Tonight on the Detroit Evening Report, a water affordability bill package is making a comeback in the state legislature. Plus, updates on the Pistons and Knicks.

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Water affordability bills reintroduced

A water affordability bill package from last legislative session has been reintroduced to the Michigan Senate. The package would cap water rates for residents living before the federal poverty line and prevent shutoffs. The bills also include funding to support water infrastructure improvements.

The bills propose a two-tiered system where households at between 135% and 200% of the federal poverty guideline — or that receive any of several forms of government assistance — would pay a maximum of 3% of their income on water. Households at or below 135% of federal poverty guidelines would see their water bills capped at 2% of their income. Households with income between 201% and 250% of the federal poverty guideline would be eligible for hardship waivers.

According to State Sen. Stephanie Chang, who co-sponsors the bill package, around 300,000 Michigan households could beenfit from a statewide water affordability program. She also says she believes the bills will gain bipartisan support and make their way to the House in the upcoming weeks.

Measles outbreak worsens

According to the state’s chief medical executive, Michigan will experience the worse year in decades with regard to measles. Nearly half of Michigan’s nine cases are associated with the outbreak in Montcalm County, where four cases are linked to travel.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two unvaccinated school-aged children have died from the measles disease in Texas, as has an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. Decreases in vaccination rates can be attributed to misinformation and disinformation, according to local health experts. Two doses of the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) are 97% effective at preventing infection, while just one dose is 93% effective against measles, according to the CDC.

New speed humps to be installed

Detroit’s Department of Public Works plans to install 65 new speed humps along residential streets in the city. Detroiters who don’t want speed humps have until May 16 to opt out of this year’s program. For residents who do want a speed hump, priority is given to:

• Streets with a speed limit of 25 mph
• Streets adjacent to active schools and parks
• Streets known as a cut-through street
• Blocks of high density

All speed humps must have residential support before they can be installed. For more information, visit detroitmi.gov.

Pistons v. Knicks

The NBA playoffs are underway and the Detroit Pistons are having an incredible battle against the New York Knicks. It is being considered one of the most intense match-ups in the East.

The Knicks have a 2-1 series lead against the Pistons with a game that ended with five technical fouls and one flagrant foul whistled. The score was 116-113.

Game 4 will be at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday, April 27 in the afternoon.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• Meet the new candidates vying for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat 
• How the Keep MI Kids Tobacco Free Alliance is pushing to prevent underage access to tobacco

Michigan’s U.S. Senate race is expanding with new candidates announcing recently, as well as some potential candidates testing out the waters. This week on MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow discuss the current state of the race and who is most likely to ultimately occupy the seat.   

Plus, we sit down with Dr. Brittany Tayler of the Keep MI Kids Tobacco Free Alliance to discuss the recent push for the “Protect MI Kids” bill package, which would require a retail license to sell tobacco products, prohibit flavored tobacco sales, increase tobacco taxes and repeal laws that punish kids.  

Dr. Tayler shared that there is barely a barrier for youth to get their hands on cigarettes. But she says it’s not necessarily the retail industry’s fault.

“I’m sure the vast majority of our retailers are abiding by the law and not selling to minors, but it only takes one bad store,” she said. “We don’t have a way to monitor this and there isn’t a large penalty… There is not a lot of reason to not sell to youth.”

Dr. Tayler said that her organization has done a lot of outreach efforts to political leaders in Michigan to gain support. State Republicans have been slow to support the cause, but Dr. Tayler said there is at least one Republican member of the legislature who has shown support. The bills passed in the Senate with all Democratic support last legislative session.  

The funeral service for Pope Francis is scheduled for Saturday, April 26 at 4 a.m. Eastern Time (10 a.m. Local Time). It’s being held in St. Peter’s Square in front of the 16th century basilica in Vatican City.

Watch NPR’s livestream of the service below.

Wayne County has broken ground on a project that’s supposed to reduce train delays in the Downriver area. 

The plan is to separate the railroad tracks from a section of Allen Rd. in Woodhaven. Crews will lower the road so that it runs underneath the tracks.

It’s a public safety issue

County Public Services Director Dayo Akinyemi says when it’s finished, trains will no longer delay traffic on Allen Rd. north of Van Horn Rd. He says it’s common for ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars to get stuck while responding to emergencies.

“This will make that problem go away,” he says. “Anybody that lives Downriver will know that this is a problem we’ve been trying to solve for a long time.”

Wayne County announced the grade separation project in 2020. Akinyemi’s predecessor, Beverly Watts, said at the time she hoped to finish it within two or three years.  

But in 2022, Watts estimated the job would cost about $28 million dollars. Rising expenses delayed the project and raised the price tag to $65 million. 

So, Akinyemi says county, state, and local officials worked together to come up with the money.

“There are several sources of funds that’s cobbled together to get us to where we are today,” he says. “There’s money in the state transportation department, some earmarks from the federal government, earmarks from the state Legislature.”

Another challenge was acquiring right-of-way to relocate utilities such as power lines, fiber-optic cables, and water mains.

How long will it take?

“We’ve started the relocation of the Verizon lines,” he says. “Once we finish that, DTE gas will come to relocate their own line.”

And Akinyemi says by fall, people will see a lot more activity in the area. 

“Next year, we’ll begin the real construction,” he says. “There will be a period of time when there will be a full closure and a diversion of traffic.”

More: MDOT aims to end Fort Street train delays Downriver

Akinyemi estimates it will take up to three years to finish the project. During that period, the Michigan Department of Transportation expects to begin work on a similar project on Fort St. north of Van Horn Rd. in Trenton. 

I’m a pretty curious person about a lot of things, and architecture has always fascinated me for many reasons.

Architects design the structures where we live, work, gather, eat, etc., and contribute to how we feel — or the mood — when we enter and experience the spaces they create. 

But there is so much more, which Detroit architect Leo Mendez shared with me in a recent interview for Essential Music.

Currently serving as vice president of planning and design for Olympia Development of Michigan, Mendez has designed projects all around the globe, including many in his hometown of Detroit.

Some of his work as an architect includes everything from the Motown Museum, Honey Bee Market, the shed at Robert C. Valade Park, the Eddystone building and Basan restaurant, the Detroit Tigers spring training facility in Florida, and the Fox Theater seats upgrade that took years to complete — which we talk about during our conversation.

We also discussed his new book of poetry and photographs, “Random Deep Feelings: Within a Burst of Time,” and why he published some of his deepest thoughts and observations; along with his history, the beauty of Detroit architecture, and what goes through his head when he enters a building.

Mendez will be signing copies of his book at Source Booksellers from 2-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, for National Independent Bookstores Day.

Use the media player above to listen to our conversation.

Ex-Detroit Riverfront Conservancy CFO William Smith was sentenced to 19 years in prison on Thursday for embezzling more than $40 million from the nonprofit over an 11-year period.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Smith, 52, was employed as the Conservancy’s chief financial officer from 2011 through May 2024. Throughout the majority of his time in the role, Smith orchestrated various schemes to embezzle millions of dollars in funds from the organization, according to court documents.

The Conservancy funds — which are provided to the organization through private donors and public grants — were used by Smith to live a lavish lifestyle, spending enormous amounts of money on luxury items like designer clothing, jewelry, cruises, private jet travel and more.

Smith pleaded guilty in November to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. In addition to the 19-year sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Susan DeClercq ordered Smith to pay back around $48 million in restitution. 

Smith will remain free on bond for now, before reporting to prison at a later date. 

–WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

Other headlines for Thursday, April 24, 2025:

• Detroit will soon be the headquarters for the tech startup Churchspace. Nicknamed the “Airbnb for Churches,” the company provides a platform for churches to rent out their spaces and facilities for supplemental income. Churches interested in learning more can attend Churchspaces’ informational event on May 30. 
• The city of Dearborn unveiled its second inclusive playscape at Ford Woods Park, located at 5700 Greenfield Rd.
• The Detroit Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is hosting their 41st annual Art Auction Benefit “Canvas and Couture” from 3-6 p.m. this Sunday at the Detroit Delta Headquarters, 24760 West Seven Mile Rd., Detroit. The benefit showcases the works of local artists in various mediums.
• Detroit Fashion Revolution Week is wrapping up this weekend with several events.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

A bill package from last year’s legislative session aimed at improving water affordability has been reintroduced in the Michigan Senate.

Senate Bills 248-256 would cap water rates for some residents living below the federal poverty line and protect them from shutoffs. The legislation also includes a funding mechanism to support water infrastructure.

First-term state Rep. Tonya Meyers Phillips, who represents Hamtramck, Highland Park and parts of Detroit, says water affordability is a moral issue.

“Water shutoffs disproportionately effect low-income families, seniors and communities of color,” Meyers Phillips said. “These are the same communities that already bear the brunt of environmental injustices.”

State Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) is a co-sponsor of the bill package. She says around 300,000 Michigan households could benefit from a statewide water affordability program.

“Water is not just a resource,” Chang said. “It’s something that every human being needs in order to live, yet too many families in our state are struggling to afford their water bills or have in the past faced the threat of shutoffs.”

Chang says she expects the bills will receive bipartisan support and make their way to the House in the coming weeks.

This week, we’ve got art experiences centered around students, cover concerts honoring some of Detroit’s biggest stars and unbeatable bargains from produce to paperbacks.

Plus, some eco-friendly entertainment for your belated Earth Day celebrations. Read on to learn more.

Art experiences

The Detroit Institute of Arts’ 88th Annual Detroit Public Schools Community District Student Art Exhibition is open online and in-person now through May 25. This annual exhibition is the longest standing continuous relationship the DIA has with an educational organization and features imaginative works created by DPSCD students in grades K–12, ranging from paintings, prints, drawings and photography to ceramics, video, jewelry and more. The exhibition is on view on the first floor in the Wayne and Joan Webber Education wing and is free with museum admission, which is always free for residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. For more information, visit dia.org.

On Friday, April 25 from 5–8:30 p.m., teens ages 13–19 are invited to the DIA to join renowned Detroit artist Tiff Massey for a jewelry-making workshop. Participants will explore Tiff Massey’s “7 Mile + Livernois” exhibit, take part in a wire-wrapping activity and engage in conversation with the artist herself. All supplies and dinner are provided. This event is free with general admission, but registration is required. For more information, visit dia.org.

Cranbrook Academy of Art’s 2025 Graduate Degree Exhibition is also on display now through Sunday, May 4 in Cranbrook Art Museum’s Upper Galleries. Featuring innovative works from the next generation of architects, artists and designers, the Degree Exhibition showcases pieces that are the culmination of two years of studio work from a diverse group of graduates as they launch their careers. For more information, visit cranbrookartmuseum.org.

Cover concerts

This weekend, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra presents the latest concert in their PNC Pops series, “Women Rock!” In this special show, the DSO and guests will perform rock hits by Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Pat Benatar and more. Tickets start at $20 at performances are scheduled for Friday, April 25, Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27. For more information, visit dso.org.

On Saturday, April 26, The Loving Touch in Ferndale is hosting Detroit x Detroit XIII. This annual celebration of Detroit music features local artists performing 3-song cover sets of other local artists, ranging from The Supremes to The White Stripes. Highlights include Skonie & The kLOUDs as Marvin Gaye, Vaega as Mike Posner and Lauren Blackford as Madonna. Tickets are $10 and doors open at 7 p.m. For more information, visit detxdet.com.

Unbeatable bargains

Hey Y’all Detroit, a local organization that provides resources for disenfranchised communities, is back with their first Free Farmers Market of the season on Sunday, April 27. Community members can pick up free produce at Rosemont-Acacia Park in Detroit between 12:30–2:30 p.m. For more information, visit @heyyalldetroit on Instagram.

Bookstock, metro Detroit’s largest used book and media sale, returns to Laurel Park Place in Livonia this weekend for its 21st year. From Sunday, April 27 through Sunday, May 4, visitors can shop for over 300,000 pre-sorted gently-used books, records, DVDs and more. Proceeds benefit Detroit-area education and literacy programs, and all leftover books are donated to local nonprofits and charities. The shop is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, visit bookstockmi.org.

More Earth Day celebrations

On Saturday, April 26, the Detroit Parks Coalition is holding a Belle Isle Earth Day Spring Cleanup, where participants can pick up litter at their own leisure while exploring the park. At the end of the cleanup, participants will weigh the litter they collected and document the impact they made on Belle Isle and along the Detroit River. The cleanup goes from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and starts and ends at the Belle Isle Aquarium. For more information, visit detroitparkscoalition.com.

Then on Sunday, April 27, People for Palmer Park is hosting an Earth Day celebration that puts some creativity into spring cleaning. During “Art in the Trees,” participants can search for Aziza fairy doors as they pick up trash, enjoy art installations and live musical performances throughout the park’s old growth forest, and even create some eco-friendly art of their own. Light refreshments will be served, and participants are encouraged to bring their own trash bags, tools and gloves if they have them. The event goes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is free. For more information, visit their Eventbrite page.

A heavy rainstorm on April 2, 2025 filled Macomb County’s Red Run Drain with more than one million gallons of raw sewage from Oakland County.

Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller described the murky mess she found in the drain the next day.

“It looks like chocolate pudding,” Miller says.

The fetid water came from a sewer pipe that empties into the drain, festooning it with some not-so-festive decorations.

“It almost looks like Christmas trees, because they’re all covered with sanitary wipes, sewer wipes, and some things that are too gross to discuss,” Miller said. “It’s sickening.”

Miller’s counterpart, Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash, confirms the foul water came from one of his department’s sewer lines, the Dequindre Interceptor.

Normally what flows through that pipe goes to the Great Lakes Water Authority for treatment. But when too much rain fills the system, Nash says an emergency relief valve inside the pipe keeps raw sewage out of people’s basements.

“The only alternative, if we had closed off that valve, would have been to flood — we estimate — 700 to 800 homes in that area with pure sewage,” he said.

To prevent that, Nash said it was necessary to divert the water into the Red Run Drain after the storm.

The argument goes back years

But Miller says this is not a new problem, as Oakland County has a history of releasing not only raw sewage, but treated sewage mixed with stormwater into her communities. The technical term is a combined sewage overflow. Miller says enough is enough.

“We’d like Oakland County to try to do something about their combined sewer overflows,” she said.

Miller and Nash have been squabbling for years over a facility in Oakland County called the George W. Kuhn Retention Basin. It’s a huge operation that can hold up to 150 million gallons of combined sewage and stormwater. 

“The water comes in, it goes through a screen; we have the biggest screening facility in the country,” Nash said. “Anything over a half an inch is screened out. It’s raked into a trough and then sent to Detroit for cleaning. It gets past that, and then it goes into these large chambers that hold millions of gallons.”

Nash says after the solids settle, the county treats them with chlorine to kill harmful bacteria such as E. coli. 

“When it comes out of our facility, it’s extremely clean,” he said. 

Updating infrastructure takes time and money

The Kuhn basin was built in the 1970s, and Nash says it’s been expanded and updated several times since then. Before its construction, Oakland County averaged almost 60 combined sewage overflows a year. Nash says the basin has helped reduce that number to eight or nine.

That’s too much for Candice Miller. A week after the storm she wrote a letter to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) accusing Oakland County of violating its state permit to operate the Kuhn basin. A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers has offered legislation requiring EGLE to put tougher restrictions on the facility.

Miller is also asking for a law requiring counties to ask permission before releasing any sewage into another county — treated or not.

Nash denies violating any permits and says Kuhn operated as it’s designed to after the April 2 rainfall. He adds it’s not the only source flowing into the Red Run Drain.

“There’s five separate storm water drains that come into that area in the same place,” he said. 

Nash says some of that is coming from Macomb County, which also experiences combined sewage overflows. Miller says her department has reduced CSOs by 80% since she took office in 2017 and spent millions of dollars expanding and improving its own retention basins.

She says Oakland County either needs to build bigger basins — which it has — or separate its stormwater and sewage. Jim Nash says the cost of that would be enormous.

“The estimates currently are about $3 billion to $4 billion dollars and would take 20 or 30 years for it to happen.,” he said.

Both counties explore natural drainage options

Nash says a better solution would be building green infrastructure to absorb water from more frequent heavy rainstorms fueled by climate change.

“We have to find ways like rain gardens, rain barrels, even planting more trees in urban areas,” he said. “All those things help with storm water, help absorb it.”

Nash said Oakland County offers up to $2,000 rebates for people to put rain barrels, trees, or rain gardens on their property.

Macomb County has also invested in green infrastructure. One example is the Sterling Relief Drain between 15 and 16 Mile roads. Workers removed tons of concrete from the drain and replaced it with grass, plants, and other natural features to soak up water and prevent basement backups.

Related: Could Detroit’s buried streams see the light of day?

Candice Miller admits such projects take time and money.

“You can’t do it overnight because it’s very expensive and it takes time to improve and upgrade old, antiquated infrastructure,” she said. “Everybody’s dealing with, it’s not just us or Oakland or Wayne.”

In the meantime, Miller says she’ll keep pushing Nash and Oakland County on behalf of her constituents to reduce CSOs flowing into Macomb County.

“They say all the time, ‘sue Oakland County,'” she said. “I don’t want to do that; I’d like him to try to do something.”

Nash says he is doing something, and that Miller should focus on Macomb County. Either way, it’s a dispute that’s not ending anytime soon.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has appointed a new justice to the state Supreme Court.

Noah Hood will serve a partial term until 2026. He’s filling a seat vacated by former Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement.

Clement was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, in 2017. She left the court earlier this year to serve as president of the National Center for State Courts. Justice Megan Cavanagh replaced Clement as the chief justice.

Hood has served on the state Court of Appeals in Detroit since 2022. Before that, he sat on the Wayne County Third Circuit Court for three years. He has also served as a federal prosecutor in Michigan and Ohio.

If Hood chooses to run, he and Cavanaugh will be up for election in 2026.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — President Donald Trump will mark his first 100 days in office next week with a rally in Michigan, his first since returning to the White House earlier this year.

Trump will visit Macomb County on Tuesday, the White House press secretary said. 

“President Trump is excited to return to the great state of Michigan next Tuesday, where he will rally in Macomb County to celebrate the FIRST 100 DAYS!” Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday on social media.

The rally will take place on Trump’s 100th day in office — a traditional early milestone in which a president’s progress is measured against campaign promises. Michigan was one of the key battleground states Trump flipped last year from Democrats on his path back to the White House.

Trump has not traveled much since taking office outside of personal weekend trips. The Republican president’s only other official trip in his second term was during the first week, when he visited disaster zones in North Carolina and California and held an event in Las Vegas to promote his plan to eliminate taxes on tips.

But later this week, Trump will travel to Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome, the first foreign trip in his second term.

Trump’s upcoming trip to Michigan follows a series of meetings and phone calls with the state’s high-profile Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Once a sharp critic of Trump, Whitmer has said that she hopes to find common ground with the president in his second term.

A key area of potential cooperation that Whitmer has pointed to is Selfridge Air National Guard Base, long a concern for Whitmer and Michigan lawmakers amid uncertainty over its future as the A-10 aircraft stationed there are phased out. The base is located in Macomb County, where he is set to appear Tuesday.

Trump mentioned Selfridge during an April 9 executive order signing in the Oval Office, an event that Whitmer was present for, saying he hoped to keep the base “open, strong, thriving.”

“I think we’re going to be successful, Governor. I think we’ll be very successful there,” Trump said about Selfridge.

Whitmer — whom Trump praised during his remarks — later said she was unexpectedly brought into the Oval Office during her visit. A photo captured her trying to shield her face from cameras with a folder.

Asked Wednesday if Whitmer would appear with the president in Michigan, a spokesperson for the governor said they “don’t have anything to share at this time.”

Whitmer and other Michigan officials have long advocated for a new fighter mission to replace the outgoing A-10 squadron at Selfridge.

In a 2023 letter sent during President Joe Biden’s administration, Whitmer urged the secretary of the Air Force to act, writing, “I repeat and reiterate what I stated in November and many times before over the past year: a fighter mission at Selfridge to recapitalize the A10s is the right path forward for the State of Michigan, the Air Force, and the nation.”

–Reporting by Joey Cappelletti, Associated Press

Making or selling a drug derived from opium, like heroin or fentanyl, would carry a tougher penalty in Michigan under bills that passed in the state House of Representatives Wednesday.

Current laws treat opiates and their synthetic counterparts, opioids, similar to cocaine and other narcotics considered highly dangerous and addictive.

That means, depending on the amount, possession with the intent to deliver could carry maximum prison sentences from 20 years to life. Some optional fines could also come into play.

The bills passed Wednesday would raise some of those maximum sentences, require fines in some cases, and set new mandatory minimum sentences.

Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport) co-sponsors the bills. She said this is one of the issues where she believes mandatory minimums are necessary to interrupt the work of producers and dealers.

“They need to be off the street for a certain amount of time. So anywhere from, you know, five to 15 years is a lot of time that will disrupt the chain, and hopefully we see that impact in our communities,” Lightner told reporters after the vote.

The bills got some bipartisan support, passing by margins of 66-40 and 65-41 in a chamber where Republicans only have a six-vote majority.

Still, many Democratic opponents to the bills said the legislation would amount to another step in a failed war on drugs.

Representative John Fitzgerald (D-Wyoming) said stronger sentences wouldn’t address root causes of drug abuse and its impact on communities.

“The emotion that comes into an issue like this does not mean that we just drop the hammer and leave everyone else in the dust in the wake of what is going on,” Fitzgerald said to reporters.

Fitzgerald and his colleagues agreed the state needs to instead continue investing in programs aimed at reducing addiction and crime while providing more community resources.

Representative Amos O’Neal (D-Saginaw) said those programs are working, comparing their progress to trying to turn a big ship that moves slowly.

“The evidence that we’ve seen here in Michigan, the rudder and the turn is happening. Right here in Michigan, such as education and skill-building opportunities, substance abuse treatment programs, and objective decision-making, and effective support for reentry. It’s working. Evidence-based programs have safely reduced, here in Michigan, the prison population,” O’Neal said during a floor speech.

He said stronger penalties would just worsen high incarceration rates that already disproportionately affect Black and Brown residents.

Supporters of the legislation, however, argued back that overdose deaths happen regardless of a person’s background.

Representative Ann Bollin (R-Brighton), another package co-sponsor, said the stronger sentences need to happen in addition to the other work the state is doing. She argued the bills go after drug traffickers, not users.

“We must do something to stop the penetration of the fatal drugs throughout our society. The real perpetrators, the dealers, the manufacturers, walk away with money in their pockets and no awareness at all the depth of grief realized by these families and neighbors, the victims’ families,” Bollin said from the House floor.

Package opponents say there are not enough guardrails to ensure that non-dealers don’t get caught up in the punishment system.

The legislation next goes to the state Senate for more consideration.

Many have criticized U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in recent weeks for making sweeping claims about the cause and prevalence of autism and the United States.

At a news conference last week, Kennedy called autism “an epidemic” due to rising diagnosis rates, attributing the rise to “an environmental exposure.” He also called autism “a preventable disease,” promising to launch studies to find out what “caused the autism epidemic” and “eliminate those exposures” by September.

While it’s true that autism rates are on the rise, health experts say the increase is much more likely due to better screenings and higher diagnosis rates in recent years. The definition of autism has also broadened to include a variety of neurodivergent conditions, known as Autism Spectrum Disorders. 

“Autism destroys families,” Kennedy said. “More importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this.”

Kennedy’s broad claims mirror a larger problem: There are persistent misconceptions about autism that affect autistic people and the way the world interacts with them. 

To discuss all of this, Autism Alliance of Michigan President and CEO Colleen Allen joined The Metro. She also founded the Henry Ford Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

–WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

More stories from The Metro on Wednesday, April 23:

• How children’s education impacts parental dementia risk
• Detroit Fashion Revolution Week aims to reshape industry toward sustainability
• What’s behind Dearborn’s drastic drop in fatal overdoses?
• How Community Violence Intervention programs stop harm before it happens

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

More stories from The Metro

Detroit has some of the worst air quality in the nation, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Lung Association. 

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The organization’s “State of the Air” report gives the region an “F” grade in ground level ozone pollution, a “D” in particle pollution, and a failing grade overall in pollution levels above federal standards. 

The research finds metro Detroit has the sixth worst year-round particle pollution in the U.S.  

High levels of air pollution can cause various health issues including asthma attacks and lung cancer, as well as impact other health events such as heart attacks and strokes, the Lung Association reports.

“Unfortunately, too many people in Detroit are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution,” said Kezia Ofosu Atta, advocacy director for the Lung Association in Michigan, in a statement. “This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, making people who work outdoors sick and unable to work, and leading to low birth weight in babies. We urge Michigan policymakers to take action to improve our air.”

Read the full report at lung.org/research/sota.

More headlines for Wednesday, April 23, 2025:

• Detroit City Council member Gabriella-Santiago Romero has been disqualified from having her name on the city’s August primary election ballot. Wayne County officials say she had an unpaid campaign finance fee, preventing her appearance on the ballot. However, Santiago-Romero issued a release Tuesday saying she has filed all paperwork on time and that the county wrongly assessed the fee. 
• Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens says she’s running for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat next year. She made the announcement in a campaign video Tuesday morning.
• Henry Ford Health System is offering free heart health screenings on Saturday at six Henry Ford Hospitals, including Grand Blanc, Clinton Township, Rochester, Providence Southfield, Warren and Wyandotte.
• Efforts to beautify Detroit are showing results, as four million daffodils have bloomed in neighborhoods, parks and medians across the city. The General Services Department’s Floriculture Division says the best showings are in Jayne Playground, Gabriel Richard Park, LaSalle Park and on Oakman Boulevard between Linwood and Dexter. Officials say they hope to have 10 million daffodil bulbs planted in the city one day.
• The Detroit Pistons are getting ready for another first round playoff game on Thursday night. The team won its first playoff game since 2008 when they beat the Knicks in New York 100-94 on Monday night. The series is now tied at a game each.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Singer-songwriter Carmel Liburdi joined me in the studio this week during MI Local to talk about her busy Spring, full of upcoming live performances, Tarot and more!

Liburdi is a crafty wordsmith with a knack for dynamics and vocal inflection, along with a sensibility for uniquely toe-tapping alt-indie-folk arrangements; she’s been writing, recording and performing around the local scene for more than a decade (she got started in high school!) and has released several albums since then, including last year’s “Linwood.”

But Liburdi, like so many creative residents of metro Detroit, is a multifaceted artist who works in more than one medium; she’s also an artist, particularly in illustration and graphic design, and she’s one of 22 artists featured in an upcoming group show inspired by the mystical divination of Tarot!

The House of Tarot is an immersive art installation featuring the work of 22 artists, each offering a unique representation of one of the 22 Major Arcana Tarot cards.​​ The opening reception is this Friday night, beginning at 5:25 p.m., hosted at Building 7 within the Herman Kiefer Complex, featuring the recently opened Container Globe performance space. Visitors to the House of Tarot will receive a reading upon arrival and set off on a unique Fool’s Journey through the works, from room to room across four floors. It is an invitation for reflection, disorientation and reorientation.​ The formal art reception wraps up by 8:30 p.m., but live music will proceed throughout the night until at least midnight.

I was also joined by Tim Price, who’s been around and passionately involved in the Detroit art and music scene for decades. He’s currently working with a number of organizations, like Passenger Recovery in Hamtramck, and the Detroit Music Conservancy. Price described his role in The House of Tarot as one of wearing many hats, but predominantly fitting under the banner of production manager and “guy behind the scenes.” Both Price and Liburdi shared a lot about what to anticipate at The House of Tarot this Friday; find more info here.

Another treat during this week’s show was Liburdi’s live in-studio performance of “Hell’s Bathroom Floor,” which, as you’ll hear during our interview, has a connection to Tarot.

I also premiered brand new music from Detroit-based four-piece punk-rock group FEN FEN, from their upcoming full-length vinyl LP “In Yer Sights,” but that energy was mixed with the softer folk vibes of other premieres from local artists like folk singer Anthony Retka!

I also gave a spotlight to two big local music events happening this weekend, including the Detroit X Detroit showcase at the Loving Touch in Ferndale, where local bands perform cover sets of any artist that came from Detroit, be they contemporary, or past legends!

It’s going to be a busy weekend! Have fun out there!

See the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

MI Local Playlist for April 21, 2025

• “Shellshockt” – FEN FEN
• “Seeing Double” – C.A.D. & the Peacetime Consumers
• “Cool Guy Walk” – meek
• “scry” – Fling II
• “Something” – Vaega
• “MasonJars” – The Vig Arcadia
• “Realities” – James Simonson & Blair French
• “Disappearing Things” – The Codgers
• “Grateful” – Anthony Retka
• “First Day of Spring” – Carmel Liburdi
• “Hell’s Bathroom Floor” – Carmel Liburdi
• “Ceti Alpha Six” – Disc System

The Republican chair of the Michigan House Oversight Committee has delivered a subpoena calling on Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to turn over materials related to training and managing elections.

The subpoena was authorized last week as Republicans complained the Democratic Secretary of State has refused for months to turn over the entirety of materials related to conducting elections.

“I got to tell you, only the guilty need to feel guilty,” Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay) told the Michigan Public Radio Network. “What is [it] that they’re afraid to provide to us?”

There are, in fact, two subpoenas — one names Benson and the other the Michigan Department of State.  But they are otherwise identical. They were transmitted electronically Tuesday via an official portal. The request sets a deadline of 4 p.m. on May 14. The Secretary of State’s office confirmed it had received the documents.

House Republicans and Benson, who is the state’s top election administrator, have been trading jabs for weeks related to materials requested by the House Elections Committee. The Oversight Committee is the only House panel that has subpoena power and so the subpoena had to go through that panel.

The information request is wide-ranging, but DeBoyer focused on training materials.

“What other way are they going to find out if the training that they’re providing to local clerks is in accordance with state election law,” he said. “If the Secretary of State won’t provide the training information, there’s no way to find out if they’re training them according to election law.”

Benson has accused House Republicans of stoking doubt about the security of Michigan elections while GOP leaders say slow-walking their requests does exactly that.

Benson has already provided some of the material and says much of what the committee asked for is sensitive and would compromise election security, so it must be vetted before sharing.

Benson Chief Communications Officer Angela Benander called the announcement “an unnecessary press release about a subpoena that’s also unnecessary.”

“As we’ve communicated multiple times, we are in the process of producing the requested training materials on top of the hundreds of documents we’ve already provided to the committee,” Benander said in an email to the Michigan Public Radio Network. “But we will not provide open access to sensitive information that could jeopardize the security of our elections, and we’re prepared to make this case in court.”

We waited 16 years for The Cure’s latest album — and it was well worth the wait. Fans and critics alike praised “Songs of a Lost World,” and it’s been in heavy rotation on In The Groove since its release.

Now, The Cure are extending the life of their latest release with a massive collection of remixes called “Remixes of a Lost World” (out June 13 via Fiction) from folks like Paul Oakenfold, Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno, Mogwai, Twilight Sad and Four Tet, who I’ll focus on today.

I love the way that Four Tet’s remix of “Alone” slowly lets this build, eventually bringing in Robert Smith’s vocals half-way through and keeping that wonderfully distorted guitar in the mix, like this wonderfully crunchy entity hovering above all the clean, warm chord changes.

Four Tet’s remix of “Alone” is one of the first tastes of this remix project and I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be one of the best. 

Listen to the In The Groove song of the week below.

The Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills is offering free admission on Thursday in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, also known as Yom HaShoah.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Each year on Holocaust Remembrance Day, the museum invites the community to take part in “Unto Every Person There Is a Name,” an international memorial project that pays tribute to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust by reading their names aloud.

Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, CEO of the Holocaust Center

“There are millions of names that have been collected over the years of those who were murdered in the Holocaust,” said Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, CEO of the Zekelman Holocaust Center. “Over the course of the day, we’ll read, really only a couple 1,000. I mean, it takes to read, you know, six million names would take a year more.”

The Holocaust Center will also host remembrance events on Sunday, April 27, including a commemoration attended by Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans, featuring candle lighting, poetry and prayers.

For more information about upcoming remembrance events, visit holocaustcenter.org/events.

Other headlines for Tuesday, April 22, 2025:

• The Detroit Department of Transportation announced Monday that it is expanding services including increasing frequency of buses on 13 routes and expanding weekend hours on 17 routes.
• Detroit’s Southeastern High School has been named one of three winners of the SME Education Foundation Bright Minds Student Summit, alongside Lincoln Senior High School in Ypsilanti and Hazel Park’s Roosevelt INVEST High School. 
• Tiff Massey’s “7 Mile and Livernois” exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts closes in just a few weeks. On May 9, the museum will host “7 Mile and Livernois After Dark,”a closing celebration featuring live performances from DJs KESSWA and Donavan Glover. 

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Starting off the show with brand new music from Madison McFerrin, who is getting ready to release her sophomore album “SCORPIO” in June. Plus a dose of J-Pop (Japanese pop) from Lamp and Mei Semones, and The Cure just announced a massive remix album with folks like Four Tet, Mogwai, Paul Oakenfold and others interpreting their songs from last year’s “Songs Of A Lost World” album.

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above.

In The Groove with Ryan Patrick Hooper playlist for April 22, 2025

• “I Don’t” – Madison McFerrin
• “Bittersweet” – Lewis Taylor
• “Unwind (feat. Melanie Charles)” – Butcher Brown
• “Timeless (feat. Lianne La Havas)” – Oscar Jerome
• “Adagio” – Σtella
• “Despectiva caridad” – Los Piranas
• “Projections” – José Junior
• “Canned Funk” – Joe Farrell
• “Last Train At 25 O’clock” – Lamp
• “Body Rap” – Badly Drawn Boy
• “Once Around The Block” – Badly Drawn Boy
• “It’s All Around You” – Tortoise
• “Not Right Now”– LL Burns
• “Life Is A Movie (Water From Your Eyes Version)” – Vundabar & Water From Your Eyes
• “I Miss My Dog” – Mhaol
• “Alone (Four Tet Remix)” – The Cure
• “Dominique” – Ela Minus
• “Penthouse Samba” – Marina Zispin
• “Deadly Valentine (Soulwax Remix)” – Charlotte Gainsbourg
• “I Can Change” – LCD Soundsystem
• “Moanin’ and Groanin’” – Bill Withers
• “OUT OF MY HANDS (feat. Maeta)” – SiR
• “Am I Your Girl (Dance Version)” – Peach Pit
• “Speechless (feat. Magdalena Bay)” – TV Girl & George Clanton
• “Tenderly” – Luiz Bonfá
• “Zarigani” – Mei Semones
• “Slip Away (feat. Menahan Street Band)” – Charles Bradley
• “Consulate Case” – Surprise Chef
• “Lansana’s Priestess” – Donald Byrd
• “Mamasong” – Lawne
• “South of the River” – Tom Misch
• “Ruma Jhuma (Dub Colossus D&B Mix)” – Transglobal Underground
• “Ansumana” – Susso
• “Locked” – Four Tet
• “VIBRAÇĀO” – Alexander Flood

Listen to In the Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org.