MY AM ADVANTAGE HEADLINES

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 Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026

Charlie LeDuff is my favorite journalist.

Other than myself, of course. Well, maybe I can admit I like his work better because he gets more time to concentrate on busting crooked politicians.

I'm busy running multiple businesses and making sure all our people get paychecks every week.

That's my excuse.

But hey on this Valentine's Day, I'm sending Charlie a nice big "Happy Valentine's, I love your work" card.

This column will need to suffice in place of an actual card.

I'm too busy to go to the store. Even my lovely wife got a home-made card produced on the computer in my den where I knocked out this column for our now 20-year-old statewide online newspaper known as My AM Advantage.

Our Ana Jones wrote a story about Charlie's work that we may leave up on the front page of our State News Section at My AM Advantage for months. 

Or at least until one certain crooked lady gets fitted for an orange jumpsuit.

That's not alleged either, call her crooked. The evidence was revealed in front of the State House Oversight Committee in mid-December. 

Charlie spent three years telling everyone who would listen that there was something bad, bad wrong at the Michigan Attorney General's office. Along the way, he lost his high-paying gig as a Tuesday columnist at the Detroit News.

He used what his bosses at the Detroit News said was a vulgar comment on the good AG in charge of prosecuting bad guys across Michigan. The truth is that the newspaper game isn't what it used to be and they wanted to get rid of his salary. AG Dana Nessel and her supporters gave them a good excuse to can Charlie. Thanks for helping us sell millions of newspapers over the years, but you're out! 

He warned her in a tweet to "C U Next Tuesday" in plugging an upcoming column on te latest crooked deeds he planned to expose about Dana's den. It's gotta be a den, I tell ya, 'cuz ain't no work being done there on busting real bad guys at her Lansing office if they have a "D' behind their name.

Former Democrat big wig Tracy Kornack is pals with people like the Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, or so Charlie tells us. Big Gretch didn't appoint her to an open judge seat a while back though, so maybe Charlie has his wires crossed on that one. But other people say so, too.

Her best pal of all though was definitely a powerful politician. One powerful enough to ignore overwhelming evidence for three years despite that pesky LeDuff dude who just would not go away. This guy once won a Pulitzer Prize at the New York Times, won a string of Emmy awards as an investigative reporter at Detroit's Fox 2 TV, and fired off hard-hitting and funny columns as the Tuesday star at the Detroit News - before launching a weekly podcast known as "The No B.S. News Hour" that out-scoops all Detroit's mainstream media folks put together.

When the big news of an indictment by Kent County's Prosecutor came down on Dana's friend Terrible Tracy Kornack, Charlie was doing his podcast that he tells me attracts 50,000 listeners every week. His guest was Jay Deboer, Chairman of the State House Oversight Committee. 

This state legislator from St. Clair County got so tired of Charlie's tireless, pesky and persistent complaining about an elderly woman being ripped off that I bet he wanted to throw Charlie off the Blue Water Bridge.

With the water too cold for Charlie to survive being pushed off the bridge toward Canada, Deboer eventually convened an investigative hearing. He humored Charlie. 

His committee ordered the Attorney General's office to haul in documents relating to this now three-year old, dead case forgotten by every media member except one investigative reporter tracking every angle like a hound dog with extra super natural powers on sniffing out public corruption.

It didn't take long to figure out something was  rotten in Denmark, or, er in Dana's den.

Terrible Tracy was guilty.

It was so obvious that even Stevie Wonder could see through this one. 

Terrible Tracy stole thousands of dollars from an elderly, vulnerable woman. Worse, evidence contained allegations that she abused her. She spied on her conversations. Both felony counts, too, by the way.  All ignored by Dana. She hurried and closed out the case to make sure Big Gretch could pick her friend for a judge job that had opened up. Nothing to see here, pick the woman for the judge gig.

She was so trustworthy that the State Democrat Party once let her be Treasurer.

Many suggest she flaunted her power and connections to the top party leaders like Big Gretch. Hey, she was appointed by Dana Nessel to be on her transition team when she was first elected to the state's top law enforcement position to put away criminals as she vowed to do.

Well, criminals that are not her friend or friends of Big Gretch.as it turns out.

Thanks heavens for Charlie LeDuff doing what real journalists are supposed to do.

It's getting harder to do our jobs as so many politicians these das simply avoid us when we try to turn up the heat and expose them for evil deeds worthy of prison sentences.

They refer to it as a "news cycle" and usually just hunker down and hide in the basement until the bad press goes away.

One fella even got elected President while hiding from the "real" journalists in his basement.

You see, the "bad" press to crooked politicians is the real journalist. The kind like Charlie and myself. Ones who understand the role of the media. To do as I've said for years when opening my local radio show in the Metro Flint community" "To serve as a watchdog over your tax dollars!"

Read Old Editor's Notebook Columns

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Mike Killbreath appears on Metro Flint News/Talk Radio via The Morning Gazette Radio Show weekday mornings from 8 am until 10 am as well as 10:30 pm weeknights on Michigan News/Talk Radio.  He's an award-winning newspaper columnist and investigative reporter who is the former long-time owner of the local Metro Flint area chain of 14 community newspapers. This past fall marked his 50th year as a journalist. He also hosts a new weekly national TV show known as The American Crusaders on cable TV and various OTT TV live streaming platforms