The city of Detroit is inviting residents to take part in a series of “policy workshops” this month as part of its master plan for the future.

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

Plan Detroit is three-phase planning process informed by resident feedback that is expected to conclude with implementation of the new collaborative policies by 2026.

According to the city, the Michigan planning enabling act (MPEA) recommends cities update their master plans every 10 years, and Detroit’s master plan has not been comprehensively updated since 2009.

The upcoming events are intended to provide an “interactive” opportunity to work with city planners to create practical policies that address real concerns for Detroiters.

Sessions will take place at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 12, and at 5:30 p.m. April 14-16.  All sessions will be held at the Joseph Walker Williams Community Center at 8431 Rosa Parks Blvd., Detroit. Topics will include Neighborhoods & Housing, Open Space & Environment, Arts & Culture; and Mobility & Jobs.

For more information and to register to attend, visit plandetroit.com. 

Other headlines for Tuesday, April 1, 2025:

• Detroit firefighters are trying to find out what caused an apartment building on the city’s west side to explode. The Detroit Fire Department is also apologizing for an emergency alert that went out to cellphones throughout metro Detroit around 6 a.m. Monday morning notifying people about the blast. 
• American Forests says its urban tree planting partnership in Detroit has helped add more than 25,000 trees to the city since 2021.
• Billionaire Dan Gilbert’s real estate empire is growing. Rocket Companies has acquired competitor Mr. Cooper Group Inc. in an all-stock deal worth about $9.5 billion. Last week, Rocket bought another competitor, Redfin, for roughly $1.7 billion.
• Gas prices rose sharply overnight, with AAA Michigan reporting drivers paid an average of $3.25 a gallon for regular unleaded — 10 cents more than yesterday.

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

Tonight on The Detroit Evening Report, we share news about the city of Detroit’s expansion to its private sewer repair program; a new area code for some Detroiters and more.

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

Detroit expands sewer repair program

Detroit is adding 75 neighborhoods to its private sewer repair program. The city received $95 million from the federal government to help residents whose homes were damaged when heavy rain caused flooding in 2021.

The repair effort started last year in the 22 hardest-hit neighborhoods. Mayor Mike Duggan says city workers have helped more than 400 families through the program so far, with the expansion allowing them to reach another 1,000 homes.

The Water and Sewerage Department will clean and inspect lateral service lines and repair or replace them as needed.

Detroit adding 679 area code

Detroit’s getting another area code this fall after the Michigan Public Service Commission says the region is running out of available 313 numbers.

New phone customers will be assigned a 679 area code in November. It’ll cover the same area, which includes the city and some adjacent communities. People with 313 numbers won’t have to change them, but starting in October, they will have to dial all 10 digits to call anyone. 679 will be Michigan’s 13th area code. 

MiAble program boosts outreach

A savings program for Michigan residents with disabilities is ramping up efforts to promote its service.

MiABLE is teaming up with the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan to spread the word about the benefits of opening a MiABLE account, which allow people with disabilities to save and invest without jeopardizing essential benefits like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income. MiABLE estimates only 1% of the people eligible for an account are currently enrolled.

Together, MiABLE and the Community Mental Health Association are kicking off a statewide roadshow to spread the word about the program. 

Detroit Disability Power hosts ‘DanceAbility’ workshops

Detroit Disability Power has hosted ‘DanceAbility’ workshops throughout March. DanceAbility is designed to provide a space where everyone — including people with disabilities — can feel comfortable to move within their capabilities.

Lead organizer Cara Graninger says that the workshops encourage people to challenge what they may consider limitations.

“It’s just normal, at DanceAbility, whatever body you have, however you move, that’s the new normal,” she said.

The last workshop will take place virtually on March 21.  Learn more at detroitdisabilitypower.org/danceability

–Reporting by Zahra Hassan, WDET

Detroit hires veterans affairs manager

Detroit has hired its first Veterans Affairs Manager, the city announced Thursday.

Kwesi Betserai spent 28 years in the military, serving in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In his new role,  Betserai will be connecting vets with benefits, jobs, housing, health care and other services. He previously held a similar position with Wayne County’s Veterans Services Division. 

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

Tonight on The Detroit Evening Report, we cover Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II’s entry into the 2026 Michigan governor race; an upcoming panel highlight jessica Care moore, Tiff Massey and other women building connections between hip-hop, design and culture; and more.

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

Gilchrist makes bid for Michigan governor

Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist declared his candidacy for governor today.
Speaking live on WDET, Gilchrist said he’s the best candidate because he’s delivered for Michigan residents on issues such as housing.

“When I talk to people all across Michigan, including in the city of Detroit, who said that we didn’t have enough affordable housing and that there were not enough people who could afford homes in the city of Detroit, in the state of Michigan, I pushed millions of dollars of funding into our state’s housing trust fund that’s brought 60,000 new housing units online.”

Gilchrist says he’s proud of the work he’s done alongside Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who can’t run again due to term limits. Asked what he would do differently, he said Michigan needs a leader who can make technology such as artificial intelligence work for the people, not victimize them.  He joins Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson in the race for the Democratic Party nomination.

Reporting by Pat Batcheller, WDET

Panel to highlight women connecting design, culture and community

Panel on hip-hop and design Hip Hop Architecture Lecture Series is celebrating Women’s History Month

The University of Detroit Mercy will host a panel discussion celebrating Women’s History Month next Wednesday, March 19, as part of Michael Ford’s Hip Hop Architecture Lecture Series.

Detroit Poet Laureate jessica Care moore, Avalon Village Founder Mama Shu, interdisciplinary artist Tiff Massey, hip-hop artist Mama Sol, Hip-Hop Architecture Fellow Asia Williams, and Hip Hop Architecture Founder Michael Ford will participate in the discussion — which will center around women at the intersection of hip-hop culture and design.

The event, sponsored by Michigan Central, will begin at 6 p.m. with “Bites and Beats,” followed by the panel discussion at 7 p.m. inside U of D’s School of Architecture and Community Development. 

Pulitzer on the Road coming to Michigan Central

A group of Pulitzer Prize winners will gather at Michigan Central later this month to talk about the state of cultural criticism. Journalist, historian and Dean of Columbia School of Journalism Jelani Cobb will moderate the discussion. Detroit Free Press restaurant critic and 2023 Pulitzer finalist Lyndsay Green, film critic Justin Chang from the New Yorker and NPR’s Fresh Air, and New York Times pop culture critic Wesley Moore will be panelists. The free event — part of the Pulitzer on the Road will take place on Wednesday, March 26. The panel discussion starts at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a reception at 7:30 p.m. 

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

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

WDET and the Detroit Evening Report have collected Black History Month stories from listeners as a part of its Black History Listening Project.

Here are the stories we aired in February 2025:

Wyatt Tate made headlines in 1894

Detroiter Brenda McGadney grew up hearing stories about her great-grandfather.

Wyatt Tate, a farmer from Alabama, was made infamous after an incident with police arising from an animal being stolen from him while he was away on a business trip. After Tate successfully retrieved the animal, the town sheriff accused him of theft, and during his attempted arrest, Tate killed the sheriff, an assistant and one of the sheriff’s horses. After going on the run and evading police for months, Tate was eventually killed on May 12, 1894. 

Using the internet and genealogical tools for research, McGadney found the story was a very big deal at the time.

“He is documented in more than 80 newspapers in 1894,” she said. “So, it went viral.”

McGadney says growing up, it was important to her mother, Annie Tate McGadney, that they knew of Tate’s story. She had learned it from her own father, Felix Tate, who witnessed the events in 1894.

“My mother brought us up to speak up, not only for yourself, but for other people who are disenfranchised, who you see are being harmed,” she said.

McGadney also found references to Wyatt Tate in Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and in books about Lee who grew up in Monroeville. A cousin, actor and boxer Bill Tate, wrote a fictionalized account, “Little Wyatt Tate: Fiction Based on Fact.”

“When you travel in Africa, the question that Africans ask you, ‘Where do you come from?’” McGadney says, “I tell them that is a very painful question to ask an African American, and they don’t really understand it. We don’t know where we came from.”

McGadney says she has become her family’s griot, holding the stories of both sides of her family.

“This history is rich, and it covers both my mom’s side, which would be the Tates and the Clarks, and my dad’s side, which would be the Baldwins and the Jacksons and the McGadneys,” she said. “You need to be telling your story, and it empowers your children. It empowers our family.”

Iola Corbett witnessed the rise of Detroit’s Muslim community

Iola Corbett, also known as Sister Ameeda, was born and raised in Detroit.

Corbett’s family was a part of the Nation of Islam when she was a child.

Over the years she met Malcolm X, who visited her family’s restaurant in Detroit often.

“My mother was an excellent cook, so he had dinner with my dad every day, so I got to hear him, and I would serve him. He was a big influence in my family’s life,” she said.

Corbett says the Nation of Islam made her a part of something bigger.

“It…gave me a purpose of who I was, who I wanted to be…close with my community,” she explained.

Corbett would go on to become a union leader and to write the book  “Growing Up Muslim and the Journey Continues.”

Carolyn Clifford tells her mom’s story

WXYZ TV reporter and anchor Carolyn Clifford tells the story of her mother often. She says she wants to inspire women dealing with domestic violence to leave, and to prove to children in Detroit that they can succeed despite hardship.

“I always tell Detroiters, especially young kids, when you see me, you see you,” Clifford said. “ So if your mom was on drugs, or your daddy on drugs, or, you know, somebody’s drinking alcohol…don’t be ashamed. There’s always a way out of a crazy situation, as I learned from my own mom.”

“And she would always say, you know, with God on her side, she could do anything.”

Bruce Simpson remembers Barbara-Rose Collins

Bruce Simpson’s grandmother was the first Black woman to represent Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives. Barbara-Rose Collins served in Congress from 1991 to 1997. She also worked in politics at the city and state level.

But Simpson says he wasn’t really aware that Collins was the “distinguished lady from Michigan.”

“I always just looked at her as grandma,” Simpson said.

Simpson has also entered public service. He is the Ombudsman for the City of Detroit.

WDET listeners are invited to share Black history stories about their families, friends and neighbors throughout the year via email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org or by leaving us a voice memo in the WDET mobile app.

Dearborn Public Schools is providing free meals for students to take home for iftar, the break fast meal during the month of Ramadan.

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

Many Dearborn students are Muslim and will abstain from eating and drinking until sunset, missing school lunch. Food service director Emi Kreste said that the district has wanted to provide Ramadan accommodations for years, but that it wasn’t possible until now.

“[The Michigan Department of Education] (MDE) and USDA has allowed, now, school districts to complete a waiver which will allow students to take the lunch at home,” he said.

MDE and the USDA have a rule stating that school lunches are only allowed to be eaten on school property.

This rule has now been amended for Ramadan.

–Reporting by Zahra Hassan, WDET.

More headlines for Tuesday, March 4, 2025:

• Broadcaster Roland Martin is planning alternative programming to President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, inviting members of the Congressional Black Caucus, labor leaders and activists to participate in “The State of Our Union,” airing on the Black Star Network and on Martin’s YouTube channel.
• Choreographer and MacArthur “Genius” Grant winner Kyle Abraham and his dance company A.I.M. will perform at the Wright Museum of African American History on March 28-29. The series of dances were inspired by the Wright’s collection and choreographed exclusively for the museum. 
• Detroit’s Ombudsman’s Office will hold office hours at businesses and recreation centers across the city this spring and summer. The Ombudsman’s Office serves as an independent oversight and investigative agency for the city, addressing complaints and advocating on behalf of residents. The office plans to visit community sites 20 times through July 23, with the next meeting taking place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday at the A.B. Ford Community Center, 100 Lenox St.
• The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners’ Youth Advisory Panel is hosting a Young People & 21st Century Policing Symposium from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 15 at the Wayne State University Law School, 471 West Palmer Ave. Discussions will focus on youth interactions with police, bias in law enforcement, public policy and more. The event is free and lunch will be provided. Register on eventbrite.
• The Detroit Parks Coalition and the Detroit Public Library are partnering for an inaugural Bookmark Design Contest. K-12 students are invited to design a bookmark that highlights the city’s parks, libraries and people. Designs can be submitted before the end of the month. Winning designs will be published and distributed in parks and libraries and shared on social media.  

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