Learning has become harder for many students as fewer people are reading due to the distractions of new technologies. While artificial intelligence spreads information quickly, it doesn’t necessarily offer the depth of traditional teaching.

So, how does one teach deep learning when most Michigan fourth graders aren’t reading proficiently?

Erik Meerschaert is a special education teacher at Lake Orion High School. He also just became the 2026-2027 Michigan Teacher of the Year, and he’s the state’s candidate for the National Teacher of the Year award for 2027. 

Meerschaert says students learn better when they feel like they have a strong connection with their teacher. 

“Every great educator I’ve ever met starts with that relationship piece,” he says. “Being able to build that relationship with my students — getting to know their likes, their dislikes — helps create that welcoming, friendly environment. When a student is in that kind of environment, they feel ready to take risks. They feel more at ease.” 

Erik Meerschaert joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss why he loves his job, and how that joy helps construct bonds with his students that aid them in the learning process.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

While Detroit law says a landlord cannot rent a home until it’s been deemed livable by city inspectors, 86% of Detroit’s landlords are operating illegally as they have failed to secure Certificates of Compliance for their properties.

Last week, the Detroit Tenants Union, with support from several legal groups in the city, filed a lawsuit, alleging the 36th District Court chief judge has “failed to perform a clear and legal duty” because the court’s rulings contradict city law, effectively leaving residents vulnerable rather than upholding the statutes protecting them.

Professor Donovan McCarty is the director of Michigan State University College of Law’s Housing Justice Clinic and counsel for the Detroit Tenants Union. He says the 36^th District court is not using the law properly to protect renters.

“If landlords can keep going in to collect rent that’s not lawfully collected, then they have no incentive to actually come into compliance, and that 14% number will not grow to where we need it to be,” says McCarty.

He joined The Metro’s Robyn Vincent to discuss why he believes the court is falling short, and how it needs to be held accountable.  

The 36th District Court did not respond to The Metro’s request for comment.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and stream on-demand.

Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Dearborn was named a Tree City USA for the 39th year.

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud says its a pride point for the city. “We’re trying to take it an extra step, ensuring that we offer all of our residents a free tree in their easements, and even if they’d like a free treatment for their personal property,” he says.

Benefits

Hammoud says the trees help with flood mitigation in the city.

“The more trees you put in the ground, the more water it can absorb, helping prevent that water from entering your water and sewer system, which helps increase your capacity,” he says.

City reprenstatives have been planting about 1,000 trees a year, he says.

What goes up…

Hammoud says road construction and storms can sometimes lead to some trees coming down.

“Sometimes a tree will be removed if you have major road construction, and you do chop off some of the root system, and then you’d no longer have a tree that can be there safely, where a windstorm, especially if there’s many leaves in the tree, can get picked up along with that windstorm,” he shares.

He says there are efforts to educate residents about the benefit of planting and saving trees. The city has also caught up on a backlog of taking down dead and deceased trees from 1,200-1,300 to about 100 trees. 

Setting trees up for success

The city mostly plants trees that are 3-4 years old, and works with the Crimboli Nursery & Landscapes to get their trees.

Every tree comes with a 1-2 year warranty, but residents are asked to water the trees.

“If the wooden stakes are still on the tree that are helping keeping it up, that means the tree has a warranty for those first two years, ensuring that can kind of grow out of its newborn phase,” he says.

Dearborn residents can request a free tree in their easement by visiting dearborn.gov/trees. 

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

Come November, thousands of political seats are up for grabs.

One of the most compelling races in Michigan is the Senate. That’s in part because of what it says about the Democratic Party, especially after Mallory McMorrow dropped out.

Most polls have Abdul El-Sayed leading in the race, but there is still uncertainty as to whether he can defeat Haley Stevens, a sitting congresswoman who gained notoriety for her moderation, and for bailing out the auto industry.

Dennis Darnoi is the founder of Densar Consulting, based in Farmington. He says many voters want candidates that have an anti-institutional and populist bent.

“Progressive candidates are running against these establishment candidates and they’re being more successful because the Democratic base is really looking for two things: They’re looking for people who are going to fight and they’re looking for people who are anti-system.”

Darnoi spoke with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent about the Senate race and how it reflects changes to politics in Michigan and beyond.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and stream on-demand.

Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Michigan drivers are feeling less pain at the pump.

AAA and Gas Buddy say the statewide average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas is less than $4 per gallon as of July 7. The last time it was that low was in April, a few weeks after the United States attacked Iran in March.

Iran responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic. That sent gas prices up to almost $5 per gallon in May. At the same time, the average cost of diesel fuel rose to $6.20 per gallon, a new record for Michigan.

When did prices begin falling?

Tensions in the Persian Gulf have eased since the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June, aiming toward ending the war.

Iran is now allowing more tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

Gas Buddy senior petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan says oil prices have fallen to their lowest level since the war began.

“OPEC+ has increased production, another piece of good news,” he says. “Prices are back below $70 per barrel.”

Oil prices are low, gas not so much

But the drop in oil prices hasn’t affected fuel prices as much as it could have. DeHaan says that’s because of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

“You can have all the oil in the world,” he says. “But if there aren’t refineries to turn that into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, you could have very low oil prices but very high fuel prices.”

DeHaan says prices could go up 10 to 20 cents per gallon by mid-July due to less refining capacity at home, too.

A power outage at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in southwest Detroit on July 5 temporarily halted operations there. It also forced the company to burn off excess gases to keep them from building up. Marathon says power was restored on July 6 and it’s working to resume normal operations.

DeHaan says even a short delay could affect prices.

“Many times, brief disruptions can lead to multiple days of down time,” he says. “We don’t have a full picture on exactly how long that refinery could be impacted.”

Domestic supply dwindles

A lack of refining capacity could mean the U.S. dips into its strategic oil reserve to address any shortages or price increases.

DeHaan says that reserve is getting low.

“It’s now at its lowest level since 1983, with about 326 million barrels,” he says. “Having less oil available strategically could be problematic down the road.”

DeHaan says while gas prices are trending down, several factors could send them back up, such as a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.

“We’re weeks away from entering the peak of hurricane season.” he says. “And with continued Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, that could be a problem.”

Michiganders are broadly against data centers, especially when they’re proposed near their residence.

Their concerns about electricity and water use are compounded by a general feeling that large tech companies control too much of their lives. Residents have gotten particularly loud about those problems at town hall meetings, including at one Saline Township meeting.

Despite local apprehension, Saline is now slated to host one of the largest data centers in the country.

At this point, 52 localities in Michigan have passed data center moratoriums.

But are concerns about hyper-scale data centers overblown? And, are there more benefits that townships aren’t fully appreciating?

Eric Paul Dennis is the infrastructure research associate for the Citizens Research Council. A new report he did on data centers says their benefits often actually outweigh the costs.

“You cannot discount the idea that data centers can increase electricity rates, but it’s actually not that common and quite minimal,” says Dennis. “Regulatory agencies have now kind of gotten ahead of this and I don’t think it’s going to be as much of a concern for the future.”

The Metro‘s Sam Corey spoke with Dennis about why he thinks data center projects sometimes offer more benefits than drawbacks.

After the two spoke, electricity rates increased in Henrico County, Virginia — which is home to 37 data centers. Dominion Energy says it increased the rates due to inflation, rising fuel costs, the cost of grid equipment, and the need to make more grid investments.

The Metro contacted Dennis about the rate increase. He said that while data centers “have caused headaches for grid managers” in Virginia, the problems are not necessarily “critical or unavoidable.” He says, in fact, “We appear to be managing the risks and even benefiting from the addition of data centers on the grid.”

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and stream on-demand.

Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

The city of Midland is the first in the state to use AI to inventory their tree canopy.

Midland partnered with the Davey Tree company and used special software to assess more than 30,000 urban trees.

Midland’s Director of Parks and Recreation Marcie Post says the TreeKeeper system uses a type of 3D scanning technology that is integrated with AI. 

“And what we do with this system is it helps us track where our trees are, species, health, basically everything we need to know about our trees. So that if something were to happen let’s say if we were to get a pest we have an  idea of where that pest is, what trees it may affect, and so on and so forth.”

She says the city is dedicated to the health of its trees.

“We know what value trees bring both in aesthetic appeal but also financially we know the value of a tree so we’re just really excited to be able to show our residents how important we think it is and really to continue education on trees and the importance of trees in our environment.”

Post says the software detects information about the species, circumference and health of each tree, giving the city a baseline for management. Midland’s trees have suffered from pests like the Emerald Ash Borer and this software can find gaps in the tree canopy that need to be filled. 

The city’s trees were scanned last summer and data analysis will begin this summer.

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow has suspended her campaign for US Senate. 

In a video announcing her decision, McMorrow highlighted some of her and her colleague’s accomplishments in the Michigan legislature.  

“We repealed Michigan’s abortion ban. We raised wages. We made sure every child gets breakfast and lunch at school. We made it easier to go to college. We expanded civil rights, voting rights, and so, so much more,” McMorrow said.  

While McMorrow was not forthcoming her reasons for suspending her campaign, funding might have been an issue.  

Corporate PACs have spent heavily on Congresswoman Haley Stevens, with millions of dollars in ad-buys before McMorrow ever aired her first commercial. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is running a campaign to the left of McMorrow and has also abstained from taking corporate PAC money. 

Even though McMorrow is leaving the race, she said she will not leave the “fight.” 

“So, here’s what we do next,” McMorrow said. “Every day through November 3, we win this Senate seat, and we send Mike Rogers back to Florida for good. Whoever wins this primary on August 4 will have my full support.” 

Reactions from both sides 

Stevens said she looks forward to working with McMorrow in the future, while also making her case as the strongest candidate to defeat Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.  

“Anyone who raises their hand to serve the people of Michigan and puts forward thoughtful ideas for how they would lead earns my respect,” Stevens wrote.  

On the same day of McMorrow’s announcement, Stevens earned an endorsement from Attorney General Dana Nessel.  

El-Sayed said people who are unhappy with corporate money in politics should consider his campaign.   

“The reality of it is that $30 million of AIPAC spending that came in to drown out Senator McMorrow’s voice, that’s coming in an even uglier way against me,” El-Sayed said. “So I’m hoping that folks who supported Senator McMorrow wants to make sure that we have a voice in our politics.” 

The Michigan Republican Party called both Stevens and El-Sayed “Marxist radicals,” asserting that Rogers will hold the future primary winner “accountable” for “turning their backs on Michigan’s families.” 

What happens next? 

Stevens and El-Sayed will face each other in a debate at Grand Rapids on Tuesday.   

Mail-in ballots were already delivered, meaning McMorrow’s name still appears. People who have already voted and wish to spoil their ballot may do so at their local clerk’s office.  

Grosse Ile sits in the lower Detroit River between the Downriver communities of Wayne County and Canada. Native populations inhabited the island for thousands of years before French explorers arrived in the 17th century and gave the island its name.

On July 6, 1776, two days after the Second Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence, 18 Potawatomi chiefs signed a deed transferring ownership of Grosse Ile to brothers Alexander and William Macomb. The British fur traders became the first Europeans to lay claim to the island.

Grosse Ile residents celebrate the 250th anniversary of that signing on July 6, 2026. Residents can view the original deed at the Grosse Ile Township Hall from July 6-8.

Tony Krukowski is the vice president of the Grosse Ile Historical Society. He met WDET’s Pat Batcheller at the island’s history museum.

Krukowski says the Potawatomi chiefs likely viewed the deed transfer differently than the Macomb brothers. 

The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Tony Krukowski: To the Potawatomi, it probably meant that they were just sharing the property, just like you couldn’t own the sky and the moon and the air. They felt like it was something that would be jointly enjoyed by both the Potawatomi and the British colonists that were coming here to settle.

Pat Batcheller: It sounds like that didn’t quite happen that way.

TK: Well, in the minds of a European person, somebody from Britain, there was a strong sense of ownership of property, so that was a different concept. The Potawatomi couldn’t quite appreciate what William and Alexander Macomb were attempting to do, and vice versa; they didn’t understand what the Native Americans felt about property.

PB: Who were the Macomb brothers?

TK: Well, they came to this area primarily as traders. They would trade materials in this area to the British and whoever else wanted to buy things. It’s kind of interesting that William Macomb was considered to be a neo-American, but he was also a member of the Canadian Parliament. So, he kind of played both sides, whichever seemed to work best for him financially.

Editor’s note: Alexander Macomb’s son Alexander was the commanding general of the U.S. Army from 1828 to 1841. Macomb County is named for the general.

PB: I looked it up and found that both brothers had enslaved people. Do you know whether any of them were here on Grosse Ile?

TK: We believe that there may have been at least one enslaved person who was maintaining the mansion that was built by William Macomb.

PB: What happened to the Potawatomi after that?

TK: Well, they probably moved farther west. Different tribes would come in and out of this area, depending on whether they were seeking food to eat. They might meet here with other tribes. It was a pretty fluid movement among the Native Americans in this area.

PB: When did Grosse Ile officially become American territory?

TK: It wasn’t until after the American Revolutionary War, and even years after that, the British still had control of this area. We have a picture of a fort that was built here in 1815 because there was still concern about the British and some Native American tribes coming over from Canada and burning some of the homes and the farms.

PB: What has the museum done to preserve or share the Potawatomi history? Do you have artifacts here, for example?

TK: We do have artifacts, and we have tried to get more and more information on Native Americans in this area. They were here for probably at least 25,000 years, so they have quite a story to tell as well.

PB: How did the island evolve after the Macomb brothers arrived?

TK: There were some French residents that came in here, and there was a concept of what they called ribbon farms, where the farms were long and narrow. And access to the river was a lifeline for the people who lived here.

PB: What is Grosse Ile like today?

TK: It’s still a very small community. We have a little over 10,000 people. It’s very rural, but we have the advantages of being close to Detroit. If we want to go to any kind of events and things, that’s available to us. But if you live on the island, what you’re going to sense is you’re surrounded by forest, and we have bike paths, access to the water. It’s really a beautiful place to live.

PB: Do you guide historical tours?

TK: One of the things we’re doing now is we’re going into the second grade at least two or three times a year to talk to the students there about the history of Grosse Ile. If somebody calls us and says, ‘we’d like to come to the museum,’ we’ll try to work some time out that’s convenient for them. We have our lighthouse tour in September, where we actually take people by bus over to the lighthouse, take them out to the lighthouse, go up to the top, and tell them about some of the reasons why we have a lighthouse and some of the history behind Grosse Ile.

PB: When you talk to the kids, or when somebody comes here to the museum, what is the most common question they ask, and how do you respond?

TK: It depends on where their interests lie. Say an engineer comes in, he’s very interested in the invention of the outboard motor. We have kids come in, they’re very interested in Native Americans and look at some of the arrowheads. Some of the people who are really into railroads are very interested in that this building that we’re operating out of used to be the railroad depot and that we have a customs house just about 100 feet away.

PB: The railroad depot is important because there used to be rail traffic that came across the island.

TK: Exactly. There used to be a railroad track where current road, Grosse Ile Parkway, runs to the free bridge. That free bridge used to be a trestle, and the road used to be a railroad track, and the railroad track ran across to Stony Island, which is just to the east of us. And then between Stony Island and Canada, there was a ferry service that ran that would carry railroad cars over to Stony Island, where they would be coupled and then brought to Grosse Ile and beyond.

PB: Are there still remnants of that bridge over here?

TK: Yes, if you go across the road and down the steps at what we call Sunrise Park, and turn to your left, you can still see some of the stone abutments. And then in low water times, you can still see parts of the supports for the for the trestle that used to run the Stony Island.

PB: Anything that we didn’t talk about that you’d like to mention?

TK: I think it’s really important that this was where the ZMC-2, the only all metal-clad dirigible was launched. Orville Wright actually came to the island to see the launching of that. We also have a hotel registry that shows that President Calvin Coolidge and his wife came here, probably to negotiate with Henry Ford about having support on his campaign.

The Grosse Ile History Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays.

Researchers say the composition of Michigan’s forests may change in the future.

For the past 28 years, scientists from Michigan State University have taken a census of seedlings from 10 species in the Manistee National Forest.

Bailey McNichols is a postdoctoral scholar at MSU. She says their annual seedling census tracks responses to change.

“Forests are likely to exist in this location and they are likely to be resilient to the changing climate but we might just see a transition in the composition of these forests.”

McNichols says researchers predict Michigan’s growing season will become warmer and wetter, changing which species of trees will thrive in the state.

“And if those are the conditions which are predicted to exist in the future then it’s likely that we’re going to see more of five different of the ten species which were more Red Maples, more Ironwood, more Black Cherry, and more Red Oak and White Oak.”

McNichols says in contrast, Sugar Maple, Basswood and White Ash are among the species expected to decline.

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

Higher prices at the store are affecting the pocketbooks of people across an array of backgrounds.

Adrian Matti, founder of Marcus Market said rising cost have changed the way customers shop. While maintaining a stable customer base, Matti says they’ve seen a slight decrease in sales. Matti said more customers are swiping the credit card and opting for the generic brands as opposed to their name brand counterparts.

“For example Jiff peanut butter, it could be like a generic peanut butter next to it and there’ll be like 50 cents difference. They’ll go for the generic.”

For his business, however, fuel surcharges pose the biggest challenge. Despite the increased cost to do business, Matti has said the store has been able to maintain their product selection and availability.

Across town in southwest Detroit, Honeybee Market has found itself dealing with similar challenges. In addition with fuel surcharges, Honey bee also is battling supply chain and sourcing issues.

Tammy Alfaro Koehler, owner of Honeybee Market said certain products have been more difficult to obtain. Pointing to crop losses in Mexico that have affected the availability of jalapeños and tomatillos. While shortages may not be noticeable right away it could take months for the impacts to reach store shelves.

Koehler also mentioned that shortages can create difficulties not only for grocery stores but also for people who rely on consistent access to ingredients for their work such as restaurants that source their produce from stores like Honeybee Market and small business owners as well.

Shifting the business model 

Angela Davis, a recipe developer, digital content creator, and freelance chef who goes by Thekitchenista on Instagram said both items not being available and cost have affected her business.

Davis has scaled back some services, and eliminated others like her  pop-up events due to uncertainty around cost and customer turnout.

“Actually, I just eliminated popups right now. I was doing popups through the winter, and it got too expensive because it is a lot of guesswork, not knowing what foot traffic will be like for events where you can’t sell tickets.”

To adapt, Davis has looked at what ways she can maximize the ingredients she purchases. One strategy that has proven beneficial is buying whole ducks. By buying the whole duck, she’s supplied with multiple parts allowing for many different dishes at a lower price point thus reducing waste.

Careful spending and creative solutions

As food prices continue to affect households and businesses, flexibility is becoming increasingly important.

Retailers, food professionals and consumers alike are finding ways to adapt to rising costs.

A survey of consumers revealed several strategies being used to stretch their grocery budgets. Participants noted finding themselves at the store less often all the way to the types of stores they shop at, with a majority saying they have changed what stores they visit.

One respondent mentioned comparing prices between big box retailers and smaller local businesses for the best quality and value. Cross shopping between various stores, cutting back on snacks and novelty items, and preparation methods have all been areas consumers mentioned where they’ve made changes.

“We’re buying less meat like chicken and turkey, since prices for those have skyrocketed. And switched to buying more canned and dry goods that are more rich in protein. We’ve also stopped trying new brands for things like snacks out of fear we’d waste money on something we end up not liking.” one respondent said. 

Another shopper shared that they were buying family-sized packs in order to prepare meals and make it last 2-3 days depending on the household size. Others brought up buying less juice and coffee creamer. 

Another participant noted going to farmer markets to source produce. “The produce is often fresher, locally grown, and cheaper. It might be easier than you think to cook a meal you love if you get creative.”

While there’s no one single solution to rising food costs, many are finding that with careful planning, reducing waste, and remaining flexible, one’s budget can go a little bit further.

The United States of America is celebrating its 250th anniversary this week.  There will be parades and fireworks and lots of speeches. But does this holiday mean the same thing to African Americans as it does to other Americans? 

Vincent Hutchings is a political science professor at the University of Michigan.  WDET’s Jerome Vaughn asked him about the meaning of “Independence Day” for the country’s Black citizens.

Hutchings says the holiday doesn’t mean the same for whites as it does for Black Americans because of their different experiences over the last 250 years.  He says, for example, that Black people were largely enslaved for the first 80-plus years of the country.

“The truth of the matter is that the country that we think of today as the United States of America, from the vantage point of most African-Americans doesn’t actually start until 1865, not 1776.”

Hutchings says there has been a disparity between the lived experiences of most White Americans and most Black Americans throughout the history of the country.  And he says that continues to be the case as demonstrated by a number of metrics today.

“On multiple dimensions from life expectancy to maternal health to infant mortality to unemployment to poverty, to the racial wealth gap and various other outcomes, Black Americans, on average are living in very different circumstances.  And it’s not by accident.”

Hutchings says the facts are not in dispute, but the question to be asked is why is that the case. He says, perhaps, many Black Americans will be celebrating their endurance and their ability to survive during the country’s history.

Thirteen years ago, a local businessman and an agriculture expert joined forces to change a chunk of Detroit’s east side.  They started an experiment, planting thousands of trees in empty lots, in an effort to force out blight.  That experiment is called Hantz Woodlands.

You’ll see some of the results if you drive up McClellan or Belvidere, just north of Kercheval.  Mike Score is the President of Hantz Farms, the company that owns and manages the woodlands.  He spoke with WDET’s Jerome Vaughn. 

Score says the company has surpassed the goals it originally set in a deal with the city.

“We said we tear down at least 50 dangerous structures and we torn down 70.  We said we’d plant at least 15,000 trees and we’ve planted over 40,000.  And we said we’d mow every three weeks, and we’re mowing on a two-week cycle right now.”

Score says three trees have helped transform neighborhoods.  There was initial skepticism, and even organized opposition in the early days of the project.  But Score says those obstacles have faded away once residents in the area saw the effects of the project.

“Our neighbors in the beginning thought that our trees were a mystery.  They said, ‘we don’t want trees, we want neighbors.’  But as they’ve seen the trees grow and the neighborhood become cleaner, safer, more beautiful, we’ve actually had neighbors ask us to keep trees near their homes because they think they’re beautiful and really add to the quality of life.”

Hantz Woodlands lots are located in an area of Detroit south of Mack and east of Van Dyke.

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

President Trump continues to argue, without evidence, that voting by mail is plagued by fraud, even though he often casts ballots that way himself.

But the president has hit some judicial roadblocks in his efforts to curtail voting by mail.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a state’s right to count mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day, if they arrive within a certain grace period.

Last week, a federal judge blocked President Trump’s plan to forbid the U.S. Postal Service from delivering mail-in ballots to states that refused to provide a list of absentee voters.

Michigan U.S. Sen. Gary Peters is the ranking member of the congressional committee that oversees the Postal Service.

Peters says he welcomes the court decisions, but he still has a few concerns.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

Gary Peters: The caution to all of this is twofold. One, of course, is that the Trump administration will likely appeal this decision. And two, the court decision affected 23 states that filed suit. Michigan was one of those states, so that can’t occur here in Michigan. But that still leaves it open for all of the remaining states in the Union. So, it is simply unacceptable.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: You’re the ranking member on the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Postal Service. At a recent hearing with the committee, the Postmaster General was arguing the President’s executive order would “match the ballots that a state believes they’re sending out to what actually gets sent out.” What is your response to that statement?

GP: It was ridiculous. I asked him very directly, “Under this executive order as the Postmaster General, does this mean if a state does not provide that voter information to you that you will not mail the ballots there?” And he said that is correct. “We will not mail any ballots unless that information is provided.” So clearly it’s blackmailing states that they want to provide that information.

And then his response was, “Well, states want to know that these ballots are getting mailed out.” That’s ridiculous. Because right now everybody believes that when you drop a letter into the post office box with an address you believe it’s actually gonna be mailed out. Do you need to provide a bunch of personal information before the post office actually delivers it to someone? That’s not the way the process works.

The post office has one job: Take a letter that’s dropped in a mailbox that’s addressed to somebody and then deliver it on a timely basis. And that’s how ballots should be handled as well. The clerks know who they are mailing those ballots to. They would assume, like every American, that the Postal Service will actually deliver them and then deliver them back to the clerk. So those arguments do not hold any water.

QK: You argued during that hearing that if this all went through, the Postal Service in many ways would actually be running elections. Because they would decide who should get a ballot or not.

GP: Absolutely. The U.S. Constitution is very clear that states run elections, not the federal government. The Trump administration is trying to do everything they can to take over elections at the federal level, which is unconstitutional.

We’re confident courts will continue to rule that it’s up to local communities and states, ultimately, to control elections. And yet the Trump administration is now trying to use the Postal Service to require that information be provided to the federal government before they actually will mail ballots. That gives the Postal Service tremendous power.

And when you have this voter information available to the federal government, who knows what it could be used for? We have indications that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was making inquiries as to how could they access this data that was going to be provided to the Postal Service. That could be used for potentially nefarious purposes. It’s simply unacceptable. We have to maintain the integrity of states to run their own election and not allow the federal government to attempt to do something that is clearly unconstitutional.

QK: Is there anything you see that could be done on a congressional level to argue against this order if by some chance it’s reinstated?

GP: The Constitution’s clear. If we have to pass specific legislation, we can look at doing that as well. Certainly, this court ruling is encouraging. But, again, it only applies to the 23 states that actually filed suit against the executive order. We’ll be looking at how we can make sure that applies to all 50 states.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.

The decision, in line with the longstanding judicial interpretation of the 14th Amendment, comes on the final day of a Supreme Court term that has centered on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power — and largely ruled in his favor.

In its other Tuesday rulings, the court upheld laws in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sport teams and struck down limits on party spending in federal elections.

Here’s the latest:

Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s proposed limits

In upholding a broad conception of birthright citizenship, the court rejected President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.

The justices relied on a long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, and more recent federal laws in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.

The Republican president’s restrictions had been blocked by several lower courts and had not taken effect anywhere in the U.S.

During arguments in April, both conservative and liberal justices questioned the order’s legality in a momentous case that was magnified by Trump’s unprecedented attendance in the courtroom.

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Advocates for LGBTQ+ youth condemn the transgender athletes ruling

“Today’s news has nothing to do with safety or fairness in sports,” Trevor Project CEO Jaymes Black said in a statement. “These rulings only serve to send a message to transgender and nonbinary young people that says, ‘you don’t belong.’”

Supreme Court strikes down limits on party spending in federal elections

The Supreme Court on Tuesday erased limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president, striking down a federal election law that’s more than 50 years old.

Prodded by a Republican-led lawsuit that includes Vice President JD Vance, the court’s conservative justices were again in the majority of the latest decision that upended congressionally enacted limits on raising and spending money to influence elections. The court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited independent spending in federal elections.

The limits on party spending stem from a desire to prevent large donors from skirting caps on individual contributions to a candidate by directing unlimited sums to the party, with the understanding that the money will be spent on behalf of the candidate.

The Supreme Court had previously upheld the limits in 2001.

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One advocate for transgender rights says Tuesday’s ruling will resonate in areas beyond sports

“The Supreme Court gave cover to a campaign whose stated goal is to deny constitutional projections to trans people,” Imara Jones, CEO of TransLash Media, said in a statement. “The ultimate objective is to establish the cocktail of laws and systemic marginalization that will allow those in power to exclude larger and larger groups of Americans.”

From Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the transgender athletes ruling

“Sports are generally zero sum,” Kavanaugh said in the majority opinion. “Every biological male who makes the team takes a roster spot from a female athlete. Every biological male who earns playing time reduces the playing time of a female athlete. Every biological male who starts takes a starting position from a female athlete. Every biological male who wins a race takes the gold medal away from a female athlete.”

Supreme Court upholds state laws banning transgender girls and women from school athletic teams

The ruling is another setback for transgender people.

The court’s conservative majority, which has repeatedly ruled against transgender Americans in the past year, ruled that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution or the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

More than two dozen other Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes, and the decision seems certain to extend to them as well.

Left unresolved by the outcome are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity.

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Several courts have blocked the citizenship restrictions

The justices are weighing Trump’s appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions, one of several courts that have blocked them.

Trump signed the birthright citizenship order on the first day of his second term, but the restrictions have not taken effect anywhere in the country.

Dueling views on birthright citizenship

In oral arguments, Sauer, the lawyer for Trump’s administration, said that birthright citizenship encourages illegal immigration and “rewards illegal aliens who not only violate the immigration laws but also jump in front of those who follow the rules.”

The practice “demeans the priceless and profound gift of American citizenship,” he told the court.

But the American Civil Liberties Union, which is challenging Trump’s order, sees it very differently.

“It’s one of the clearest statements of who we are as a country,” the ACLU said in a statement. “No matter who your parents are, if you’re born here, you belong here.”

America’s views on birthright citizenship

Most Americans say they believe in birthright citizenship, though many are conflicted about exactly who it should apply to.

An April survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research of more than 2,500 U.S. adults found that about two-thirds say children born in the U.S. should get automatic citizenship. That number drops to 44% for Republicans.

But the poll also showed ambivalence when it came to specifics.

For example, 75% of U.S. adults support automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents in the country on work visas. Only about half, though, believe in it for children born to parents who are illegally in the country.

The court ruled Monday that states can count late-arriving mailed ballots

The 5-4 decision rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day.

The outcome spares officials the headache of changing their ballot rules just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

In just over half of those states, the more forgiving deadlines apply only to ballots cast by military and overseas voters.

The government has faced judicial skepticism

During oral arguments, even many conservative justices appeared unconvinced by the government’s case.

“I can imagine it being messy in some applications,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett said, asking Solicitor General D. John Sauer about the issue of abandoned infants.

“What if you don’t know who the parents are?” she asked.

Sauer started to say that question was addressed in the U.S. code, but Barrett quickly interrupted him.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but what about the Constitution?” she asked.

How do most countries decide a child’s citizenship?

Outside of the Americas, most countries follow the legal principle of jus sanguinis, or “right of blood,” with a child’s citizenship inherited from its parents, no matter the place of birth.

In the European Union, for example, no member states grant automatic, unconditional citizenship to children born to foreigners.

But American legal practice is descended in many ways from English common law, which had long provided for citizenship based on a child’s place of birth, the legal concept of jus soli, or “right of soil.”

The UK, though, abandoned jus soli with the British Nationality Act of 1981.

Under the new rules, people born in the UK get citizenship only if at least one parent is a British citizen or has “settled status” under the law.

The justices will read summaries of their opinions

The court will dive right into the remaining decisions when the justices take the bench at 10 a.m. ET.

The opinions are typically read in ascending order of seniority so that the most junior justice with an opinion goes first. Chief Justice John Roberts, who may well have the decision in the birthright citizenship case, would go last.

Monday’s ruling on federal agencies dramatically expanded presidential power

Other than at the Federal Reserve, with its role of setting interest rates, the court held that presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, despite federal laws that require a cause for such dismissals and a 91-year-old decision that had limited executive authority.

The justices allowed Fed governor Lisa Cook to stay in her job while she fights Trump’s effort to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she has denied.

With the six conservative justices in the majority, the nine-member court jettisoned its unanimous decision in Humphrey’s Executor that had limited when presidents can fire agencies’ board members — in part to try to ensure decision-making free of political influence.

“We hold that such protection from removal is contrary to the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court.

The court will also rule on trans athletes and campaign finances

In separate cases, the court will also decide:

Whether states can prohibit transgender athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s public school and college teams.

Whether to uphold a federal law more than 50 years old limiting how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and the president.

The court seemed poised to reject Trump’s birthright citizenship limits during arguments in April

Oral arguments for the case lasted more than two hours in a crowded courtroom that included Trump, the first sitting president to attend arguments at the nation’s highest court, and, in seats reserved for the justices’ guests, actor Robert De Niro.

Trump heard his administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, face one skeptical question after another. Justices asked about the legal basis for the order and voiced more practical concerns.

“Is this happening in the delivery room?” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked, drilling down into the logistics of how the government would actually figure out who is entitled to citizenship and who is not.

Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that Sauer was relying on quirky exceptions to citizenship to make a broad argument about people who are in the country illegally. “I’m not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and sort of idiosyncratic examples,” Roberts said.

Justice Clarence Thomas sounded the most likely among the nine justices to side with Trump.

Millions of trucks carrying billions of dollars worth of car parts, machinery and a long list of other commodities pass checkpoints along one small stretch of the U.S.-Canada border each year.

It’s known as North America’s busiest land crossing, and it sits between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

NPR’s Don Gonyea recently visited this crossing to take a look at a brand new bridge that sits completed and unopened.

Construction on the Gordie Howe International Bridge, named for the Hall of Fame Canadian-born hockey legend who played for the Detroit Red Wings, began in 2018. It was set to open early this year. That was before President Trump intervened in a social media post.

Trump demanded that Canada share ownership with the United States before he would allow the bridge to open. Months passed. In June, the bridge authority actually scheduled a grand opening. But at the last minute, it was canceled.

Stephen Laskowski is president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance and head of the Ontario Trucking Association. He was about to make his way to the grand opening when he got the news.

“I was heading out. My wife said, ‘Your phone’s ringing’ … it said, don’t bother going,” Laskowski told NPR.

The Canadian government and Michigan jointly own the bridge. Canada agreed to front the cost of construction and to split the toll fees with the state once the cost has been recouped.

But the president has said that isn’t good enough. Some Canadian politicians have suggested the owners of a rival bridge linking Detroit and Windsor are responsible for Trump’s interest in delaying the opening. The Moroun family, which owns the Ambassador Bridge, has given millions to Republicans in recent years, including a $1 million donation to a Trump-aligned super PAC.

Gonyea spoke with WDET reporter Alex McLenon, Canadian residents and others to understand how the bridge’s closure is rippling across the continent.

Blistering heat is coming to Metro Detroit.

By midweek forecasters say temperatures could hit the upper 90’s with humidity making it feel far hotter than that.

National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Arnold says the scorching conditions will stem from what’s known as a “heat dome.”

The Zekelman Holocaust Center has a horse chestnut tree grown from a sapling of the tree Anne Frank could see from the annex where her family hid from the Nazis.

The  ‘Anne Frank Tree’ is mentioned in the Diary of a Young Girl written by the 12 year old before she was killed in the concentration and extermination camp at Bergen-Belsen.

The Zekelman’s Jamie Miskowski spoke with WDET’s Sascha Raiyn about the tree as a living testament to the story of the Holocaust.

“She wrote about it several times in her diary. About how seeing it gave her hope, a sense of connection to the outside world,” said Miskowski. The tree is an example of spiritual resilience—where someone living through the worst of times still sees something positive in the world.

The original tree outside of the Anne Frank house began to get sick in the early 2000s, and the Zekelman applied to raise one of its saplings to keep its legacy alive. It was one of around a dozen initial recipients.

Having a living artifact poses new challenges with caretaking, but it also resonates strongly with guests and staff as a symbol of Anne and other Holocaust victims’ lasting legacy.

“I also like to think about it as a symbol of the over 4,000 Holocaust survivors who came to Michigan after the war,” said Miskowski, “who themselves put down roots and built new lives, new families, new legacies, careers that outlive them, and found ways to thrive right here in our community.”

The Zekelman Holocaust Center plans to add a multimedia exhibit about the tree to the Anne Frank Gallery in 2027.

 – WDET’S Natalie Albrecht contributed to this story.

This story was edited on June 30, 2026 to correct the concentration camp where Anne Frank died and the photo credit. 

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

The Detroit Red Wings do not have a first round pick in the 2026 National Hockey League draft. They traded it, along with a third round selection, to the St. Louis Blues for defenseman Justin Faulk in March.

At the time, the Wings were in a good position to reach the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs. They thought adding Faulk would bolster their chances of making the postseason for the first time in almost a decade.

Instead, Detroit collapsed, losing 13 of their last 19 games. The team now has the longest playoff drought in the NHL at 10 seasons.

Besides giving up a first round draft pick, the Wings could lose their team captain this offseason. Dylan Larkin has asked for a trade, preferably to a playoff contender. Larkin has played his entire career in Detroit. But he turns 30 in July and wants to win a Stanley Cup while he can still play at a high level.

Helene St. James covers hockey for the Detroit Free Press. She says Larkin’s desire to leave traces back to the Winter Olympics in February, when he and Team USA won the gold medal.

“I was there covering the team, and I’ve never seen him look happier,” she says. “I think it really hit home to him what he has been missing out on in Detroit.”

Larkin has a no-trade clause but can waive it if General Manager Steve Yzerman finds a team willing to acquire Larkin.

Deal or no deal?

St. James says Yzerman doesn’t have to trade Larkin. If he does, he would want a similar player in return.

“He would need to get an established NHL player in his mid-to late-20s who can play center,” she says. “They really need value players now.”

Larkin listed the Florida Panthers as one of his preferred destinations. They won the Stanley Cup in 2025 but missed the postseason in 2026. And they have already made a big roster move that makes a deal for Larkin unlikely.

Florida acquired Larkin’s Olympics teammate Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators on June 21. Like Larkin, Tkachuk was a team captain and their statistics are similar. But Tkachuk is three years younger than Larkin. And the Panthers gave up several draft picks, including two first-rounders in this year’s draft.

St. James says trading Larkin for draft picks would set Detroit’s rebuild back by several years.

“Those guys are not going to materialize into NHL contributors for a few years, especially later in the draft,” she says.

A new leader waits in the wings

If Yzerman refuses to make a trade, then it would be up to Larkin to decide if he wants to play in 2026-27 or sit out the season. Either way, Yzerman and head coach Todd McLellan could pick a new captain to replace Larkin.

St. James says defenseman Moritz Seider would likely be that player.

“He has emerged as a leader in every respect, on the ice and off the ice,” she says. “He shows up all the time.”

Seider, 25, captained Germany’s national team in the 2026 Olympics. He was also the first player Yzerman drafted when he became GM in 2019.