(WXYZ) — Hey, you're busy — we get it.
We know a lot happens throughout the week, and you may not catch all of our stories here at WXYZ. So we've decided to gather the most talked-about stories from the past week all in one place that you can check out during your free time over the weekend.
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Here are the buzz-worthy stories from the week of July 29:
St. Clair Shores man spends free time cleaning parks, becomes local celebrity
A 21-year-old St. Clair Shores man spends his free time cleaning up after his community and asks for nothing in return. All he would like to see is people clean up after themselves and spread a little positivity in their own lives.
Taylor Rychel grew up in St. Clair Shores. He's always helped his family. But now, he helps his entire city. Rychel has developmental delay and not everything has come easy to him, but the one thing that has come easy is helping others.
"It makes me happy and it makes me feel good," he said.
He goes park to park and school to school with his tandem bike in tow full of cleaning supplies. He spends hours picking up trash, even doing yard work when he can.
“He’s always looking out, cleaning up, trying to help somebody," his dad Mike Rychel said.
Taylor Rychel has become a bit of a local celebrity. Neighbors have grown to know Taylor Rychel, his bicycle and his infectious smile.
“I drive down the street and I see Taylor on his bike. I know who he is, my whole family knows who he is," resident Leah Case said. “I think he needs a proclamation from the city of St. Clair Shores.”
'It's very scary.' Neighbors want solutions for curve after multiple crashes
People in a Waterford Township neighborhood say they can't get drivers to stop crashing into their property. The homes are near W. Walton and Silverhill Dr.
People living there say there's been two crashes in the last two months. The latest crash happened over the weekend and left behind thousands of dollars in damage.
"(The driver) comes off the road, lands about here and you can then see the trail that goes right to my house," said Anita Campbell whose home was hit early Sunday morning. "This curve right here, even though there’s the arrow signage, it doesn’t seem to deter people from speeding. We think that a guardrail would be appropriate but we’ve heard that could be even more dangerous and wouldn’t really stop distracted driving but there must be some solution."
Campbell says in a similar wreck years ago her son's parked car was totaled and just last month her neighbors home was hit by another driver that lost control.
7 News Detroit took those concerns directly to the Oakland County Road Commission.
"We’ve looked at all the crash reports for the last five years. We’ve found there were four crashes in five years, all of them caused by driver error either too fast or reckless driving," said Craig Bryson. "We've got all the police reports. We're studying what happened to determine if there's things we could do to prevent those crashes."
Bryson says the road commission is looking at the possibility of adding flashing lights, more signs or friction surfacing to alert drivers to the curve.
Many fear MDOT plans for Michigan Ave. will ruin Corktown's nostalgic vibe
When you drive through Corktown, the brick road reminds you that you're in Detroit's oldest neighborhood. However, many people are concerned that plans by MDOT to rebuild a 1.6-mile section of Michigan Ave. will ruin Corktown's nostalgic vibe.
"I'd be kind of disappointed to lose the cobblestone brick over here," said Eric Curl who lives in Corktown.
Joseph Hudec said the historic bricks in the road are synonymous with Corktown.
"It's telling of our past," he said. "It's something that you don't want to get rid of."
However, MDOT Senior Project Manager Mohammed Alghurabi said, depending on the integrity of the old bricks, some could be reused in a small area on Michigan Avenue where drivers enter Corktown as well as in decorative sidewalk areas.
"The infrastructure is very, very old. It goes back to the 60s and 50s, and it's time to do a total reconstruction that includes drainage and everything involved with it," Alghurabi told 7 News Detroit.
Robocalls, texts from political campaigns increase as election nears
It doesn't matter where you are in Michigan, political campaigns are using phone records to make sure their message gets to voters.
"I don't know how they got my name, but I was like I don't even know what's going on here," Megan Henrick said after getting a text from someone claiming to be from California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office.
Some people told 7 News Detroit they don't mind the influx.
"It doesn't bother me too much," Marie Wyss said. "They gotta get their name out there."
Jefferey Bernstein, a political science professor at Eastern Michigan University, says the information is easily accessible.
"There is so much information about you in the public domain that people can grab," Bernstein said.
He added that social media data and modern technology has helped spread and share the information.
How people are reacting to the Supreme Court adopt-and-amend ruling
The Michigan Supreme Court struck down the legislature's "adopt and amend" ruling, which means Michigan's minimum wage will go up in February 2025 after a multi-year battle.
The legal battle started in 2018 from One Fair Wage, which sought to allow voters to decide on raising Michigan's minimum wage to $13.03 an hour and tipped worker wages to $11.73 per hour in 2023. Another petition dealt with sick leave.
We went out and talked to people to see how they felt.
Chris White of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan is one of the organizations that fought back when legislators changed the bill that was supposed to increase the minimum wages.
"When you increase your wages, you decrease your turnover of employees, you decrease absenteeism, and things of that nature. A good wage for workers is good for business," White said. "It's not just the restaurant industry. It's all employees."
However, Justin Winslow of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, said the ruling will hurt businesses and tipped workers because prices will go up and tips will likely go down. He said 1,000 restaurants could close as a result.
"I think when you look at menu price increases necessary to offset some of these costs, you're looking at about a 25% increase. And that's coming after, you know, pretty heavy increase over the last couple of years because of inflation to menu prices. So it's going to be a shock to customers as well," Winslow said.
Miracle League helps kids with special abilities play ball on adaptive field
On a baseball diamond in Lake Orion, dreams are coming true every Saturday this summer.
Throughout the years, community members from across northern Oakland County have been coming together to create a "Miracle League" where children and adults with mental and physical disabilities, or as many call them, "special abilities," are able to come and play.
"The community owns this, and I think that’s the biggest part, the game changer, and you can see by the amount of attendees that come out just to watch a game every Saturday," John Byrne said.
In 2017, the Byrne and Thurman families got to talking about the shared heartbreak. At the time, their children, Johnny and Allison, had become friends.
Johnny is a happy, loving child with Down Syndrome. Allison is an inspiring, athletic child with cerebral palsy.
See the inspiring story in the video above.
'Happy & brave.' This pageant group in metro Detroit is focusing on inclusivity
There may be a select group of women who normally participate in beauty pageants, however, we're introducing you to a group that's changing the pageantry game.
There are some women who feel they could never compete in a pageant. They may not feel small enough, pretty enough, young enough, or even old enough. That's not the case at United International Elite Pageants.
“We wanted to be different. I believe in pageantry, we need to be difference makers. And, we’re not your cookie-cutter pageant. We believe in empowering women to be the strongest and the best that they can be. We believe in having empathy. Empathy for all and equality for everybody," Chris Lloyd, the owner of United International Elite Pageants (UIE), said.
“When I showed up, it was different than any other pageant experience I’ve ever encountered. Just the inclusivity of all the girls," Deborah Lines, the Midwest director for the group, added.
Chloe Mosley, who is a 10-year-old Pontiac girl, was recently the first runner-up in her division at the international competition in Atlanta.
“It feels great. Like, it’s like an unreal experience. Like, I never thought that I would like be wearing like a crown that looks like this," Chloe said. “They make feel like amazing. They make me feel empowered. They make me feel supported."
There's also a special category for girls with special abilities.
“I feel happy, brave and a superstar," Amy Douglass, 32, from Brownstown Township, said.
Amy has Down Syndrome, but that didn't stop her from showing immense courage competing in pageants alongside her mother.
