At the federal level, democracy is on its heels in America. 

President Donald Trump has violated national and international laws by kidnapping Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to breach residents’ civil liberties, including killing an individual in Minnesota, and by sending military troops to cities that have not requested them.

But at the local level, despite weak participation, officials say democracy is strong, that the trash is getting picked up on time, and that services are being properly distributed, especially in more urban areas. 

That’s what Stephanie Leiser found in a recent survey of Michigan municipal leaders. She’s the Director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, and a lecturer at University of Michigan. The Metro’s Sam Corey spoke with Leiser to learn more.

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Safety continues to improve in Detroit. 

Recent numbers suggest that homicides fell well below 200 last year. That was the first time that happened in six decades. 

There are a number of things that are given credit for the decline. Community violence interventionists who are preventing harm, and police officers that focus on de-escalation and complete their homicide investigations. It can also be attributed to increased surveillance with things like Project Green Light. 

Now, Mayor Mary Sheffield is creating an Office of Neighborhood & Community Safety, which will focus on mental health issues, after-school programs and resident access to jobs to further increase safety. 

What exactly will the office do? And why is a holistic approach needed to increase resident safety?

Shantay Jackson is the Director of the National Offices of Violence Prevention Network at the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, which will help establish Detroit’s office. She spoke with The Metro‘s Sam Corey.

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When the police make a mistake, who is around to hold them accountable? Sometimes it’s courts and attorneys. 

But in many American cities, including those here in Michigan, there are civilian oversight boards. These boards do various things, including investigating civilian complaints, making disciplinary recommendations, and auditing police departments. 

The Detroit Board of Police of Commissioners was established in the 1970s after widespread claims of police abuse. Today, after the murder of George Floyd and increased scrutiny of police, more pressure is on police commissioners to hold officers accountable and to make policing work for everyone. 

Just before the new year, Detroit welcomed four new people to its Board of Police Commissioners, including Victoria Camille. She is the District 7 commissioner. 

Why did she run for the position? How can policing improve in Detroit? And, what does she make of the role of policing in society?

Commissioner Camille joined Cary Junior II on The Metro to discuss.

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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.

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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.

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Michigan’s economy is in flux.

Tariffs have pushed up the cost of some goods. Unemployment has ticked up slightly. Hiring practices are shifting as artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT become more prevalent in workplaces.

Those changes raise big questions for the state’s more than 900,000 small businesses — and the workers who depend on them. How are owners adapting to rising costs and new technologies? What does this moment feel like on the ground? And what should people be doing now to stay resilient?

To explore those questions, Mark Lee, founder of The Lee Group, sat down with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent. Lee hosts several talk shows and writes about business and the economy for Crain’s Detroit, with a focus on how national trends play out locally.

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In Oakland County, local leaders have gotten more attention in recent months. 

That’s because reports have shown potential conflicts of interest—some have voted on matters that affect their side jobs. 

Discussions arose about hiring an ombudsman to oversee county officials’ operations, or having commissioners disclose their financial information. 

But in a recent Oakland County meeting, neither of those things happened. Instead, county commissioners kicked the responsibility to the state legislature, urging those lawmakers to pass a bill mandating local officials to publicly disclose their assets. 

Why didn’t commissioners pass an ethics resolution? And, what ethics rules should be imposed on commissioners?

Oakland County Commissioner Michael Spisz was originally advocating for the county to pass an ethics resolution, but changed course. He spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.

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In Michigan, bills to restrict phone use and social media access for those under 18 are being considered. 

Social media companies are distracting people, sowing division, and preventing kids from experiencing normal childhoods. 

Those are the big takeaways of the book, “The Anxious Generation”, by Jonathan Haidt. That book is a big reason countries, states and classrooms have been restricting social media and phone use.  

Michigan schools have already taken action. Gibraltar, Dearborn, and Novi school districts have restricted phone use. 

In Novi, the school superintendent gave copies of Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation” to anyone who wanted it. 

About one year later, how has the book influenced Novi students, teachers and parents?

The Metro’s Sam Corey spoke with Novi Community School District Superintendent Ben Mainka to find out.

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On Sunday, a father and son killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia. It was one of the deadliest attacks on Jewish people in that nation’s history.

The attack is part of a larger trend of rising antisemitism. 

Since October of 2023, American Jews report a rise in antisemitism, including an uptick in violence against Jewish people. This past year alone, high-profile attacks happened in Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and Colorado. 

All of this is occurring amid Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, according to scholars. 

What is the connection between Israel’s violence and violence targeting Jewish people around the world? 

The Metro’s Sam Corey spoke with a variety of Jewish scholars and community leaders to learn more.

This reporting was edited by Metro Host Robyn Vincent.

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To some, the story of the Packard Plant mirrors that of Detroit. Built in the early 1900s, the building was a major site of auto manufacturing in the city until the mid-1950s, when the plant closed. 

But that didn’t spell the end for the Packard Plant. The building continued to house industrial and commercial tenants into the 1990s, and was even home to some legendary Detroit raves. 

After a 2022 court order, large parts of the Packard Plant were demolished. What’s left are massive concrete frames and outer shells. No windows. No interiors. No machinery. Just structure. The site isn’t really a factory anymore. It’s a ruin. And now, two developers say they want to give that ruin new life.

What are the plans for the redeveloped plant? And what will it take to make those changes happen?

Developers Mark Bennett and Oren Goldenberg spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent about that and more.

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The project to reconstruct I-375 is meant to do two things at once: rebuild aging infrastructure and repair the harm caused by a highway that, decades ago, tore through Black neighborhoods and business districts in downtown Detroit.

But as plans evolved, the cost of the I-375 reconstruction project was ballooning to $520 million. Criticism was mounting among nearby business owners who feared losing money and Detroiters who wanted to ensure the project would deliver reparative outcomes. 

So in August the Michigan Department of Transportation paused the project. Then last month, it was revived with a different plan. 

Jason Garza is the Michigan Department of Transportation Deputy Region Engineer. He spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.

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Aggressive immigration enforcement has intensified nationwide. As of early this month, more than 200,000 people had been arrested by ICE agents, including about 75,000 with no criminal record at all.

Lue Yang doesn’t technically fit into this context. But his case is close.

He was born in a Thai refugee camp after his family fled Laos. The Hmong refugee has lived in Michigan since he was 8 months old. While he is here legally, Yang previously had a 1997 criminal conviction, which was expunged in Michigan, but isn’t recognized by federal immigration law.

That resulted in ICE agents arresting Yang in July at his work. He was in prison until last week when he was released with the help of Michigan Republican Congressman Tom Barrett. 

Why did Congressman Barrett help free Lue Yang? And, what was the process like for getting someone out of ICE detention?

Congressman Barrett joined The Metro to discuss that and more.

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What should teachers focus on when exploring sexual health with students? How should they broach sensitive subjects? What does it mean to have healthy relationships with others, and to monitor our own emotional wellbeing?

These are some of the questions that the Michigan State Board of Education tackled last month. That’s because the board changed its standards guidelines for the first time since 2007. Those changes include explaining and exploring things like gender identity, gender expression, healthy romantic relationships, and understanding one’s own emotions in the classroom. 

Co-Vice President for the State Board of Education Tiffany Tilley joined The Metro to discuss what the changes might mean for schools and students across the state.

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As Detroit has been changing over the last decade, one word has come up again and again to describe the city: Gentrification. 

Generally, when people think of the word, they consider people who are white and relatively well off moving into a poor, nonwhite community. At worst, it signals feelings of inequality and unfairness. At best, it’s seen as a sign of development. 

But what actually is gentrification? And, what does it look like in Detroit’s neighborhoods where gentrification doesn’t lead to development?

Sharon Cornelissen is the author of “The Last House on the Block: Black Homeowners, White Homesteaders, and Failed Gentrification in Detroit.” She says that while American cities pay a lot of attention to gentrification, they should focus more on population decline and disinvestment.

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Health isn’t just influenced by the choices we make. It’s also determined by public policy.

That’s the message of a new report that examines how health in Michigan is limping behind others around the country. On average, resident lifespans are shorter, infant mortality rates are higher, and Michiganders are more likely to suffer from cancer and other diseases. 

Why is this the case? And, what is the state’s role in getting us to move our bodies more, and to expand our minds so we can live longer, healthier lives?

Karley Abramson is a health policy research associate for the Citizens Research Council, which published the report. She spoke with host Robyn Vincent.

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In America, we have a lot of very big problems, including climate change, income and wealth inequality and hyper partisanship.

How should we tackle these problems? 

Paul Fleming is an associate professor of public health at the University of Michigan. He believes we need to focus more on preventing problems from occurring in the first place.

It’s that mindset, detailed in his book, “Imagine Doing Better,” that he hopes will help us get to the root of the problems we seek to resolve before they turn into crises.

WDET’s Sam Corey spoke with Professor Fleming. They began by talking about why policy is important to focus on at all.

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Home ownership is considered to be a critical piece of the American Dream.

Wealth is often passed down from generation to generation through homes. But, in Detroit, there are many properties that have not been properly passed down from parent to child or relative. Why? And, how can that be changed?

Detroit Future City is working with several foundations and the City of Detroit to offer a solution. 

WDET’s Sam Corey spoke with Shari Williams, the Director of Equitable Neighborhood Planning for Detroit Future City, to learn more.

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America’s health insurance is distributed in a patchwork way. There are public health insurers, like Medicaid and Medicare, and then there are private ones. That’s where a lot of citizens and state residents get their health insurance — through their work or through the private market. 

That insurance may become harder to come by for over 200,000 residents. Two health insurance agencies, Health Alliance Plan and Molina Healthcare, will no longer offer coverage through the Affordable Care Act in Michigan. And, Meridian Health Plan will be significantly shrinking its coverage for state residents. 

That’s happening as premium costs are expected to go through the roof because the Republican-controlled Congress did not include an extension of health insurance tax credits in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

Robyn Vincent spoke with Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, about what these changes will mean for Michiganders who sign up for healthcare through the Affordable Care Act, and how hospitals will be impacted.

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Birthing is a fragile process. That’s why, with new life coming into the world, it’s the responsibility of a lot of people — doctors and nurses and caregivers and family members — to ensure that such life is properly cared for. 

But in order to do that well, we have to care for pregnant women. In this state, we’re being told that we’re not doing a great job of that task, specifically for Black mothers. 

A new report shows that about 1 in 6 babies born in Detroit were born prematurely. And this issue is directly related to that of infant mortality and maternal health. Two years ago in our country, over 20,000 babies died before their first birthday, with the highest rates occurring in the South and Midwest regions. 

Why is maternal healthcare, particularly for Black mothers, so bad in the U.S. and worse in the Midwest? And what can we do about it?

Tamika Jackson is a reproductive justice and maternal health organizer for Mothering Justice. She spoke with Robyn Vincent.

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