In Michigan and across much of the country, Indigenous people vanish, and often, their cases vanish with them.

Wrapped up in those unsolved cases are incomplete stories, transformed communities, and grieving families.

When those families seek answers, they are frequently left with more questions. Tribal police, state cops, and federal agencies are often all involved to some degree, and this jurisdictional maze is one reason many cases remain unsolved.

But rising awareness at the state level could spell change.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently proclaimed May 5 “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day” to coincide with the national day of remembrance. It is a push for collaboration between state and tribal governments to address the failures of law enforcement and government.

A new state task force is also centered on bringing together tribal, federal, state, and local officials and advocates to make a dent in the roughly 4,000 unsolved cases in the state. 

The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, a tribe based in southwestern Michigan, has been at the forefront of this kind of work through marches, advocacy, and community healing. The tribe has emerged as a leader in the fight for Indigenous visibility and justice.

Robyn Elkins, the tribe’s vice-chairperson, joined The Metro to discuss what it’s like to advocate for an issue that has deeply affected her community.

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For over 70 years, the Michigan Department of Education has annually selected a teacher of the year. The winner then serves as a representative and advocate for teachers across the state.

Last week, Cory Rosser  — an alternative education teacher at Quest High School in North Branch, Michigan  — was named the 2025-26 Teacher of the Year. Now in his 22nd year of teaching at Quest, Corey teaches social studies and Imagine Learning courses for students in grades 10-12.

Corey joined The Metro on Wednesday to discuss the Teacher of the Year honor and his approach to creating an engaging environment for students in class.

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We’re just over a week away from Movement, Detroit’s annual electronic music festival. The event draws techno lovers from across the globe for three days of music, dancing, and for many people — heavy partying. 

While Movement discourages and prohibits illegal or illicit drugs at the event, research from the National Institute of Health shows that electronic music festivals are typically “high-risk scenes for drug use.”

Passenger Recovery is a Hamtramck organization offering recovery and mental health support and sober programming for musicians and/or other individuals in the local music scene.

Bryan Wolf, director of programming at Passenger, joined The Metro on Wednesday to share some resources and outreach efforts planned for Movement weekend. 

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The muted complexes and concrete towers that paint the image of America’s public housing tell a deeper story. It’s a story of segregation, of communities trying to survive along the margins, and of money and power shaping neighborhoods.

In Detroit — as in many places — it’s a layered story, one that involves neighborhoods like Black Bottom and Paradise Valley — majority Black middle-class communities that were razed in the late 1950s in the name of “urban renewal.” Many of the residents who were displaced were promised better housing in public projects, but those promises rarely came to fruition. 

But even in the most challenging times, many public housing residents have made the best of it, raising children, organizing neighbors, and demanding more. Now, a new museum in Chicago is illuminating those histories — not to romanticize them, but to confront them.

The National Public Housing Museum honors the people who made homes in a system stacked against them. It also asks: What should public housing in America look like today, and how can it be a place where people and families can thrive?

Lisa Yun Lee, executive director and chief curator at the museum, joined The Metro to help us answer these questions.

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Last weekend, the Trump administration reduced tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%

James Hohman, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, thinks tariffs are a bad idea because they make both trade partners worse off. 

Metro Producer Sam Corey spoke with Hohman this week about tariffs and whether there are any instances in which they can be useful.

“Protectionist policies have proven to be ineffective time and time again,” Hohman said. “…the only way to ensure a mature, thriving and growing industry is by staying on the competitive edge, and protections pull you away from the competitive edge.”

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A mistrial was declared earlier this month in the murder trial for Grand Rapids Police Officer Christopher Schurr. He faced one count of second-degree murder for shooting and killing 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya during a traffic stop in Grand Rapids in April 2022.

When Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, attempted to flee during the traffic stop, Schurr chased and tackled him to the ground, engaging in a physical struggle before fatally shooting Lyoya in the back of the head, according to the case.

The trial began about a month ago, and after nearly four days of deliberations, the jury failed to reach a consensus. For many, the incident brings to light concerning national statistics that show Black people are twice as likely as white people to be shot and killed by police. 

Detroit Free Press politics reporter Arpan Lobo has been following the case closely. He joined The Metro to break it all down and share his reaction to the mistrial.

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Former state Sen. Adam Hollier announced last month that he is again running for Congress to unseat U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit).

Hollier filed to run against Thanedar in 2024, but was removed from the ballot after the Wayne County Clerk’s Office said he failed to get enough valid petition signatures.

The Detroit Democrat joined The Metro on Tuesday to discuss the biggest issues he believes metro Detroiters in the state’s 13th Congressional District are facing, along with what inspired him to run again.

“I live in the 13th District, I have been born and raised in the 13th District, I’m raising my children in the 13th District,” Hollier said. “It is one of the poorest districts in the country, and what you should expect from your members of Congress — your elected representatives at any level — is that they are moving the ball forward. That they are making your life actually better. That they are delivering things that have a real impact, and that’s not what we’re seeing from Congressman Thanedar.”

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Detroit Public School Community District is hosting its 56th annual “Evening of Fine Arts” at the Fox Theatre on Wednesday, highlighting students’ achievement in the arts over the past year. 

The annual event was created to give students an opportunity to perform on grand stages like the Fox Theatre, while showcasing their artistic ability and various arts disciplines offered by the district.

More than 700 middle and high school students will be performing this year, featuring everything from visual art and dance to music and theater.

Andrew McGuire, deputy director of performing arts at DPSCD, joined The Metro on Tuesday to share more about the event. He was joined by William Perkins, a junior vocal music major at the Detroit School of Arts, who spoke about the experience of performing at the Fox.

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Over the last few decades, there has been a growing gender gap in college enrollment and graduation rates — with boys and men falling behind.

According to the American Institute for Boys and Men, there were 2.4 million more women than men in undergraduate programs on U.S. campuses last year. Additionally, more women have college degrees today than men of the same age, the Pew Research Center reports.

That’s important, because the more education a person gets the lower their chances are of living in poverty. So if getting a college degree is still the recommended path to success, why aren’t men doing it? While college enrollment among men has declined in recent years, targeted programs and outreach efforts have emerged to reverse that trend.

Antonio Rivers is a 19-year-old industrial mechanic from Southfield. After graduating from high school in 2023, he enrolled in a vocational training program instead of college. 

Rivers joined The Metro on Monday to talk about his decision to forgo a traditional four-year degree to become an industrial mechanic.

We also revisited a previous conversation with Curtis Lewis — founder of the Black Male Educators Alliance — about the organization’s efforts to encourage more Black men to become teachers and why drawing more Black men into the classroom is vital.

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Detroit at Play is a workshop series led by the Taubman Visualization Lab at the University of Michigan. 

Last month, in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan, high school students developed software engineering skills and designed video games. 

Devaughn Washington is a 9th grade student who participated in the program. His team developed the game “Junkyard Mayhem,” where players find supplies in a junkyard and use it to fix up homes in a virtual Detroit-inspired world. 

Washington joined The Metro to discuss the collaborative process of creating a game with a team of peers and what he learned. Director of the Taubman Visualization Lab Ishan Pal-Signh also joined the show.

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If you haven’t heard yet, the Catholic church has a new leader. 

Pope Leo XIV, formerly known as Robert Francis Prevost, was elected on Thursday to lead 1.4 billion Roman Catholics around the world. Interestingly, he’s from Chicago, which marks the first time the world has a pope from the United States. 

In the 1970s, he attended a now-closed catholic high school in Southwest Michigan. On Saturday, he said he wants to focus on “loving care for the least and the rejected.”

Reverend Tim Wezner of the Archdiocese of Detroit joined The Metro to talk about the significance of an American pope and the pope’s influence beyond the Roman Catholic Church.  

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At the beginning of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s new memoir, armed protesters surround her house.

It’s December 2020, one month after the presidential election that Joe Biden won. He was not the preferred candidate of the armed mob shouting outside Benson’s home. 

The protestors yelled “treason” and “lock her up.”

In the moment, Michigan’s top election official tried to play it cool, all while her 4-year-old son sat unknowingly in front of the television watching “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

Benson was indeed scared that night. But as she points out in her book, “The Purposeful Warrior,” “standing up to bullies” is nothing new for her. 

She did it investigating white supremacists in the American South, while she was dean of Wayne State’s law school, and during her tenure as Michigan’s Secretary of State amid President Donald Trump’s lies of a stolen election.

Benson joined The Metro this week to discuss her new book and why she is running to be Michigan’s next governor.

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The Michigan Global Talent Initiative released a report saying Michigan is on track to add 125,000 college-educated immigrants to the state’s job market as part of the state’s Sixty by 30 goal.

The goal aims to have 60% of Michigan’s workforce to obtain a post-secondary degree or professional credential by 2030.

Steve Tobocman, executive director at Global Detroit, says the state has added nearly 55,000 new college educated foreign born individuals, or immigrants, to the job market since 2019.

“We created an ambitious plan with business and state government and local Chambers of Commerce to almost double that and raise the number of high-skilled immigrants joining the Michigan economy to 120,000 to 125,000 by the year 2030,” he said.

Tobocman says Michigan is also the first state to develop a comprehensive immigrant inclusion strategy to help the group reach its goals.

“If we had done nothing, had no strategy around immigrant talent, we probably would have added 65,000 college-educated immigrant workers to the workforce by 2030, which would roughly mean about 12% of the overall goal,” he said,

Tobocman says Michigan has over 38,000 international students who account for 70% of the graduate school students in advanced STEM fields. However, students need support to integrate into jobs and stay in Michigan post-graduation.

“While the nation is having its own debates about border security and the right frame of immigration, this kind of talent initiative is one that has received bipartisan support, that the first appropriations happened under the Republican legislature,” he said.

Still, he says, the initiative is seeking funding to continue these programs.

From May 20-22, Global Detroit and the city of Detroit will co-host “Welcoming Interactive,” gathering leaders to welcome immigrants and provide resources.

Tobocman’s conversation with WDET’s Nargis Rahman was featured on The Metro this week. Take a listen below.

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Michigan schools have sputtered and stalled since the pandemic and advocates say the stakes are historically high.

According to a new report by the nonpartisan think tank Ed Trust-Midwest, Michigan ranks near the bottom nationwide in terms of how it funds students from low-income families.

Student learning, meanwhile, is stuck in a lethargic recovery following the virtual school days of COVID-19.

The report shows significant gaps in reading and math scores. Students from low-income households, students with disabilities, and Black and Latino students are all falling far behind.

At the same time, federal financial support for public schools remains uncertain as the Trump administration makes substantial cuts to the Department of Education.

These findings have animated a bipartisan group of Michigan leaders who say now is the time to act. They are calling for more investment, more accountability, and a concrete plan to support Michigan’s most vulnerable kids.

So what does this moment demand — and what happens if Michigan misses it? To answer these questions, Amber Arellano, executive director of Ed Trust-Midwest, joined The Metro.

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No matter who you are, being a parent is a tough job. There’s no one definitive playbook for how to best love and guide your kids. 

And mothers are frequently the ones to care and nurture us, to keep us in line when it matters and to expose us to different people and places. 

The former U.S. Surgeon General said last year that parental stress is a significant public health issue. But we know that, in addition to the challenges, there are a lot of joys that come with motherhood. 

There are opportunities for creating stronger connections, for providing and maybe sometimes receiving care and for expanding love. 

And as Mother’s Day is coming up, we’re looking at what a day in the life of a mom is like. Today on The Metro, two mothers from different places in our region share their perspective on motherhood and what it means to them.

Ambra Redrick runs the nonprofit Teen Hype in Detroit. She has two biological daughters and her husband has two children that she helps raise as well. Lori Goldman is a mom of four.

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7 Mile and Livernois is home to Detroit’s Avenue of Fashion and has been for many years. Thriving businesses line the streetscape with an array of shops, restaurants and art galleries — most of them Black-owned.

Detroit artist Tiff Massey shines a spotlight on this culturally rich neighborhood with her latest exhibit “7 Mile + Livernois” — which has been on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts for the past year. Massey is the youngest artist to have a solo exhibit on display at the DIA.

The exhibition — closing this weekend — features a variety of installations, public art and wearable sculptures that celebrate Black American culture and style. The DIA will host a closing celebration, “7 Mile and Livernois After Dark,” this Friday, with live performances from DJs Kesswa and Donavan Glover. 

Massey joined The Metro on Thursday to reflect on the year-long exhibit before it closes.

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For the first time in over a decade, Mayor Mike Duggan will not be on the ballot for Detroit mayor.

The longtime Democrat announced in December that he’ll instead be campaigning (as an independent) for Michigan governor — opening up a competitive field of candidates vying to fill his shoes.

That includes former Detroit police Chief James Craig, Detroit Councilmember Fred Durhal, Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield, former nonprofit CEO Saunteel Jenkins and attorney Todd Perkins. 

As mayor, Duggan prioritized ridding the city of blight, revitalizing parks and recreation centers, and decreasing crime with the help of initiatives like community violence intervention programs.

Today on The Metro, BridgeDetroit reporter Malachi Barrett breaks down the Detroit mayoral race and the candidates’ priorities for the city. We also revisit a recent conversation with Detroit Future City CEO Anika Goss about what she believes the city’s new leadership should be prioritize.

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Americans are struggling to find affordable places to live. With the cost of living, gas and groceries going up, Detroit it is no exception. According to a report from the Detroit Justice Center, Detroit is behind in supplying affordable homes to residents.

Still, this is an issue city leaders have tried to address. For the better part of a decade, officials have invested millions of dollars into affordable housing projects. But the city is still unable to keep up with demand. Those efforts have only multiplied in recent years.

Julia Cardi, an investigative reporter for The Detroit News, has been covering affordable housing in Detroit. She joined The Metro on Wednesday to talk about the city’s past investments and the work that’s happening now to bring more affordable housing to the city.

Also, MiSide Community Impact Network President Sean De Four joined the show to talk about Campbell Street Apartments — Southwest Detroit’s new $18 million affordable housing development — ahead of the project’s ribbon cutting.

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Housing policies are not just for the current time they’re created in. They produce laws and rules around housing that affects future generations, even if they weren’t intended to. 

Detroit’s Black homeowners have faced systemic barriers due to predatory governance, which generates public revenue through discriminatory policies.

That’s one of the themes of the new book, “Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America.” The book explores restrictive housing policies such as racial covenants, redlining and property tax over-assessments. 

Professor Bernadette Atuahene, the author of “Plundered,” works at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, focusing on land stolen from people in the African Diaspora. Her research highlights the urgent need for housing reforms to address racial inequities in property ownership.

She joined The Metro on Tuesday to discuss her years spent in Detroit trying to understand the way housing policies have prevented or overturned homeownership for many Black folks in the region. 

Professor Atuahene will be speaking at a rally on Friday, May 16 at 3:15 p.m. at the Detroit Public Library’s Main Branch, 5201 Woodward Ave, Detroit, Michigan.

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