The city's failure to hand over public records elicited sharp criticism — and even bewilderment — from a Wayne County judge last week.

Why it matters: The hearing was part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit we've been following closely to understand why Detroit takes so long to provide public records.

Driving the news: The city admitted in court that it did not search for emails required to be produced last month in accordance with a court order.

• The case involves a moving company that wants information about traffic near Stellantis' east side Jeep plant.
• Circuit Court Judge Charles Hegarty, somewhat begrudgingly, gave the city more time to gather the documents.

What they're saying: "I don't know how to more clearly express the thought that this is a court order, not a court suggestion," Hegarty said.

• "These documents need to be produced and I can't understand what is going on."

Catch up fast: Grosse Pointe Moving & Storage — in business on Jefferson since 1985 — sued Detroit in March after saying its January FOIA request went unanswered.

• The city ignored the lawsuit at first, but agreed to a court settlement for emails, contracts and other documents by June 15 in order to avoid a default judgment in the moving company's favor.
• The city handed over 128 pages — but there were no emails.

The other side: Lawyers for the city offered various explanations, including:

• The law department is overwhelmed with FOIA requests, approaching 10,000 annually.
• The settlement called for more records than the company's initial request.
• "There was a serious attempt post-litigation to try to comply, hence the 128 pages that were produced," Jason Harrison of the Detroit law department told the judge.

The intrigue: Another city lawyer previously working on the case, Danasia Neal, was just fired after the city discovered last week that she's facing felony drug and gun charges.

• Neal was arrested in 2021 when a search of her vehicle turned up 352 grams of fentanyl, the Free Press reports.
• The search was illegal and her case should be dismissed, Neal's lawyer told the Freep.

What's next: A new deadline, possibly in early August, is being set for the city to provide all the records to Grosse Pointe Moving & Storage.

The bottom line: "It's possible the city of Detroit needs to sit down, evaluate how it addresses FOIA matters and fix that process," Hegarty said.

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Our metro area's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 4.7% over the past year through June — the smallest such increase since 2021.

• However, we're still above the national average of 3%.

Why it matters: CPI measures the price of consumer goods and services over time, and is used to track inflation.

• Overall U.S. inflation has fallen from its peak — a relief for consumers, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports.

Zoom out: Nationally, sharply lower energy prices continue to be a major factor pulling down overall inflation. Gasoline prices, for example, are down 26.5% compared with a year ago.

• Used cars and trucks, a category that helped lead the way as prices across the nation started to soar, are down 5.2% compared with a year ago. In June alone, prices fell 0.5%.
• New vehicles, meanwhile, were flat.
• Rent price increases showed no sign of slowing nationally — rising 0.5% in June, the same pace as the previous month. Housing costs have put upward pressure on inflation.

Most of the weekend should be nice and sunny — take advantage of it!

• We know by now this never lasts for long.

🎶 Experience a wide variety of performances at the free, diversity-themed Concert of Colors through Sunday.

• Times and locations in and around the Detroit Institute of Arts vary.
• Full schedule

🫑 Buy plant-based food from local businesses at farm Detroit Abloom's annual Vegan Fest in Jefferson Chalmers with music, food and drinks.

• Tomorrow, noon-6pm; free to enter.

🎥 Watch the acclaimed movie "Till" outdoors tonight at New Center Park.

• Doors open at 8pm and the movie starts around dusk. Free!

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👋 Everett here. After so many of you guessed where Sam was last week, we're making today's photo contest a little tougher.

• I'm standing in front of one of the city's newest murals, painted on one side of a hotel that's still under construction. But where?

📬 Reply to this email with my exact location, the name of the hotel or the mural and you'll be entered into a contest to win some free Axios swag.

• We'll have the winners and more on the mural next week!

Dairy Queen is the most common ice cream chain across Metro Detroit, with 86 locations.

• Culver's and Baskin-Robbins are runners-up with 29 and 27 locations, respectively, per a new analysis of Yelp data from Axios' Kavya Beheraj and Erin Davis.

Reality check: Just because one particular chain is dominant doesn't necessarily make it the best.

• Independent shops across the region, like those in a recent Eater Detroit list, have many stalwart advocates for their supremacy.
• Axios Detroit favorites include Erma's, Jim's, River Breeze Dairy Freeze and Ice Cream La Michoacana.

Go deeper: Peruse a national map of the most common ice cream chains by county.

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