When who we are and what we believe in conflicts with the traditions that we’re raised in, life broadly leaves us three choices: we can change who we are to fit the tradition, we can leave the tradition behind, or we can try to change the tradition to fit our ideals.

That last choice requires courage. Change is not easy, and when it comes to a tradition like religion, many become upset when people start tinkering with how things are done. 

But that’s exactly what Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie has been doing. The rabbi who runs an alternative Jewish synagogue in New York City grew up in Israel under a lineage of orthodox rabbis. But Rabbi Lau-Lavie and his congregation at Lab/Shul don’t practice orthodox Judaism, they’re doing something unique and experimental. 

The new documentary, “Sabbath Queen” explores the life of Rabbi Lau-Lavie and more. Tomorrow, the rabbi will be at an event at the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit. The film will be screening Sunday at the DIA. 

Sandi DuBowski is the filmmaker. He spoke with Cary Junior II.

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Detroit’s industrialization often cuts people off from various spaces with its grey infrastructure — roads with wide lanes, large, corporate plants, and several highways. 

That’s why some are excited about the Joe Louis Greenway. When completed, the project will wrap itself around the city, stretching 29 miles and connecting 23 Detroit neighborhoods with bike and pedestrian paths. 

But the Greenway doesn’t have all the funds it needs yet. That’s why it was a big deal when the Knight Foundation recently gave the project $7 million dollars to continue construction. 

Leona Medley is the executive director of the Joe Louis Greenway Partnership. She spoke with Robyn Vincent.

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Social service agencies, particularly government and nonprofit ones, rely on money from the federal government to feed people, provide healthcare, and cover housing payments. And since federal cuts from both the Trump administration and the Big Beautiful Bill, many local organizations are concerned about the future of their operations.

That includes the Community Housing Network, which helps people get housing in Macomb and Oakland counties. 

How has it been reacting to federal funding cuts? And, what does homelessness look like in the suburbs, especially as it’s been rising over the past five years? 

Kirsten Elliott, the president of Community Housing Network nonprofit, spoke with producer Sam Corey about that and more.

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Two months ago, a campaign to enact ranked choice voting in Michigan got off the ground. 

Ranked choice voting lets you rank candidates in order of preference. If no one gets more than 50 percent at first, the last-place candidate is dropped and those votes go to your next choice. 

Supporters say that the process, if approved, will strengthen our democracy.

But it didn’t take long before Republicans in Lansing and political advocates began attacking the electoral process. 

Last month, state lawmakers passed a bill in the House along party lines to ban ranked choice voting. But even its Republican sponsor admitted that if voters approve it on the ballot, that would override the ban.

Nonetheless, state House Representative Rachelle Smit, who sponsored the legislation, says that ranked choice voting is confusing, and “only breeds skepticism, especially when every close contest invites lawsuits and recount battles.” 

How are the leaders behind ranked choice voting responding to this political fight — and what’s their plan to get it on the 2026 ballot?

Joe Spaulding, campaign director for Rank MI Vote, spoke with Robyn Vincent about why he believes ranked choice voting will make our system more, not less, democratic.

The Metro reached out to the group, Stop RCV and state House Rep. Rachelle Smit about why they’re against ranked choice voting. Rep. Smit directed us to her Detroit News column, which says ranked choice voting threatens election integrity. Stop RCV sent us a statement that “ranked-choice voting makes every part of the election process more difficult,” for both voters and election administrators. 

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Despite living in a hyper-connected internet world, connecting with others is often difficult to accomplish in the physical world. But the availability of parks and recreation centers can change that, removing friction that sometimes prevents people from bonding and creating new memories. 

That’s why the August opening of the Chandler Park Fieldhouse was significant. The domed facility features a turf sports field, track, multi-sports court, fitness area, lockers and showers. 

Why exactly do recreation centers allow people to connect? And, what is the city doing to construct more of them? 

Detroit’s General Services Director Crystal Perkins joined Robyn Vincent to discuss.

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In America, the average age of a homebuyer is 56. In Michigan, a variety of sources say that it’s closer to 40. But that’s still incredibly high when compared to the average age of homebuyers just a few decades ago.

The reason that people are buying homes later in life is because home prices have been rising exponentially. Many don’t have the money to buy homes, even when they want to. Affordable housing just isn’t around. 

But there is political support behind changing this trend. 

Just two days ago, Governor Gretchen Whitmer applauded the state’s housing agency for helping to build 75,000 new housing units over the last four years. And two weeks ago, a different organization proposed a plan to speed up home building and home repairs in the state. 

The Michigan Municipal League wants the state to spend $800 million over five years on affordable housing projects. 

Dan Gilmartin of the Michigan Municipal League spoke with Robyn Vincent about how the state should be expanding its investment in housing construction and rehabilitation.

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Can science and religion co-exist? Might they be able to do even more than that — can the two belief systems play off one another?

Brother Guy Consolmagno believes so. The man known as the Pope’s Astronomer works at the Vatican as both a scientist and a practicing Catholic. He makes it his mission to talk with people around the world about the ways that science and religion compliment each other.

Brother Guy grew up in Birmingham and went to University of Detroit Jesuit High School in Detroit, and he’s coming to Kensington Park in Milford on September 26th and 27th to give a talk on astronomy. 

Producer Sam Corey spoke with Brother Guy about what he does for the church, and why his faith empowers his science.

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Earlier this year, a University of Michigan student from China voted in November’s presidential election. He was part of a group of likely 16 noncitizens in Michigan who voted in that election.

That number accounts for a tiny fraction of the vote, less than .0003 percent. And those votes didn’t impact the 2024 November election results. 

But a number of people were upset by noncitizens voting. Last month, Republicans gathered to launch a ballot initiative to strengthen existing laws that ensure non-American citizens can’t vote in Michigan elections. To do that, their initiative would require voters to show photo identification to cast a ballot.

Many liberals, including Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, are against this measure. The voting official says, if passed, the initiative could suppress the vote. 

So what’s in this new measure? And, what case is Americans for Citizen Voting making to Michiganders to gather the hundreds of thousands of signatures needed to get on the 2026 ballot?

Producer Sam Corey spoke with Paul Jacob, Michigan chair of Americans for Citizen Voting.

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Nicole Melnyk is a comedian known for her energy and sharp wit. The Lansing native has performed at WDET’s What’s So Funny About Detroit event in the past, and now she’s headlining on August 28.

She joined Tia Graham to talk about what inspired her comedy, why she reps Lansing so hard, and her love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

You can buy tickets for next week’s Old Miami performance at this link.

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The race to electric vehicles is happening. That may be surprising for some when considering our political climate. 

President Donald Trump has reversed course on the electricity-forward Biden years. 

The new federal budget law will phase out tax credits for electric vehicles by the end of September. Congressional Republicans also eliminated penalties for companies that don’t comply with fuel economy standards. Those standards encouraged automakers to produce electric vehicles to offset the sale of gas-powered cars that emitted too much dirty energy.

But despite all this, Ford announced two weeks ago that it was charging ahead with its EV plans. The company announced the creation of a new electric vehicle production system to produce EVs more efficiently. Ford hopes to bring a $30,000 mid-size electric pick-up to market in two years. 

How might this plan turn out? And, can Ford and other American automakers outcompete China on EVs? 

John McElroy broadcasts three radio segments on WWJ, writes for Auto Blog and has a monthly column for Wards Auto. He spoke with Robyn Vincent.

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If you want to find bipartisanship, Lansing might not be the best place to look. The statehouse has been in gridlock with very few examples of the Democrats and Republicans working together to get bills passed this session.

A new budget still has not been passed, despite the statutorily-required deadline of July 1st. What’s more, only six laws have been passed in the last six months, meaning Michigan’s divided legislature is off to its slowest start in decades. 

But It turns out there’s room for negotiation when it comes to spending on kids and families.

Last week, the Michigan Senate Committee on Housing and Human Services held a hearing to discuss the expansion of Rx Kids, which offers women $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 a month during their child’s first year of life. 

One of the big supporters of Rx Kids is Republican state Senator John Damoose, who represents northern Michigan and the Eastern U.P. He says the bill making its way through the legislature celebrates kids and appropriately spends public and private funds. State Senator Damoose appreciates the program so much, he’s holding a press conference for the program this morning in Sault Ste Marie.

The program has been operating in the state senator’s district for about six months where it’s already distributed almost one million dollars to over 300 families.

Producer Sam Corey spoke with state Senator Damoose to discuss why he supports Rx Kids as a Republican, what the bill could do if it passed, and how he’s trying to overcome the partisanship choking Lansing.

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The Trump administration wants American museums to be less critical of our history. 

On Tuesday, the White House called for a “comprehensive internal review” of eight Smithsonian museums. They want institutions to celebrate American exceptionalism instead of discussing race and America’s racial history, and to avoid negatively discussing the president. 

Already, one Smithsonian museum changed its exhibit about President Donald Trump. It omitted that the president made false statements challenging his 2020 election loss, as well as a statement that said Trump delivered a speech encouraging lawless action at the Capitol. 

The current administration says it wants our museums to end partisanship and to “restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.” But many worry that, instead, the president is stoking an already-heated culture war and limiting free speech.

How should these museums respond to political pressure? How should American museums react to criticism and make appropriate changes? And, what is their role in critiquing and celebrating American life?

We asked Devon Akmon, Director of Michigan State University Museum and core faculty member in MSU’s Arts, Cultural Management & Museum Studies program for his perspective. 

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For years, pharmaceutical companies have pushed drugs onto people and doctors, increasing addiction rates and overdose deaths in Michigan and across the country.

Last month, a national settlement with Purdue Pharma created new funds for drug treatment in Michigan. The state is expected to receive $154 million over 15 years. The new funds will go to a larger pot of money from additional national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors. 

The money comes at a really pivotal time. Michigan is set to lose over $90 million from cuts to federal grants for substance use disorder programs, according to the Michigan Health and Human Services Department. 

Where will the state’s new opioid money go? And, what do we need to do to both prevent addiction deaths in the short run, and prevent addiction entirely in the long run?

Founder of The Recovery Collective in West Bloomfield Steve Norris joined Robyn Vincent to discuss.

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The Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township got one step closer to reopening after federal regulators allowed the plant’s owners to load fuel into the facility. Some reporting suggests that Holtec International plans to reopen the reactor by October.  

That move is part of a larger trend. 

In recent years, there’s been a lot more political energy behind opening nuclear reactors. During his time as president, Joe Biden unveiled a plan to ramp up America’s nuclear energy capacity. When he got into office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the goal of quadrupling nuclear power in 25 years. 

Many climate change defenders are divided on these decisions. That’s because nuclear energy could provide a ton of clean energy for Americans, but it also has the capacity to kill people and contaminate the earth. That’s why environmentalists have generally stood against the nuclear energy comeback. 

In order to assess nuclear energy in terms of risk and reward, journalist, editor, producer, and co-founder of Foxtopus Inc Laura Krantz joined the show.

She produced the 2022 podcast, “Wild Thing: Going Nuclear,” where she explored the possibilities and drawbacks of nuclear energy. Krantz spoke with Robyn Vincent about why she thinks nuclear energy is important — and what concerns her about nuclear reactors.

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The Detroit Land Bank Authority has made tremendous changes in Detroit since its conception in 2008. But without a subsidy from the city for the 2026 fiscal year and new leadership entering the conversation, the authority’s future is unclear.

Over almost two decades, the land bank has sold about 50,000 properties. That’s sometimes translated into less blight, more resident control over their own neighborhood, and more small-scale development projects. 

With over 60,000 properties left to be sold and the general mayoral election looming, many are asking: What should change about the land bank? And what should stay the same? 

Detroit Land Bank Authority CEO Tammy Daniels joined Robyn Vincent to discuss.

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When people left Detroit, the city lost a lot of momentum for development. Over the past decade, encouraging growth has often meant putting money toward large development projects in the Downtown area, including District Detroit and the Hudson’s building. These projects include a lot of money from private developers and subsidies from city residents. 

Since Detroit began increasing its population gain, smaller projects have gotten less attention. But executive director of Building Community Value Chase Cantrell wants to change that by assisting small-scale developers. 

Cantrell spoke with Robyn Vincent about why small-scale development projects matter. Namely, he wants local residents to have more autonomy over what happens to the businesses, vacant lots, and homes in their neighborhood.

Building Community Value is offering in-person real estate development trainings for residents in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck. Applications for the training close August 27th.

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Tuesday night, Detroit got the election results that the polls predicted. Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield took the bulk of the vote. Sheffield received more votes than Reverend Solomon Kinloch, who is in second. He’ll be competing against Sheffield in the general election. 

Detroit wasn’t the only place that had elections this week. There were mayoral contests in many suburbs, but many of them didn’t hold primaries because the sitting mayors in those cities are running unopposed. 

There were no mayoral primary elections in Westland, Dearborn, Grosse Pointe, Southgate and several other downriver communities. We don’t know why so many people are running unopposed and what it means for our democracy.

WDET’s Morning Edition host and Senior News Editor Pat Batcheller joined Robyn to make sense of the election results, and why many elections were not competitive.

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Billionaires and dark money political action committees dominated spending in the 2024 election cycle. One dark money political action committee contributed over $6 million toward supporting House Republicans.

A new coalition wants to curb the influence of corporate money in Michigan politics and unveil the source of political donations. 

“Michiganders for Money out of Politics” intends to create a ballot proposal to force state-level “dark money” advertisers to disclose their donors. They also want to block powerful entities from making political contributions, like large state government contractors and utility companies. The group plans to take its language to the state board of canvassers for approval this month.

Sean McBrearty is the vice chair of “Michiganders for Money out of Politics” and the Michigan Director for Clean Water Action. He joined Robyn Vincent to discuss the initiative.

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Universities have been cracking down on pro-Palestine student protestors. In April, the University of Michigan fired a full-time employee, and suspended four people from campus jobs for participating in pro-Palestine protests last year.

In Detroit, a number of students are pushing back against university charges. In June, a group filed a lawsuit against Wayne State University,  claiming the school violated the group’s constitutional right to protest in 2024. 

How should universities treat student protestors? And, what are the principles they should be defending? Frederick Lawrence is the Secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Society and a Distinguished Lecturer at Georgetown Law school. He’s also the former president of Brandeis University and regularly consults university presidents.

Lawrence spoke with The Metro’s Sam Corey to discuss how Universities should be handling current and future protests.

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