After warnings about “exploding trees” went viral this winter, a local arborist says he did not hear any reports of it occurring.

“I have not heard or seen of any explosions happening in the woods,” arborist Luke Brunner says. He works with the Davey Tree Company.

“I think there was a lot of concern behind it….I had multiple phone calls asking about it,” Brunner continues.

However, he says if anyone did hear unusual sounds coming from a nearby tree trunk, it was likely frost cracking, a common occurrence during winter. Frost cracking occurs when sunlight warms the interior of a tree during the day, and temperatures then drop sharply at night, leading to water inside the trunk freezing and expanding, resulting in a popping sound.

Brunner says ice and snow pose a greater risk to trees. Heavy accumulation can weigh down branches, especially those with dead wood or structural weaknesses, increasing the likelihood of limbs breaking and falling.

New research shows the presence of trees where people live may significantly impact human heart health.

The results find that those living in greener neighborhoods have lower risks of heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases.

Peter James is a lead researcher of the study at the University of California – Davis.

Using over 350 million Google Street View images analyzed with deep learning, James’s team identified street-level vegetation and linked it to long-term health data.

However, areas with more grass were linked to higher cardiovascular risk.

James says trees help by cooling neighborhoods, filtering air, reducing noise, and promoting activity and social interaction. “We’ve evolved as human beings to be in nature….this is our natural setting, not staring at a computer screen….that’s where we thrive… out in trees and nature,” James says. 

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

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development may add six new plant species to the state’s list of invasive plants. This list could include Callery pear, Japanese barberry, and two aquatic plants.

If approved, water hyacinth and water lettuce would be considered illegal to sell or transport 30 days after they are officially listed. The Callery pear, common buckthorn, glossy buckthorn, and Japanese barberry would become restricted starting January 1, 2028. These regulations would prevent the sale or purchase of these plants but would not impact property owners who already possess them.

Officials state that these plants can pose risks to Michigan’s environment, economy, and public health. They have the potential to displace native species, damage infrastructure, and in some cases, host ticks that carry diseases.

Sixty years after voters narrowly approved the first millage to establish Oakland County Parks, officials say the system is undergoing a fundamental shift. 

County officials recently unveiled a plan to revamp and grow its parks system. It’s called Mission 26 and it aims to help the county’s residents easily access the outdoors, especially in urban areas.

The focus on reshaping the county’s parks is funded by a public millage passed in 2024.

Oakland County Parks Director Chris Ward says it’s a green vision for the county’s future. “We know people are struggling financially, but the fact that they, you know, demonstrated such overwhelming support for that proposal shows how deeply people in this county value recreation and the outdoors,” Ward says. 

The county is expanding urban partnerships, including at Pontiac Oaks County Park, and plans to open Oak Park Woods at Sheppard Park and convert a Southfield golf course into a nature preserve. 

The county also launched the Co-Creation Lab to allow residents to help guide the future of the parks system through a new online portal, 

If parks are considered part of the county’s preventive health and wellness infrastructure, Ward says their success must be measured by how actively they are used.

“Empty parking lots represent a missed opportunity to reach people,” Ward says.

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

Documents recently released by the Justice Department may show a connection between a Detroit-area school and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.  

The phone number of Meadow Montessori in Monroe appears multiple times in emails between Jeffery Epstein and one of his associates, Lesley Groff. The emails date from 2011 with one reminding Epstein to call ‘Catherine Calder’ at the same number publicly listed for the school. According to the school’s website, Catharine Calder is the head of Meadow Montessori, which she founded in 1984. 

WDET called the number listed and asked to speak with Calder about any connection she or the school had to Epstein, who died in 2019. The person who answered declined to comment. 

WDET has confirmed that Calder attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts in 1967, the same year Epstein went to camp there.

Another document shows an email from earlier in 2011 between a redacted name and Epstein where Calder is described as a “very old friend” of the late convicted sex-trafficker. 

Update 2/19/2026

Calder confirms that her name appears in an email between Jeffery Epstein and one of his assistants.  In a letter to parents, Calder says she met him while they were students at Interlochen’s national music camp in 1967 and she called him in 2011 after reading a magazine article about him. Calder says that’s the extent of their contact. 

She did not say whether she knew about his 2008 conviction for sex crimes in Florida. 

Calder says that Meadow Montessori and its students are safe, but she has asked the Monroe County Sheriff for extra patrols around the school. 

The Board of Trustees sent a separate letter to parents, saying they met with Calder, believe her explanation and continue to support her. 

Additional reporting by WDET’s Sam Stroud.

A federal bankruptcy judge has halted the auction of Detroit’s historic Leland House, a victory for residents forced to leave the building last year.

The ruling came after attorneys with the Michigan State University Housing Justice Clinic argued residents were unlawfully excluded from bankruptcy proceedings. The judge agreed that tenant rights included participation in the property’s future.

The Leland House closed in November after a utility disconnection of unknown origin prompted the Detroit Fire Department to issue an eviction order. All tenants were forced to leave the building and barred from returning.

Following the outage, the owner sought court approval to auction the property, prompting legal action from tenants’ rights advocates.

Donovan McCarty is the director of the Housing Justice Clinic and a member of the legal team representing displaced tenants. 

“The Leland house is a very unique property. It’s…a place that folks who can’t otherwise afford to live [downtown]…a place that’s right by Rosa Parks transit center…that’s important too, for people of all different socioeconomic classes,” McCarty said. 

“What we’re seeing here…is [the influence of] corporate interests and what this could mean for Mayor Sheffield’s tenure,” he explains.

“Is she going to choose the residents, you know, the people of the city of Detroit, or is she going to choose these corporate interests? The Leland house sits effectively on DTE’s campus…DTE has played a prominent role in this case,” according to McCarty.

The next court date in the case will be Feb. 24. 

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.