The Associated Press (AP) selected the state's top news stories of 1975 as follows:[1]
The disappearance of former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa on July 30 from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township where he had planned to meet with organized crime figures, Anthony Provenzano and Anthony Giacalone;[2]
The resignation of Michigan Supreme Court Justice and former Governor John Swainson on November 7, five days after his conviction on three counts of perjury charges for lying to a federal grand jury investigating Swainson's role in a bribery conspiracy involving an effort to secure a new trial for a convicted burglar;[3]
An upturn in the automobile business following a major slump in 1974;
Flooding in southern lower Michigan reported to be the worst since 1947;
The sinking of SS Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore carrier, in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10 with the loss of life of all 29 crew members;[5]
Continued fallout from the Michigan PBB contamination incident in which a flame retardant chemical feed was mixed with livestock feed, distributed to Michigan farms, and fed to 1.5 million chickens, 30,000 cattle, 5,900 pigs, and 1,470 sheep;
The Ann Arbor Hospital Murders in which 10 patients at the Veterans Hospital in Ann Arbor died mysteriously from respiratory failure, later resulting in the 1976 trial and conviction of two nurses, Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez; and
The automobile industry introduces rebates to spur sales.
The AP also selected the state's top sports stories as follows:[6]
Hudson High School setting a national high school record by extending its winning streak to 72 games (before losing to Ishpeming in the Class C championship game);
Michigan high school football begins a playoff system with championships won by Livonia Franklin, Dearborn Divine Child, Ishpeming, and Crystal Falls Forest Park;