A startup allows people to share firsthand UFO sightings via an app, and Michiganders are among the top users.

Driving the news: Enigma Labs developed an app where users can upload videos of odd sightings in the sky.

• Alejandro Rojas, a UFO researcher, tells Axios that the West and Southwest are generally the biggest hotbeds of strange activity.
• However, per Enigma, Michigan has the ninth-highest total sightings.

How it works: An AI program on the Enigma Labs app generates a score to help determine whether an uploaded user video captures something truly unidentifiable or just a plane, satellite or other known object.

• Rojas says the app aims to crowdsource as much information as possible because the government typically lacks enough data to study these anomalies.

By the numbers: Since the app started in 2023, Michigan users have submitted 526 sightings. Enigma has recorded 7,375, including from public sources. That's compared with 29,000 in California, including 2,220 submitted to the app.

• The most common shapes reported in Michigan are lights (2,497) and triangles (656), followed by circles, "other" and spheres.

Zoom in: One user in Ypsilanti submitted video in late October purporting to show six lights flying together.

• A February submission on the state's west side records a person driving on a highway toward an object.
• "As I got even with it, it was only about 150 feet above the ground and about 250 yards away above the field. It was rather large, I'd say about the size of Taco Bell," the user wrote in their post. "I tried to record but I was driving and I couldn't do anything but hit record and hope for the best."

Catch up quick: Most people know the term UFO, but the current term coined by the government is UAP, an unidentified aerial phenomenon.

• With widespread media like "The X-Files," the public started associating "UFOs" with aliens, but Rojas says experts prefer a neutral approach, recognizing that these objects are simply unidentified — not necessarily extraterrestrial.

What we're watching: Most of the time, objects are explainable. However, misidentifications have increased lately because Space X rockets have been adding satellites, he says.

• But he said he's heartened that NASA and Congress have taken UAP sightings more seriously recently and shared their reports.

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The alleged $40 million theft from the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy has forced the nonprofit to alter its construction plans on the riverfront, the Detroit News reports.

The big picture: In September, new leadership told Axios that the conservancy would strive to make changes and cut costs without affecting the riverfront experience.

Yes, but: "Challenges associated with the fraud disclosed earlier this year" have forced the cancellation of plans for a temporary path linking eastern and western portions of the Riverwalk, according to an email obtained by the Detroit News that was sent Oct. 30 to nearby residents.

Catch up quick: The conservancy has been redeveloping the city's Riverwalk and other riverfront parks and attractions for more than 20 years.

• In May, it disclosed multimillion-dollar losses and fired its then-CFO, William Smith, shocking the local philanthropic, government and business communities.
• Smith was charged in June with stealing nearly $40 million from the nonprofit since 2012.
• His plea hearing is scheduled for Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan downtown.

Zoom in: The temporary path would have been installed this summer to link a new boardwalk at the Riverfront Towers residential complex with a newly built stretch of Riverwalk to the west.

• The connection point is near Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park, which remains under construction.

What they're saying: Conservancy spokesperson Marc Pasco told Axios in a statement on Friday that factors outside the alleged theft contributed to the decision not to build the path.

• The statement cited fewer pedestrians during the winter and upcoming construction on West Jefferson Avenue.
• "The decision to delay the opening is simply the result of our cost/benefit analysis given seasonality and upcoming construction on Jefferson," Pasco says.

The bottom line: Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park's construction schedule is unchanged, Pasco tells Axios.

• The Riverfront Towers boardwalk, the new stretch of Riverwalk to its west and the park will debut together when the park is finished next fall.

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₿ The city will accept cryptocurrency to pay taxes and other fees starting next year. The shift is in response to young residents' desire to use the latest technology, Mayor Mike Duggan said.

• The city will not be holding any cryptocurrency through the program because payments will be converted to dollars upon submission. (BridgeDetroit)

🏡 The home of Ossian Sweet, a Black doctor targeted by a rock-throwing white mob in 1925, will open as a museum with an educational plaza next to the house after renovations finish. (Detroit News)

🦁 Rapper Gmac Cash released another Lions-related song, "We Run the North," after the team continued its winning streak this weekend, beating the Houston Texans. (Free Press)

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is pictured walking Sunday with U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell and Rashida Tlaib during the Detroit Veterans Day Parade on Michigan Avenue.