News@noon: Keeping up with Trump; Fouts under fire

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017, and President Donald Trump is ordering a “major investigation” into voter fraud, revisiting unsubstantiated claims he’s made repeatedly about a rigged voting system.

For those who are wondering whether Michigan might be part of this voter fraud, Michigan Bureau of Elections Director Chris Thomas told us yesterday that an ongoing but largely completed state audit of the Nov. 8 presidential election in Detroit has yet to produce any evidence of fraud.

Why is Trump dogged by this insecurity, even though he won the election? “He believes what he believes based on the information he was provided,”  said his White House spokesman Sean Spicer, who provided no evidence to back up the president’s statements.

The new president has been busy with plenty of other initiatives in the last few days, including:

• Signing executive actions Tuesday to advance construction of the huge Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.
• Reinstituting a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information about abortions. Emboldened by this move, the GOP-led House on Tuesday backed legislation that would permanently bar federal funds for any abortion coverage.
• Moving forward with immigration actions, including working toward the border wall.
• Tweeting he'll "send the Feds" to Chicago if homicide numbers don't decrease.
• Instituting an administration freeze on new Environmental Protection Agency contracts and grant awards at the same time as putting in place a communications blackout so that employees may not communicate with the public. Similar orders barring external communications have been issued at agencies within the departments of Transportation, Agriculture and Interior. (Here's what it all means for the water crisis in Flint). 
• Meeting with Detroit automakers and telling company CEOs that he wants to ease regulations to help them grow operations in the United States.

• Asking for a review of America’s methods for interrogating terror suspects and the possible reopening of CIA-run “black site” prisons outside the United States. The order would also reverse America’s commitment to closing the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• Announcing a timeline for his Supreme Court pick. 

We'll keep you updated on development from the Trump administration as they occur. Here's what else is making news today:

Leaving the family

• For the first time in the company's 58-year history, Art Van Furniture will be out of family control. The Michigan-based company, equally well-known for its furniture as it is for its philanthropy in the area, will be sold to a private equity firm in February.

Killed after dropping off child

•  A 28-year-old man is dead after he was shot this morning after dropping a child off at Mark Twain Elementary/Middle School in Detroit, police said. Seconds after the drop-off, a backseat passenger pulled out a gun, shot the driver, then fled on foot.

Spin the wheels

• The Motor City will be home to the second permanent indoor cycling velodrome in the country by late September. The Detroit Fitness Foundation announced construction crews will break ground in the spring on a $4 million indoor multi-sport complex at the Tolan Playfield, an empty chunk of greenspace tucked behind the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and Detroit Receiving Hospital near Eastern Market and the Dequindre Cut. Check out more details of the plan.

Murder-suicide attempt

•  A 36-year-old Commerce Township man and former Quicken Loans executive was arrested yesterday in an apparent murder-attempted suicide involving his wife. According to authorities, the man is suspected of having stabbed himself in the abdomen after allegedly killing his 38-year-old wife with a knife during an argument about 9:40 p.m. Monday in their home in the 1700 block of Applebrook, near Sleeth and Commerce.Their 10-year-old child made the call to police. 

Dow hits a record

• The Dow Jones industrial average crossed the 20,000 mark for the first time in early trading today, the latest milestone in a record-setting drive for the stock market. The other major U.S. stock indexes were also moving higher, led by banks and other financial companies, as investors pored over the latest batch of company earnings and deal news.

Fouts under fire

• Allegations that Mayor Jim Fouts made crude, recorded remarks about disabled people, older women and African-Americans that have divided the community took another twist last night when the City Council agreed to probe the source of the recordings.

Detroit News at noon is a daily roundup of the most talked-about stories on detroitnews.com. For more anytime, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, Instagram (@detroitnews), Snapchat (Search for "Detroitnews") and LinkedIn.