Detroiters are bracing themselves for another round of storms on Wednesday night.

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Area residents dealt with sleet and rain during their morning commutes as scattered thunderstorms moved through the region. The National Weather Service has placed most of metro Detroit under a Flood Watch from 8 p.m. Wednesday through Thursday morning, with risk of high winds, heavy rain, and the possibility of hail or an isolated tornado.

The heaviest rainfall is expected to develop overnight, with NWS estimating up to two inches of rain. That could lead to rising water levels in creeks and streams. Low-lying areas could be affected as well, and residents who have experienced flooding during past heavy rain events are encouraged to check their basements through the evening to make sure water isn’t backing up.

Temperatures will rise into the 60s during the evening hours.  

Other headlines for Wednesday, April 2, 2025:

• The city of Highland Park issued a boil water advisory for residents this week after receiving complaints about low water pressure over the weekend. Officials say they’ve been working to modernize the city’s system by replacing water mains and installing master meters in different parts of Highland Park.
• Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed is stepping down to “consider a future opportunity in Michigan,” after serving in the position for two years, County Executive Warren Evans announced in a news release Wednesday.
• State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) announced Wednesday that she is running for the U.S Senate seat that will be left open by outgoing Sen. Gary Peters.
• Detroiters are waiting to hear details about tariffs that President Donald Trump says he will implement Wednesday, on what he calls “Liberation Day.” Trump is expected to deliver late afternoon remarks about the subject in the White House Rose Garden. 

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

American Forests, the nation’s oldest conservation nonprofit, says Detroit has planted 25,000 trees since launching a local tree equity partnership in 2021 —part of a broader plan to plant 75,000 by 2027.

Benita Hussein, chief program officer of American Forests’ Tree Equity Program, says the initiative targets neighborhoods with fewer trees and higher exposure to extreme heat and respiratory illness.

“We’re talking about planting and maintaining trees in places where they historically have not existed,” Hussein said.

The program has been supported by federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act, which directed $1.5 billion to urban forestry initiatives nationwide. American Forests received $50 million of that funding, which Hussein says is being deployed in cities across the Midwest, including Detroit.

However, recent changes by the Trump administration have led to the cancellation of several federal environmental justice grants, including those increasing urban forestry in the U.S.

Hussein acknowledged the “turbulence” coming from the federal level but said the organization remains committed to its work.

“We are certainly keeping an eye on all of the different sort of guidance and turbulence… and we’re in it with all of our partners,” she said.

The Detroit partnership includes local conservation groups like the Greening of Detroit. Hussein says the effort also includes training 500 Detroiters in tree care and maintenance to ensure the long-term health of the city’s growing canopy.

Soon all U.S. airlines will require REAL ID-compliant ID to board a domestic flight.

Transportation Security Administration spokesperson Jessica Mayle the requirement starts May 7. “Every air traveler 18 years of age and older must have a REAL ID-compliant ID. TSA is working to avoid checkpoint delays by encouraging all travelers to get their Real IDs now,” said Mayle.

Travelers without one could be delayed.

The federal REAL ID Act of 2005, passed in response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, requires higher standards for identification starting this year. The requirements apply to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.

Upgrading a standard license or ID to a REAL ID is free in Michigan if done during the normal renewal period. Otherwise, a card correction fee of $9 for a driver’s license or $10 for an ID is charged.

When applying for a REAL ID, you will need to bring:

• Your driver’s license or ID
• Your Social Security Number
• Your certified birth certificate
• Your valid, U.S. passport (or an approved citizenship or legal presence document)

Because it can take weeks to receive it in the mail, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson encouraged those needing a REAL ID to apply soon.

Circle with star design: Standard REAL ID-compliant licenses and IDs will display a star in a gold circle in the upper right corner.

Michigan silhouette with star design: Standard REAL ID-compliant licenses and IDs will display a star in a silhouette of Michigan in the upper right corner.

Enhanced licenses and IDs are automatically REAL ID-compliant, regardless of whether they display the star.

Michiganders in need of a REAL ID can obtain one by going to Michigan.gov/REALID to schedule an appointment. The system will guide them through documents required.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said more than 73% of people with a Michigan driver’s license or ID have already upgraded to a REAL ID.

The new state law that lifts Michigan’s 38-year-old ban on paid surrogate pregnancy contracts took effect Monday.

Michigan banned the practice after a Dearborn attorney gained nationwide notoriety in the 1980s for arranging surrogate contracts.

Surrogate parenting was new, controversial and misunderstood when it first became an option, said Stephanie Jones with the Michigan Fertility Alliance.

“And I really think people have changed their outlook on this significantly since then and it’s just become more of a norm,” she told Michigan Public Radio. “People have become more aware of infertility and the need for assisted reproduction to grow your family. So, I think it’s just become more palatable over the years and we, of course, want to be able to support people who need this to grow their families.”

The newly effective laws outline the legal rights and obligations of all parties to a surrogate arrangement. That includes automatic parental rights for couples without having to adopt after a child is born.

Advocates say that makes the arrangements enforceable and predictable. But some conservatives and faith groups say the development is not a welcome one.

Michigan Catholic Conference Vice President for Public Policy and Advocacy Tom Hickson said the church believes infertile couples should consider foster parenting or adoption. He said allowing surrogates to be paid will lead to exploiting vulnerable young women.

“That was the No. 1 amendment that we tried to get in was to strike the compensation aspect of this,” he said. “I mean that just really minimizes the dignity of motherhood and childbirth into a sale and delivery mechanism.”

Michigan joins the vast majority of U.S. states in allowing compensated surrogacy contracts.

The city of Detroit is inviting residents to take part in a series of “policy workshops” this month as part of its master plan for the future.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Plan Detroit is three-phase planning process informed by resident feedback that is expected to conclude with implementation of the new collaborative policies by 2026.

According to the city, the Michigan planning enabling act (MPEA) recommends cities update their master plans every 10 years, and Detroit’s master plan has not been comprehensively updated since 2009.

The upcoming events are intended to provide an “interactive” opportunity to work with city planners to create practical policies that address real concerns for Detroiters.

Sessions will take place at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 12, and at 5:30 p.m. April 14-16.  All sessions will be held at the Joseph Walker Williams Community Center at 8431 Rosa Parks Blvd., Detroit. Topics will include Neighborhoods & Housing, Open Space & Environment, Arts & Culture; and Mobility & Jobs.

For more information and to register to attend, visit plandetroit.com. 

Other headlines for Tuesday, April 1, 2025:

• Detroit firefighters are trying to find out what caused an apartment building on the city’s west side to explode. The Detroit Fire Department is also apologizing for an emergency alert that went out to cellphones throughout metro Detroit around 6 a.m. Monday morning notifying people about the blast. 
• American Forests says its urban tree planting partnership in Detroit has helped add more than 25,000 trees to the city since 2021.
• Billionaire Dan Gilbert’s real estate empire is growing. Rocket Companies has acquired competitor Mr. Cooper Group Inc. in an all-stock deal worth about $9.5 billion. Last week, Rocket bought another competitor, Redfin, for roughly $1.7 billion.
• Gas prices rose sharply overnight, with AAA Michigan reporting drivers paid an average of $3.25 a gallon for regular unleaded — 10 cents more than yesterday.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Interlochen Public Radio on March 31, 2025.

Relief from a brutal ice storm — which left thousands without power across Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula — could be a few days off yet, according to forecasts.

Police officers are using chain saws to clear roadways.

Gas stations are unable to pump fuel because the power is out.

And warming centers are open as cold temperatures persist.

These are just a few of the effects of a massive ice storm that has brought parts of northern Michigan to a standstill.

Temperatures are expected to stay near or below freezing through Wednesday across much of the region, which means there won’t be a lot of melting any time soon. The nearest warmup is expected Thursday, with temperatures in the low-to-mid 40s.

Meteorologists are describing the weekend’s ice storm as historic.

“Mid- to southern Michigan received a pretty nasty ice storm in 1976,” said Sean Christensen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord. “That’s honestly the only one we could find that was nearly this widespread and damaging.”

Christensen said even some National Weather Service employees had to sleep at the weather station due to road blockages and power outages.

“We had the perfect setup for northern Michigan to see reports of almost an inch or over of ice,” Christensen said.

That perfect weather setup is exceptionally rare.

“You have to have a lot of cold air to the north and then a lot of warm, moist air coming up from the south,” said Marty Baxter, a professor of meteorology at Central Michigan University. “It’s unusual to have those two things so close together for a significant period of time.”

The warm, moist air from the south is less dense, Baxter said, and sat on top of freezing surface temperatures. Rain fell from that warm system above, then froze as it accumulated in the cold system.

Though responders are working to restore power and clear roads, northern Michiganders might not be out of the woods yet.

“Upcoming weather-wise, we still have a couple things that normally wouldn’t be a big deal” but could make an already bad situation worse, said Christensen, with the National Weather Service in Gaylord.

Temperatures are expected to drop Monday night, raising concern about freezing pipes and cold conditions in homes without power.

Another round of mixed precipitation could come through midweek.

“Sleet, snow, and we can’t even rule out freezing rain,” Christensen said. “We’re not expecting accumulations nearly as bad, but nonetheless, it’s still going to be poor roadway conditions.”

The National Weather Service is urging people to remain in place at home or at a warming shelter unless absolutely necessary.

Extreme winds and thunderstorms in southern Michigan caused damage to homes and power lines there, too, which could slow repairs across the state.

Keeping up with it all

The storm has brought much of life to a standstill in the area, with school and business closures. McLaren Health said its outpatient clinics are closed, though emergency departments remain open and fully functional.

In Wolverine, just off I-75’s Exit 301, officials moved a warming center from the fire department to the local high school, because of high demand.

Police officers were using chainsaws to help clear downed trees from roadways and other areas.

And emergency responders were inundated with calls for help.

“We’ve responded to almost 80 calls in the last 48 hours,” said Allie Ronk, a dispatcher with the Little Traverse Bay Band tribal police who was volunteering at the Wolverine Fire Department on Monday morning. “There are some years we respond to under 100 calls. The sheer volume is more than our area can take, and we’re still getting repeat calls.”

The biggest concern was fuel, with many gas stations out of power and unable to pump gas for vehicles and generators.

“Stay home, stay safe,” Ronk said, or go to a warming station if needed.

Meanwhile, hundreds of utility crews were working across Michigan to get the lights back on following storms that encased the northern Lower Peninsula in ice, and severe thunderstorms that raked across southern Michigan on Sunday night.

In northern Michigan, several inches of ice added enormous strain to electrical lines and power poles, or snapped branches and toppled trees, bringing down power lines and making roads impassible. People are asked to stay off the roads if possible.

Consumers Energy says it is on track to have power restored in many places by Tuesday, with another day needed for the harder hit areas.

But some damage will be longer lasting.

Radio station WKHQ lost its tower in the storm. The 600-foot broadcast antenna collapsed.

Private residences also experienced damage from falling trees and limbs.

IPR will continue to update this story as we learn more.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is preparing
metro Detroiters for the upcoming reconstruction of I-94.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The “Restore 94” project, which will begin early next year, is a $353 million overhaul of 12.7 miles of freeway in the communities of Allen Park, Dearborn Heights, Dearborn, Romulus and Taylor and Melvindale — from east of I-275 to west of Michigan Avenue.

MDOT held two public information sessions Downriver this week about the project, where residents shared concerns about construction noise and increased traffic. MDOT says studies are
being done to see how both could be mitigated.

At least two eastbound and westbound lanes of I-94 will be open during the construction, but occasional closures may occur, MDOT said.

The Restore 94 project comes as reconstruction of I-696
has eastbound traffic shutdown from
M-10 to I-75. That closure will last until 2027.

Other headlines for Friday, March 28, 2025:

• The nonprofit Focus: HOPE is partnering with Skilltrade and Detroit at Work to offer a medical assistant training program beginning Saturday, March 29. Eligible candidates must
 have a high school diploma/GED, be 18 years old or older, and
have reliable transportation. Space is limited.
• Arab Women United is accepting artist submissions for their
Arab Heritage Art Celebration in April.
 The event, held during Arab American Heritage
Month, will showcase the creativity of Arab artists. The lineup
 includes live-art performances, henna-drawing opportunities,
 poetry, music and more.
• Madness is still taking over March with the NCAA March
Madness tournament and two hometown favs. The Michigan
State Spartans and the University of Michigan Wolverines have two big match ups Friday night that you can watch at Parlay Detroit.
They are having a watch party that will last until 2 a.m., with live entertainment by DJ Trust. Tip off for the Michigan State-Ole Miss game is at 7:09 p.m.
Tip off for the University of Michigan-Auburn game is at 9:30 p.m.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Editor’s Note: This story is part four of a new four-part series from WDET’s Nargis Rahman called, “Shustho: Mind, Body, and Spirit,” exploring health care and health care access for Bangladeshi women.

Ayesha Tanjum moved to the U.S. about two years ago with her husband, an international student. Shortly after, she learned she was pregnant.  

“It was really tough for me in Michigan, because I didn’t have any friends or relatives around, and I was struggling to make friends,” she said. 

Tanjum said she was having mood swings due to hormonal changes and a complicated pregnancy.

“I had loneliness, frustrations, fear, anxiety, and I was alone. So I had a hyper, hypertension that time. And in the last time, my doctor figured it out that my baby’s baby’s growth is restricted,” she explained. 

Tanjum says she ultimately got the care and support she needed. She also read books to learn more about maternal health and nutrition, and began reaching out to old friends and connecting with new ones. That helped to improve her mental health. 

Speaking about mental health remains a taboo subject for many Bangladeshi women. 

Shuhrat Choudhury is a Bangladeshi American mental health counselor. She says stigma is the biggest reason many women don’t seek care — especially in older generations.

“I would be contacted by their sons, their daughters, their daughter-in-laws, that we need help for our mom or, like the older generation, but they are not OK. Like, they just, it’s that stigma around mental health, they go, ‘I’m not crazy,’” she said.  

Choudhury says younger Bangladeshi Americans struggle with navigating between American individuality and the Bangladeshi culture’s collective family expectations, in which personal boundaries do not exist in the same way in Bangladeshi culture.  

“When I transition to working someone with from our community, I have to find that balance. I just can’t advise them to move out, because you know that’s just not how it works in our culture,” she said. “I might use that terminology, but as long I’m explaining in our culture, it might not be feasible exactly the definition, but maybe a different version of it.” 

Choudhury said affordability is another barrier which can keep people from getting mental health care services. 

“Not a lot of our community members have access to better insurance plans, or they’re not financially stable. That when mixed with that stigma that we’re already trying to overcome, one obstacle on top of it, if it’s not financially feasible, then that just creates more delay in getting that help,” she added. 

There’s also a shortage of Bangla or Bengali speaking mental health professionals.  

“The need is much more than I could have ever anticipated, so I hope that more people join this field, from our community, and there is a need, and we desperately need to fill that.”

– Shuhrat Choudhury, Bangladeshi American mental health counselor

“I have been reached out by people from out of state, like someone in Michigan worked with me and their mom, brother, sister, someone’s like in Texas, but they just can’t find someone Bengali there,” she said.

Choudhury says she didn’t know there was such a need until she entered the field. She says she made that choice, in part, to give back to the community. 

“The need is much more than I could have ever anticipated,” she said. “So I hope that more people join this field, from our community, and there is a need, and we desperately need to fill that.”

Like Choudhury, Fariha Ghazi entered the mental health field to provide culturally competent care. Ghazi is a psychiatric physician assistant in Grand Rapids, who lives in the metro Detroit area and has telehealth options. 

She said she frequently sees Bangladeshi women struggling with anxiety, which manifests as physical symptoms first. 

“When they go see their general primary care provider, they’re often treated for things like stomach pain or acid reflux or, given sleep medication to help with sleep, a kind of root cause of a lot of those physical symptoms, it tends to be what I see being anxiety and trying to get them treatment for it,” she said. 

Ghazi says many women hesitate to discuss their mental health. She takes a creative approach to uncovering their struggles. 

“If someone has children, you know, I’d maybe ask her what are things that she thinks about in terms of her children, so if she’s always kind of like jumping to worst case scenarios, like thinking something bad’s going to happen to her child, or she kind of expresses that in our session, I’ll kind of note that as being, part of her symptoms.”  

Many women are also hesitant to take medication due to cultural taboos surrounding mental health treatment.

Ghazi said there is cultural taboo around taking medications to treat mental health, and part of her role is to explain treatment options and encourage self-advocacy, which she said plays a role in coverage. 

“If someone’s not fully aware of the terminology or what’s out there as resources, they’re not likely to get the health care that they need. They’re also much more willing to just kind of not question medical providers either. They’ll, be more complacent in their care,” she said. 

Choudhury and Ghazi say mental health is a vital part of caring for Bangladeshi women. They see a growing need for more Bangladeshi mental health professionals to serve their community.  

For now, they are using their language skills, cultural awareness, and lived experiences to provide better care. 

Read more from this series:

• Free health clinic aims to close insurance gap for Bangladeshi women in southeast Michigan  
• Bangladeshi women rely on culturally competent care for better health outcomes
• How language access affects health care for Bangladeshi women in Michigan

The University of Michigan is closing its office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and shutting down diversity initiatives campuswide, in response to executive orders from the Trump administration and internal discussions on campus.

The moves were announced in a campus-wide email from university President Santa Ono and other top leaders Thursday afternoon.

The changes will also affect the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion at Michigan Medicine.

In the email, university leaders acknowledged the diversity initiatives had been successful on some measures.

“First-generation undergraduate students, for example, have increased 46% and undergraduate Pell recipients have increased by more than 32%, driven in part by impactful programs such as Go Blue Guarantee and Wolverine Pathways,” the email read. “The work to remove barriers to student success is inherently challenging, and our leadership has played a vital role in shaping inclusive excellence throughout higher education.”

The University of Michigan has frequently been at the center of conversations about diversity on college campuses; it was the defendant in two lawsuits that reached the Supreme Court in 2003, resulting in rulings that partially struck down affirmative action programs on campus at the time.

Last year, the New York Times reported on UM’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, saying the university had poured more than a quarter of a billion dollars into the programs since 2016, but many critics remained on campus.

In 2023, the university launched what it called its DEI 2.0 strategic plan, which was announced as a five-year plan to run through 2028. On Thursday, the university announced it would abandon the plan, as part of the other cuts to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs on campus. It said it would also update university websites to remove mentions of the DEI efforts.

In a post on the social media site “X”, university regent Sarah Hubbard said cutting the DEI offices on campus would free up money to spend on other student programs.

Today the University of Michigan is ending implementation of DEI.

We are eliminating programs, eliminating affiliated staff and ending the DEI 2.0 strategy.

Late last year we ended the use of diversity statements in faculty hiring. This is now expanded university wide and…

— Sarah Hubbard, Regent @umich (@RegentHubbard) March 27, 2025

“We are eliminating bureaucratic overspending and making Michigan more accessible,” Hubbard wrote, citing the expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee scholarship program, which had previously been announced by the university.

Editor’s note: The University of Michigan holds Michigan Public’s broadcast license.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Think about the last place you were in public. It could have been the grocery store, on the bus, or in the waiting room at the dentist.

If you did manage to strike up a conversation with a stranger, how did it make you feel? While it might be uncomfortable, it turns out there are benefits to connecting with strangers, people you may not know. 

There is mounting research that suggests that having real-life interactions with other people is good for our health and happiness. In 2023, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory warning that isolation poses a health risk equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Today on The Metro, we’re talking to some experts and getting to know some strangers on the phones. 

Guests: 

• Kayla Perry: Marketing and communications manager at the Detroit Area Agency on Aging. She joined us to talk about the importance of in-person conversation and community for seniors. 
• Nick Epley: He’s a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Epley has authored numerous articles on the ways we interact with each other and he co-authored an influential study on talking to strangers that produced interesting results.

We also asked listeners:

“Are you one of those people who seeks out conversations with strangers? Or do you avoid them?”

Joe in Rochester Hills says when he talks to strangers, “You get a smiley face, you get a happy look almost always.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

More stories from The Metro on March 27, 2025: 

• President Donald Trump announced this week that he will place 25% tariffs on auto imports — including autos coming from Canada. WDET’s All Things Considered host and Senior News Editor Russ McNamara crossed the border into Canada to find out how Windsorites are reacting to tariffs and Trump’s idea of annexing our northern neighbor.

• A new exhibition at Detroit boutique Coup D’état is honoring the life and work of photographer Bill Rauhauser, known as “the dean of Detroit photography.” Coup D’état Owner Angela Wisniewski-Cobbina joined The Metro to discuss the exhibit, held in partnership with Hill Gallery in Birmingham.

• The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has approved a rate hike for Consumers Energy, allowing the utility to collect an additional $154 million in revenue. State regulators already approved rate hikes for both DTE and Consumers Energy in the past year. Metro Producer Cary Junior II spoke to Michigan Public Service Commission member Katherine Peretick to better understand how the commission decides to sign off on price hikes.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced Thursday that over 90 percent of the families displaced by the water main break and subsequent flooding in Southwest Detroit have returned to their homes.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The city has replaced 125 furnaces and 126 hot water heaters in affected homes, with just a few left that need replacing.

Resident Deanna Dooley has lived on Rowan Street for 20 years. She says she was impressed with the response from the city.

“When we woke up in the middle of the night, none of us knew what we were going to do,” she said. “But within 24 hours, at least we all felt safe again. We weren’t whole, but we were safe.”

Dooley says her furnace, hot water heater and all the electrical wiring in her basement were replaced and her family is back in their home.

Homeowners who still need to make a claim have until Thursday, April 3 to file. Duggan says the emergency hotline for repairs will be discontinued on Sunday. Anyone who still needs help can call 877-311-3664. The Notice of Claim form can be found in English and Spanish at detroitmi.gov. 

Other headlines for Thursday, March 27, 2025:

• President Donald Trump announced yesterday  25 percent tariffs on cars and light duty trucks imported into the US. That will have an impact on Detroit’s Big Three automakers. Ford Motor Company has three plants in Mexico, and reportedly sent roughly 176,000 cars from there to the US just in the first half of 2024. General Motors imported about 750,000 vehicles into the US from Canada or Mexico last year. Stellantis also has assembly plants in Mexico and Canada. Congresswoman Debbie Dingle supports the tariffs, but says car companies and suppliers need time to adjust to them. She says while the tariffs could bring companies back to the US, it won’t happen overnight.
• Detroit City Councilmember Fred Durhal is hosting a career support and opportunities event for returning citizens. The Dress for Success resource fair will provide professional support and other help to returning citizens in Detroit. Residents can pick up donated business casual attire, receive help writing resumes and get interview etiquette training. The event will be Friday, March 28 from 2–4 p.m. at Covenant Community Care on 17625 Joy Road. To register and learn more, visit @freddurhal3 on Instagram.
• Signup for the Plan Detroit Policy Workshops is now open. The workshops allow Detroit residents to sound off on decisions that will affect Detroit neighborhoods, environment, culture, transportation and economy. Participants will sit in on guided discussions, collaborate with residents and work directly with city planners to develop policy recommendations. Workshops begin on Saturday, April 12 at the Joseph Walker Williams Community Center. To register, visit plandetroit.com.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has approved a rate hike for Consumers Energy, allowing the utility to collect an additional $154 million in revenue.

This amount is significantly lower than the $325 million originally requested by the company. Starting in April, the average monthly bill for Consumers Energy customers will increase by $2.78.

This approval comes after rate hikes for both DTE and Consumers Energy were granted in the past year. According to a report by the Center for Biological Diversity, DTE now has some of the highest energy costs in the Great Lakes region. The report also raised concerns about the need for rate increases, especially after it was revealed that DTE earned $1.1 billion in net income in the first nine months of 2024.

Today on The Metro Katherine Peretick, a member of the Michigan Public Service Commission, spoke about the commission’s decision-making process. She explained that utilities must submit detailed cases, which are reviewed by interveners and the commission. If a decision isn’t reached within 10 months, the utility automatically receives the requested rate increase. Peretick emphasized that commission decisions must be based on technical evidence, not personal opinions.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

More stories from The Metro on Thursday, March 27, 2025.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Using hostages as bargaining chips remains a favorite tactic of some nations and terrorist groups.

Negotiating their release is often tricky.

It took seven countries cooperating last summer for the U.S. and Russia to complete the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War.

Among those exchanged was 55-year-old former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

But since returning home, the Michigan native says he’s still felt trapped.

Only this time it’s in a web of governmental bureaucracy.

The long-delayed return 

Concerns about resuming life in the U.S. seemed very far away for Paul Whelan last August, when a swarm of media trained their cameras on the small plane delivering him home.

It had just touched down at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C. amid a small crowd where some had waited years for this moment.

Whelan was the first to emerge from the aircraft. Tall, light-haired, wearing glasses and the dirty clothing he had on when Russia first detained him years ago, which guards had stored away until now.

He steadied himself on the hand railings of the steps leading from the plane, weak from malnourishment after years in a Russian labor camp.

Then he snapped-off a crisp salute to the figure waiting for him.

It was then-President Joe Biden, who embraced Whelan. After several conversations between the two, in an impromptu moment, Biden removed his American flag lapel pin and handed it to the former U.S. Marine.

Announcers on CNN noted that Whelan waved to the crowd on the tarmac. And, they said, “America waved back.”

Imprisoned by the system

Whelan now says, in some ways, it was a wave goodbye.

“What we found is that once your home, you’re actually on your own. The attention turns on the next guy that’s still locked-up somewhere abroad,” he said.

Whelan had returned from a Russian labor camp, wrongfully detained for five years, seven months and five days on false espionage charges.

The government spent a few weeks checking his medical and psychological condition, then released him.

Whelan says he was not in great physical shape.

His former employer, BorgWarner, had dropped him as its director of global security after the first year he was detained by Russia.

That also meant losing his medical insurance at a crucial time for Whelan in the prison camp.

“I had a hernia that needed surgery and then I was unemployed. I didn’t have the means to pay for a private operation,” Whelan said, adding that Russia wouldn’t act until his case was dire. “I basically had to wait until I had to have emergency surgery.”

Back home in Michigan, Whelan needed some kind of immediate income.

But he found that since he had not had a job in Michigan recently, he did not qualify for unemployment.

“Because the laws were written so specifically, my situation falls outside the cookie cutter. I was working but I was working in a Russian labor camp. And apparently that doesn’t count,” he said.

A member of Congress had to contact Michigan’s Secretary of State just for Whelan to get a driver’s license and identification.

And being convicted of a crime in Russia, even a crime the U.S. government declared was bogus, created problems.

“When I applied for a renewal of my global entry card, which comes from Customs and Border patrol, I had a hard time with them,” Whelan said. “Because they kept focusing on the fact that, ‘You were arrested and you were imprisoned overseas.’ And I said, ‘Yeah and look at the pictures of the president meeting me at Andrews Air Force Base when I came back.

Strangest of all, he says, was when he tried to get full Medicaid coverage through the state.

“I had a letter back that said I didn’t qualify because I wasn’t a U.S. citizen. It makes you scratch your head, to be quite honest. How could somebody have sent that to me? But they did. And I said ‘You can just Google my name right now.’”

Whelan is actually a citizen of four countries.

He was born in Canada to parents who hailed from the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland. He moved to the U.S. as a child.

A law without funding

It’s not supposed to be that difficult for returning hostages.

Congress created the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act specifically to provide medical and other help to them and their families for five years after their release.

But it’s never been funded.

Michigan U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens says there’s a bipartisan effort to add that appropriation.

“We need to do that. That’s next phase. Someone like Paul Whelan, five and a half years taken from him, if he was wrongfully imprisoned in the United States he’d arguably get compensation. Paul Whelan right now is living off of a GoFundMe. And it’s unacceptable. And it’s wrong,” she said.

Stevens says the latest Defense reauthorization bill did include money to strengthen sanctions against countries who take hostages and help families who lobby for a loved one’s release.

Whelan helped lobby for those changes.

He says he’s also pressing for the Social Security Administration to cover retirement payments hostages lost while detained.

He’s talked with various government entities about the need for better communication among agencies dealing with wrongfully detained Americans.

Ironically, for someone falsely painted as an espionage agent, Whelan has even been a featured guest at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

He discussed his firsthand experience of dealing with Russian security forces and Moscow’s prison system.

Putting the puzzle pieces together

Paul Whelan scraped the last of his soup from a bowl on a modest table in the Manchester Diner, named for the small Michigan village about 60 miles away from Detroit.

Whelan lives there now with his elderly parents.

The former Marine said he’s contacted several organizations that help veterans.

But except for a bit of assistance from a Boston group affiliated with Harvard, the rest have turned him down because his captivity as a hostage was not related to his military service.

So Whelan said he is literally depending on the kindness of strangers in his community.

Auto dealers from the area offered him a leased vehicle.

Private practitioners have provided him with some medical and dental help.

Even the Manchester Diner’s owner, Leslie Kirkland, stopped by his table with a job tip, saying that one of her regular customers runs a cyber security company that might fit Whelan’s employment expertise.

“I’ll try to talk to him this weekend, I know he’ll come in for chicken waffles. I can see if he’s got something for you or he can put you in the right direction for something,” she said.

Whelan smiled and thanked her, then glanced at his phone, receiving a message from another former hostage, Mark Swidan, who was recently released by China.

He’s one of several detainees who Whelan says regularly text each other, seeking advice and encouragement.

“It’s a small community but we keep in touch,” he said. “Sort of like a group of misfit toys. Ha!”

Whelan said he’s also remained in contact with some still incarcerated at the Russian labor camp where he was held.

The prisoners use the kind of burner phones Whelan did when he talked surreptitiously with U.S. government officials, he said, though the phones aren’t technically allowed at the prison.

But, Whelan says, they are still easy to obtain with a cigarette slipped to the right guard or warden.

“We practice English. And I have family and friends in other countries that are helping to send over-the-counter medications and things into Russia to go to my friends in the camps. That’s helping keep them healthy,” he said.

Whelan is also keenly aware of his own physical, financial and emotional health.

“The reality is that when you get off the plane, you find that your former life isn’t there. The homes that we’ve left are not the homes that we come back to. It’s a process of putting puzzle pieces together yourself.”

–Paul Whelan

He remembers hearing that returning from a hostage situation is akin to having held your breath underwater, then suddenly rising to the surface and gasping for air.

“The reality is that when you get off the plane, you find that your former life isn’t there,” Whelan said. “The homes that we’ve left are not the homes that we come back to. It’s a process of putting puzzle pieces together yourself.”

Whelan wants to help the government develop new methods to support the next returning hostages.

Then, he says, maybe his over half-a-decade in the darkest corners of the Russian prison system will count for more than just time taken away from him.

Organizers and volunteers of the Muslim Foster Care Association (MFCA) hosted a buffet-style meal and celebration for its third annual Ramadan iftar, bringing Muslim foster youth and families together.

Iftar is the meal where Muslims break their fast during Ramadan.

There was a row of savory food from the halal restaurant Sukho Thai in Dearborn Heights, and a table full of sweet treats like knafeh and enormous Macadamia cookies.

MFCA Co-founder Sameena Zahoor welcomed the attendees. 

“I want to thank the families and the foster parents and the families are helping the foster parents and the foster youth that are here today,” she said.

Many Muslims spend time fasting, praying, and doing extra worship with a community during Ramadan. However, many Muslim foster children in Michigan end up spending Ramadan in non-Muslim foster homes — alone. 

MFCA wanted to provide a space for the youth to be in community with others.

Salifu Mahmoud previously lived in a non-Muslim home as a foster youth since resettling from Ghana about three years ago. He now lives in independent housing in Canton. 

He says fasting during Ramadan is an important part of his religious practices.

“Living with someone who is not like Muslim, like foster care, it’s kind of hard in Ramadan,” he shared.

Mahmoud says his former foster care provider was unaware of his religion or obligations during Ramadan — such as waking up early to eat suhoor, the morning meal before fasting, or praying Taraweeh in congregation at a mosque during Ramadan nights. 

This year Mahmoud is staying with a Muslim family during Ramadan, allowing him to experience the familial and communal practices of the month.

“Since I moved to America, this is my best Ramadan,” he said, reflecting that it reminds him of his Ramadans in Africa. “They [his Muslim foster parents] treat me like their kids, showing me love.” 

At the iftar, Tonja Baker, a therapist who works for Whaley Children’s Center in Flint, came to learn more about MFCA.

“I was connected through this program for one of our youth at the campus, and managed to be able to bring her down and have her enjoy, you know, Iftar, and be able to just meet and greet with the other families that are here,” she said.

It’s important for the staff to learn culturally competent care to provide services or Muslim youth, Baker said, and the center tries to link Muslim youth to mosques in the area, but resources are scarce.

In addition to the iftar, MFCA passed out Ramadan 215 baskets filled with goodies like dates, halal marshmallows, and a Target gift card to Muslim foster youth in Michigan. 

Shereen Abunada, director of operations at MFCA, says she’s been working to increase the number of Muslim foster parents, but many are feeling burnout.

“That happens when parents have a placement that doesn’t go as well as they had hoped,” she said.

There are about 10 licensed Muslim foster families for the state’s 250 Muslim foster youth, 50 more than last year.

Abunada says the number of Muslim youth in the system has increased. In anticipation of potentially changing immigration policies, resettlement agencies recently expedited travel for Muslim foster youth from West African countries.

“So we’ve had an influx of about 50 to 70 youth that have just recently arrived in the in the past couple months,” she said.

Abunada says unaccompanied refugee minors feel vulnerable.

“A lot of them are also just the fear of being deported, the fear of being targeted. A lot of these kids are just by themselves, kind of going back to their own, their home countries, or trying to find other places to be,” she said.

Abunada says organizations and agencies are working to protect the children.

Hosting the iftar was one way to create a community for the foster youth, as they navigate the next steps in their journeys.

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Editor’s note: A previous version of the story incorrectly referred to Culture Crate as a nonprofit organization. Culture Crate is a for-profit social venture.

Woman-owned small business Culture Crate is working on a campaign to encourage education on Palestinian cultural traditions. The campaign is accessible through Kickstarter, where people can purchase Nabulsi saboon (soap) making kits.

“One fear with any cultural heritage practice is if you lose the practice, could we then lose the knowledge about it,” said Culture Crate CEO Nadine Zaza.

Saboon making did not just contribute a product to the world, but also advancements in chemistry and language. Zaza explained that Culture Crate’s mission is to preserve these cultural practices, and that her experience as a design educator helped her realize that the “most influential, most important ways for students, and for, really, people and anyone to really engage intentionally with culture and with knowledge is to do it yourself.”

In this way, the saboon making kit encourages preservation of Palestinian cultural traditions through an educational and interactive process.

Saboon making is a cultural practice that has existed in Nablus, Palestine for centuries. In 2024, it was inscribed in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This list recognizes non-physical heritage practices around the world as a way to highlight global culturally diverse creativity.

The saboon making kits include everything needed for the process, including silicone molds, gloves, safety goggles, sodium hydroxide and Palestinian olive oil, as well as educational pamphlets illustrating the history of saboon making and booklets explaining the importance of cultural preservation.

Palestinian soap making kits is Culture Crate’s first campaign, but they hope to expand by focusing future campaigns on other heritage practices from other parts of the Arab world.

Editor’s Note: This story is part three of a new four-part series from WDET’s Nargis Rahman called, “Shustho: Mind, Body, and Spirit,” exploring health care and health care access for Bangladeshi women.

The Health Unit on Davison Avenue in Detroit (HUDA Clinic) is the largest free health care clinic in Wayne County. It serves uninsured and underinsured patients helping about 5,000 patients annually.

Nurse Practitioner Joann Harrison says about 30% of HUDA’s patients are Bangladeshi women. She says many struggle with mental health and chronic conditions due to lack of access to regular care. 

“There are problems with hypertension and diabetes. I just see a wide variety of issues, a lot of it has to do with not knowing how to manage or not having the resources to manage issues,” she said. 

Within that care, Harrison says Bangladeshi women are more receptive to female health care providers. 

“I think they’re more open to talk with us. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case that we have female providers available or female translators available, but I do feel that when there is someone present, there is more openness, more freedom to speak with us,” she explained. 

The clinic also provides interpreters and translated educational materials. 

Harrison, who is Black, said she is learning more about Bangladeshi culture, including about food and family values, to better serve her patients. “I’m learning all the time about how to help them, especially the women, to better care for themselves and what issues affect them.”  

Dr. Nashita Molla is a Bangladeshi American physician who volunteers at the HUDA Clinic. Part of her care is educating Bangladeshi women about preventive care. 

“In Bangladesh there isn’t a whole lot of cancer screening, so patients don’t have a PCP that they go to continuously and get colonoscopies every 10 years, or pap smears every three to five years,” she said.

Molla said having more Bangladeshi doctors and health care providers who are women could improve care for Bangladeshi women patients. 

“If I’m not there, or, you know, another female Bengali provider is not there, or then they’re not going to be as open with those other providers. They might not do those tests because they don’t understand why they need those things,” she shared. 

Molla said there’s a need for more free clinics and educational materials in Bengali, such as informational videos on diabetes and hypertension, which are rampant among Bangladeshis.  

“I think it helps if there’s another Bengali female saying, like, ‘hey we gotta cut down the portions of how much they’re eating, and cut down on the fried foods, and it’ll mean a lot more coming from them than it would like any other culture,” she said.

Like some patients served at HUDA Clinic, some Bangladeshi women end up in the Emergency Room for primary care because they don’t have adequate insurance.  

Dr. Farjana Alam is an emergency medicine physician who works at several hospitals in metro Detroit.  

She says socioeconomic barriers contribute to these challenges. 

“Poverty is higher in our people. I’ve seen lack of education is higher. And so I think that also plays into effect with all the health literacy gaps which then leads to like issues with chronic illnesses and not having an overall, as great of a health outcomes as, like other people,” she said.  

Alam grew up helping her immigrant parents navigate the health care system.  As a result, she said she understands firsthand how having limited resources affects one’s health.  

Social determinants of health, factors such as limited English proficiency, inadequate insurance and needing help with transportation can make a big difference in health outcomes, she said. 

“You can’t compare someone like a white female from a family who has all the resources in the world, who has all the money in the world, her health outcomes, to this Bangladeshi female who barely finished school, who has all these financial constraints over her; like you can’t compare those health outcomes,” she said.  

Alam said despite these barriers, Bangladeshi women in metro Detroit are empowering themselves by learning English, learning how to drive, and educating their children to assist them to have better health outcomes.  

Read more from this series:

• Bangladeshi women rely on culturally competent care for better health outcomes
• How language access affects health care for Bangladeshi women in Michigan

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced plans to restructure in early March. The agency will eliminate 80,000 jobs according to a memo issued by the VA’s chief of staff. 

The goal is to reduce the number of staff members to pre-pandemic levels. This is another proposed cut to add to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s list of federal job cuts. Under Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), hundreds of jobs have already been cut at the VA.

Read more: 10 year Marine Corps veteran terminated from Veterans Affairs in Ann Arbor

Veterans make up a large percent of federal workers who are already at risk of losing their jobs due to cuts to other departments. They are a substantial portion of the VA workforce too. So the restructuring plans for the Department just makes things even more uncertain. 

They also rely on the VA to provide the essential services that help them return to civilian life after serving. Veterans get housing assistance and health care through the program. 

Today on The Metro, we’re looking at these cuts and how they could negatively impact services for veterans who need it. 

Guests: 

• Kevin Scott: Decorated combat-era Marine Corps veteran who provides therapy and support to veterans who are facing all kinds of challenges after serving.
• Vedia Barnett: Co-founder and executive director of Vet Space, a group for women veterans to share nature-based experiences. 

We also asked our listeners: 

“What is the transition to civilian life like for veterans and their families?”

Ryan, a Marine Corp veteran in Royal Oak, said: “I mean, (the VA has) been my health care service for 20 years, and I’m hoping to be till I die, my service. And if it goes away, you know, that upends my life in a different way. So it worries me.”

Tomorrow’s caller question: “What would allow you to give up your car in southeast Michigan?”

Use the above media player to hear the full conversation.

More headlines from The Metro on March 25, 2025: 

• The Michigan statehouse is split with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans controlling the House, making many wonder what bipartisan work can get done this session. To discuss what’s going on at the state capitol, Michigan Public Radio Network political reporter Colin Jackson joined the show.

• Alyce Hartman is the founder and executive director of Birdie’s Bookmobile. She is also a K-4 STEM teacher at Detroit Prep and the Mack Kids director at Mack Avenue Community Church. Hartman travels the city putting books in little hands and is getting ready to open Birdie’s Book Nest. She joined the show to discuss the project.

• Flooding is an issue Detroit residents are constantly facing, with water main breaks, extreme weather events and flooding growing more common over the last few years. Earlier this year, Metro co-host Robyn Vincent spoke with Nick Schroeck, professor of environmental law and dean of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, about the problem of flooding and some of the solutions that are being proposed to change it.

• We also revisited a conversation with Todd Scott, executive director of the Detroit Greenways Coalition, about pedestrian safety in Detroit. Hear the conversation below beginning at the 47:50 mark.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Education in the U.S. is facing upheaval. The Department of Education is dissolving as President Donald Trump makes good on his campaign promise to dismantle it. 

Last week, Trump signed an executive order directing the education secretary to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.”

States and local communities already largely control education in the U.S. But some conservative activists have long opposed the department and its role as a civil rights watchdog. Since Trump took office in January, the department has paused thousands of its civil rights investigations.

Trump has blamed the department for lagging student achievement. He argues it is part of a “bloated federal system” that must be eliminated. 

One of the department’s key roles is distributing funding to many low-income districts, including Detroit schools. The Department of Education provides around 30% of the funding for the Detroit Public Schools Community District,  Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said.

Trump claims low-income districts will still have access to this crucial funding. But school officials like Vitti remain concerned. 

He sat down with The Metro co-host Robyn Vincent to discuss how the dismantling of the Department of Education would affect “all Detroit kids.”

He began by discussing one of the most pressing issues facing Detroit schools: a lack of funding — and why federal money is vital for Detroit students.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

A judge has delayed for a month the approval of a $55 million settlement in a Michigan class action lawsuit involving unemployment payments.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In Saunders v Unemployment Ins. Agency et al, about 23,000 Michigan residents who applied for unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic say they were wrongly asked to return payments.

The state has not admitted responsibility but has agreed to pay out $1,400 to complainants. Chief Judge Brock Swartzle from the Michigan Court of Claims has scheduled a final hearing for 1 p.m. April 24 at the Michigan Court of Appeals courtroom in Lansing to approve the settlement.

Anyone involved in the lawsuit can attend the hearing in person or virtually to address their concerns. The deadline for claimants to join the lawsuit was in December.

More headlines for Tuesday, March 25, 2025:

• The old Uniroyal tire production site on the Detroit riverfront has been named as a possible site for a WNBA practice facility, The Detroit News reports.
• Grammy-nominated soul/country duo The War and Treaty are set to return to Detroit for a performance this Saturday, March 29, at Detroit’s St. Andrew’s Hall. The husband and wife duo will be stopping by WDET Studios before their performance for a live interview during Essential Music with host Ann Delisi.
• Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s final State of the City address is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Watch the livestream at wdet.org or tune in to 101.9 FM WDET.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.