Tay Glass says almost anyone can be the villain.

The vice president of Story Fest and co-founder of Back Pocket Media says the company’s third annual installment in Detroit is bound to be something special. This year, they invite visitors to explore this year’s theme, “Villains: stories about what we fear, what we misunderstand, and what we become.”

Featuring a litany of award-winning journalists, comedians, local artists and storytellers at the Detroit Opera House, the live performance shows off writers and performers from across metro Detroit.

“The ways in which stories are told are as diverse as what the stories themselves are about. From true crime to comedy, politics to poetics, Story Fest invites you to experience a brief and piercing look into the soul of the city,” the company says on its website.

Glass tells The Metro that while villainy can fly under the classic trope of good versus evil, sometimes you can be the villain, too.

“This could be small scale stuff, like hogging the arm rest on a long haul flight. We have one storyteller sharing an amazing story about working a summer job at Rent-A-Center and realizing, ‘Oh, shoot, maybe I’m the villain here.’”

StoryFest starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8 at the Detroit Opera House. Tickets available on Story Fest website.

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Many couldn’t tell you what an attorney general does. But in Michigan, a lot of people know the name Dana Nessel.

She was the lead lawyer in the Michigan case that helped bring marriage equality to the nation. Then she became this state’s top attorney. For eight years she’s been unabashed about her politics and about who she is.

Dana Nessel’s office won convictions against nine clergymen for abuse going back decades. It won more than $1.5 billion from opioid manufacturers. It fought utility companies over the cost of electric bills. And it sued the federal government — many times over.

To some, Nessel’s become one of Michigan’s strongest defenders. To others, she’s gone too far.

A new Michigan law says whoever replaces Nessel in January cannot sue the federal government without permission from state lawmakers. Republican state House Speaker Matt Hall pushed for the law. Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed it.

Attorney General Dana Nessel spoke with host Robyn Vincent about the battles she’s fought and why.

She said her office has contested every utility rate hike request since she took office — roughly $4.7 billion saved for ratepayers, by its own count — and that the system is broken anyway. Asked how she squares that fight with a governor of her own party who appoints the commissioners who approve those rates, Nessel said: “I don’t.”

She said she would not have made Whitmer’s appointments to the Michigan Public Service Commission, and that the governor could have reappointed former Commissioner Alessandra Carreon, who Nessel said sometimes deferred to her office’s arguments. Carreon’s successor, Commissioner Shaquila Myers, was “well known — I’ll just say it — to be in the pocket of DTE,” Nessel said. She added that during Myers’ time as chief of staff to then-House Speaker Joe Tate, bills the utilities opposed “would somehow end up” quashed.

The Metro sought comment from the Public Service Commission and from the governor’s office.

Governor Whitmer’s chief of staff, Zack Pohl, said in a statement: “Shaquila Myers is one of the sharpest policy minds in the state, and she has dedicated her entire career to public service. She is a person of high integrity who is respected on both sides of the aisle.”

The Public Service Commission said in a statement that over more than 20 years in public service, Myers has been chief of staff to the lieutenant governor, a senior adviser to the governor and chief of staff to the speaker of the House. “During her time in the latter role, Michigan enacted a sweeping package of legislation that puts Michigan on a path toward 100% clean energy by 2040,” the statement said. “As she has from the beginning of her time on the MPSC, Commissioner Myers asks to be judged by her work at the Commission, including contributing to Michigan’s best affordability ranking in a decade and to enacting some of the nation’s strongest protections to prevent customers from having to bear any costs associated with data centers. She aims to continue that work during the coming years on the Commission.”

Nessel disputes that last point. In the same interview, she said that under the commission’s approval of power contracts for a Google data center in Van Buren Township, “the ratepayers are absolutely not protected at all.”

The commission also offered to make Chair Dan Scripps and Commissioner Myers available to appear on WDET. The Metro has invited Myers. 

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with statements from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office and the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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In Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood, front steps turn into mini concert venues. Think dozens of short sets, and neighbors wandering from stoop to stoop.

The sixth annual Woodbridge Porch Concerts returns with the same goal, connecting in real life.

The porch series is organized by Woodbridge Neighborhood Development. The nonprofit is working to keep the neighborhood eclectic and affordable. They want people to be connected, not just housed.

Jai Singletary is the executive director of the organization.  He says preserving a neighborhood’s sense of place means making room for both homes and harmony. Jason Rho is a musician who’s played every year at the porch concerts since their inception. 

Both join The Metro to talk more about the Woodbridge community and why its important to simply talk to you neighbor.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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The Michigan Arts and Culture Council is a state agency that distributes grants to creative and cultural projects. 

While the core components of the MACC include economic development, education, and engagement, the group also forms strategies on funding, leadership, resources, outreach and research. The MACC answers to The Michigan Economic  Development Corporation.  

Recently, the MACC cut three positions from its staff. According to Nafeesah Symonette, vice-chair of the MACC board, board members were not notified of any proposed staffing cuts. 

As the grant proposal application opened, the seven person team was reduced by three staffers. Four team members remain. Symonette says 17 people from neighboring states have volunteered to help read and process proposals for the 2027 fiscal year.

The MACC currently distributes $11 million in funding through grants.

Symonette, who is also executive director for Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts, is a leader of the Detroit Partnership for Arts Education.  She says the cuts will directly impact the MACC’s ability to process and distribute grants. We may also see smaller, grass roots and rural organizations shuttering due to the cuts.

She joins The Metro to discuss what happens behind the scenes and the waning interest of arts and culture in Lansing.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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

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WDET listeners may be familiar with “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!”  It’s the NPR news quiz that we air on WDET every Saturday morning.

One of the frequent panelists on that program is comedian Paula Poundstone. She’s currently on tour and has a couple of stops coming up in Michigan.

Poundstone will perform at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts in East Lansing at 7:30 p.m. this Friday night.  On Saturday night she’ll be at the Flagstar Strand Theater in Pontiac at 8 p.m.

Paula Poundstone spoke with The Metro’s Alex McLenon about how she got involved in public radio and about doing comedy.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above

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

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The numbers can tell you what is happening in the economy, but they rarely tell you why. 

For example: among college-educated women in their prime working years, Black women are the most likely to be working or looking for work. Yet they make up about 2% of private-sector managers, according to an analysis from economist Valerie Wilson, published last month by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

In other words, showing up is not the same as moving up.

This week, that institute brought a national conference on women and the economy to Detroit. Journalist Kimberly Adams was there, on a panel about Black women in leadership with Donna Brazile, the Democratic strategist who ran Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign.

Adams is host and senior editor of Marketplace Morning Report. She joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss who carries the economy, who gets to lead, and when those two overlap. 

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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In March 2025, President Donald Trump passed an executive order to “restore truth and sanity” to American history. His administration has pressured the removal of “negative history”— which often surrounds the historic struggles of people of color—while restoring Confederate statues.

Meanwhile, a Detroit artist may be the first to create an outdoor public monument to honor Civil Rights leader Malcolm X. 

Mario Moore is a multi-disciplinary artist from Detroit whose works are on display in museums and galleries across the country, including the Detroit Institute of Arts. He has a goal of erecting a 14-foot statue of Malcolm X. He believes Detroit is the perfect place to honor his life.

Moore was a student at Malcolm X Academy in the 90’s, where he learned why the leader fought for human rights. He remembers fondly mobs of angry adults, deeming the school bad for the community. The school even received death threats.

Moore plans to build a park that will be the permanent home for the monument in the Dexter/Linwood community. It’s a few blocks from Temple No. 1, where X practiced Islam.

He joined The Metro to discuss how his works are a mode of historical preservation and conversation starters.

Right now, the project is in its infancy, with a quarter of the funding raised. To support Moore and the Malcolm X Plaza, visit Canfield Consortium to learn more.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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

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For about a year, Mayor Mary Sheffield has seemed to be riding high. To get elected, she mounted an impressive campaign, taking 77 % of the vote. Once in office, she hit the ground running. 

The mayor has created new anti-poverty and community safety departments. Many have commented on her leadership skills, balancing confidence and intellect with openness, and a willingness to listen. 

That was true during the summer, when a number of kids were participating in “teen takeovers.” The police department imposed a curfew, but Sheffield also took the time to listen to teens, to ask them what it was that they needed and wanted from their city. 

Now, the mayor’s office is under scrutiny.

Sheffield’s ex-boyfriend, Marvin Walker, says when she was council president, she took $200,000 in kickbacks from city real estate deals. She denies that.

Walker also had private photographs of the two of them. A Detroit activist posted them on Facebook. Sheffield calls it harassment.

Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison called the two men and asked them to take the photos down. Weeks later, police seized one man’s phone. The city’s Inspector General is now investigating the chief of police.

Those are a lot of details. So what do we actually know?

Detroit Free Press investigative reporter Violet Ikonomova has been looking into this. She spoke with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent.

The Metro invited Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield onto the show. Her office has not responded.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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As the Iran war continues, gas prices hit a weekly average of $4.88 in Metro Detroit. The average price of diesel is $2 more than that.

The stock market is strong, but inflation is at least 1% higher than the federal reserve’s target. And the U.S. is in a trade war with Canada. 

This hasn’t caused a recession. But all of this does make it harder for small businesses to operate, like the corner bar on your street, and the auto repair shop in your suburb.

Mark Lee runs The Lee Group, where he’s been advising small businesses in this region for nearly 20 years. He explored answers to these questions with The Metro’s Sam Corey

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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One of the most watched races across the country is in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. That area includes Lansing, East Lansing, and the farm counties and exurbs around them, out to Livingston County and the edge of Oakland County.

Republican Congressman Tom Barrett won the seat two years ago by less than four points, and both parties think it could decide who has a majority in the House of Representatives. Barrett’s opponent is progressive Democrat Will Lawrence. The Metro spoke with him last week.

Barrett spent 22 years in the Army. He was deployed to Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, and served nearly a decade in the state legislature before going to Washington.

Since then he’s done something most Republicans haven’t. Four times, he’s voted to say only Congress can authorize war with Iran, and he’s kept President Donald Trump’s endorsement anyway.

Over the weekend, President Trump rejected an Iranian offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The war has continued, and so has the increasing cost of gas prices.

Congressman Barrett joined The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent to discuss where his positions overlap — and don’t — with President Trump’s, and what his plans are if he’s able to keep his seat.

In the conversation, Congressman Tom Barrett said that over 10 million undocumented immigrants flooded across our border when then-President Joe Biden was in office. 

Research from the conservative Cato Institute estimates that the net increase in the undocumented immigrant population during the Biden administration was closer to about 5.5 million people. That’s because millions of people were expelled, deported or returned to their home country or Mexico before President Donald Trump took office.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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Sudani Shaah is a multi-dimensional artist based in Detroit. A graduate of College for Creative Studies and Detroit School of Arts, Sudani is following in the footsteps of her family. 

Her mother is multi-interdisciplinary artist Sabrina Nelson and her brother is visual and sculptural artist Mario Moore. 

In this episode, we learn how textile artist Sudani is creating her own lane. Let’s get behind the tsunami waves of Sudani and how her work ripples out to tell complex stories.

CONTAINER On The Metro is a WDET produced storytelling series that brings Detroit’s creative heartbeat to the airwaves. 

CONTAINER is a program created by The Love Building. Its goal is to showcase Detroit’s creative talent across music, fashion, fine arts and food. Done in collaboration with WDET Public Radio with major support from the Gilbert Family Foundation.

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

No shortage of creatives come from Detroit. From music and acting to comedy and fashion, the city is well represented around the world.

But before there can be representation there needs to be opportunity. An A-list entertainment show being held this Saturday at the Detroit Opera House is trying to help out with.

It’s called “The Coney” and it’s described as an anything-goes celebration of the Motor City. The show is in its inaugural year and it benefits funding for local art programs.

Marc Evan Jackson is an actor, comedian, and entertainer. His work includes roles in TV shows Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place. Jackson is also founder of the Detroit Creativity Project. Jackson is also a former member of Second City Detroit, a comedy troupe that closed two decades ago.

Andrew Stein is the CEO of The Michigan Children’s Foundation, whose mission to serve the young people from the state aligns with the improv program.

They stopped by The Metro to discuss the event.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above

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

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View the best of Black visual arts at the annual Detroit Black Film Festival or maybe spend your weekend amongst the weird at the Funky Ferndale Art Fair.

Feel the chill in the air? Enter the Festival of Darkness or welcome fall at Midtown’s Fall Harvest Garden Party. View all that Detroit has to offer from Sept. 24 through Oct. 1.

Upcoming events (Sept. 24 - Oct. 1)

Detroit Black Film Festival

Various locations

Sept. 23-27

 $35 one day screening ticket

The seventh Detroit Black Film Festival offers a lineup of documentary and narrative films centering Black perspectives. Other events surrounding the curated list of thought-provoking films include an awards ceremony, panels, and after parties. Look out for the Taste of Black Spirit event on Friday at the Belle Isle Casino!

Doodle Days by Neighbor x Folk

Michigan Central Station

Sept. 24
Free

Unwind and engage in a community coloring event! From 12:30-4:30 p.m., participants will be able to color the artwork of workshop host Leah Barnett while taking in the architectural sights of the South Atrium in Michigan Central Station. Supplies are included with event attendance.

Note: There is a possibility that event attendees will be photographed for Neighbor x Folk promotional material. If you wish to not be photographed, please notify staff present at the event.

Funky Ferndale Art Fair / DIY Street Fair

Nine Mile and Woodward in Ferndale

Sept. 25-27

Free

You’ve been to some art fairs, but none offer the same spunk. The Funky Ferndale Art Fair prides itself on curating a show of quality artists that create beyond the ordinary. Just across the street is the DIY Street Fair, with more artists on site, plus live music and refreshments for sale.

Friends of the Detroit River National Public Lands Day

Belle Isle
Sept. 26
Free with State Recreation Passport

As a part of National Public Lands Day, Friends of the Detroit River is hosting an educational event with Wilderness Inquiry and Detroit Outdoors located at Lake Okonoka on Belle Isle from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m..  Attendees can explore on-land booths and paddle the lake on Wilderness Inquiry’s 10 person ‘Canoemobile’. A State Recreation Passport is required for entry into Belle Isle. This event is open to all ages, though those under 18 should be accompanied by an adult.

Hispanic Heritage Month: ¡Baila! Beginner Latin Dance Series

Detroit Public Library Conely Branch
Sept. 26
Free

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage month by learning to dance in traditional Latin styles. Taught by Troy Dance Studio instructors, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. beginners can learn how to step in a celebration of culture and movement. Though geared towards teens and adults, this event is open to all ages.

Festival of Darkness

Redford Theatre

 Sept. 26

$10

This annual trek into the dark side of cinema celebrates 5 years running with another round of independent films that gaze into the tangled depths of the human experience. The night features 13 short films and a total run time of around 100 minutes. Doors open at 7 p.m., with showtime at 8 p.m. Half of all ticket sales go to keeping the historic 1920s theater going. With the content leaning heavy on dark, introspective horror, this event is recommended for mature audiences only.

We Tell These Truths: Music is a Universal Language (A Pan-Asian Cultural Celebration)

Detroit Shipping Company

 Sept. 26

 Free

Visit Detroit’s historic Chinatown and hear exceptional Pan-Asian music. Hear the erhu played by Xiao Dong Wei, the pipa played by Min Xiao-Fen and a taiko performance by the Great Lakes Taiko Ensemble. Outside of these sets, rock and hip-hop band Madame XD will be performing. DJ Thomas Xu of “Steady Flight Circle” is also present and will be spinning tracks. See and listen to this cultural display for free and for all from 2-4:30 p.m.

Decks on Deck

Detroit Princess Riverboat

 Sept. 27

 $65, $60 for WDET members

Join WDET for a dance party on the water. DJ sets are being played by Waajeed, host of The Boulevard and Liz Warner, host of Alternate Take. Light bites are provided, and a cash bar is available. Guests have an hour to board the Detroit Princess before it sets sail at 6 p.m., returning after sunset at 9 p.m. Tickets are going fast, so reserve your spot today.

Fall Harvest Garden Party

North Cass Community Garden

Sept. 27

Free

Welcome the start of fall at the Fall Harvest Garden Party hosted by Midtown Detroit. From 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, enjoy your afternoon with bites and drinks available from local Midtown businesses, a natural indigo dye workshop hosted by Rosemarine Textiles, pumpkin decorating and music played by DJ Adriel Thornton. There will also be a Sashiko workshop – traditional Japanese hand-stitching and embroidery – taught by Bit of Denim. This family-friendly event is open to all!

Nail Art Workshop

The Congregation
 Sept. 29
 $25

Spend your Tuesday evening honing your nail art skills! Led by Redd Curry-Wilkerson of REDD’s Nails, supplies will be provided to craft your perfect nail sets. Featuring a design inspired by the work of Highland Park artist Miriam Uhura, Redd also has press-on set available to use at the event for an additional $35. Purchases of the press-on set must be made at least 24 hours prior to the event. No experience required. The event runs from 6-9 p.m.

The temperatures are cooling off outside and the calendar has officially turned to fall. The leaves will soon turn colors and with that people are starting to think about their favorite autumn activities.

There are no shortage of food and drink experiences in around Detroit to wear your favorite cozy sweater to.

Melody Baetens is a dining and entertainment reporter for The Detroit News. She stopped by The Metro to bring us up to date on what’s happening in the dining scene.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above

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

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Chaos. That’s the trend line in the auto sector of our economy. A war in Iran has raised gas prices. A Trump administration antagonistic to electric vehicles has reshaped the auto industry, causing Stellantis, General Motors and Ford to lose a combined $52 billion as they’ve shifted away from their electric investments. 

And through it all, the Trump administration has enacted tariffs. Recently, they’ve gotten steeper. 

In August, America enacted new tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel. Canada responded with tariffs on many US goods, including those aforementioned products. 

Meanwhile, the price of cars — especially used cars — are increasing.

What do these trends mean for auto companies and auto workers? How are customers affected? And, how are both parties trying to adapt to rapidly changing policies?

Paul Eisenstein is the editor of headlight.news. He’s also the publisher and editor of “The Car Collective” Substack. He spoke with The Metro‘s Sam Corey.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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Detroit’s Chinatown, at one point in time, was a bustling neighborhood that often marked the first stop in the states for so many immigrants. 

According to the 2025 census, 1.7% of Detroit’s population identify as Asian American. An effort is underway to restore Detroit’s Chinatown.

In partnership with the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit (IIMD), Concert of Colors Neighborhood Programs will host a celebration in old neighborhood.

We Tell These Truths: Music is a Universal Language (A Pan-Asian Cultural Celebration) is Saturday, Sept. 26, 2-4:30 p.m.

It’s happening at Detroit Shipping Company in Detroit’s Cass Corridor.

Roland Hwang is a lecturer of Asian, Pacific Islander History at the University of Michigan. Hwang is an attorney and a former state assistant attorney general. He is a supporter of Concert of Colors and MC for the event.

The concert will feature virtuoso erhuist Xiao Dong Wei, and her alter-ego, Madame XD.

Wei’s musical journey began in China at the tender age of 5. Her work has taken her across the globe and landed her in the Detroit area.  She blends traditional Chinese music with contemporary genres. From jazz, rock, and orchestral performance, Xiao plays over 20 instruments. 

Additional performers include well is virtuoso pipaist, Min Xiao-Fen. As well the Great Lakes Taiko Ensemble, and Thomas Xu “Steady Flight Circle” as the DJ for the afternoon.

Wei and Hwang joined The Metro to talk more about the concert and Detroit’s Chinatown. 

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, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Michigan buries more trash per person than any state in the country. About 1 in 5 tons comes from somewhere else, most of it from Canada, because it’s cheap to dump trash here.

A landfill is sealed, and the waste inside keeps breaking down for decades making methane, liquid and heat.

That matters for the people who live nearby. Even on an ordinary day, landfills release benzene and other chemicals you can’t see. When the heat climbs, those emissions rise with it, and neighbors report headaches, nosebleeds and nausea.

One Michigan landfill in Arbor Hills, just west of Northville, has been running hot since 2019. Last year a well there reached 177 degrees, and the state approved running it hotter still. Now the operator, the Canadian waste company GFL Environmental, wants to add about 90 more acres — on the same side of the landfill where the heat has been concentrated.

A new report from the advocacy group Full Circle Future says that’s the pattern nationwide: when landfills get dangerously hot, companies ask permission to run hotter, and states say yes without asking what is causing it.

Katherine Blauvelt, who runs Full Circle Future, joined Robyn Vincent to explain what’s happening underground, what escapes into the air, and who is supposed to be watching.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

Editor’s Note: After this conversation aired, Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy responded to questions from The Metro.

EGLE said it requires Arbor Hills to measure temperatures deep inside the waste, not just at the wellhead, any time a well passes 165 degrees. The agency also said it reviewed gas data back to 2020, found signs of a separate underground reaction elsewhere on the site, questioned GFL about it, and found no compliance problems. The elevated temperature event at Arbor Hills, EGLE said, “continues to be properly managed.”

When asked whether Michigan is considering rules like Ohio’s and California’s, which require finding the cause before approving higher temperatures, EGLE did not say.

The Metro also contacted GFL Environmental. A company representative said they could not answer The Metro’s questions by our deadline Wednesday morning.

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For more than a decade, a group of Detroiters worked toward something the city was lacking: there were almost no Black-owned grocery stores. So they set out to build one — owned by the people it serves.

In 2024, the Detroit People’s Food Co-op opened on Woodward in the North End.

Two years later, it is asking for help. The co-op says it is bringing in close to $3 million a year. Before it opened, it projected about $80,000 a week — more than $4 million. 

This month it launched a campaign to recruit 500 new owners and asked shoppers to spend $10 more every time they come in. They named it Mframadan, a symbol from Ghana for a house built to withstand treacherous conditions.

Those conditions are real — food prices keep climbing and many of the people this store was built for are the ones with the least to spare. U.S. Census Bureau data shows 34% of Detroiters live in poverty.

The co-op’s thought was that Detroiters should own their food system, not just shop within it. Two years in, the question is whether that’s something people can afford to own.

Lanay Gilbert-Williams, president of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op and executive director of the Detroit Food Policy Council, joined Robyn Vincent to discuss what supporting a co-op means for a community, some of the store’s higher prices in comparison to chain grocers, and who is actually shopping there.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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Many have an opinion about Detroit’s Renaissance Center.

Some view it as ugly, detached from the city, and with General Motors having moved out, they believe it should be redeveloped.

And then there are people who like the RenCen. They see its tallest towers as an emblem of the city. They’re often the same people who argue that pouring public money into its redevelopment will detract from other priorities — things like schools, public transit, and housing that teachers and nurses can afford.

This question — whether a large public-private project is worth it for the public — has come into sharper focus. That’s because GM and Bedrock are now asking for just under $550 million to subsidize the redevelopment of the RenCen. That’s up from about $350 million when they first announced the plan.

Jared Fleisher is the CEO of Bedrock. He spoke about the plan with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent. Later, Anne Goulet joined the conversation. She is the principal of two firms, ARGitct and Anne R Goulet Architecture and Design.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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