with whom Rogan is widely popular. The interview was released Friday night. Democrat Kamala Harris was also in Texas Friday for an appearance with superstar Beyoncé in Houston at an event highlighting the conservative state's abortion ban enacted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Three of the justices who voted to overturn Roe were nominated by Trump. Harris calls Trump 'fascist' after ex-aide's Hitler comparison Minutes before Trump's Michigan rally was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, his spokesman posted on the social media platform X that Trump was just leaving Texas, more than two hours away by air. Trump recorded a video from his plane urging his supporters to stay, noting it was Friday night and promising, “We’re going to have a good time tonight.” Trump was slated to speak at the Traverse City airport, where temperatures dipped into the low 50s Fahrenheit (above 10 degrees Celsius) after dark. Attendees who hadn't left bundled up, some covered by blankets, as they waited for him to land. The crowd sounded and looked disengaged as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon tried to kill time onstage. Hats were being thrown to attendees. Some of those who stuck around took it in stride. “Well, we rather they were on time,” said Karen Targanski from Bay City, Michigan, a more than two-hour drive away. She added that it was nonetheless “worth the wait.” Trump drives immigration in Texas speech With 11 days until the election, Trump and Harris both took a detour battleground states for brief forays into solidly Republican Texas. Neither believes the state is competitive, but they’re using it as a backdrop to drive a message about the issues they hope voters will have front of mind when they cast ballots. For Trump, that’s border security. For Harris, it’s abortion rights. Appearing in Austin earlier Friday, Trump tried to turn Harris' event into an attack line tied to one of his favorite subjects, immigration. Hours before Harris' star-studded appearance with Beyoncé, Willie Nelson, Jessica Alba and others, Trump accused the vice president of hanging out with “woke celebrities” but not with the families of people who have been killed by migrants. Trump's trip to Texas, his second stop in a border state in two days, comes as the former president escalates his already dark and apocalyptic rhetoric against illegal immigration. “We’re like a garbage can for the rest of the world to dump the people that they don’t want,” Trump told supporters Friday in Austin. Trump has continued to push the unfounded idea that foreign governments actively send criminals to the U.S. Harris said the remark is “just another example of how he really belittles our country.” “The president of the United States should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are, and invests in the best of who we are, not someone like Donald Trump, who is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are,” Harris told reporters in Houston. Throughout the campaign, Trump has routinely appeared with grieving relatives of people who were hurt or killed by people living in the country illegally. On Friday, he ceded the microphone to the mother of a 12-year-old Texas girl, Jocelyn Nungaray, whose body was found in June. Prosecutors have charged two Venezuelan men in the U.S. illegally with capital murder. “She was just being a child, and due to the Biden-Harris policies we have here ... she’s not here anymore,” Alexis Nungaray said. During a rally Thursday in Arizona, Trump railed against Harris for the Biden administration’s record on the border, which he said had “unleashed” an “army of migrant gangs” that are “waging a campaign of violence and terror against our citizens.” Trump views immigration as the issue that won him the White House in 2016. He accuses Harris of perpetrating “a wicked betrayal of America” and having “orchestrated the most egregious betrayal that any leader in American history has ever inflicted upon our people,” even though crime is down. While migrants have been charged with some high-profile crimes that Trump repeatedly highlights, research has shown that immigrants — including those who entered the country illegally — are charged with fewer violent crimes than American citizens. He has also spread false theories that Democrats are registering immigrants without legal status to vote. Rogan interview underscores Trump's focus on masculinity His interview with Rogan, who tapes his podcast in Austin, created another opportunity for the Republican nominee to highlight the hypermasculine tone that has defined much of his 2024 White House bid. Trump has made masculinity a central theme of his campaign, appearing on podcasts targeting young male voters and tapping surrogates who sometimes use crude language. At a Trump rally Wednesday, former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson called the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz, a “weak man” and compared Trump’s return to the White House to a dad who comes home ready to punish his misbehaved children. “When Dad gets home, you know what he says?” Carlson asked. “You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl, and you are getting a vigorous spanking right now.” Rogan and Trump have a complicated relationship. Rogan had previously said that he declined to host Trump on his podcast before because he did not want to help him. Earlier this year, Trump criticized Rogan after the podcaster said that then-candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. was the only person running for president who made sense to him. Kennedy has since suspended his bid, endorsed Trump and joined him on the campaign trail. “It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring???” Trump wrote on his social media site in August, referring to Rogan's experience as a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The podcaster is known for his hourslong interviews on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which is listed as No. 1 in the United States, according to Spotify’s charts. He calls women “chicks” and once laughed as a comedian friend described repeatedly coercing young women comics into sex.    

A gunman who opened fire at Michigan State University killed three people and wounded five, setting off an hourslong manhunt as frightened students hid in classrooms and cars. The shooter eventually killed himself, police announced early Tuesday. Officials do not know why the 43-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, targeted the campus. He was not a student or employee and had no affiliation with the university, according to campus police. The shooting began Monday night at an academic building and later moved to the nearby student union, a popular gathering spot for students to eat or study. As hundreds of officers scoured the East Lansing campus, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, students hid where they could. Four hours after the first shots were reported, police announced the man’s death. “This truly has been a nightmare we’re living tonight,” said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the campus police department. Ryan Kunkel, 22, was attending a class in the Engineering Building when he became aware of the shooting from a university email. Kunkel and about 13 other students turned off the lights and acted like there “was a shooter right outside the door,” he said. “Nothing came out of anyone’s mouth” for over four hours, he said. “I wasn’t ready to accept that this is really going on next door,” Kunkel said. “This is supposed to be a place where I’m coming, learning and bettering myself. And instead, students are getting hurt.” The shooting at Michigan State is the latest in what has become a deadly new year in the U.S. Dozens of people have died in mass shootings so far in 2023, most notably in California where 11 people were killed as they welcomed the Lunar New Year at a dance hall popular with older Asian Americans. In 2022, there were more than 600 mass shootings in the U.S. in which at least four people were killed or wounded, according to the Gun Violence Archive. “This is a uniquely American problem,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lamented. Rozman, of the campus police, said two people were killed at Berkey Hall and another was killed at the MSU Union, while five people were in critical condition at Sparrow Hospital. Police eventually confronted the shooter, who then died by a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Rozman said. “We have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight. That is part of our ongoing investigation,” the deputy chief said. Ted Zimbo said he was walking to his residence hall when he encountered a woman with a “ton of blood on her.” “She told me, ‘Someone came in our classroom and started shooting,’” Zimbo told The Associated Press. “Her hands were completely covered in blood. It was on her pants and her shoes. She said, ‘It’s my friend’s blood.’” Zimbo said the woman left to find a friend’s car while he returned to his SUV and threw a blanket over himself to hide for three hours. During the manhunt, WDIV-TV meteorologist Kim Adams, whose daughter attends Michigan State, told viewers that students were worn down by the hourslong saga. “They’ve been hiding, all the lights off in a dark room,” Adams said. Aedan Kelley, a junior who lives a half-mile (less than a kilometer) east of campus, said he locked his doors and covered his windows “just in case.” Sirens were constant, and a helicopter hovered overhead. “It’s all very frightening,” Kelley said. “And then I have all these people texting me wondering if I’m OK, which is overwhelming.” Michigan State has about 50,000 students, including 19,000 who live on campus. All classes, sports and other activities were canceled for 48 hours. Interim university President Teresa Woodruff said it would be a time “to think and grieve and come together.” “This Spartan community — this family — will come back together,” Woodruff said.

Mark Schlissel has been removed as president of the University of Michigan due to an alleged "inappropriate relationship with a university employee," the school said Saturday on its website. The removal was effective “immediately,” the University of Michigan Board of Regents said, adding that members learned on Dec. 8, 2021, about the relationship from an anonymous complaint and that an investigation revealed that “over the years,” Schlissel used his university email account to “communicate with that subordinate in a manner inconsistent with the dignity and reputation of the university.” “As you know, the Regents received an anonymous complaint regarding an alleged sexual affair between you and a subordinate,” the board wrote in its letter to Schlissel informing him of his removal. “An investigation has revealed that your interactions with the subordinate were inconsistent with promoting the dignity and reputation of the University of Michigan.” The Associated Press sent an email Saturday night to Schlissel's university email to seek his comment, but it was not clear if he had access to the inbox anymore. The letter from the board dated Saturday included excerpts of emails exchanged between Schlissel and the employee. The employee wrote in a July 1, 2021, exchange that her “heart hurts,” according to the board, which said Schlissel responded: “I know. mine too.” He continued: ”This is my fault” and that he was “in pain too.” The board also wrote that on Jan. 9, 2021, the subordinate employee said, “Oh yes!” in an email to Schlissel. His response was “love it when you say that.” Copies of emails with the recipient’s name redacted were included in Saturday’s announcement on the school's website. One dated Jan. 12 was about an August 2019 article from The New Yorker titled “Sexual Fantasies of Everyday New Yorkers.” Schlissel had a base salary of $927,000 a year. He announced last October that he would step down in June 2023, a year before his contract was to expire. Former University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman has been appointed interim president. Schlissel's removal and Coleman's appointment will be affirmed during the board's Feb. 17 formal session. Schlissel succeeded Coleman as president in January 2014. He had been provost at Brown University.

The coronavirus already changed the way we work. Now it’s changing the physical space, too. Many companies are making adjustments to their offices to help employees feel safer as they return to in-person work, like improving air circulation systems or moving desks further apart. Others are ditching desks and building more conference rooms to accommodate employees who still work remotely but come in for meetings. Architects and designers say this is a time of experimentation and reflection for employers. Steelcase, an office furniture company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, says its research indicates half of global companies plan major redesigns to their office space this year. “This year caused you to think, maybe even more fundamentally than you ever have before, ‘Hey, why do we go to an office?’” said Natalie Engels, a San Jose, California-based design principal at Gensler, an architecture firm. Read:Asian shares track rebound on Wall Street Not every company is making changes, and Engels stresses that they don’t have to. She tells clients to remember what worked well — and what didn’t — before the pandemic. But designers say many companies are looking for new ways to make employees feel safe and invigorated at the office, especially as a labor crunch makes hiring more difficult. That’s what drove food and pharmaceutical company Ajinomoto to overhaul the design of its new North American headquarters outside Chicago last year. Ajinomoto’s employees returned to in-person work in May to a building with wider hallways and glass panels between cubicles, to give them more space and try to make them feel more secure. To improve mental health, the company transformed a planned work area into a spa-like “relaxation room” with reclining chairs and soft music. A test kitchen is wired for virtual presentations in case clients don’t want to travel. And a cleaning crew comes through twice a day, leaving Post-it notes to show what’s been disinfected. “Maybe it’s over the top, but maybe it provides comfort to those that have sensitivities to returning to an in-person work environment,” said Ryan Smith, the executive vice president of Ajinomoto North America. Smith estimates 40% of the new headquarters design changed due to COVID. Shobha Surya, an associate manager of projects and sales at Ajinomoto, is energized by the space. “The office gives you a balance of work and home life,” she said. “You are more focused here and don’t have any distractions.” Read:WTO talks on Trips waiver from June 30 Surya said she’s also thrilled to be working alongside her co-workers again. She’s not alone. Surveys show the thing employees miss most about office work is socializing and collaborating with colleagues, said Lise Newman, workplace practice director at architecture firm SmithGroup. Companies are trying to encourage that rapport by building more social hubs for employees. Some mimic coffee houses, with wood floors, booth seating and pendant lamps. “Companies are trying to create the sense that this is a cool club that people want to come into,” Newman said. Steelcase has divided one of its lobbies into cozy meeting spaces of varying sizes, separated by plant-filled partitions. Mobile video monitors can be wheeled in so that people working remotely can be included in discussions. But after a year of working from home, some employees crave privacy, so Steelcase added more glassed-in booths for private calls and cocoon-like cubicles with small sliding doors. Mark Bryan, a senior interior designer with Columbus, Ohio-based M+A Architects, expects a more fluid office culture in the future, with different places to work on any given day. Introverts might choose a small, private room; extroverts, a table in the office café. Some office changes reflect a new commitment to hybrid work. Valiant Technologies, which provides tech support and other services to businesses, is letting its employees work primarily at home but has them reserve a desk for the days they want to come to the office. The New York company has removed rows of desks and put more space between the remaining ones. Employees leave their keyboard, mouse and headsets in lockers. Read:OPEC to boost oil output as economies recover, prices rise Megan Quick, a sales associate with Valiant, said she appreciated the company allowing her to ease back into office life this month. “It will take a lot of time for us to readjust,” she said. “Valiant letting us set our pace for returning makes me feel safe.” Not every design change will stick. Last summer, when Steelcase started bringing back some workers, they pushed tables in the cafeteria far apart from each other and only allowed one person per table. It made the space so depressing that no one wanted to sit there, Steelcase CEO Jim Keane said. “An important lesson is that, yes, it has to be safe, but also has to be inspiring,” he said. “People are actually going to expect more from offices in the future.”

Washington will rush federal resources to support vaccinations, testing and treatments, but not vaccines, to Michigan in an effort to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation COVID-19 outbreak, the White House said Friday. The announcement came as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer strongly recommended, but did not order, a two-week pause on face-to-face high school instruction, indoor restaurant dining and youth sports. She cited more contagious coronavirus variants and pandemic fatigue as factors in the surge, which has led some hospitals to postpone non-emergency procedures. Statewide hospitalizations have quadrupled in a month and are nearing peak levels from last spring and fall. “Policy alone won’t change the tide. We need everyone to step up and to take personal responsibility,” Whitmer said Friday, while not ruling out future restrictions. Michigan’s seven-day case rate was 506 per 100,000 people, well above second-worst New Jersey, with 314 per 100,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. President Joe Biden outlined the federal actions late Thursday in a call with Whitmer to discuss the dire situation in the state, according to senior administration officials. The response will not include a “surge” of vaccine doses, a move Whitmer has advocated and which is backed by Michigan legislators and members of Congress. Instead, Biden talked about how the federal government was planning to help Michigan better utilize doses already allocated to the state, as well as to increase testing capacity and provide more medications used to treat the sick. Whitmer, a Democrat, confirmed that she asked Biden on the call to send more vaccine doses to Michigan, particularly the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot. “I made the case for a surge strategy,” she said. “At this point, that’s not being deployed, but I am not giving up.” “Today it’s Michigan and the Midwest,” she added. “Tomorrow, it could be another section of our country. I really believe that the most important thing we can do is put our efforts into squelching where the hot spots are.” Doses are allocated to states proportionally by population, but Whitmer has called for extra doses to be shifted to states, like hers, that are experiencing a sharp rise in cases. The Biden administration isn’t ready to make such changes. “We’re going to stick with the allocation system of allocating by state adult population,” said White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients, calling it “the fair and equitable way” to distribute vaccines. He said the administration was looking to help Michigan administer more of its vaccines efficiently. When Whitmer began calling for more doses from Washington, the state had not maxed out its orders for vaccines from the federal government, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation. Gen. Gustave Perna, the top federal official overseeing vaccine distribution, raised the issue of gaps between states’ allotments and their orders on Tuesday in a White House call with the nation’s governors. On Thursday, Biden administration officials huddled directly with the Michigan health department to discuss the state’s ordering strategy and ensure that it uses its entire allotment. “We actually met with the White House team yesterday and walked through our entire ordering strategy, and when we ordered what and when,” Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, a top state health official, said Friday. “It’s very clear. They agreed with us that we are ordering all of the vaccines that are available to us.” Also read: Climate Change: Biden's administration urged to take genuine leadership role Federal officials said providing more doses would not be as immediately effective in curbing Michigan’s virus spike as increasing testing, restoring measures like mask wearing, and foregoing high-risk activities. That’s because vaccines take at least two weeks to begin providing immunity. Biden told Whitmer that his administration stands ready to send an additional 160 Federal Emergency Management Agency and CDC personnel to Michigan to assist in vaccinations, on top of the 230 federal personnel already deployed to the state to support pandemic response operations. He’s also directing the administration to prioritize the distribution of doses through federal channels, like the retail pharmacy program and community health centers, to areas of the state Whitmer identifies. “We are at war with this virus, which requires leaders from across the country to work together,” said White House spokesperson Chris Meagher. “We’re in close contact with Gov. Whitmer, who is working hard to keep Michigan safe, and working in close coordination through a range of options that can help stop the spread of the virus.” Michigan ranked 35th among states in its vaccination rate. About 40% of Michigan residents ages 16 and older have gotten at least one vaccine dose. Also read: Biden to unveil actions on guns, including new ATF boss The governor’s recommended high school closure drew mixed reaction in education circles. Her administration closed high schools for a month during the state’s second surge late last fall. “Research has shown schools can be safe places for in-person learning, so long as community spread is under control — but with higher risk in our communities comes higher risk in classrooms,” said Michigan Education Association President Paula Herbart, whose union urged a similar two-week suspension of in-person learning at elementary and middle schools and colleges. Restaurants, meanwhile, questioned Whitmer’s recommendation not to eat inside but welcomed the call for more vaccines. “We trust our operators to continue to provide a safe environment indoors or out in the coming weeks and we trust Michiganders to do their part to act responsibly and respectfully to help us all achieve that outcome,” said Justin Winslow, president and CEO of the Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association.

Someone in Michigan bought the winning ticket for the $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot, which is the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.

As Election Day ground on into “election week,” it became increasingly clear that Democrat Joe Biden would oust President Donald Trump from the White House. Late-counted ballots in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia continued to keep Biden in the lead and offered him multiple paths to victory.

Democrat Joe Biden was pushing closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House, securing victories in the “blue wall” battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan and narrowing President Donald Trump’s path.