Detroit Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero hopes to ban or limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE agents access in the city.  This follows an incident in Minneapolis in which an ICE agent fatally shot a legal observer. Renee Good was a 37-year old mother of three.  

Bridge Detroit reports Santiago-Romero sent the council’s Legislative Policy Division a memo during a committee hearing yesterday to define the city’s ability to keep agents out of clinics, schools, and places of worship or city property.  

Santiago-Romero said, “We need to ensure that does not happen here in Detroit.” She says there have been recent reports of people getting picked up by ICE agents during school pick ups and entering mosques.  

She further inquired about the Detroit Police Departments relation to the federal agency. As of now, Mayor Mary Sheffield says she does not support the police department’s resources being allocated to immigration efforts.

A report by The Trace says ICE has been responsible for 59 shootings and 23 deaths between 2015-2021. None of the agents were charged.  

Tonight there will be a vigil and rally at Clark Park in Detroit at 6 p.m.  

Additional headlines for Friday, Jan. 9, 2026

Bike giveaway 

Bikes 4 Kidz Detroit is giving out free bikes this weekend. The event takes place Saturday, Jan. 10 from 6-9 p.m. at the FB4K Warehouse. That’s located at 4015 Michigan Ave., Detroit, MI.  

Sign up for the event in advance.

New honorary street sign in Hamtramck

The City of Hamtramck is naming a street sign after former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. She served three terms.

The honorary street name will be given to Carpenter Street between Jos. Campau and Conant. Carpenter also borders Detroit where the “Bangladesh: Coming to America” mural is painted on a school building, honoring the Bangladeshi community.  

Hamtramck is home to a significant population of Bangladeshis in Michigan. Khaleda Zia passed away on Dec. 30 from health complications. She was 80 years old.  

Dearborn Heights man passes away 

A 30-year-old man with autism from Dearborn Heights, Yousif Hassan Naim went missing Wednesday, prompting a city wide and multi-jurisdiction search in the city with 200 volunteers. His body was found yesterday in the Rouge River near Hines Park. 

Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun said in a statement: “Despite the incredible outpouring of help and the rapid response from police and fire, the outcome was not what we prayed for.”  

The Dearborn Heights Police Department hasn’t formally identified they body; however, they say it matches Hassan’s description. All search efforts have been called off while they await a confirmation from the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office. The investigation is ongoing.   

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Detroit residents forced out from the Leland apartment building remain in temporary housing as questions grow about what happens next.  

The downtown high-rise was evacuated in November after a power failure, just days after a court-approved payment agreement was reached on an overdue DTE Energy bill tied to the property’s ongoing bankruptcy case.  

The Detroit Fire Department issued a vacate order, and about 25 to 30 residents are staying in a city-paid hotel through mid-January. Many say they’ve received no clear timeline for returning home.  

Advocates say residents were not included in decisions about the building’s future and are now pushing for access to belongings and a right to return. 

Steven Rimmer is director of the Detroit Tenants Union, an advocacy group for renters. 

“I think this is just another situation where there’s been a lot of decisions made about our community without the voice of the community,” he says. “…residents have not been brought into the conversation once about what’s going on, the future of Leland, their future… I think this is just another example of why we need to organize across the country for better rights in our community,” Rimmer says. 

He says the Detroit Tenants Union plans to intervene in the building owner’s bankruptcy case to protect Leland residents’ rights.

In 2026, voters in Michigan will cast ballots for races involving the office of Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State. Gary Peters (D-MI) is opting to retire, so there’s an open U.S. Senate seat.

Democrats have three strong candidates: Mallory McMorrow, Haley Stevens, and Abdul El-Sayed. All three have raised millions of dollars for their campaigns ahead of the August primary.

Over the next few months, Detroit Public Radio will be checking in with the candidates so our listeners can make an informed decision. The focus of this first round of interviews is to set a baseline for the candidates views on policy and what separates them from their competitors.

The series begins with Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow.

She talked with All Things Considered Detroit Host Russ McNamara on Jan. 8, 2026.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Healthcare access

Russ McNamara, WDET: What’s your plan to fix healthcare?

State Senator Mallory McMorrow: So I come at this from somebody who was an industrial designer, who’s solutions oriented, and our solution needs to be three fold. It needs to be universal. Everybody needs to have health care, no exceptions. It needs to be affordable. You should not be able have to break the bank or go bankrupt for a hospital visit.

So for me, that starts with a real public option, something that will force the private health insurers to compete. And I’m somebody who as a millennial, we’re around the same age, we don’t have the same job security that our parents did.

So having a real public option, there are a few states now who have implemented public options Colorado, Nevada and one other and they are starting to see real cost savings. They are starting to ensure that everybody has coverage. Vermont, on the other hand, as an example, they tried a single payer system and abandoned it 15 years ago after not being able to figure out the payment or the implementation.

RM: Just to kind of clarify on that you’re not in favor of something like Medicare for all. Vermont’s a very small sample size.

MM: I think it’s too big of a challenge. Admittedly, we are a country of more than 360 million people. When I talk to people all across the state, they don’t say that they they want one single system. They say, I want the insurance that works for me. I want to be able to see my doctor. I want to be able to go to my pediatrician, and I want it to be affordable. That, to me, requires more options, not fewer.

Abortion rights and the Supreme Court

RM: If elected as a U.S. senator, what would you do to reinstall abortion rights that were shifted back to the States by the U.S. Supreme Court?

MM: We need to codify abortion access as a fundamental right, the right that was taken away from women after 50 years of precedent with Roe [v. Wade].

I had legislation here in the state of Michigan to ensure that Medicaid covered reproductive rights abortion procedures. That was one of the things that unfortunately didn’t make it through the final version of the Reproductive Health Act. But your income should not determine whether or not you have access to the care that you need if something with your pregnancy goes wrong, and that is something that we need to fix on the federal level, and that I will fight for.

RM: Does that level of fight include eliminating the filibuster for abortion rights?

MM: Yes.

RM: Does that include packing the Court and increasing the number of justices?

MM: We have to fix the Supreme Court. I am open to any conversation on how we do that. The Supreme Court was supposed to be an independent arbiter of the Constitution. Very clearly they are not. They are now bending at the whims of this President, handing this president effectively immunity to do whatever the hell he wants. So I am talking to some constitutional experts right now, some judicial experts on whether that means term limits, whether that means oversight, whether it means reforms, or whether it means more justices. I am open to anything to ensure the Supreme Court does its job.

Affordability and wealth inequality

RM: The top one percent in this country control a third of the wealth in this country. That’s doubled since 1990. What is your plan to address the wealth gap?

MM: The average home buyer now is in their 40s. We have our population aging and declining in the state of Michigan, I talked to a lot of people who say they want to start a family. They cannot fathom how they would be able to afford to do that. So the biggest thing that we have to do is address income inequality, and one of the provisions that I just put into a piece of legislation in Lansing would prohibit companies from pursuing stock buybacks if they were to receive a state incentive. This was on the transformational brownfield legislation. We have companies continuing to pad their shareholders bottom lines instead of paying their employees. We need to raise wages. We need to create incentives so that companies are not paying their CEOs 100 times, 200 times, 300 times the average wage of their worker, and instead encourage companies to be better corporate citizens.

RM: Quick yes or no: Should billionaires exist?

MM: Yes, I think they can and should exist. And I look at somebody like Mark Cuban as an example. You can be a billionaire without being a jerk. This is somebody who goes out and says very publicly that this country, the infrastructure of this country, the educational system of this country, gave him the platform he needed to be successful. And he’s out there trying to bring medication costs down. Cost Plus drugs, I think is something that we should be taking a real hard look at it.

But you don’t need to be an Elon Musk to do it. I mean, you listen to this man who wants to become a trillionaire, trillionaire with a T, and his vision of the future is so dark and dystopian that he wants to abandon the earth and go to Mars. You should be successful in this country if you work hard, you play by the rules, but you should also be able and be forced to give back so that the next person has the same chance you did.

AI in Michigan

RM: Utilities and tech companies are pushing AI. Americans are a bit more skeptical. How do you reconcile resources required for data centers with the need to address climate change?

MM: Michigan has an opportunity to be the first state to do this right. There are some states and some companies that are getting this very wrong. And for data centers and for utility companies who are jacking up residence rates for these things to come online, they have every right to be angry.

You know, I just mentioned Elon Musk. You look at Colossus down in Memphis, that is an example of a company and a man doing everything wrong where rates are growing going up. The air quality in the surrounding neighborhood has become almost unlivable. People have asthma and they feel like they did not have a choice for what this company decided to do.

Now here in Michigan, we started by passing legislation that for a data center company to receive an incentive, they must ensure that rate payers are not subsidizing the cost of that data center. They must use at least 90% renewable energy to power that data center, and they need to be responsible with their water. That is a good start for us. I think any data center should be built with unionized labor. We need to make sure that these are good jobs. We need to make sure that it does not use Michigan’s water, that it has a closed source system that does not drain the Great Lakes or harm our water system, we need to ensure that it is bringing more renewables onto the grid.

If we do this right, we can encourage these companies and these investments to force the grid infrastructure upgrades that we have been so desperately needing for decades now in a way that can actually help create jobs and opportunity.

Finding a cure to fearmongering

RM: For the past few years, Republicans and conservative media have made it a priority to attack trans people, whether it’s trans kids playing sports, serving the military, and making their own health care decisions. What is your plan to support one of the most marginalized and at-risk segments of the population?

MM: Look for people who got to know me, maybe for the first time outside of my district and outside of Michigan, it was for a speech that I gave from the Senate floor in a moment when Republicans in our state were targeting and demonizing kids, and I am never going to run away from that. You know, whether or not a fifth grader wants to play soccer with her friends, doesn’t have any indication as to your future and your ability to start a business or raise a family.

And what the Republicans have done an incredible job of doing is by playing on people’s rightful anger and fear that they are not doing as well as they had hoped or as well as their parents did, and instead of actually solving those problems for people, they’re finding somebody to blame. First it was immigrants, then it was DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion] then it was trans kids. It is a smaller and smaller group of people.

And I fundamentally believe the way forward is that we have to be the party that solves those fundamental problems for people. If we can restore the American Dream and ensure that in Michigan and in the United States, if you work hard, you play by the rules, you can achieve that life that you wanted, then there won’t be this appetite to target and hurt vulnerable kids.

If we can restore the American Dream and ensure that in Michigan and in the United States, if you work hard, you play by the rules, you can achieve that life that you wanted, then there won’t be this appetite to target and hurt vulnerable kids.

I am really proud of the work that I’ve done in the state senate to expand Elliott Larson [Civil Rights Act] to ensure that you cannot be fired, you cannot lose housing because of who you are, how you identify or who you love. But obviously people are under attack right now, and we can’t run away from that, but we have to be very clear in telling Michiganders and Americans that this man and these Republicans don’t care about you either. They’re not doing anything to fix your problems, and you targeting a marginalized community isn’t going to make your life any better.

ICE immigration raids

RM: Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been terrorizing immigrant communities since its inception, all in the name of safety and fighting crime. That has been turned up a considerable amount since President Trump took office last year. This week, an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis. Bluntly, should ICE exist?

MM: Yes, and it needs to be vastly reformed. Michigan is a border state. We need Immigration and Customs Enforcement to do the work of what and who comes across the border. That should be its job. Its job should not be to be unleashed on communities to terrorize people, to go after people whose skin color isn’t exactly right, or who have an accent.

Right now, we have masked vigilantes who are being unleashed across the country, being recruited into these jobs with no experience, who are high on their own power, who are throwing American citizens in vans, deporting them. As we saw, as you mentioned, in Minneapolis this week, an American citizen is dead because she stopped her car. There is no justification for that use of force. And the U.S. Senate needs to do its job of oversight of a full investigation of what happened, not only here, but across the country, and then to reform this agency so it actually does the job of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and not terrorizing Americans and immigrant communities.

Israel-Palestine conflict

RM: In October, you characterized the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli military as genocide. Have you changed that stance at all?

MM: I am somebody who looks at the videos, the photos, the amount of pain that has been caused in the Middle East, and you can’t not be heartbroken. But I also feel like we are getting lost in this conversation, and it feels like a political purity test on a word—a word that, by the way, to people who lost family members in the Holocaust, does mean something very different and very visceral, and we’re losing sight of what I believe is a broadly shared goal among most Michiganders, that this violence needs to stop, that a temporary cease fire needs to become a permanent cease fire, that Palestinians deserve long term peace and security, that Israelis deserve long term peace and security, and that should be the role of the next U.S. senator, particularly in this primary.

We’ve got some candidates who are using this as a political weapon and fundraising off of it, and I think that that is just losing the humanity of what we’re seeing in the Middle East. And we deserve better.

RM: Should the US be giving money, weapons, military aid to Israel if they are indeed running a genocidal regime?

MM: We need to use the leverage that we have. You know, I came out in support of the Sanders resolution that would have blocked offensive weapon sales to Israel, and the more that Netanyahu pushes into Gaza, the worse this gets. And to be very clear, being in support of Israelis is not being in support of Netanyahu, in the same way that being in support of Palestinians is not the same as being in support of Hamas. And centering the humanity of what we see on the ground, and especially being sensitive to how many Michiganders are directly impacted by the impacts of the Middle East, is where we need to be.

So we need to use the leverage that we have as the United States as an ally to ensure that this war ends and that the ceasefire is a permanent ceasefire.

Campaign funding

RM: You’ve said you will not be taking campaign money from AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby. Where is the money in your campaign coming from?

MM: So far to date, we have outraised every other candidate on both sides of the aisle, and it is with zero corporate PAC dollars, and it is from people. We have raised more than $3.9 million for more than 60,000 individual donors. More than half of our donations are from people donating $200 or less. That is significantly more than any of the other candidates. In fact, I’ve got more grassroots support than my two Democratic opponents combined.

So it is by people, people who are donating $5 and $10 people who are donating what they can all across the country, and I am incredibly proud of that.

RM: So you’re turning away corporate money?

MM: Yes, no corporate PAC dollars at all.

At the end of 2025, a commitment to getting a new economic development plan out of the Legislature was halted. In this episode MichMash, Bridge Michigan’s business reporter Paula Gardner joins Cheyna Roth and Alethia Kasben to discuss economic development incentives and if they are helping to attract Michigan businesses.

More from MichMash

Metro Food Rescue is piloting a new program to bring food directly to those in need with a community fridge in apartment complexes. The goal is to eliminate transportation and time obstacles for older people trying to get access to groceries.

The mini food pantries will be located in affordable housing complexes for seniors, starting with the Gratiot Woods Co-op on Detroit’s east side. The fridges will be stocked weekly with fruit, vegetables, bread and other essentials.

The pilot program is funded for two years by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.  

Additional headlines for Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026

New On-the-Go food pop up in Taylor

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has expanded its On-the-Go pop-up food distribution with a new location in Taylor. The pantry offers fresh produce, grains and protein. Halal and Kosher friendly options are available where the community needs it. 

The mobile pantry is offered on a monthly basis by appointment in Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties. To date, the department has served nearly 550 families and distributed more than 11 tons of groceries. 

Individuals in Southeast Michigan in need of food must make an appointment by emailing MDHHS-FH-WC-Taylor@michigan.gov to help minimize wait times and ensure adequate food supplies. 

Board of Ethics publishes admonishment against City Assessor

The Detroit Board of Ethics published a public admonishment of City Assessor and Deputy CFO Alvin Horhn earlier this week. Horhn violated state law when he added more than 13,000 properties to the tax roll late, and without any late fees.

Between 2014 and 2020 the Detroit Land Bank promised buyers they would file property transfer affidavits on their behalf and never did. Horhn says if he had added the properties to the tax roll based on date of transfer, thousands of residents would have received penalties for an issue that should have never occurred.

The Board of Ethics said though his intent was good, it is not an excuse to violate state law. City council members sided with Horhn on the matter. So far, Horhn has not been punished for his actions.  

Sheffield investiture tomorrow

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield’s public investiture is tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. at the Detroit Opera House. It’s the swearing in ceremony of Detroit’s first female mayor, though the official swearing in happened on Jan. 1.

The event will also include the swearing in of city council members, board of police commissioners, and the city clerk. It will be live streamed on Detroit’s social media sites.  

Michigan lottery raises over $1 billion for state schools

The Michigan lottery raised nearly $1.2 billion for the state’s school aid fund in 2025. It marks the seventh consecutive year the lotto brought in more than a billion dollars for education. 

Michigan retailers also cashed in on the drawings last year. They brought in around $300 million in commission from lotto ticket sales. 

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Happy New Year! As holiday festivities wind down, there’s still plenty to do in metro Detroit. Here are 5 ways to spend this weekend, from wintery walks to heated rivalries.

Upcoming events (Jan. 8–15)

Winter Trivia at CHALET 313

  Campus Martius in Detroit

  Thursday, Jan. 8

  Free

An indoor trivia night on the second floor of CHALET 313 in Campus Martius Park. Guests can warm up with hot cocoa while answering trivia questions for a chance to win fun prizes. Winter Trivia takes place every Thursday from 6–8 p.m. starting this week and going through Feb. 19. No registration is required.

Lantern-Lit Snowshoe Hike

  Mitchell State Park in Cadillac

  Friday, Jan. 9

  Free

A self-guided hike through Mitchell State Park’s Heritage Nature Trail, illuminated by over 100 lanterns. After the hike, participants can warm up with hot chocolate by the bonfire. Snowshoes are available to borrow on a first-come first-served basis, but hiking boots are usually sufficient for this one-mile trail. The path is open every Friday night through January and February.

“Father Mother Sister Brother” Screening

  Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts

  Friday, Jan. 9 through Sunday, Jan. 11

  $9.50–$11.50

An award-winning film starring Adam Driver and Cate Blanchett. “Father Mother Sister Brother” is a delicate portrait of family dynamics, following three stories united by their focus on relationships between adult children and their aging or lost parents. Screenings take place on Friday at 7 p.m., on Saturday at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., and on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Detroit Roller Derby Home Teams Double Header

  Masonic Temple in Detroit

  Saturday, Jan. 10

  $0–$22.19

A high-energy roller derby double header featuring all Detroit-based teams. First, D Funk will face off against the Detroit Pistoffs at 5 p.m., then the Grand Prix Madonnas will take on the Devils Night Dames at 7 p.m. All ages are welcome, and refreshments are available for purchase. Doors open at 4 p.m.

Total Eclipse of the Chart: ’80s Chart Toppers

  Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall

  Saturday, Jan. 10 through Sunday, Jan. 11

  $20.95 and up

A live performance by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra featuring some of the biggest hits of the 1980s, including songs by Whitney Houston, Madonna, Journey, Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper, Eurythmics, The Police, Cher, Tina Turner and more. Performances start at 8 p.m. on Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Limited tickets remain.

It’s easy to fall into a restaurant rut. But, it’s the new year, and that means a chance to turn the page and find some new places to eat. There’s a lot to be excited about in metro Detroit’s culinary world in 2026.

Melody Baetens, dining and entertainment reporter for Detroit News, compiled a list of new restaurant openings to look forward to in the coming year. She joined The Metro to take us through the list.

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

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

More stories from The Metro

Abbas Alawieh is running for state senator in District 2. The newly drawn district includes Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and parts of Allen Park and Detroit. 

“I think in this really difficult moment, this divisive moment in our politics, I want to run to represent every single person in District 2 like they’re my own family,” he says.

Experience

Alawieh previously worked on Capitol Hill for U.S. Representatives Andy Levin and Rashida Tlaib. He also served as chief of staff to Congresswoman Cori Bush. 

He co-founded the Uncommitted National Movement, which aimed to pressure then presidential candidate Kamala Harris to address U.S. policy on the war in Gaza. 

“My specific experience is at the intersection of being on the inside of government and knowing how it works, and then mobilizing people, voters, reaching folks who our party, our system has lost touch with,” he shares. 

Prioritizing local needs

Alawieh says the Democratic party focusing on war takes away from local issues.

“What that actually does is it deprioritizes the needs of working families here at home,” he says.

He’s focused on caring for people like family.

“My priority is going to be representing every single person like they’re family to me. And so I have to enter this next period of my service really listening and learning,” he explains.

Alawieh says he grew up in a family that values service. 

“Service of community is something that is deeply entrenched in my own family’s experience,” he says.

He hopes to bring in as many resources as possible to District 2. 

“I want to become a state senator that wields the power of a movement of people that will come together around this campaign to say, ‘hey, District 2 is here to play. ’ We’re going to show up with our values, with our leverage, with our people power.” 

The election for State Senator takes place on November 3. 

Ford is changing tactics again. 

Last month, the company decided to pivot from its electric vehicle plans, and into hybrid cars and gas engines. The biggest signal was the phasing out of the all-electric F-150 Lightning.

That’s a big shift from four years ago when Ford said it wanted to make EVs account for 40% of their global sales by 2030. 

Why are they pivoting again? And, what is the future for Ford and other automakers?

Paul Eisenstein is a contributing editor for Headlight.News and a contributor to dozens of media outlets, including Japan’s Nikkei. He spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.

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

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

More stories from The Metro

The Muslim Mavericks is a new children’s nonfiction biography book series highlighting the contributions of Muslims across the world.

The first book features actress, comedian and disability advocate, “Maysoon Zayid The Girl Who Can Can.”

Pulitzer Prize–nominated Muslim reporter and author Dr. Seema Yasmin says the series hopes to dispel stereotypes of Muslims, while creating positive representation in stories. 

“What I’m trying to do with this series is show that Muslims are not a monolith…  there’s nearly two billion of us on the planet,” she says.

Muslims in media

Yasmin says she was inspired to create the series when she realized there were few children’s chapter book series about Muslims.

“Throughout history, Muslims have contributed so much to the fields of science and exploration, mathematics, comedy, film, Hollywood, all of the things,” she explains.

She says people’s first impression of Muslims is on TV or film, usually as someone scary.

“It explains the kind of sentiments and misunderstandings that people have about Muslims and what better way to dispel that than by introducing young readers to Muslim characters early on,” she shares.

She wants readers to connect with people like Maysoon Zayid, a girl who grew up in New Jersey in a Palestinian American home, as a disabled person with big dreams.

“It was really important to me to introduce young readers to these themes of imagining their future, dreaming big, conquering the impossible, and what to do when people tell you that you’re not good enough,” she says.

Islamophobia

Yasmin says Islamophobia, the fear of Islam and Muslims, is rampant.

“The Islamophobia just feels like it is on steroids right now. For many of us old enough to remember September 11, 2001 and the aftermath of that, what Muslims and just generally brown people lived through, the environment right now is feeling like that,” she shares.

She says people are getting “steeped in these misconceptions of an entire community,” she further explains.

She hopes the series will introduce readers to a range of Muslims to help tackle Islamophobia. 

Yasmin has a background as a medical doctor and a former journalist.

She says the next book in the series will come out later this year. 

New music from Yttling Jazz, Jill Scott, Kazdoura and more. Plus, a belated birthday party for Thin Lizzy front man Phil Lynott, which turns into a heated discussion of the greatest Irish band of all time, so we highlight The Pogues, SPRINTS and Fontaines D.C., too.

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 January 7, 2025

• “Fourty Days” – Billy Brooks
• “Beautiful People” – Jill Scott
• “Illegal Hit (Edit)” – Yttling Jazz, Joshua Idehen & Saturday, Monday
• “Falador Passa Mal” – Os Originais do Samba
• “Road To Nowhere” – Rogê
• “I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar” – Jonathan Richman
• “Where I’m From (Tom Misch Remix)” – Kiko Bun
• “Slow Down” – Skip Marley & H.E.R.
• “People Everywhere ii” – Khruangbin
• “and then? و بعدين؟” – Kazdoura
• “Nautilus” – Bob James
• “Outubro” – Milton Nascimento & Esperanza Spalding
• “All Seeds” – Don Glori
• “Sanctified” – System Olympia & Working Men’s Club
• “Mercury” – Automatic
• “Moody (Spaced Out)” – ESG
• “Showdown” – Thin Lizzy
• “Yvonne (Helado Negro Remix)” – Foxwarren
• “Life Round Here” – James Blake
• “The Pair of Brown Eyes” – The Pogues
• “Favourite” – Fontaines D.C.
• “Better” – SPRINTS
• “It’s All Too Much” – Beatles
• “Let It Bleed” – Goat
• “Life’s A Gas” – T. Rex
• “A Well Respected Man” – The Kinks
• “Wild Horses” – Hudson Freeman
• “Wristwatch” – MJ Lenderman
• “Wah Wah” – George Harrison
• “I Think I’m In Love” – Spiritualized
• “Where’s My Brain???” – Lazy Eyes
• “Red Room” – Hiatus Kaiyote

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.

Artificial intelligence is already shaping daily life, whether we’re ready or not. That’s caused celebration and concern. 

It’s reducing the work we do, helping us find answers more quickly, and some research suggests it has strong capabilities to diagnose illness, perhaps better than doctors.

But the rise of AI is also accompanied by pessimism and fear. Jobs could be taken and never replaced; our loneliness could worsen; and scholars say our critical thinking abilities are already degrading.

Some of these concerns are the context for opposition to data centers. Those spaces house and advance artificial intelligence, and many don’t want them in their backyards. 

In Monroe and Kalamazoo Counties, there’s been pushback, which has might permanently delay the creation of data centers there. In Saline, many are unhappy about a center planned for the area. 

All of this is happening after Wayne State officially opened its own AI research center in October. 

Ezemenari Obasi is the Vice President for Research & Innovation at Wayne State University and heads the university’s Institute for AI and Data Science.

The Metro‘s Sam Corey spoke with him about why he believes AI can help us solve some of our biggest problems.

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

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

More stories from The Metro

Michigan has been the setting for thousands of films. At one point, the state encouraged movie makers through incentives to produce their films here.

Those programs were cancelled a decade ago. Since then, productions have largely gone elsewhere to shoot.

As for the films set in Detroit, which ones really capture the city, its essence and the people who live here?

Steven Shaviro is a former film critic and professor at Wayne State University. He joins The Metro to discuss and critique movies that were made in or about metro Detroit.

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

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

More stories from The Metro

On MI Local, you’ll often hear in-person interviews with a wide range of local artists. We also get quite a bit of live music on the air!

Many of my guests have been stopping by to talk about an upcoming album release, or maybe a big concert they have coming up. While WDET listeners are able to hear some Q&A where we hear about their origins and their creative process, these guests also tend to bring in acoustic guitars, sometimes saxophones, sometimes even drum kits, and perform live during the show!

It’s just one week in to the New Year, so I thought I’d take one last look back at 2025 and listen to some of the recorded performances. The headline up top says “best of,” but it was honestly so hard to choose! What you’ll hear on this episode is roughly 60% of the live performances I’ve featured throughout the year, including Stef Chura, Lyons Lane, Metal Bubble Trio, The Whiskey Charmers and The City Lines.

Stay tuned, because I already have some guests booked for this year, including return visits from Checker and The Ethan Marc Band. We’re also looking forward to Jackamo stopping in ahead of their upcoming album release! Stay tuned, and find the full playlist for this week’s show, below!

Thanks for listening!

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

• “Universal Themes” – Metal Bubble Trio
• “Green Cement” – Phabies
• “Hell’s Bathroom Floor” – Carmel Liburdi
• “Aerosol” – Checker
• “Out Loud” – The City Lines
• “Black Hole” – Former Critics
• “Chapels” – The Idiot Kids
• “Good Thing” – Lauren Blackford
• “Song For Joe” – John Freeman
• “Everything That I Love” – Mara Wanna
• “You’ll Always Love Me” – Rose St. Germaine
• “All I Do Is Live” – Stef Chura ft. Deleano Acevedo
• “Love Potion # 9” – Lyons Lane
• “Departures” – Corazon Szell
• “Full Moon” – The Whiskey Charmers

Flu cases are on the rise across Michigan.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control say the state has a “very high” level of doctors’ visits for respiratory illnesses.  That’s the top category in the country.  

Doctors recommend children and adults over 65 get a flu vaccine to prevent serious illness and limit the risk of hospitalization.  Officials say only about a quarter of Michigan residents have received a flu vaccine this season.   

The state says 8% of emergency room visits last week were because of flu-related illnesses.

Additional headlines for Jan. 7, 2026

Homicides fall

The number of homicides in Detroit continues to fall.  

The city had 165 murders last year.  That’s the lowest number since 1964.

The police department says other crimes, such as non-fatal shootings and carjackings also fell last year. 

DTE introduces new fee 

DTE Energy will soon begin charging a fee for customers who pay their bills by credit or  debit card.  That’s according to the Detroit Free Press.  Residential customers will pay $2.99 per transaction.  Business customers will be charged $9.99 per transaction when they pay by debit or credit.  The Detroit utility says the fee will go directly to third party vendors who  process those payments.  The change is set to take effect on March 2^nd. 

Gas prices 

Gas prices have risen slightly in metro Detroit over the past week, but they remain below $3 per gallon.  Triple A Michigan says the average price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded is $2.83.  That’s up about five cents from a week ago.  Last year at this time, Detroiters were paying an average of $3.!0 per gallon. 

Temperature rising

Detroiters can expect a bit of a weather warm-up in the next couple of days.  The National Weather Service says temperatures will rise into the upper 40s tomorrow and we might even break a record with a high forecast to be in the upper 50s on Friday.  

The reality of winter returns on Sunday and Monday though, with highs in the 30s. 

Morton fired

The Detroit Lions have fired offensive coordinator John Morton after a disappointing season.  The team failed to make the playoffs this year with a record of nine wins and eight losses.  

Morton called plays for the offense in the first 10 games of the year, but head coach Dan Campbell was not pleased with the team’s inconsistent performance.  Campbell took over offensive play-calling duties in game 11.  

Morton became offensive coordinator last year after the departure of Ben Johnson, who left the Lions to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears.  Chicago won the NFC north division this season and is headed to the playoffs.  The Lions finished last in the division this season. 

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Empowerment Plan has been in service to metro Detroit’s homeless population since 2012. 

Empowerment Plan employs people living in shelters. They manufacture coats made from sleeping bags that they distribute to people in need. That includes people in Detroit, across the nation, and in dozens of other countries. 

Veronika Scott is the founder of Empowerment Plan. She talks about her struggles with poverty and homelessness as a kid. She remembers driving around with her mother, getting sent in circles from one caseworker in Detroit to another in Pontiac. 

Years later, a class at College for Creative Studies called “Designing to Fill a Need” led her where she is today—and that’s helping people experiencing homelessness.

This year, Empowerment Plan hand made its 100,000th sleeping bag coat. 

Veronika, founder of Empowerment Plan joins host Tia Graham on The Metro to talk more about reaching this milestone and what’s next for organization.

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

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

More stories from The Metro

The music landscape has changed a lot since the turn of the 21st century. Not just styles, but how we consume music. Nothing illustrates that better than the rise of the indie music scene.

In his new book Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion, Stereogum managing editor Chris DeVille looks at how changes to TV, the internet, and the record industry fueled the rise in early ’00s indie music.

DeVille talks with WDET’s Russ McNamara. Click on the link to listen or read selected excepts below. 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RM: So why write this book?

DeVille: There’s many different sort of through lines that are being traced here. One of them is technology. It’s a subject that I think is really complex and really fascinating, and it involves a lot of my favorite music ever.

This stuff that has been kind of chronicled and debated online for years in blog posts and social media posts and a lot of the documentation of it is starting to disappear, because websites just go offline, or people delete their social media accounts. And so I wanted to create a little bit more permanent record of some of these things that happened—some of the ways that these bands broke through, some of the conversations that were being had around this music.

One reviewer compared it to like a yearbook that you look back at and you get some fond memories, and you get some cringe, but yeah, it’s kind of like a history of my listening as an adult.

Russ McNamara, WDET: In the book, you mention the TV show ‘The OC’ which was a popular teen soap opera in the early ’00s. How much did that show’s soundtrack play into the rise in indie rock?

Chris DeVille, author of “Such Great Heights”: I was surprised as I was writing the book, how much it became like a shadow history of the evolution of the Internet over the last couple of decades. And you know The OC thing, it’s like they’re putting these bands in front of a much bigger audience. Like Death Cab for Cutie is like a fairly obscure band at the time, and then this character on this popular teen show is like making his whole personality that he loves Death Cab for Cutie.

It’s like giant platform, but then they lose cool points with some people, as you know, sort of a more norm-y audience discovers this band, but it’s definitely, there’s no doubt that it was a huge like funnel, bringing a bunch of bands to a much broader audience

RM: What about the added accessibility of file sharing sites like Limewire and Napster?

CD: Whatever platform you were using to pirate music I think contributed to the accessibility of stuff. Stuff could blow up, even if it didn’t fit into a particular radio format, or it wasn’t getting past the MTV gatekeepers. It didn’t have to fit into any existing niche or existing format to blow up. It could just catch fire and go viral on these file sharing servers.

I mean, the same thing was still true when iTunes came in and kind of formalized and commercialized the process. You could still have a song that people would download it like crazy.

RM: Which indie bands benefitted the most from this setup in the early 00’s?

CD: Arcade Fire was definitely the biggest. The other dimension that I talk a lot about in the book, is Pitchfork. And just like the power that Pitchfork had to make or break someone’s career. If they gave something a 10.0 people were just going to jump on it and worship it. And if they kind of talked smack about a particular band or completely panned a band, then there were instances where that basically ended someone’s commercial prospects. And so like Arcade Fire were like the perfect storm.

RM: So where is indie rock at now? Is it dead? Does the genre really mean anything anymore?

CD: Over time, indie became like more of a genre, and then the genre itself started to change. But I think what we saw happen in the 2010s is sort of like the indie goes pop thing. It was like a bubble, and it really did pop. We still have these sort of like boutique pop stars like Clairo.

We had artists that came out of the indie world become pop stars of a sort because of stuff like Tiktok. Like Mitski is a good example of that where she’s coming from, from the indie rock infrastructure, and she is making music that jumps across genres a little bit.

There’s a hunger for bands that have a little bit more of an edge to them, that are a little bit less smooth, a little bit willing to be weird or noisy. That’s what you see with a lot of the biggest indie bands today – ones that have gone against that sort of, like Spotify-friendly, passive-listening experience. There’s now a hunger for music that’s a bit more abrasive, something that will jolt people out of their stupor.

Music wants to evolve. It wants to find new audiences. And so the whole idea of like, gatekeeping and having the right audience versus the wrong audience, like, that’s something that factors into the book too.

The Detroit City Council voted in new leaders Monday. 

WDET’S Bre’Anna Tinsley was there. 

James Tate was voted President 5-4. He served as President Pro Tem under now mayor Mary Sheffield. He says he wants to strengthen how the council operates.

 ”For years, I have pushed for a legislative agenda, and while we have not fully realized that goal, I did help usher into our rules, a process that can move us there. That matters because it increases transparency, accountability, and it also provides the public a way to see our priorities and measure our progress.”

Coleman Young II was voted Pro Tem, defeating Mary Waters.

Additional headlines for Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2025

Duggan’s independent campaign stresses unity

Independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan says he’s bringing a message of unity to the state—the kind he says helped him bridge divides as mayor of Detroit. 

As an independent Duggan won’t get any visibility from the party primary process. He says instead he’s visiting with small groups of voters across Michigan and finding many of them concerned about the same issues like affordable housing and job training opportunities. 

Duggan says Republicans and Democrats are more interested in beating each other than working together to solve problems. “I have never seen a state more evenly divided than Michigan today. And people more fed up. I don’t think the climate’s ever been more fertile…to have a third option.”

Duggan claims rural voters in particular find they have more in common than they thought with the urban electorate that placed him at the top of Detroit’s city government. (Quinn Klinefelter) 

Retail Food Business Cohort

The Brightmoor Artisan Collective is getting ready to launch a program for folks who want to start a food business.

Applications for the Retail Food Business Cohort are set to go live in a few weeks. Participants will be able to access free food safety certification, business plan development, networking events and a one year membership in the collective. 

For more information visit brightmoorartisans.org. 

New sports programs for kids

The Detroit Parks and Rec Department is launching a slew of sports programs for kids this and next month. Offerings include tennis, baseball, volleyball, basketball, flag football, soccer and “sports movement.” 

Programs will be offered at recreation and community centers throughout the city.

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tuesday marks the fifth anniversary of the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.  A large group protesting the results of the 2020 election— claiming Joe Biden’s win was fraudulent—broke into the capitol building, destroying property, assaulting officers, and threatening elected officials. 

The events of January 6 resulted in several deaths and over a thousand arrests.

President Donald Trump pardoned most insurrectionists when reentering office in the past year, saying that the Biden administration over-prosecuted the group.

Melissa Nann-Burke was the Washington Bureau Chief for the Detroit News at that time of the insurrection.  She was working in the House chamber on January 6 and witnessed events from the inside. 

She spoke with WDET’s Jake Neher about it later that week on MichMash.