Mike Householder, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - Guests are given a ride in a Bronco on a track at the Detroit Auto Show, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez, file)

Detroit Auto Show opens as industry pares back splashy debuts and leans on test tracks

January 13, 2026

The Detroit Auto Show returns this week. The annual show offers an opportunity to take a peek at the cars of today and tomorrow and also go for a spin. More than 40 vehicle brands will be on display. Last year, attendees took 100,000 rides. The show begins Tuesday evening with vehicle announcements from Ford. It opens to the public Saturday and runs through the following Sunday. The show was once a major platform for vehicle debuts. Automakers now feel new models can make a bigger splash when they’re unveiled to a digital audience on a day when they don’t have to share the spotlight with rivals.

A hospitalized child looks out the window at volunteers who are shining lights up into the pediatric wing of Corewell Health Children's during a Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams event Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Royal Oak, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

A nightly tradition brings light and hope to children at Michigan hospital

December 16, 2025

A Michigan hospital is asking members of the public to raise their flashlights as well as the spirits of children during the holiday season. The nightly Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams tradition is back lighting up the night outside Corewell Health Children’s in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak. For 10 minutes each evening starting at 8 p.m., volunteers situated outside the hospital send beams of light toward the pediatric rooms above, delivering a message of hope and joy. Moonbeams started in 2017. The 2025 edition started Dec. 9, and will run until two days before Christmas.

Phil Hallman, a University of Michigan film studies librarian, holds a photo of actor Kevin Costner, Nov. 24, 2025, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ rarities are in Lawrence Kasdan’s university archive

December 11, 2025

Documents that detail Lawrence Kasdan’s career have been donated to the University of Michigan, the writer and director’s alma mater. Archivists are about a quarter of the way through cataloging the 150-plus boxes of material. Included are scripts, photographs, audio recordings, call sheets, props and more. One rarity is pictures of Kevin Costner on the set of the 1983 film “The Big Chill,” before his scene was famously cut. Kasdan also wrote “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and a number of “Star Wars” films. Kasdan directed “Wyatt Earp” and “Body Heat.” The 76-year-old’s papers join those of fellow filmmakers Orson Welles, Robert Altman and Jonathan Demme at the Ann Arbor school.

FILE - Miami mascot, Sebastian the Ibis, leads the team onto the field before the start of an NCAA college football game against Ohio, Sept. 1, 2023, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

College football mascots just as good at keeping their identities secret as firing up a crowd

November 28, 2025

Many college mascots are not permitted to reveal their identities until after their days of being a costumed performer have come to an end. Nicole Hurley spent two years as Cocky, the South Carolina Gamecock. She unmasked herself at the school’s commencement ceremony in the spring, rolling into the arena wearing a cap, gown and oversized yellow bird feet. Hurley is a member of an elite fellowship. Ex-mascots. The job is to fire up the crowd, bring a smile to a fan’s face and symbolically represent the university. And anonymity is the name of the game for many of them.

This image taken from video shows a lobby in Ford Motor Co.'s new headquarters building, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

Ford Motor shows off new high-tech HQ. It has a ‘crown jewel’ showroom and room for 4,000 employees

November 16, 2025

Ford Motor Company is showing off its new world headquarters building in Dearborn, Michigan. The new HQ is double the size of its old one with room for twice as many employees. It has seven restaurants, design studios and fabrication shops. And, of course, cars. According to Ford Land’s brand manager, the “crown jewel” of the new building is a massive showroom. Ford gave media tours of the new world headquarters this past week. And it is to be the site of a grand-opening celebration on Sunday. Ford’s current headquarters is known as “The Glass House.” It opened in 1956. The plan is for it to be demolished.

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith performs with the Michigan Marching Band in Hill Auditorium on the campus of the University of Michigan Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith’s Midwest roots inspire surprise gift to U. of Michigan

November 3, 2025

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith is gifting a need-based music scholarship to the University of Michigan. The 64-year-old grew up in Detroit’s suburbs. Smith made the official announcement during a surprise appearance Sunday at the Ann Arbor school’s annual Band-O-Rama event. He performed the Chili Peppers hit “Can’t Stop,” alongside the Michigan Marching Band at Hill Auditorium. The Curtis & Joan Smith Scholarship is named in honor of Smith’s parents. It will be awarded to an incoming University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance student, beginning in 2026. Smith credits his parents with nurturing his love of music and supporting his dream to pursue it professionally.

Michelle Dixon, of Laingsburg, holds her dog Abu, who is dressed as singer Elvis Presley, during an event for dog trick-or-treating, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Dozens of costumed canines get their chance to trick-or-treating at Howloween event in Michigan

October 17, 2025

Dogs dressed up as everything from Elvis Presley to Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine went trick-or-treating in Michigan. It was part of the annual Howloween event organized by a local pet store. The costumed canines made a loop through Lansing’s Old Town arts district, stopping outside restaurants, gift shops and jewelry stores, where owners were waiting to provide treats and a scratch behind the ears. The event is organized each year by Preuss Pets, an Old Town fixture. The number of dogs is capped at 200, and they have to pre-register. It is part of an effort to keep the numbers down for safety’s sake.

The Rev. John Bettin, rector of the National Shrine of The Little Flower Basilica, looks at a relic of St. Thérèse of Lisieux inside the basilica Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Royal Oak, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

St. Thérèse’s relics begin tour of US with stop at Michigan parish named for beloved French nun

October 1, 2025

The sacred bones of a much-loved French Carmelite nun began a tour of the U.S. at a suburban Detroit parish named in her honor. Many worshippers arrived hours in advance to catch a glimpse of the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. They will be display at the National Shrine of The Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, Michigan, through Oct. 8, before moving on to California and other states. St. Thérèse’s relics also came from France to the U.S. in 1999. Tens of thousands visited Royal Oak that year during a one-day stay. Now, a quarter-century later, they are back on The Little Flower’s feast day.

The site of the future Ford World Headquarters is seen under construction, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Ford is moving its world headquarters for the first time in 7 decades to a new campus 3 miles away

September 15, 2025

Ford is moving its headquarters for the first time in seven decades. The carmaker is relocating to a newly constructed building 3 miles away in its longtime home of Dearborn, Michigan. The new 2.1-million-square-foot structure formally will be called Ford World Headquarters when it opens in November. Ford’s current headquarters is colloquially called “The Glass House.” It opened in 1956. The new HQ is 5 to 10 minutes away. It is designed to enhance collaboration and innovation by colocating corporate leadership with design and engineering teams. It places 14,000 employees within a 15-minute walk of the main building.

It’s moo-ving day for dairy cattle at Michigan State University

July 28, 2025

Dozens of dairy cattle are on the move at Michigan State University. About 80 cows hoofed it Monday to their new home, the Dairy Cattle Teaching and Research Center. The East Lansing school says the $75 million facility will allow students to learn on a modern farm that’s equipped to replicate even the most high-tech operations in the world. Dairy is the No. 1 contributor to the state’s agricultural economy. George Smith, who heads Michigan State’s AgBioResearch department, calls it a 21st century cattle drive. Another 180 cows will be moved as well. The new complex is significantly larger than the existing dairy farm, which was constructed in the 1960s.

Mike Householder.