Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • A9

FRIDAY, WWW.FREEP.COM 9A COVER STORIES But other streetcars will be out at the same time on other parts of the route, so if you miss the very first one have plenty of opportunities to hop aboard later. Throughout the weekend, deals, giveaways and events are planned at stations and businesses all along the line. Afew highlights: A specialty will be served at the Detroit Institute of Kresge Court tonight. array of sports mascots PAWS, Roary and Hooper and the Lions cheerleaders will be at the Montcalm Street Station on Saturday afternoon A Kids Craft Zone, live bands and a Sanders ice cream giveaway is set for Sunday at Campus Martius Park. The grand opening ceremony is to kick off about 9 a.m.

today at Grand Circus Park. Expected for the celebration are Gov. Rick Snyder, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, and Reps. John Conyers, Debbie Dingell and Brenda Lawrence, Roger Penske, Dan Gilbert and Rip Rapson, head of the Kresge Foundation.

going to see a celebration of a historic project for the City of Detroit. going to see the partnerships and the supporters and everyone who worked together to make this project a reality and going to see an important first step toward regional said Dan Lijana, a spokesman for M-1 Rail, which operates the QLINE. He predicted that the modern would provide a riding Not everyone is as thrilled with the streetcar, however. Acounter-rally is planned at about the same time at Grand Circus Park and in Ann Arbor (and later in the day in Ferndale) by the Motor City Freedom Riders, seeking to get a regional transit millage on the ballot in 2018. stark contrast between the limited service the QLINE streetcar provides and the scope of our regional transit crisis is why we are demonstrating at this according to an announcement from the transit activist group.

The plans are a reminder of the failed attempt in the fall to pass a millage to support the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast master plan, which would have funded commuter rail between Ann Arbor and Detroit, bus rapid transit and other bus services as well as transit connections between Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties. Lijana pushed back against the implicit criticism of the QLINE. share the goal of regional transit and the QLINE is a demonstration of the importance of transit for the region and an example of how we work together to get things done, including gaining the support of the federal Lijana said. He noted that the first transit project to link up with the QLINE in the future will unlock $60 million in matching federal grant money. The QLINE, which was built and is being operated by the nonprofit M-1 Rail organi- zation, is eventually expected to come under the RTA umbrella.

Construction on the 3.3-mile streetcar line (6.6 miles round-trip) began in July 2014. The launch of service coincides with a rapidly changing landscape along Woodward Avenue, which will also see the opening of Little Caesars Arena later this year. The line connects the downtown, Midtown, New Center and North End areas of Detroit with 12 stations at 20 locations (some stations serve both north and south directions of travel). Contact Eric D. Lawrence: Follow him on QLINE: Streetcar to launch today with free rides all weekend FROM PAGE 1A earning school district leader in the state: Veronica Conforme, the chancellor of the Education Achievement Authority, who earns a base salary of $322,000.

The EAA has 15 schools serving about 6,000 students. Vitti currently earns $275,000 in his job with the Duval County district. The $295,000 salary would be for the first year of a five-year contract. There would be salary increases in subsequent years, but only if Vitti receives an overall effective evaluation from the board, according to a source with knowledge of the contract. Vitti would receive the same medical, dental and vision insurance that other administrators receive.

He would also receive a $20,000 annuity and a $9,000 car allowance. meeting is at 5:30 p.m. at Douglass Academy for Young Men, 2001 W. Warren. It is open to the public.

On Tuesday, board president Iris Taylor said the board needed to schedule meeting we can review the content, consider the content and potentially vote on that Vitti grew up in Dearborn Heights and has family still living in the area. He attended Divine Child High School, a Catholic school in Dearborn, then earned and degrees from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and a and doctorate degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. He began his career in education as a teacher in New York City. He held key leadership roles in the Florida Department of Education and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. When he was selected by the Detroit board, he said it felt like been drafted by the home team.

look forward to working through the contract phase of the process as soon as possible in order to serve the children and families of he said at the time. Vitti is expected to officially begin July 1, but is likely to begin working on a limited basis much sooner in order to transition into the role. already scheduled to speak May 31 during a panel discussion at the 2017 Mackinac Policy Conference. The topic of the discussion: Detroit Schools for Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651 or Follow her on Twitter VITTI: Detroit board considers contract FROM PAGE 1A RACHEL TO THE DETROIT FREE PRESS Nikolai Vitti, 40, the superintendent of Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, could earn as much as $295,000 in his first year as superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District. The Detroit school board will meet today to discuss a proposed contract for Vitti.

EAST LANSING Forget about texting and driving. Former Gov. John Engler invented the earliest form of distracted driving, according to a former staffer. During a tribute to the former state representative, senator and governor, Carol Vi- venti recalled how her boss used to drive to country: Montcalm and Isabella get into passenger seat. get in seat and take out newspaper and lay it across the steering Vi- venti recalled of the young state representative who was elected fresh out of college in 1970.

thought maybe go- ing to read a bit, but he started the car and continues to drive with his legs guiding the steering wheel while reading the newspaper. grew up in Detroit where driving is close to a combat sport, and apparently country driving done at high rates of speed is done while reading the she said. It was just one of the stories told by a dozen people who took to the stage Wednesday night at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing to pay homage to Engler and raise some money for the Michigan Political Historical Society. Other fun facts about John Mathais Engler, who was first elected to the state House in 1970: In what was perhaps a pre- view of his future, Engler was the president of the Beal City High parliamentary procedure club at the same time that his future Lt. Gov.

Dick Posthumus was the president of the same club at Caledonia High School. team won the regional contest against Engler, went on to win the state championship and later joined Engler at Michigan State University and worked on his first campaign for the state House. Democrats in the Legislature called Engler the Republican Assassin for his penchant for knocking off entrenched Republicans, said former state Sen. Art Miller, D-Warren, who described himself as the Democrat in this He attributed the success and domination in Lansing, not because of some resolution, but from this man who worked on those reapportionment During his first re-election campaign, Republican consultant Mike Murphy said that Engler barged into a focus group that was decidedly against a proposed funding scheme for education and bet Murphy that for every focus group member he persuaded to his side, Murphy would have to contribute $100 to the campaign. hour later, he had convinced nine of them, and to this day, I was the largest single contributor to the cam- Engler ended the evening with a call for an end to term limits.

afraid that this society will be the only place where we have some political history because of term he said. sincerely hope we change that, because what got right now, I think is very good. got to collect this history and remember what it used to take to get things Previous honorees at the fund-raiser have been former U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D- Dearborn, former Govs.

Republican William Milliken and Democrat Jim Blanchard and former Attorney General Frank Kelley. Gov. Rick Snyder also spoke at the tribute, recalling how Engler roped him into becoming the first chairman of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. you ever bring John a problem, you better be ready with a Snyder said. Engler served in the state House of Representatives and Senate for 20 years before serving 12 years as governor.

After leaving state government in 2003 with his wife and triplet daughters, Engler went on to become the president of the National Association of Manufacturers, and in 2011, he became the president of the Business Roundtable. He retired earlier this year. Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430 or Former Gov. John Engler gets roasted by his political friends By Kathleen Gray Detroit Free Press Ex-Gov. John Engler probed his presidential possible ties to election meddling.

said, possible, would you let me know, am I under He said, are not under Trump told NBC. Comey has not confirmed account. The shifting accounts of the decision to fire Comey, whom Trump derided as a and added to a mounting sense of uncertainty and chaos in the West Wing, as aides scrambled to get their stories straight and appease an angry president. Not even Vice President Mike Pence was spared the embarrassment of having told aversion of events that was later discredited by Trump. The White explanations continued to crumble throughout the day Thursday.

On Capitol Hill, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe strongly disputed the White assertion that Comey had been fired, in part, because he had lost the confidence of the rank-and- file. is not McCabe said. Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this Unfazed, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted she had heard from countlessmem- bers of the FBI who welcomed the decision. McCabe also pointed out the remarkable nature of version of his conversations with Comey. McCabe told a Senate panel it was not to tell an individual whether they are or are not under investigation.

Previous presidents have made a public show of staying out of legal matters, so as not to appear to be injecting politics. comments demonstrated his striking deviation from that practice and scant concern for the appearance of FBI independence. The ousted director himself is said to be confident that his own version of events will come out, possibly in an appearance before Congress, according to an associate who has been in touch with him since his firing Tuesday. Trump and relationship was strained early on, in part because of the presi- explosive and unsubstantiated claims that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. Comey found the allegations confounding, according to his associate, and wondered what to make of what he described as strange thoughts coming from his new boss.

The president was no kinder to Comey on Thursday, calling him names and saying left the FBI in He said that while he received a scathing assessment of performance from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Monday, that memo was not a catalyst for his dramatic decision as the White House had said earlier. was going to fire Trump said. of recommendation, I was going to fire far different that the White initial account in the hours after firing. Multiple officials, including Pence, said the president was acting at the behest of Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But it quickly became clear that the president had been stewing for days over the Russia investigation and refusal to defend him in appearances before lawmakers.

By Wednesday afternoon, the officials, like Trump, were saying he had, in fact, been considering ousting the FBI director for months because of a lack of confidence in his ability to lead the agency. Sanders attributed the disconnect in explanations to the fact that she had not directly asked Trump when made the decision to fire Comey until shortly before media briefing. Trump had kept his decision to fire Comey from all but his closest advisers. Many in the White House were ill-prepared for the outraged response from Democrats and open concern from some Republicans. challenge they have is that the president sometimes moves so rapidly that they get a team around that gets it said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and a Trump ally.

need to decide what going to say and they need to stick with it. Random change TRUMP: Comey firing inevitable FROM PAGE 1A.