Three Michigan residents were arrested Monday afternoon for conspiring to support ISIS, federal authorities said.

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Muse Abdikadir Muse, 20, was arrested by law enforcement officers during security screening at the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after checking in for the first of a series of flights to Mogadishu, Somalia. His 23-year-old brother, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, and their 26-year-old brother-in-law, Mohamed Salat Haji, were arrested in the airport terminal soon after, according to a criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

All three men are naturalized U.S. citizens who were born in Kenya and currently reside in Lansing, Michigan.

The family first came to the attention of the FBI in April 2016 when a review of Mohamud Abdikadir Muse's public Facebook page "revealed frequent posts of photos, videos, and statements and commentary that were pro-ISIS in nature and what can be described as violent, extremist propaganda," the complaint states.

An undercover FBI employee posing as an ISIS recruiter began communicating with the former Nebraska resident via Facebook in June 2017. Mohamud Abdikadir Muse said he wanted to join the terrorist group, was saving his money to travel to Syria and that he "planned to die with a gun in his hand fighting for ISIS," according to the complaint.

Search warrants later revealed that his younger brother, Muse Abdikadir Muse, and their brother-in-law, Haji, allegedly discussed with each other via Facebook "their desire to fight for ISIS and support for the killing of non-believers." The pair also allegedly talked about the possibility of using a car "as a weapon for a planned attack" here in the United States if they could not travel overseas to fight for the terrorist group, the complaint states.

Another undercover FBI employee posing as a man in Somalia started communicating with Muse Abdikadir Muse in the fall of 2018. Muse Abdikadir Muse said he planned to travel to Somalia and sent a video pledging his allegiance to ISIS, according to the complaint.

The undercover operative told Muse Abdikadir Muse that he presented the oath video to ISIS leadership in Somalia and it was accepted. Muse Abdikadir Muse later sent oath videos from his brother and brother-in-law, which the agent confirmed were also accepted by ISIS leadership, according to the complaint.

After Muse Abdikadir Muse requested $1,200 from ISIS to help pay for airfare to Somalia's capital, the funds were sent by the FBI -- posing as ISIS -- in increments to the three relatives as well as a third undercover FBI employee whom they believed planned to accompany them on the journey. Earlier this month, Muse Abdikadir Muse purchased his ticket to Mogadishu via a series of connecting flights, according to the complaint.

During a shopping trip at a Walmart in Lansing last week to prepare for the upcoming trip, Muse Abdikadir Muse and Haji told the undercover operative "that if they failed in their attempt to join ISIS, they would conduct an attack or martyrdom operation," the complaint states.

The two brothers traveled with Haji to the airport in Grand Rapids on Monday. Following their arrests, federal agents executed search warrants at the siblings' residence, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

All three men have been charged with engaging in a conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.</s>Three Michigan residents have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Muse Abdikadir Muse, Mohammad Abdikadir Muse, and Mohammad Salat Haji, three Kenyans who became naturalized U. S. citizens residing in Lansing, Michigan, each face up to 20 years in federal prison.

All three were arrested Monday at the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Justice Department said.

Muse Abdikadir Muse was caught at the airport while trying to hop a flight to Somalia, where he intended to fight for the Islamic State, or ISIS, prosecutors said.

His alleged conspirators drove him to the airport and helped him buy the plane ticket, knowing his intent to fight for ISIS, the indictment said.

All three pledged their allegiance to ISIS, recording videos of support, the indictment says. Two of the defendants discussed using a car to mow down non-believers in the United States, according to the indictment.</s>3 from Michigan charged with planning to aid Islamic State

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say three Michigan residents have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group.

They say FBI agents arrested Muse Abdikadir Muse, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse and Mohamed Salat Haji on Monday, and prosecutors charged the Lansing residents in a complaint filed Tuesday.

Prosecutors say all three defendants are naturalized U.S. citizens who were born in Kenya. It wasn't immediately clear if Muse Abdikadir Muse and Mohamud Abdikadir Muse are related.

An affidavit says Muse Muse purchased airline tickets earlier this month to travel from Grand Rapids to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, and that Haji and Mohamud Muse aided in the purchase of the tickets and drove Muse Muse to Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids.

Online court records do not list attorneys for the defendants.</s>GRAND RAPIDS, MI — More testing is needed to determine whether harmful PFAS chemicals are poisoning drinking water near Michigan’s second busiest airport.

That’s per the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which wants to see additional wells tested in a neighborhood northeast of Gerald R. Ford International Airport despite the airport’s claim several months ago that such effort was not necessary.

Officials hope to use recently appropriated state funding to sample more than 50 wells straddling a Thornapple River tributary that bisects the neighborhood, which previously experienced problems from deicing fluid runoff coming from the airport.

The testing could begin in late February.

It would follow similar testing by the airport last summer, which found little PFAS in 29 wells selected by the airport. The results prompted the airport to claim drinking water in the area was safe, although it refused to disclose even the street names where it tested.

Previous testing “gave us a piece of the puzzle, but not the full picture,” said Abby Hendershott, DEQ remediation division director in Grand Rapids.

“We need this additional sampling to complete that picture.”

According to an internal DEQ geologic analysis obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, experts believe a lack of protective clay under homes near the river puts drinking water at risk of contamination from PFAS in shallow groundwater at the airport.

Exposure to PFAS is linked to some types of cancer, pregnancy complications, thyroid disease and other chronic health problems.

The analysis shows that DEQ suspects PFAS may also be coming from other sources besides the airport, which began investigating contamination last spring following reports that it previously used PFAS-based AFFF firefighting foam for training and emergencies.

The suspicion about other sources is based on test results that show PFAS in deep groundwater beneath a clay layer on the airport property. The airport has previously stated that it believes contamination from industrial sources nearby may be contributing to PFAS underneath its property.

“The source of the deeper groundwater PFAS impact at the former firefighting training area is unclear,” wrote DEQ geologist Mark Worrall on Jan. 11. “To evaluate if the deeper PFAS impact on the airport property is from an up-gradient source, monitor wells should be installed at the west property line and the south property line of the airport property.”

Hendershott said the DEQ is evaluating data on PFAS usage among local businesses that discharge contaminated wastewater to the Grand Rapids treatment plant to determine what other potential sources there may be around the airport.

She said a plume caused by an old Lacks Enterprises plating shop, which the DEQ is also investigating nearby in Cascade Township, is “not connected with this.”

The DEQ may spend between $75,000 and $100,000 on the additional drinking water testing near the airport, she said. The testing would likely occur in phases. The targeted area is along an unnamed tributary generally referred to as Trout Creek, which parallels Tanglewood Drive SE and parts of Tricklewood Drive SE.

Hendershott said the airport is cooperating with the DEQ, although it claims that PFAS is not leaving its property. “We’re saying that we would like a little more data.”

In October, the airport filed an investigation report with DEQ that included a detection of 3,364 parts per trillion (ppt) in Total PFAS, or the sum of all PFAS compounds in a given sample, in a shallow groundwater on its property.

The airport is developing a detailed conceptual site model to better understand soil and groundwater conditions on the property, which straddles a local watershed divide between the Thornapple River to the east, and Plaster Creek to the west.

The DEQ added Gerald R. Ford International Airport to its growing list of PFAS-contaminated sites this month.

The airport issued a statement, saying it remains “actively engaged.”

“This new information is currently under review with our environmental partners, and we have asked MDEQ and MPART for an opportunity to review the accuracy and completeness of this information, and are working with them to do so. In the interim, GFIA remains actively engaged and focused on a multi-phase, data-driven evaluation process, with the results from each phase guiding subsequent steps,” the airport stated.

Gerald R. Ford International Airport is among a handful of Michigan commercial airports with confirmed PFAS contamination. In Flint, the DEQ recently announced that contaminated groundwater linked to an old city landfill was also found at Bishop Airport. In Norton Shores, bottled water is being given to some homes around the Muskegon County Airport.

Contamination is also confirmed at former military bases that are now used as commercial airports, such as the Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, and Sawyer International Airport at the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base near Marquette.

Ford Airport is in the middle of a multi-year terminal remodel project and has seen recent growth in passenger traffic. The airport is owned by the Kent County Board of Commissioners and managed by an independent authority. It is under interim leadership after the recent resignation of CEO James Gill.

All known PFAS sites in Michigan

Michigan looking at risk from 'safer' type of PFAS</s>CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Aleem Ford’s first shift off the bench on Saturday afternoon lasted all of 28 seconds, consisting of one possession on offense and another on defense.

Before he could even form a droplet of sweat, the sophomore forward on the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team was headed back to the sidelines after racking up two fouls in a span of 15 seconds.

Ford had a much longer — and more productive — stint on the court later in the first half. He was even more valuable after halftime, when Ford scored six of his nine points to help the Badgers knock off No. 2 Michigan 64-54 at the Kohl Center.

“He was huge,” Wisconsin sophomore guard Brad Davison said after Ford finished with more points than he had in his previous five games combined (eight). “I think we’ve been — all of his teammates and the coaches — on him just to continue to be confident, continue to be aggressive. The shots will fall, but just focus on the little things: Being aggressive, getting rebounds, and the shots will come.”

The wait for Ford to get his groove back dates to his delayed season debut on Nov. 21, when he returned from a knee injury. There was a 12-point breakout in a win over North Carolina State on Nov. 27 and eight points in 18 minutes for Ford at Marquette 11 days later, but mostly he’s struggled to make an impact.

Whether Saturday was a sign of things to come for Ford or just a blip on the radar remains to be seen. “The journey starts with one step,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said afterward. “Now we’ve got to build on it.”

The coaching staff had anticipated a big jump from Ford this season after a promising redshirt freshman season. He added muscle in the offseason and showed more explosion. More than 70 percent of Ford’s points in 2017-18 came from beyond the arc but, according to Gard, he’d shown signs of becoming a threat at all three levels (3-point line, mid-range, at the rim).

Two days after scoring a team-high 19 points in a closed scrimmage against Iowa State, Ford was injured in practice. He underwent surgery on Oct. 31 to repair the lateral meniscus in his left knee and missed the first three games of the season.

Two weeks ago, in the midst of a three-game stretch in which he had zero points and five rebounds in 39 minutes, Ford said his knee wasn’t the issue. “It’s mostly mental,” he said.

Gard thought reserves such as Ford, Central High School graduate Kobe King and Brevin Pritzl were playing too tentatively, so he tried to motivate them with a three-word phrase: Let it rip. He also encouraged them to focus less on whether or not shots go in and more on doing the little things that help teams win games.

“It’s not just making 3s,” Wisconsin assistant coach Howard Moore said. “It’s getting those rebounds when we’re in a scrum. Being in a help position defensively to stop anything coming at us. Being a guy that gets those 50/50 balls. A lot of them are out there and you need guys willing to go get them. Be that guy, and it all will come together.”

Moore admitted it’s been a challenge to get Ford, one of the nicest players on the team, to play with more of an edge. Even Ford admits that his easygoing personality needs to disappear once he starts on the court.

“It’s a lot easier for other people,” Ford said, “but it’s definitely something I’ve been working on to get that mentality.”

The Badgers got a visit Friday from Dave Anderson, an author/motivational speaker whose California-based company LearnToLead has a mission of providing “the tools and inspiration our clients need to reach their personal and corporate potential.”

Gard had arranged the session weeks ago and it was pure confidence that Anderson arrived in town just as Wisconsin, in the midst of a slump, was in desperate need of a victory over an opponent which had won its first 17 games of the season.

Anderson shared a story of a former karate champion who maintained that the most dangerous fighters in the studio are the ones wearing red belts, one step below black belts. Those in the latter group have arrived at the top, while red belts still have something to prove.

The concept of approaching practices and games with a “red belt mentality” hit home with the Badgers, especially Ford.

“It was just perfect timing for me to hear that,” Ford said, “because I’m trying to figure things out myself.”

Now, as Gard said, Ford needs to take another step. That continues at 1:15 p.m. Saturday when Wisconsin hosts Northwestern at the Kohl Center.

“Yeah, I’m a laid-back guy, but once I step on the floor I have to make things happen,” Ford said. “Especially coming off the bench, you have to make the most of your time when you’re on the floor.”</s>GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Michigan’s second busiest airport closed out 2018 with a fifth straight year of record-setting passenger numbers.

About 3.26 million passengers flew in and out of Gerald R. Ford International Airport in 2018 -- the most ever in a year, according to the airport. The passenger totals trump the previous record set last year of 2.8 million.

“We had initially projected to hit the three million mark in 2020,” said Ford Airport Interim President Brian Picardat in a statement. “To have that much growth in 2018 was a tremendous accomplishment. We couldn’t have done it without our outstanding staff, our loyal passengers and all of our airline partners and airport tenants.”

For the past five years in a row, passenger numbers at Ford Airport have continued break records.

The record-setting streak began in 2014, when the airport recorded roughly 2.4 million passengers. The previous high was recorded in 2011 at 2.27 million.

Why Grand Rapids airport is growing faster than the regional competition

Birgit Klohs, president and CEO of The Right Place, Inc., which promotes job growth and investment in West Michigan, said there’s a symbiotic relationship between the airport and the area’s economy.

“They’re an economic driver, but they’re also driven by our overall healthy economy,” Klohs said, adding that a busy airport “allows us to continue to grow the local economy and attract talent.”

Klohs, who also serves on the Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority Board, said continual growth at the airport additionally attracts tourists.

Last week Las Vegas-based air carrier Allegiant Air announced they would open a base of operations at Ford Airport. The base, set to open in June, will be their 16th nationwide.

Allegiant officials said having a base at Ford Airport will open up more non-stop routes and flight times.

The first new routes from Ford Airport that Allegiant is opening up are direct flights to Nashville and Savannah, Georgia.

The two routes will bring Ford Airport’s overall non-stop flight portfolio to 29 destinations, Picardat said.

“On average, airports our size have non-stop service to 17 cities. We are now serving 29,” he said in a statement. “We are increasing our capacity and working to accomodate more routes for our passengers.”

Ford Airport is currently undergoing the second phase of its Gateway Transformation Project.

The second phase, billed at $18 million, is designed to improve airline ticket counters and baggage service offices, as well as baggage claim, curbside and “front-of-house” areas, airport officials previously said.

The construction will add restrooms and food and beverage vendors near the baggage claim area. The construction began in November and will continue through summer 2020.

How Dick DeVos put Grand Rapids airport on the map</s>Ford Motor (NYSE: ) is due to report earnings after the market closes Jan. 23, and analysts are wondering just how bad things can get.

Expectations are for 30 cents per share of earnings on $36.96 billion of revenue. Hitting the number should send the stock higher, because those earnings would be twice the company’s 15-cent-per-share quarterly dividend, and the stock is already selling at a super-low 5.5 times trailing-12-month earnings.

But there are growing hints Ford may miss estimates, and possibly by a lot. Worse, some of those hints are coming from Ford itself, which forecast a miss last week and said it couldn’t be confident about 2019 either, thanks to the Trump tariffs and Brexit.

Ford is known as a U.S. carmaker, but it is also the top-selling brand in England, and a “no-deal” Brexit, which is increasingly likely, could send that economy into a tailspin. Ford has an international supply chain, so tariffs on imported parts are going to hit its U.S. operations and overall profitability. Also, large industrial companies hate uncertainty, and that’s what the current U.S. administration specializes in.

There are even rumors that James Hackett, who was placed in the CEO chair in May 2017, could get the axe. The former Steelcase CEO and University of Michigan athletic director has been unable to complete any big tech deals, and the alliance with Volkswagen (OTCMKTS: ) announced at last week’s Detroit Auto Show impressed no one.

It’s possible that William Clay Ford, 61, a descendent of founder Henry Ford who personally ran the company from 2001 to 2006, may be forced to take back control to steady the ship.

Hackett announced a major restructuring plan last year, aiming to cut costs in gasoline engines by $14 billion, getting out of cars and investing that money into electrics and hybrids.

The plan wasn’t bad. Rival General Motors (NYSE: ) has since announced similar plans. Ford is retreating from Europe but staying in China. Like the manager of a losing football team Hackett has called for patience and told investors big surprises are in store for 2019.

The problem is he hasn’t been specific enough to calm the skeptics. If it can continue delivering 15 cents per share to shareholders this year, Ford will be yielding 7.18% at current prices, while GM’s yield has fallen to 4%.

The problem is no one believes Hackett can deliver those earnings. Ford is very vulnerable to a recession right now. It lists only $12 billion of long-term debt but it also borrows to help buyers with their purchases, and if you include Ford Motor Credit, the combined debt is over $102 billion. Moody’s has downgraded that debt to near-junk status, raising fears of a dividend cut. Ford has also been fighting overextended dealers in court.

Hackett has tried to be transparent about his plans and Ford continues to make a lot of money on its F-Series trucks. The shares traded as low as $7.50 each but have recently bounced back as bargain-hunters have circled it.

At its current price, Ford is worth just $34 billion. That’s less than its expected fourth-quarter sales. Meanwhile, Tesla (NASDAQ: ) has a market cap of $52 billion when it’s expected to have just $21 billion in sales for the year. If the global economy contracts before those trucks’ buyers can pay off their loans — which have longer-and-longer durations as the price of their trucks has risen — the company could collapse.

On the surface Ford is an incredible bargain, but I bought that argument in 2017 and paid for it with a fat loss in 2018. Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice, won’t get fooled again.

Dana Blankenhorn is a financial and technology journalist. He is the author of a new mystery thriller, The Reluctant Detective Finds Her Family, available now at the Amazon Kindle store. Write him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @danablankenhorn. As of this writing he owned no shares in companies mentioned in this article.</s>Three American citizens of Kenyan descent have been charged with conspiring to support the Islamic State group after an arrest at a Michigan airport foiled their alleged plot, authorities announced Tuesday.

The three men, all in their 20s and related to each other, allegedly recorded videos pledging their allegiance to IS and discussed a potential car attack in the United States if one of them was unable to travel overseas to fight for the terror group.

FBI agents employed undercover agents to communicate with the suspects and multiple search warrants of their social media accounts to monitor the suspects' communications between each other, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

The three were arrested Monday at Gerald Ford Airport in the city of Grand Rapids as Muse Abdikadir Muse, 23, also known as Muse Muse, was going through the TSA security screening process.

Authorities said he had checked in for a trip that would eventually take him to Mogadishu, Somalia, with the goal of joining IS.

In an online exchange with an undercover FBI agent, Muse allegedly said he wanted to join IS in Somalia and "fight in the front lines," according to the affidavit.

Police also arrested at the airport terminal the men said to be Muse's co-conspirators: his brother Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, 20, and another relative, Mohamed Salat Haji, 26.

The two are alleged to have purchased the airline ticket and driven Muse to the airport.

All three men, who are naturalized US citizens from Kenya, were charged with conspiring to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Law enforcement became interested in the elder Muse starting in April 2016, when he allegedly publicly posted pro-IS messages on his Facebook account, the affidavit said.</s>Three Muslim immigrants in Michigan were arrested on Monday for conspiring to kill thousands of American citizens on behalf of ISIS, the DOJ has announced.

The conspiracy charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. All three terrorists who were arrested were Kenyan-born naturalized citizens.

Thegatewaypundit.com reports: “Members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) arrested Muse Abdikadir Muse (Muse Muse) at the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after checking in for a flight to the first of a series of destinations on his way to Mogadishu, Somalia. Shortly thereafter, law enforcement arrested alleged coconspirators Mohamud Abdikadir Muse (Mohamud Muse), and Mohamed Salat Haji (Haji). All three defendants are naturalized U.S. citizens who were born in Kenya,” the DOJ said in a statement.

All three jihadists had pledged their allegiance to ISIS through videos they recorded. Two of the Muslim men said they wanted to ‘kill non-believers’ and use a car to mow down infidels here in the United States if they could not travel overseas to join ISIS.

Full press release from the DOJ regarding the arrest of the three Kenyan-born jihadists:</s>Three arrested at US airport, charged with supporting IS

CHICAGO: Three American citizens of Kenyan descent have been charged with conspiring to support the Islamic State group after an arrest at a Michigan airport foiled their alleged plot, authorities announced Tuesday.

The three men, all in their 20s and related to each other, allegedly recorded videos pledging their allegiance to IS and discussed a potential car attack in the United States if one of them was unable to travel overseas to fight for the terror group.

FBI agents employed undercover agents to communicate with the suspects and multiple search warrants of their social media accounts to monitor the suspects´ communications between each other, according to an affidavit filed in federal court. The three were arrested Monday at Gerald Ford Airport in the city of Grand Rapids as Muse Abdikadir Muse, 23, also known as Muse Muse, was going through the TSA security screening process.

Authorities said he had checked in for a trip that would eventually take him to Mogadishu, Somalia, with the goal of joining IS. In an online exchange with an undercover FBI agent, Muse allegedly said he wanted to join IS in Somalia and "fight in the front lines," according to the affidavit.

Police also arrested at the airport terminal the men said to be Muse´s co-conspirators: his brother Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, 20, and another relative, Mohamed Salat Haji, 26.
Three residents of the U.S. state of Michigan are arrested at Gerald R. Ford International Airport for allegedly conspiring to support the Islamic State.