Regional Michigan unemployment rates increased in November, according to data collected by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget. Regional jobless rates in the state ranged from 3.6 to 6.5 percent in November.

“Michigan regional unemployment rate gains were primarily due to workforce advances across most labor market areas over the month,” said Wayne Rourke, labor market information director for the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics. “Payroll jobs also rose over the month in the majority of Michigan metro areas.”

All 17 Michigan regions had unemployment rate increases over the year, with a median increase of 1.4 percent.

Other headlines for Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025:

• The Detroit Fire Department is kicking off a Safety Series with webinars to help keep residents safe. The webinars will focus on many forms of fire prevention — from cooking safety to lithium-ion battery best practices. The webinars will also cover how families can create a fire safety plan and best practices when using open fire — like with grills, fire pits and fireworks. The webinar will kick off Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. Visit detroitmi.gov for more information.

• Cinema Detroit is screening the short-film collection ‘From Ground Zero: Stories from Gaza’ in Hamtramck this month. The collection features 22 short films by Palestinian filmmakers showing life in Gaza during the war. It is shortlisted for the Oscars’ Best International Film. The collection includes a mix of genres such as fiction, documentaries, animation and experimental cinema. The screening will take place Sunday, Jan. 12 at Planet Ant Theater in Hamtramck. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the screening begins at 5:30 p.m.

• Bowers School Farm in Bloomfield Township is opening its winter attraction, Winter Glow Tubing. The location features a 200-foot neon lit tubing hill. Visitors can enjoy other activities like sledding, snowshoeing and a winter bonfire. General admission is free to explore the farm and visit animals like Marty the calf and Kronk the llama. There is also a new winter playscape for kids. The grand opening is Saturday, Jan. 4 at noon. Tickets are $17 each with discounts for families purchasing four or more.

• Here’s a reminder for City of Detroit residents during snowy weather: Crews will plow a 16-foot path down residential streets, not curb to curb, during snowy weather. Residential streets are plowed only when snow is 6 inches or more. Contractors will plow residential streets by district. The City of Detroit is in charge of plowing over 650 miles of major roads and over 1,880 miles of residential streets. Wayne County clears freeways and county roads, and the Michigan Department of Transportation clears major arteries like Gratiot, Woodward and Grand River.

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

This week on the Detroit Evening Report we’re reflecting on some of the stories we’ve reported on at WDET this year that show how special the people and places in our community truly are.

We also share some news about what’s happening in the community over the holidays. 

First we revisit a conversation WDET’s Hernz Laguerre Jr. had with Morgan Hutson, an artist who performs as Supercoolwicked. She spoke about her show, “Negro Spiritual” at the University of Michigan Museum of Art earlier this month.

Other headlines for Dec. 26, 2024:

• Detroit lights the 30-foot tall Kwanzaa Kinara in Campus Martius around 5 p.m. tonight, celebrating the first day and the first principal of Kwanzaa – Umoja (oo-moh-jah) or unity. The Kinara joins the 26-foot Menorah lit on Wednesday to mark the first day of Hannukah, and the 66-foot Christmas tree already on display in Campus Martius.
• Celebrate Kwanzaa at the Garden Bowl’s Kwanzaa & Kulture: Community Bowling Day from 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday. Tickets cost $35 for adults and $10 for youth, and cover two hours of bowling, soft drinks and food. 
• KAN Books will hold a free celebration of all seven principals of Kwanzaa from 3 to 7:30 -p.m. Friday evening. There will be a traditional Kwanzaa ceremony with candle lighting, live performances, music and a community marketplace.
• The Detroit Institute of Arts is open for family fun throughout the holiday break. The DIA’s Artmaking Studio is offering drop-in workshops in paper snowflake making every day through the end of the year, and visitors 6 years old and up can use museum supplies to draw in its galleries. Friday, the Detroit Film Theatre will screen “Animated Fantasy Shorts of the Silent Era at 3 p.m. The DFT continues its holiday silent film offerings with “Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood” at 3 p.m. Sunday, and with the 1924 silent film “The Last Laugh,” screened with the live score performed by Little Bang Theory at 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.Films are free with museum admission. General admission is always free for residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties. 

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

There’s a lot of attention on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs at universities across the country.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to ban DEI at universities and businesses. And after a scathing New York Times article characterized DEI at the University of Michigan as a failure, concerns are high about what’s next for DEI on campus. 

Not long after, the university’s Board of Regents held a private meeting to discuss DEI’s future. Regent Sarah Hubbard later appeared on “Fox and Friends,” saying the board was taking a “critical look” at DEI programs and spending. 

U-M’s university-wide DEI strategy is aimed at increasing diversity and making the campus more inclusive. Programs like the Go Blue Guarantee —which provides free tuition to in-state students under a certain income level —and Wolverine Pathways, which offers educational support for grade school students, are part of the university’s DEI initiatives. 

“We’ve spent a significant amount of money, more than just about any other university in the country, pushing behind these DEI programs,” Hubbard said. “And we really need to understand if we’re getting what we want out of that investment.” 

– University of Michigan Regent Sarah Hubbard

DEI also supports resources like non-binary bathrooms, accommodations for disabilities, and tools for students facing discrimination. There’s even a push to diversify who the university accepts donations from. 

But Hubbard says the board is questioning whether these initiatives are actually making a difference. 

“We’ve spent a significant amount of money, more than just about any other university in the country, pushing behind these DEI programs,” Hubbard said. “And we really need to understand if we’re getting what we want out of that investment.” 

All of this has left students, faculty, and staff uncertain about the future of DEI. 

“There is kind of a multi-dimensional or layered context to where these concerns are coming,” said Mariel Krupansky, a lecturer at U-M. 

She says part of the tension comes from Hubbard’s public comments about defunding DEI — but there’s more to it. 

Recently, Provost Laurie McCauley decided to eliminate diversity statements from faculty hiring and promotion processes. Those statements were meant to reflect someone’s commitment to DEI, but McCauley — with input from an eight-person committee — said they put too much pressure on faculty to take specific stances on moral and political issues. 

“It’s not just that decision,” Krupansky added, “it’s the larger context in which it was made and how it’s being portrayed to the public.” 

At the Dec. 5, 2024 Board of Regents meeting, students and faculty spoke out, asking the board not to cut any DEI programs. Regent Michael Behm was direct in his response.

“I don’t know where these assumptions have come from,” Behm said. “I think we just want you to know there are no plans to make any cuts to any of those programs.” 

But some students and faculty are still uneasy, especially as a new presidential administration that has openly rejected DEI takes office next month. 

President-elect Trump has vowed to ban DEI and eliminate the Department of Education. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance has called DEI divisive and introduced the “Dismantle DEI Act” earlier this year. 

Melissa Borja, an associate professor of American culture, says she was reassured by the Board of Regents’ response to student and faculty concerns. 

“Our community is at its best when we lean into our core values — being bold, being courageous, and being truthful,” she said. “And when we focus on our core missions of research, teaching, and serving the people of Michigan.” 

Robert Sellers, a professor of psychology and U-M’s first chief diversity officer, says the university has weathered similar challenges before. 

“For 20-plus years, Michigan has been fighting issues related to anti-affirmative action,” he said. “We’ve developed DEI in a way that’s legal, always legal. It would be up to the president to define what part of our DEI initiatives isn’t.” 

For now, the Board of Regents says it’s staying the course and keeping an eye on what’s to come. 

AAA has integrated its roadside service with two popular navigation apps, Waze and Google Maps, to alert drivers when they’re approaching an auto club tow truck.

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The goal is to warn those using the navigation apps to slow down and move over when they see an emergency vehicle stopped ahead, as required by state law.

AAA spokesperson Adrienne Woodland says the alerts could save lives.

“Tragically, about two emergency responders are killed every month, and thats far too many deaths,” Woodland said. “They occur because drivers are either not paying attention or do not realize they’re approaching someone on the roadside.”

AAA responds to over 30 million calls for roadside assistance across the country, amounting to about one call every two seconds.

Woodland says if someone’s car or truck breaks down, they should stay inside the vehicle if it’s safe and wait for help to arrive.

The auto club expects a record number of people to travel over the holidays, predicting that more than 119 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home between Saturday and New Year’s Day.

Reporting by Pat Batcheller, WDET News

Other headlines for Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024:

• The Michigan Muslim Community Council will continue its “Days of Ihsan” campaign on Dec. 25, partnering with local organizations to hand out holiday gifts and food to over 300 low-income Detroit families.
• Detroit’s homicide rates have dropped drastically again this year, with the Detroit Police Department reporting the city is on pace to break last year’s record of lowest homicides since 1966.
• Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill Monday that will extend the maximum length of time Michigan workers can receive unemployment insurance benefits by six weeks.
• Most city of Detroit offices will be closed beginning Christmas Eve for the holiday season and will reopen on Thursday, Jan. 2. Normal Police, fire and bus services will be provided.  Garbage, bulk and recycling will not be picked up on Christmas or New Year’s Day. Friday’s collection will take place on Saturday.  

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

Detroit unveiled the final designs for the first three Solar Neighborhoods on Thursday.

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Each neighborhood provided input on the landscaping for the solar fields in their area. Neighbors chose between trees, decorative fences, and whether to plant urban farms or wildflowers beneath the panels. 

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says community input on the design was the top priority. 

“We are not going forward unless each of these neighborhood associations signs off on a neighborhood agreement with the design of the solar fields that they want,” Duggan said. “This has been a neighbor driven project from the beginning.”

Construction for the fields is expected to begin in spring of 2025. 

 Other headlines for Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024:

• Detroit now has its very first rage room, where people can destroy objects like old electronics, glass, or furniture as a means of therapy for releasing pent-up anger or frustration. The business, called the Damage Zone, is a recipient of the city’s Motor City Match program.  
• A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed by a Muslim worker against U.S. Steel can move forward. Jalal Muflihi says while working at the company’s Great Lakes location he faced harassment and retaliation and was denied access to training and advancement. U.S. Steel had asked the court to dismiss the charges, arguing there was not enough evidence. Muflihi, a Yemeni American, says coworkers called him a terrorist and a shoe bomber – and that management was aware of the harassment and took no action. He filed the suit in 2022.
• The Detroit Parks and Recreation Department is recruiting youth for its basketball and Olympic handball programs in the new year. The Get Bucketz Basketball program provides four weeks of fundamentals on basketball for 7-14 year olds. The program is $25 and will be held at the Northwest Activities Center, 18100 Meyers Rd. Handball sessions will be held at the Tindal Activity Center at 10301 W & Mile Monday evenings starting Jan. 27. The department says handball is like combining soccer and basketball. The four-week program is for 8-12 year olds and costs $10. Register for both programs at dprdathletics.com. 

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

Visit Detroit published Detroit’s first Michelin Green Guide this week, highlighting the city’s top cultural attractions.

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Detroit is the 10th U.S. city to get a designated Michelin Green Guide. The guide will spotlight the city’s best visitor experiences from art and culture to architecture, music, neighborhoods and more.

The French manufacturer, which also rates restaurants and hotels, gave the Detroit Institute of Arts its highest honor — three stars. That puts the DIA on par with the Louvre in Paris. Michelin’s Philippe Orain says Detroit is a great city with a great history.

“It’s a very rich destination, and you can spend more than four days when you travel to Detroit. So that means that the city deserves a guidebook,” Orain said.

Michelin also awarded three stars to the Henry Ford Museum, Cranbrook, and the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit. The Green Guide is printed in French, but an English version will be available soon.

Other headlines for Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024:

• The city of Detroit declared a cold weather health emergency this week and is opening library branches and recreation centers as warming centers to help residents get respite from the cold. 
• People of Palmer Park  are looking for volunteers for their free WinterFest Multicultural Holiday Celebration this Sunday, Dec. 15.
• The Livernois Winter Festival is happening this Saturday, Dec. 14. Lucania Lavish Couture is hosting the event to draw traffic to the Livernois Avenue of Fashion.
• Dearborn Heights named its first ever Arab American Muslim Police Chief. Deputy Chief Hussein Farhat will take the post of Interim Police Chief, effective Jan. 6. 

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

A new book released last month highlights various celebrities and their unique connects with the city of Detroit.

Titled “Motor City Famous: Celebrity Homes, Graves, and Little-known Locales,” the book from author Steve Platto features 113 lesser-known notable people with Detroit connections, from Lucille Ball and Robin Williams to Christie Brinkley and John Hughes.

Platto told WDET he had always had an interest in genealogy, history and celebrities. What started as a research project on his family history soon turned into a sort of scavenger hunt for celebrity connections to the city of Detroit.

“I was watching this Robin Williams documentary called ‘Come Inside My Mind,’ and in it, it had mentioned that he had gone to [Detroit] Country Day,” he said.

After some digging around online, Platto came across the Bloomfield Historical Society, which listed a 40-room mansion on the corner of Opdyke and Woodward in Bloomfield Hills. It was originally owned by a man named Theodore McManus, and after a few sales, was purchased by Robin Williams’ family.

Platto found out that unfortunately the home burned down some time in the ’80s, so he couldn’t visit, but some piece of the home remained.

”If you were to go there, there’s a stone wall that goes all around that corner of Opdyke and Woodward, and that was the original stone wall that surrounded the house when it was first built,” he said.

Platto posted this information on his Facebook page and garnered a bunch of interest. So, he went looking for more celebrities. Fans of his posts suggested he turn his findings into a book. And so, he did.

“It just kind of snowballed, and before I knew it, I had like…113 different people that came out of Detroit.”

The book includes well-known connections like Eminem, Stevie Wonder, and Tim Allen. But also some more obscure connections, like Jack Kerouac.

Platto said he wanted the book to be more than just a list of names and addresses.

“I wanted to actually track down what that tie was, where that house was, what the address was, any little back story that had to do with the tie to Detroit. So kind of putting on the Sherlock Holmes hat and finding out all these different things was really kind of the fun part of it,” he said.

Not every discovery made it into the book, however.

“There was a couple, actually, that I found out about after the manuscript was turned in,” Platto said. “I found out Snoop Dogg lived here for a couple of years in 1986 and 1987 and he worked the breakfast shift over at the McDonald’s over on Greenfield and Eight Mile.”

Platto will be signing books at Dearborn Music from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview. 

Tonight on The Detroit Evening Report, we cover a new online dashboard for residents to track complaints against Detroit police; a Detroit-based meat company launching a national ground beef recall due to possible E. coli contamination and more.

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New dashboard aims to improve Detroit police oversight

The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners launched a new online dashboard this week to track citizen complaints against police in the city. The Detroit Free Press reports the dashboard will provide data including the number of open and closed complaints, type of complaints and the number of allegations attached to each incident, as well as the race and gender of the police officer and those who filed the complaint against them. The dashboard can be found on the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners website. 

Book highlights celebrity connections to Detroit

A new book highlighting various celebrities and their unique connects with the city of Detroit came out this month. In the book, titled “Motor City Famous: Celebrity Homes, Graves, and Little-Known Locales,” the author Steve Platto lists various celebrities with known ties to the city like Joe Louis, Stevie Wonder, and Eminem. He also highlights some new connections like Lucille Ball, Tony Hawk and Iggy Pop. Platto will be hosting a book signing from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30, at Schuler Books in West Bloomfield, and at Paperback Writers & Weirdsville Records in Mount Clemens from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Detroit company recalls ground beef for E. coli risk

Approximately 168,000 pounds of ground beef products from a Detroit-based meat company are being recalled due to possible E. coli contamination. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), Wolverine Packing Co. recalled both fresh and frozen products that were shipped to restaurant locations nationwide. The affected fresh products have a “use by” date of Nov. 14, 2024 and the frozen products are labeled with a production date of Oct. 22, 2024. 10 22 24. All the products subject to recall bear the establishment number “EST. 2574B” inside the USDA mark of inspection. For more information visit fsis.usda.gov.

Hope for the Holidays at Second Ebenezer Church  

The Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit is hosting a turkey giveaway for its 10th annual Hope for the Holidays event. Distribution will take place between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, at the church, located at 14601 Dequindre Rd, Detroit. The church will also host a food distribution event from 2-4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 6602 Walton in Detroit. 

Detroit Trivia Night

The city of Detroit Youth Affairs Team is hosting Detroit Trivia Night at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22, with the city’s historian Jamon Jordan. Participants can test their knowledge of the history of Detroit. The event will take place at the Jospeh Walker Williams Recreations Center at 84331 Rosa Parks Blvd. 

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

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced on Thursday that more than 300 locations across the state now have free contraception resources available through the “Take Control of Your Birth Control” program.

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Resources include over-the-counter birth control pills, emergency contraception, condoms, and family planning educational resources. Participating locations include community partners, local health departments, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) offices, and federally qualified health centers in every county of the state.

Michigan families are encouraged to visit michigan.gov/takecontrol to find an interactive map of participating organizations and learn more about how to access these resources.

“The goal of this program is to ensure individuals, regardless of their circumstances, have access to tools that allow them to make their own decisions about their health and future,” saidDr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive, in a statement. “We want to make sure individuals who need and want these tools can easily obtain them. This campaign reflects the state’s ongoing commitment to ensuring equitable access to reproductive health services.”

Visit Michigan.gov/takecontrol for more information and to find participating locations near you.

Other headlines for Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024:

• Detroit will host a “reverse vending machine” in Campus Martius this holiday season through Dec. 8. The Giving Machine allows people to donate items to people worldwide and in the Detroit area. Visitors can donate a variety of items including clothing, hygiene items, meals, livestock and more.
• Detroit City Council members Latisha Johnson and Gabriella Santiago-Romero are hosting their quarterly meeting with the equitable development task force at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday, Nov. 21 via Zoom. The meeting will cover what the task force has been doing to address the needs of underserved Detroit neighborhoods. Reach out to either councilmember Johnson’s or Santiago-Romero’s offices to get more information on how to attend.
• The Detroit Justice Center is hosting a free community screening of “Coldwater Kitchen,” a film that highlights the culinary training program for incarcerated residents at Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan. The film follows chef Jimmy Lee Hill and three of his students as they navigate the challenges of incarceration and reentry. Dinner will be catered by Chef Dink of Coldwater Kitchen and the Green Mile Grille. The free event will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15 at the LOVE building, 4731 Grand River Ave., Detroit.

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