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.

An unnamed gunman was arrested at Romulus Middle School. 

The school was placed on lockdown following reports of shots fired outside the building on the second day of classes in the new year.

Romulus Police responded following reports of an ‘active shooter’ after school employees observed a man with a handgun attempting to enter the school’s main doors. A witness told police they heard shots fired. 

Officers arrested a 44-year-old man near the school’s main entrance. A handgun was recovered at the scene.

Police say the investigation into the suspect’s motives is ongoing and there is no threat to the school or the community at this time. 

Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Otter at (734) 942-6857. 

An area of very old trees at Independence Oaks County Park has been recognized as part of a national network of old-growth forests, drawing attention to both rare natural features and thousands of years of human history tied to the land.

Carol Bacak-Egbo is an Oakland County Parks historian. She says the newly designated old-growth forest lies within a landscape shaped by Indigenous peoples for 5,000 to 6,000 years. The park sits near historic Native American trail routes, and contains the headwaters of the Clinton River, once a major travel route for the Anishinaabe across what is now southeast Michigan.

“This history doesn’t start with log cabins and sawmills,” Bacak-Egbo says. “People lived with and cared for this land long before Europeans arrived.”

Artifacts indicate the area was likely used as seasonal camps rather than permanent villages. The park also contains one of only two remaining wild rice beds in southeast Michigan, a culturally and spiritually significant food source for the Anishinaabe.

The forest largely escaped widespread logging and farming in the 19th century, almost by accident.

In the early 1900s, a wealthy Detroit businessman purchased land around Crooked Lake but left it undeveloped. Later owners also did not farm the southern portion of the property, allowing the old-growth trees to remain intact.

Park naturalist Kegan Schildberg says the designation supports efforts to protect remaining natural areas in Oakland County, which has developed rapidly during the last century.

Bacak-Egbo encourages visitors to view parks as places where natural and human history intersect.

“When people walk these trails, they aren’t just connecting with nature,” says Bacak-Egbo.  “They are walking through the same forest people walked through hundreds and even thousands of years ago.”

This story is part of WDET’s ongoing series, The Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

Opposition to a proposed data center in Saline Township continues as state regulators prepare to take public comment on environmental permits tied to the project.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy will hold a virtual public hearing Thursday to gather input on whether to issue permits to developer Related Digital. The permits cover impacts to wetlands, streams, and nearby waterways.

Tim Bruneau, a member of Stop Saline Data Center who lives near the proposed site, raised concerns about the project’s closed-loop cooling system. He says repeated circulation concentrates contaminants such as glycol, rust inhibitors, and nitrates, which would eventually be discharged into the Saline River.

The project includes filling and excavating wetlands, installing culverts in unnamed streams, and constructing multiple stormwater outfalls that would discharge treated runoff into the Saline River, Bridgewater Drain, and other waterways. One of the outfalls would be located within the Saline River’s 100-year floodplain.

The virtual public hearing begins at 6 p.m. Information on how to attend is available at michigan.gov/egle.