It’s a Sunday night, and you’re sitting in the emergency room with your sick kid. The waiting room is packed — coughs and sneezes everywhere. Your child has a fever, so you wait. You worry.

Four months later, the health department calls. Your infant was exposed to measles that night. Now you’re facing weeks of medical monitoring.

That’s what happened to families at DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital in Oakland County last December.

As more people opt out of vaccinating their kids, what are the costs of containing an outbreak?

In Washtenaw County, health officials have spent close to $100,000 containing seven measles cases. That’s more than $14,000 per case.

The system worked: They contained the outbreak, conducted contact tracing, and prevented it from escalating into hundreds of cases. But we are spending enormous resources to achieve what used to happen easily through herd immunity.

Oakland County saw two measles cases last year and handled them well. But the county is now spending an extra $300,000 on vaccines even as vaccination rates keep sliding — Oakland County’s childhood MMR rate sits around 81%, well below the 95% threshold needed for herd immunity.

Kate Guzmán, health officer for the Oakland County Health Division, joined WDET’s Robyn Vincent to talk about the hidden costs of outbreaks, and what communities lose when prevention falls behind.

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St. Clair County’s medical director, Dr. Remington Nevin, is re-shaping the county’s public health. He has helped lower the barrier for school vaccine waiver applications and fought to eliminate fluoridated drinking water in the county.

His positions on a number of public health issues reflect a growing skepticism of medical doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. They also reflect many of the views of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Nevin tells Bridge Michigan’s Eli Newman he welcomes the comparison. “To the extent that some residents may be comparing us, I would consider that a great compliment and honor. One underestimates him and the strength of his convictions at their peril.”

Nevin received medical training at Johns Hopkins University and has been the part-time medical director of St. Clair County since 2023.

Eli Newman, health reporter for Bridge Michigan, joined The Metro to share his reporting on Dr. Nevin and how he is changing public health policy and perceptions in St. Clair County.

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A 16-year-old student was kidnapped from a bus stop in Hamtramck at gunpoint this morning. Classmates tracked the student through their social media and cell phone.

Hamtramck Police located the student and made an arrest. Hamtramck Police Chief Hussein Farhat said that the incident happened at 7:08 a.m. He said a weapon was recovered.

Hamtramck School Board President Abdulmalik Algahaim says there will be additional measures for safety and security during pick-up and drop-off. The police department will also increase security measures. 

The kidnapper was caught within 30 minutes of the incident. 

Additional headlines for Monday, April 13, 2026

Joe Louis Greenway community meetings

Community meetings are being held regarding expansion of the Woodmere part of the Joe Louis Greenway. The next virtual meetings are April 21 and April 29.

The General Services Department is holding the meetings to discuss the designs and construction on Woodmere Street for a bike and walking connection between Fort Street and Vernor Highway.

The project has been funded through a $10 million grant and is expected to be completed in 2027. 

Outlier Earth Day event

The Outlier Media collective is hosting an Earth Day seed packing social this month. The hands-on volunteer event is in partnership with Keep Growing Detroit’s Garden Resource Program.

There will be free non-alcoholic beverages by the Gardenside Brewery and refreshments by Vámonos. The seed packing event takes place April 22nd from noon-2 p.m at Vámonos. 

Healthy Homes

The City of Detroit is hosting another Healthy Homes resource event. The next one takes place Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Services will include HOPE application assistance, health screenings and more.

People can schedule a Lyft service to attend by calling 866-313-2520. 

Black & Arab Solidarity Lab

The Black and Arab Solidarity Lab + Political Discussion is an event co-hosted by Arab Americans for Progress, Dream of Detroit, Detroit Action and MI Working Family Party.

Guest speakers include Abraham Aiyash, former MI State Representative and House Majority Leader and Tomena Rawls, the Statutory Vice chair of the 12th Congressional District Democrats. 

The discussion will be held on April 25 at 11 a.m. 

Arab and Chaldean American Panel at WSU

The Arab American Women’s Business Council is hosting a panel this week. The networking mixer will host women leaders who will share insights on navigating the professional world as Arab and Chaldean women.

The event takes place on April 15 at Wayne State University Student Center, Room 775 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

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Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield recently appointed Ali Abazeed as the city’s new Chief Public Health Officer, saying he would be a part of creating a “health in all policies” approach to government.

“We’re really excited to get up and going and also to continue the good work that the department has done over the years, but also to upgrade the software of what public health can look like in the city of Detroit,” he shares. 

Abazeed previously created and led the city of Dearborn’s health department. He also worked as a public health advisor at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

Past policies shape today’s health issues

He says health is impacted by housing quality and environment. He hopes to work with the department’s staff of 280 people to create better health outcomes for Detroiters.

“The challenges that Detroit faces from a health perspective, those aren’t inevitable…  they’re created by decades, if not centuries of decisions made by man, policies that have been excluding people from opportunities,” he says.

Abazeed says the city focuses on a harm reduction approach by working with all city departments to connect the dots for people who live in the city. He says part of that will include having more health department officials out in the city.

“90% of your life expectancy happens in the communities where you live, learn, work, worship, play…  then it requires us to take that 90% collaborative approach across everything that we do at the city,” he says. 

Abazeed says Detroiters face health burdens like asthma, which he says require a multifaceted response. 

He says everyone is entitled to good health. 

“Understanding who has been disqualified, who has been sort of pushed to the side, and whether that’s… in Washington or Dearborn and now in Detroit, I think the work is relatively the same, even if it does take on a little bit of a different scale,” he says. 

Michigan does not currently participate in a federal program that gives tax breaks to people for donating money to nonprofits that award scholarships for tutoring and private school tuition. Governor Whitmer is weighing whether to opt into the federal initiative.

If adopted, taxpayers in Michigan would receive a $1,700 tax break parents could use for private school tuition, tutors or after school programs. 

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon recently stopped in Hamtramck to promote the program. 

Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti says the program might help kids on an individual basis,“But I would just continue to say, you know, as a nation, we have to think about at scale investments. How do we improve institutions that benefit the majority of our children, not isolated improvement?” 

Teachers unions and Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern that the program would funnel money into private schools, and away from public schools and their students. 

Vitti says funding public schools should be the priority. “I’d rather see us use taxpayer dollars and not decrease taxpayer dollars in investing in large scale systems that benefit the majority of American children, not individual children or families.” 

Right now, people in Michigan can still make the donation and get the tax break; however, students in the state would not be eligible for the scholarships. Using public money for private schools is prohibited by the state constitution. 

-Reporting by Russ McNamara

Additional headlines for Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Gas prices rise

Gasoline prices surged overnight. AAA said Michigan drivers paid an average of $4.01 for a gallon of regular unleaded this morning. That’s 15 cents higher than it was yesterday. The national average is $4.14 a gallon, the highest in almost 4 years. 

GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan says escalations between the U.S. and Iran have intensified concerns about disruptions in oil shipments. He adds prices will likely remain high until Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an order last week allowing Michigan gas stations to sell cheaper winter fuel blends through the end of June. 

Delta expands flights to Europe

Delta Air Lines is expanding flights from Metro Airport to Europe. The Detroit Free Press reports Delta will offer daily service to Rome in November and March, allowing passengers to take advantage of off-peak travel. 

Public Health Week

It’s Public Health Week in Detroit. The city’s health department is offering free services including health screenings, immunizations, lead testing, and overdose prevention resources.

Chief Public Health Officer Ali Abazeed says health department staff will host free events through Saturday at various community centers. The goal is to make it easier for residents to get health care by bringing it to them. 

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Seven people are confirmed to have contracted measles in Washtenaw County with exposure sites in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, and Canton. None of those people were vaccinated against the disease. 

Vaccination rates have declined since 2024, despite decades of medical practice and data that show the MMR vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella, is safe and highly effective. 

Last year, an advisory panel appointed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recommended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adopt new restrictions on the MMRV vaccine, which provides protection against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox. The panel advised that children under 4 should get protection against those diseases in separate vaccines.

In the time since Kennedy Jr. was appointed to head HHS by President Trump, vaccination rates have declined for toddlers, school-age kids and adults, making Southeast Michigan more vulnerable to outbreaks.

When the population’s vaccine rate dips below the level of ‘herd immunity’, the chance of a measles outbreak increases substantially.

What’s stopping people from vaccinating themselves or their kids, and who is most at risk when an outbreak happens?

Dr. Rupali Limaye is an Associate Professor at the George Mason College of Public Health. She is an expert in vaccine behavior, hesitancy and acceptance. She spoke with Cary Junior II on The Metro.

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What happens when the regulatory systems we depend on to protect us break down?

In February, President Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act — a wartime authority — to guarantee the domestic supply of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, the world’s most widely used weedkiller. The order extends legal immunity to its producers. It came one day after Bayer proposed a $7.25 billion settlement to resolve tens of thousands of cancer lawsuits without admitting wrongdoing.

The World Health Organization classifies glyphosate as a probable carcinogen.

Separately, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments April 27 in a case that could shut down state-level Roundup lawsuits nationwide. The EPA faces an October deadline to rule on glyphosate safety — with most of its research staff gone.

Last month on The Metro, Harvard historian Naomi Oreskes explained how the landmark safety study behind Roundup was ghostwritten by Monsanto, cited by regulators worldwide for 25 years, and finally retracted after she and researcher Alexander Kaurov documented its influence. Since then, she has identified more scientific research ghostwritten by Monsanto.

To discuss, Oreskes, author of “Merchants of Doubt,” returned to The Metro to join Robyn Vincent.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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It’s a medical mystery with destructive elements. Our cells divide and grow with unstoppable force. They seize surrounding tissue. They invade from within. 

That’s how cancer works. And cases of younger people getting cancer — folks under the age of 50 — have been growing. Someone born in 1990 is now four times more likely to get rectal cancer, and two times more likely to get colon cancer than someone born in 1950. 

Why? And, what is it like to be a doctor in metro Detroit fielding these cases?

Dr. Thomas Kelly is a gastroenterologist at the Karmanos Cancer Institute. He spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent about different dietary and environmental factors that may be contributing to rising cancer rates.

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Mayor Mary Sheffield has hired Dearborn’s former Chief Public Health Officer to fulfill the same role in Detroit. Ali Abazeed is credited with building Dearborn’s public health department from the ground up. He also worked in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the pandemic. 

Abazeed says he is looking for bold ideas to improve public health in Detroit. He is credited with achieving a 60% reduction in drug overdoses and expanding air quality testing in the city of Dearborn. Abazeed also brought the Rx Kids program to Dearborn, the same program Mayor Sheffield launched in Detroit earlier this year. 

Additional headlines from Monday, March 2, 2026

DPSCD offers Ramadan meals to students

Detroit Public Schools Community District is offering Ramadan meals to students fasting during the month-long holiday. Meals are available for pick up between 2 and 3:30pm from school cafeterias.

Each meal package includes one breakfast and one lunch distributed to students who attend school that day. Ramadan meals are available school days until March 17. 

Temple Beth El tour

Temple Beth El is opening its doors to the community for an exploration of history and faith. Attendees will learn about Judaism and the history of the Temple Beth El congregation and it’s impact on southeastern Michigan.

The evening includes a tour of the synagogue and a meal. The event is Tuesday, March 12 at 6 p.m. It’s a part of the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metro Detroit’s Interfaith Odysseys program. Registration is $35 for individuals and $50 for families.

Southwest Detroit Loteria fundraiser

Community members and Wayne State University alumni are invited to play a Southwest Detroit edition of Loteria Wednesday. The event is a fundraiser for the joint alumni association for Wayne State’s Latino en Marcha, Chicano Boricua Studies and Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies programs.

This version of Loteria showcases people and businesses in Southwest Detroit. There will be Loteria-inspired merchandise for sale connected to each program. Funds support the Dr. Jorge Chinea Endowment.

A $100 donation buys a Loteria board. The event is Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Mexicantown Community Development Corporation at 2835 Bagley Street. 

Lunar eclipse

Metro Detroiters will be able to see a total lunar eclipse Tuesday morning…if the weather cooperates.

The moon will enter the Earth’s shadow overnight, and a partial eclipse will begin around 4:50 a.m. Totality will last for about an hour between 6 and 7 a.m., during which the moon will appear to be red. 

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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.

People voted for President Donald Trump, in part, because he promised to shake things up. Change is happening in many spaces, including those related to public health.

In Michigan, and across the country, fewer people are getting vaccinated, more people are sick, and less individuals have health insurance. Life is also different for people who lead local public institutions. 

Kate Guzman is the Oakland County Health Officer. She spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent about the current measles outbreaks, the rise in flu cases, and what she’s doing to try to keep people healthy during President Trump’s second term in office. 

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That creamy Reese’s peanut butter cup dissolving on your tongue. The next crunchy Dorito you’re reaching for before you’ve swallowed the last one. The first sip of an ice-cold Coke, with a mix of syrup and carbonation; it hits like relief.

Your brain’s reward center is supposed to keep you alive, but a major new study from the University of Michigan, Harvard, and Duke says the food industry learned how to use it against you — engineering products with the same science as cigarettes.

The playbook is this: optimize the craving, accelerate the reward, and make it nearly impossible to stop.

Ultraprocessed foods now make up roughly 60% of what Americans eat. San Francisco has sued 10 major food manufacturers over the harm.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said these foods are poisoning Americans, but he has stopped short of regulating them.

In Detroit, 69% of households face food insecurity and researchers describe the city as a food swamp, where drive-throughs, party stores and gas-station snack aisles vastly outnumber places to buy fresh produce.

Detroit’s numbers make the question sharper: What happens when engineered food is all that’s there?

Ashley Gearhardt, clinical psychologist, addiction scientist at the University of Michigan, creator of the Yale Food Addiction Scale and lead author of the study, joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss this and more.

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On Wednesday, the Great Lakes Water Authority will vote on a nearly 7% water rate increase and a 6% sewer increase.

Last year, GLWA proposed an even bigger hike — close to 8% for water — but public testimony at the hearing pushed the board to lower it. Wednesday’s hearing is another chance for residents to weigh in. What’s driving these increases — and why does water keep getting more expensive?

Suzanne Coffey is CEO of the Great Lakes Water Authority or GLWA. She spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.

On The Metro, we also spoke about GLWA rate hikes — and why utility costs are rising — with Nick Schroek, dean of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. You can listen to that conversation here.

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Wayne State University researchers are looking for ways to help people with multiple sclerosis move better.

MS is a degenerative neurological disease that makes it hard for some patients to walk and keep their balance. 

Scientists wanted to know whether a physical therapy regimen that includes walking backward could improve mobility and balance. Their new study suggests it can.

They started small

Dr. Nora Fritz led the research team. She’s the director of research for WSU’s Department of Health Sciences. She’s also a physical therapy professor.

She says they’ve been looking at this in the lab for some time.

“We noticed that some individuals tend to fall backward more frequently than forward,” Fritz says. “We also noticed that individuals tend to have more trouble walking backward than they do walking forward.”

Researchers asked eight MS patients to take part in an eight-week case study. They came to the lab once a week to do backward walking training with a neurologic physical therapist. Subjects walked on a treadmill and on the ground. They also did back-stepping exercises in the lab and at home.

Fritz says the results were encouraging.

“It seems that everyone who’s participating is experiencing some level of improvement,” she says. “They really like it and they’re finding it useful.”

The team also conducted MRI screenings before and after the eight-week program.

“We looked at how the brain changed during this period,” Fritz says. “We saw evidence that there was actually some changes in structures of the brain related to balance in just a short time.”

Results could lead to new treatment

Fritz says it’s too early to reach any conclusions from the study, but the results were good enough to begin a larger, randomized control study with 90 MS patients. That lasted six months.

“Everyone has completed the training, and we’re just in the monitoring period now,” Fritz says. “We anticipate the first papers from that study to come out within the next several months.”

The findings of the eight-week trial appear in the Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy.

When a government agency decides whether a chemical in your food is safe, where does the science come from? Most of us assume it’s independent. In the case of Roundup — the world’s most widely used weedkiller — the manufacturer wrote the research, and it went unchallenged for 25 years.

In 2000, a study published in the journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology concluded Roundup posed no health risk to humans. But internal Monsanto emails released in 2017 litigation revealed company employees had ghostwritten the paper. Despite that, it remained in the scientific record, cited without caveat in hundreds of academic papers and dozens of government documents worldwide.

Harvard historian of science Naomi Oreskes and researcher Alexander Kaurov changed that. Their 2025 analysis found the ghostwritten paper ranked in the top 0.1% of all cited glyphosate literature. They requested the journal retract it. In November 2025, it did, citing “serious ethical concerns.” Oreskes and Kaurov also wrote about their findings in Undark.

The retraction comes as Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, faces roughly 65,000 Roundup cancer lawsuits. On February 17, the company proposed a $7.25 billion class settlement. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a related case this term. Bayer maintains glyphosate is safe.

Oreskes, author of “Merchants of Doubt,” joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss how one ghostwritten paper shaped pesticide policy for a generation, and what it means now that it’s been thrown out.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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In 2023, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed one of the most aggressive clean energy laws in the country — requiring Michigan utilities to hit 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% clean electricity by 2040. That plan assumed federal policy would be moving in the same direction. Things like federal tax credits, Environmental Protection Agency regulations, and infrastructure money for electric vehicles were anticipated to follow.

But that’s not what’s happening now. Last week, the Trump administration revoked the EPA’s ability to regulate pollution.

What does that decision mean for Michigan? What does it mean for DTE and Consumers Energy, which are both tasked with transitioning to clean energy sources instead of relying on things like natural gas?

Liesl Clark is the director of climate action engagement for the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability. She also used to run the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. 

The Metro‘s Sam Corey spoke with the director about the president’s actions and what she would recommend the state do now.

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The Dearborn Department of Public Health says there’s been a decrease in overdose deaths in the past two years. 

Chief Public Health Officer Ali Abazeed says launching the public health department played a role in the decline.  

“We’re seeing a nearly 60% decline in overdoses in the city of Dearborn that’s directly correlated with a lot of our public health efforts,” he says. Last year, there was a 36% decline in overdose deaths. 

Abazeed says the department supplies free Narcan overdose reversal medicine at several locations and works to raise awareness about substance abuse disorder in the city.  

“Those place-based specific interventions, like the ones that we have in Dearborn again, whether it’s our very visible Narcan distribution sites, or whether it’s their community trainings, we’re seeing trends in Dearborn that are outpacing the national average,” he shares.

Narcan reverses an opioid overdose, potentially saving people’s lives.    

Abazeed says the department also distributed about 500 fentanyl test strips, close to 300 xylazine test strips and more than 7,000 units of Narcan last year.

He says the department is seeing sustained declines across the state, while the city’s declines in overdose deaths are far outpacing the statewide and national averages. 

Abazeed says the Dearborn Department of Public Health will continue to spread the word about utilizing life-saving measures to prevent overdose deaths. 

Free Narcan can be picked up from vending machines at the John D. Dingell Transit Center, the East Parking Deck at West Village Drive, the Wagner Parking Deck, and the Islamic Center of Detroit.   

Birth Detroit is Black-led, community-based midwifery practice and the first free-standing birth center in Detroit.

The organization’s co-founder, Elon Geffrard, says the practice is expanding the services it offers, with a continued emphasis on helping marginalized families.

“If you’re wanting to have an out-of-hospital birth experience in the hands of midwives, we also provide easy access care in the hands of midwives for prenatal care and individuals planning a hospital-based birth, we do GYN or well-woman services, and soon we’ll be offering well baby care,” she says.

Geffrard says Birth Detroit has served 500 families in the 6 years since its inception in 2020. She says the nonprofit also offers childbirth education classes, a fatherhood support group and postpartum classes.

Birth Detroit has been a freestanding birth center since October 2024. “Currently, we are at 12 babies who have been born at our birth center, and we are on call waiting for the next few,” she shares.

Making birthing safer 

The nonprofit focuses on empowering Black, brown, and Indigenous families, often who face higher rates of maternal and infant mortality.

“In public health we know that if we tend to those most disparately impacted, those who have experienced higher rates of illness, higher rates of death, higher rates of marginalization as well. We level up the entire ship, if you will. Everybody gets to rise up,” she says.

Last year the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said maternal and infant mortality rates were on the decline in the state.

Geffrard says the nonprofit’s standard of care is to have healthy moms and babies.

“We attend and build with intention to support those who, again, are most pushed to the margins, but thusly, we get to provide and offer to everyone the highest quality of care, the highest standard of care,” she explains.

She says Birth Detroit works to provide integrated maternal health care to keep people safe, working with a network of health care professionals.

“Sometimes, people no longer should be in the care of a low-risk provider like a midwife. They do need a maternal-fetal medicine doctor or an OB GYN,” she says.

Geffrard says babies born in the center do not have low birth weight or premature birth.

Providing the best in care

Geffrard says Detroit families deserve the best care. The center provides culturally sensitive care to advance their goal of  making high quality care accessible for marginalized communities.

The Michigan Black Birthworker Directory was created to have a central database of providers who serve Black and brown communities. It includes doulas, midwives, and lactation professionals, along with other service providers.

MDHHS says the state now has more than 1,000 registered doulas, nonmedical birthing assistants, providing support for moms and families to improve birth outcomes.

Geffrard says Birth Detroit worked to pass legislation, including the Momnibus 9 bill package to improve maternal health for communities of color, which passed in April 2025 in Michigan, but is pending in Congress.

“We want to build trees that we will not enjoy the shade of. Our children’s children’s children deserve safety. They deserve justice. They deserve love. They deserve trustworthy care. And that’s, I think, what we’re aiming to do every day,” says Geffrard.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is offering stipends for interns enrolled in a behavioral health bachelor or master’s program. MDHHS is allocating $1.25 million for the program.  

MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel says the funding supports mental health care workers. The Behavioral Health Internship Stipend Program is in its fourth cohort, which supported 159 students last year. The program offers money to students for unpaid internship costs such as tuition, fees, and living expenses. 

Students pursuing degrees in marriage or family therapy, behavioral analyst,  social workers and counselors are eligible to apply for the one-time stipend ranging from $5 to $15,000 each.

Applications close tonight.

Additional headlines for Monday, Jan. 26, 2026

Radon Action Month

January is Radon Action Month. Radon is an odorless, colorless, and tasteless radioactive gas that’s found in soil. It’s naturally created through the breakdown of uranium in soil around homes.

The gas can cause lung tissue damage through radiation, making it the leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers. 

Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy recommends testing homes every two years for exposure. People can pick up a testing kit from their local health department.    

Al-Ikhlas Director Nadir Ahmad passes away 

Detroit’s Al-Ikhlas Training Academy’s Director and Founder, Imam Nadir Ahmad passed away on Jan. 22. His funeral was held on Saturday.

In 2020, the Dream Storytelling oral history project interviewed Ahmad. He told the archive he moved from Virginia to Detroit to study Islam at the Wayne County Community College as part of the Muslim World Studies Program in 1980.  Ahmad taught at the Clara Muhammad School in Detroit, later serving as assistant principal and then principal. Ahmad founded the Islamic school Al-Ikhlas Training Academy in Detroit in 1991.

Community members and current and former students posted several comments on Facebook, sharing memories and commemorating the educational leader as someone who defined an era in Detroit. Ahmad was also a U.S. military veteran.  

ProsperUs Detroit hosts training program

ProsperUs Detroit is hosting an Entrepreneur Training Program for the Spring of 2026. The 12-week program provides one-on-one support for businesses to learn how to register their business, create budgets and systems for bookkeeping. The group will also learn how to write a business plan.

Participants will also study business models, target markets, and finances. Applications are due by Feb. 1. 

Outlier and Detroit-ography host trivia

The Outlier Collective is hosting a trivia event next month. Test your knowledge of Detroit with Outlier Media’s Civic Life Reporter Briana Rice and Detroit-ography’s Alex B. Hill.

Editor’s note: Corrected Al-Ikhals Director Nadir Ahmad’s title, from Dr. to Imam 1/27/26. We apologize for the error.

Tickets are $5 a person. The event is being hosted by Outlier Media and Detroit-ography at the Brewery Faisan on Feb. 4 from 6:30-9 p.m. Register at outliermedia.org/our-events/.   

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