It’s a busy week for new releases when it comes to the Michigan music scene, particularly around the metro Detroit area!
Let’s start with the incomparable Flint-based musician/artist Tunde Olaniran, releasing their latest album, Chaotic Good, celebrated by a performance next Saturday, at the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids!
Meanwhile, Detroit-based electronic art-pop auteur My Brightest Diamond, aka Shara Nova, have released three new singles from her forthcoming album, Fight the Real Terror,which is out today!
We heard this song, “Safe House,” last week on MI Local.
Next, let’s bend our ears towards Kalamazoo to listen to an interesting new album featuring the versatile instrumental hip-hop producer known as The Lasso (aka Andy Catlin), paired up with the boundary-pushing indie-rock quartet known as The Go Rounds.
Catlin is a former member of The Go Rounds, which made this a natural collaboration. This new album by The Lasso (& The Go Rounds), released just yesterday, is titled Pedal Steel, and our favorite track from it is “Goldwine.”
Back here in Detroit, a ’90s-vibed indie-rock quartet known as The Microplastics have released a catchy and dreamy little ballad that has just the right amount of spookiness to help us settle into some autumnal vibes; it’s called “Undead.”
Finally, let’s go out with a ballad, a poignant lovelorn pop ballad by Detroit-based singer/songwriter Rory Moon, titled “Some Day,” following up her debut single, “About You.”
Listen to “MI Local” with Jeff Milo every Tuesday from 9-10 p.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET.
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Detroit’s Palmer Park has seen many improvements over the years, from renovated tennis and pickleball courts and a new dog park to a variety of habitat restoration projects.
Home to the largest old-growth forest in the Tri-County area — and one of only seven forests in the city of Detroit — the protection of the park’s 70-acre Witherell Woods has been a key focus for community groups working to restore and maintain the park.
People for Palmer Park President Stacy Varner, and Bobbi Westerby — whose company Environmental Consulting & Technology is leading the park’s latest restoration efforts — joined The Metro on Thursday to discuss their goals and the importance of this public space.
Varner described the scenery in Palmer Park as “magical,” noting that there is work underway to make improvements to both the park’s trail system and natural areas.
“Just like with any living thing, [the park] needs maintenance, it needs nurturing, it needs preserving,” Varner said. “That’s part of this effort, of the habitat restoration project that is going on in Palmer Park.”
Westerby says part of their restoration work will include removal of invasive species, like buckthorn, from Witherell Woods to help promote native growth.
“We don’t want to do a lot,” said Westerby of the forest restoration efforts. “We want to remove the stuff that’s not supposed to be there and let the things that are supposed to be there thrive.”
Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Varner and Westerby.
The city of Detroit and its fire department want to train all city employees in hands-only CPR. It’s already trained 100,000 residents on CPR and AED use – giving the city a “HeartSafe city” designation by a national preparedness program dedicated to improving outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest. To discuss their efforts and the importance of CPR/AED training, Detroit Fire Department Commissioner Chuck Simms and Medical Director Dr. Robert Dunne joined the show.
Two University of Michigan professors have teamed up for an initiative aimed at increasing college-age voting called the Creative Campus Voting Project. They joined The Metro to discuss their efforts.
The Detroit Documenters recently attended a hearing by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy about possible changes to a permit for the Detroit Assembly Complex on Mack Avenue run by Stellantis. Residents are asking for the permit to be denied. To discuss what happened at the hearing, we were joined by Detroit Documenter Anna Harris and Coordinator Noah Kincade.
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A new study published this week found people with asthma have an especially hard time breathing properly in Detroit.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America rated the Motor City the third worst municipality in the nation for those who routinely need to use an inhaler or nebulizer.
The foundations’ president, Kenneth Mendez, says the group weighed how many people in a city have asthma, how frequently people die from it and the number of times the condition drives residents to visit an emergency room.
“Detroit ranks high in those three areas and that’s one of the reasons why it’s No. 3 on the list.”
– Kenneth Mendez, president of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
Listen: New report ranks Detroit as third worst city in U.S. for those with asthma
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Kenneth Mendez: Detroit ranks high in those three areas and that’s one of the reasons why it’s No. 3 on the list. There’s social determinants of health, there’s family origins related to it, but certainly it really hits communities of color. Black Americans are three times more likely to be diagnosed with asthma, five times more likely to be treated in an emergency room. And Black women have the highest mortality rate of any gender or ethnic group. So those factors really are emblematic of things that we need to do in order to better control our asthma and work with our doctors.
Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Are those demographic groups especially at risk because they have less access to good health care? Or because the factories or whatever might produce pollution that could exacerbate asthma happen to be based in communities of color or poorer areas?
KM: There are a number of factors that go into it. Clearly, your zip code, where you live, has an impact. You can tell how long someone’s gonna live from that. But access to care, additional pollution in certain areas is a trigger for asthma. People in some communities can’t afford to live in areas that do not have high levels of pollution. Those are the kinds of things that go into asthma exacerbation and triggers if you have asthma.
QK: Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Talib, for one, has long pushed to get the Environmental Protection Agency to take into account the cumulative impact of pollution in a given area if they’re going to issue a permit through the Clean Air or Clean Water Acts. If that kind of legislation was passed, do you think it would really make a difference?
KM: Let me break that into two pieces. One is, I think the laws and policies will help. The EPA has come out with a “tailpipe rule” to reduce emissions from light trucks and cars, which are significant contributors to bad air and carbon dioxide. So I think having pieces of legislation passed, whether they’re at the federal or at the state level, can be very helpful to those with asthma. For example, in local communities, you can have an idling rule on school grounds basically saying when people are picking up their children, they shouldn’t have their cars idling. Reducing those kind of tailpipe emissions can go a long way towards helping people with asthma and allergies, in particular in some of those communities that are disproportionately impacted.
In the big picture, the longer growing seasons, the additional carbon dioxide, all those things have an impact on allergies. And allergies are a trigger for asthma. Those are the things that through federal policies and legislation we can try and eliminate. The Inflation Reduction Act clearly had some incentives to reduce pollution and try and amplify clean energy alternatives. So those kinds of things can make a difference. Climate change, with the longer growing seasons, more intense releases of pollen because of carbon dioxide, are all triggers for allergies and asthma. A lot of people say, ‘I’ve never had allergies before. They’re getting a lot worse.’ And that’s because of the additional load on your system from those triggers. We need to reduce our carbon footprint. That will go a long way towards reducing asthma and allergies.
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The event honored those killed in the terrorist attacks in New York City, Arlington, Virginia and Shanksville, Pennsylvania on Sep. 11, 2001.
Detroit Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison says ceremonies like the one this morning are important, because not everyone knows what happened 23 years ago.
“Last night, my son — he’s in the eighth grade — he asked: “Dad I need some help with my homework assignment for history.” I had no clue about what I was about to help him with, but it was a 9/11 assignment,” Bettison said. “He had really no clue, no memory.”
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Two hijacked jets flew into New York’s World Trade Center. Another jet crashed into the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked jet crashed into a Pennsylvania field when passengers struggled with the terrorists to prevent the jet from hitting a major target in Washington D.C.
Other headlines for Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024:
A new report finds Detroit is one of the hardest cities in the nation to live in for people who suffer from asthma.
Detroit’s three casinos are reporting $112.5 million in revenue for last month — up nearly 6% from August 2023.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board has won an Emmy Award for its series of commercials touting responsible gambling.
The state’s first Klezmer music festival will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 15, in Detroit’s Cultural Center at the International Institute. Klezmer is a type of traditional Yiddish folk music originally created centuries ago.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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Outlier Media has a new and improved text service aiming to help residents get answers to essential questions.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Outlier Media Sarah Alvarez joined The Metro on Wednesday to discuss how the TXT Outlier service is helping address information gaps about housing, utilities, and other critical community issues.
Alvarez says while traditional news outlets across various mediums provide an essential service to the community, “radio segments and news articles are not always the most useful way to get information to people.”
“…and they’re certainly not personalized enough for people who are in some kind of information crisis,” she said. “So what would it look like, I thought, for a news service to really try to fill information and accountability gaps, and what would it take to do that well?”
The service — first launched in 2016 — allows residents to text Outlier keywords for additional information on related topics; or to talk directly with a reporter about a specific issue they might be facing.
Detroiters can take advantage of the service by texting “Detroit” to 67485. For more information, visit outliermedia.org/txt-outlier.
Use the audio player above to hear the full interview with Sarah Alvarez, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Outlier Media, at the 25:23 mark.
More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 11, 2024:
About a week ago, Gen Z Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost toured Detroit and the state of Michigan to stump for Vice President Kamala Harris. During that time, Producer Sam Corey spoke with the Florida representative about the biggest concerns facing young people, and what will turn them out to vote in November.
Pollution from trucks and factories — coupled with poverty — led the city to be named the third-worst place to live for people with asthma in a new report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Allergy expert and native Detroiter Dr. Garen Wolff joined the show to talk about the report’s findings and what Detroiters can do to improve their air quality.
The Funky Ferndale Art Fair is taking place Sept. 20-22. Director of the fair Mark Loeb joined the show to talk about what makes it unique.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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The Detroit Home Accessibility Program — a joint project of the city of Detroit, CHN Housing Partners and Detroit Disability Power — dedicates more than $6 million in ARPA funds to home modifications for eligible residents to add ramps or lifts, widen entrances, modify handrails, or add alarms to the entries and exits of their home.
“Detroit has more than 129,000 disabled residents. Members of this large, diverse and important constituency deserve the ability to fully engage in all that our City has to offer,” said Ani Grigorian, disability access consulting manager at Detroit Disability Power, in a news release. “This program is an important step towards greater accessibility, and therefore increased well-being.”
Homeowners who live in single-family homes who receive social security disability benefits, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Children’s Healthcare Services benefits or Veterans Administration disability benefits can still apply.
The program is expected to provide accessibility upgrades to at least 250 homes.
Applicants must also have homeowner’s insurance and be current on property taxes or in a payment plan. There are income requirements for participation. For more information, visit chnhousingpartners.org/Detroit/dhap or call 866-313-2520.
Other headlines for Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024:
Mason K-8 Academy opened its newly renovated and stocked school library today. The Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) chose Mason to receive 18,000 new books from the Council of Great City Schools and Scholastic.
Cass Tech students who live in Hamtramck and “Banglatown” – an area close to Hamtramck – are asking DPSCD to provide bus transportation to the school. Education nonprofit 482Forward organized student and adult members to take their appeal to tonight’s school board meeting.
The Detroit Food Commons will host a concert series this fall. The Freedom Sounds fall concert series kicks off Sunday, Sept. 22 with jazz percussionist and Jazz at Lincoln Center alum Ali Jackson. Bassist and composer Marion Hayden will perform Oct. 27; and on Nov. 24, multi-genre percussionist and food justice advocate Aisha Ellis will perform. The series is curated by violinist and flutist Michelle May. The events, held in the Mama Imani Humphrey Banquet Hall on the second floor of Detroit Commons, cost $25 to attend with funds going towards Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network’s community programs.
The Hamtramck Parks Conservancy has a new director of programming and communications. Alicia Chiaravalli has a background in environmental science, play design and sustainability. She will be responsible for developing recreation programs, coordinating volunteers and community partnerships for the conservancy.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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The Gordie Howe International Bridge is expected to be complete in 2025.
The bridge is being built in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood in Southwest Detroit — a place where, for years, residents have faced issues associated with heavy industry. Now, residents are dealing with the challenges that come with the construction of a roughly $4.2 billion international bridge.
Simone Sagovac, director of the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition, joined The Metro on Tuesday to help us understand the impact the bridge has had and will have on residents.
In 2017, the group helped secure an almost $50 million benefits package for people living in the area. One of the overall issues people in the community face has to do with truck traffic, Sagovac says. During the coalition’s data gathering efforts, they counted 1,200 trucks driving on Livernois Street in one day.
“Something that wasn’t really anticipated was, you know, the scale of a development like this. It is the largest infrastructure project that both countries have had in 100 years and it’s 165-plus acres,” Sagovac said. “And when they’re in the thick of construction, and there’s no grass, and no trees covering that dirt – the dust has been a huge problem for the community. People have chronic sinus conditions. Asthma accelerated in the area. And the project is trying to do things with street sweeping but the dirt gets carried on the trucks and these trucks are allowed to drive on residential streets.”
Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Simone Sagovac, director of the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition.
More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 10, 2024:
The Detroit area is home to one of the largest groups of people with sickle cell disease in the country. The painful disease is caused by an inherited genetic mutation and most of the people who have it are Black. For decades, there weren’t many treatment options for the disease outside of pain medication. But in recent years, new medical technologies have helped alleviate and even cure sickle cell disease. Larenz Caldwell, a sickle cell patient who underwent a stem cell transplant six years ago; and Outlier Media Science Reporter Koby Levin joined the show to discuss.
The Detroit Fiber Club is hosting an immersive exhibit showcasing environmental- and fiber-based art at the Boyer Campbell Building in Milwaukee Junction through Sept. 28, as part of the Detroit Month of Design. To discuss the exhibit, we were joined by Co-Curators Sarah Rose and Lisa Waud, and Detroit Fiber Club Managing Director Meg Morley.
Detroit Artist LeKela Brown is kicking off the College for Creative Studies’ Woodward Lecture Series. The CCS graduated joined The Metro to talk about her work and her first solo-presentation, “From Scratch: Seeding Adornment,” currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
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To discuss what makes Loui’s so great, we’re joined by owner Nyk Sulkiwskyj.
Sulkiwskyj says his grandfather started Loui’s and has had his hands in shaping Detroit’s pizza history. He immigrated from France to West Virginia, worked as a mason and bricklayer, before getting a call from his grandmother’s uncle who was running Buddy’s Pizza at the time.
“So my grandma, grandfather just came on over to Michigan and dropped everything to help out. So from there, my grandfather worked up to kitchen manager, lead pizza cook, stuff like that, and eventually moved on from Buddy’s Pizza, started Shield’s Pizzeria, and then from there started Loui’s Pizza.”
Loui’s puts great care into ingredients and how their pizzas are crafted, Sulkiwskyj said.
“What makes the Loui’s pizza so great is our attention to detail. We don’t skimp around any technical processes,” Sulkiwskyj said. “Everything is done by hand. It’s an art form.”
Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Sulkiwskyj.
More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 9, 2024:
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has helped Democrats through several legislative accomplishments over the last few years, but she hasn’t been able to get everything done that she said she would while campaigning for office. ProPublica reporter Anna Clark joined the show to discuss what Whitmer’s still got left on her agenda and how likely she is to pass certain policies.
At the end of last month, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan created the city’s first Entrepreneurship and Economic Opportunity department. We spoke with the Director Justin Owenu about what kinds of plans he has in store to create more job opportunities for city residents.
For its third year, If the River Could Sing: A Celebration of Writing and River with InsideOut is happening at Robert C. Valade Park in Detroit on Sept. 12. The evening will culminate with a sunset showcase of music and poetry. The program’s MC and Executive Director of InsideOut Literary Arts Suma Rosen joined The Metro to discuss the event.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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The parents of two elementary school children who were severely injured when a car violently struck them during a vehicle demonstration at a test track in Auburn Hills in July 2023 filed a lawsuit Monday. The lawsuit was filed in Oakland County Circuit Court against Continental Automotive Systems, Ford Motor Co., the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP), and the driver, Linus Gugino.
Once dominated by non-local LLCs exploiting the system for quick returns, new data suggests that fewer outside investors are “milking” the system, and more Detroiters are taking advantage of opportunities to participate in Detroit’s recovery.
A new article entitled “Detroit’s Sweat Equity” from Alex Alsup, published in Substack newsletter The Chargeback, discusses the change from outside investors to residents purchasing and rehabbing homes from the tax foreclosure auction. Alsup says local buyers are flipping the script on the traditional narrative of Detroit real estate. By investing personal labor — or “sweat equity” — into rehabbing homes, they reduce the costs associated with renovation and create value in a way that large, outside investors can no longer exploit.
Foreclosures are at their lowest since 2005, and new ownership trends show a citywide gain of about 9,000 re-occupied homes since the pandemic. The old “milking” model — where the value was in extracting rent from undervalued properties — doesn’t work anymore because Detroit’s homes have gained too much value. This lucrative foreclosure-rental-foreclosure pipeline is drying up, and Detroiters are stepping up to take advantage of the opportunity.
Chase Cantrell, CEO of Building Community Value, a nonprofit that helps Detroiters become property owners and rehabbers, says that the Detroit Land Bank Authority now privileges local buyers, giving them a better chance to purchase and improve properties.
Alex Alsup is the Vice President of Research and Development for Regrid and the author of the Substack newsletter The Chargeback.
Chase Cantrell is the CEO of Building Community Value, an organization that provides training and resources for Detroiters interested in small-scale real estate development.
Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.
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A Michigan inmate known for his long history of challenging the judicial system with civil lawsuits has been awarded a $100 million default judgment against embattled entertainment mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. The award was issued Monday by Lenawee County Circuit Court Judge Anna Marie Anzalone following a temporary restraining order granted to Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, 51, against Combs in August. Combs, who has become the target of multiple lawsuits and criminal investigations in 2024, drugged and sexually assaulted Cardello-Smith in 1997 at a party in Detroit, according to court records.
Homecoming season is just around the corner and teenagers across metro Detroit are searching for the perfect outfit. Comerica Bank, in partnership with local nonprofit Jackets for Jobs, is hosting a two-day homecoming boutique to give away free dresses to local students. The event will be held at the Samaritan Center on Detroit’s east side from Sept. 14-15.
On the latest episode of the Detroit Evening Report Weekends, Sascha Raiyn spends some time with Garrett Dempsey of Detroit Outdoors.
Detroit Outdoors is a collaboration between the Sierra Club, the city of Detroit and the YMCA, focused on exposing Detroit youth to the outdoors.
This summer, the organization took a group of students to Yosemite National Park to camp, hike and rock climb. But the trip was centered around the history of the Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks, and the Detroit native who is the park service’s foremost expert on that history, Shelton Johnson.
Garrett Dempsey is the program director for Detroit Outdoors. He spoke to WDET’s Sascha Raiyn about the trip and the organization’s work to get Black and brown youth into the great outdoors.
Listen to the episode using the media player above.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
A little more than a month after Metro Times published a two-part series exposing a former Detroit detective who used illegal tactics to elicit false confessions and witness statements, both prosecutors and police oversight officials pledged to take action Thursday. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy plans to expand a unit dedicated to exonerating innocent people, and the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners is investigating complaints that Detective Barbara Simon engaged in a pattern of criminal wrongdoing.
The card is designed for people who might have trouble gaining a valid photo ID. It’s available for residents, no matter what their citizenship status or criminal background is, or if they are homeless.
They can use it as acceptable identification for everything from opening a checking or savings account to becoming a utility customer with DTE Energy. It also provides access to health care services, city buildings and libraries.
“Simply put, Detroit IDs remove barriers to access and create opportunities for participation; rather than exclude and deny, they include and accept,” said Detroit City Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero in a statement. “Longtime Detroiters and new arrivals alike should be proud of this program, and I encourage everyone to get one.”
Officials halted the identification program in 2022 over concerns that federal immigration officials could potentially discover applicant’s personal data from a third-party company used in the program, and target undocumented people. Now Detroit officials say they have a new vendor that will keep applicant’s information secure.
The program will officially relaunch this Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Health Department’s 3rd Annual Block Party — which will take place rain or shine from noon to 4 p.m. on John R Road between Mack Avenue and Erskine Street, adjacent to the Health Department.
-Reporting by Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News.
Other headlines for Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024:
Detroit officials celebrated the opening of 14 new affordable housing units designed for people living with disabilities this week.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will name the city’s first Composer Laureate at an exhibit honoring Detroit composers of Jazz and opera music at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, at the Metropolitain Museum of Design Detroit.
Community Development group ProsperUS Detroit is hosting its annual Family Block Party from 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11 at Eastern Market in Shed 5.
The neighborhood group People for Palmer Park is looking for volunteers for this year’s Harvest Fest on Saturday, Sept. 21.
Detroit Public Library’s Sherwood Forest branch is hosting a Digital Comic Book Club in-person and via Zoom at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3. The book club meets monthly for adult lovers of comics and graphic novels.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Nearly 300 Teamsters union workers at Marathon Petroleum’s Detroit refinery went on strike Wednesday, following months of negotiations over worker pay and safety.
The union’s contract expired in January of this year and contract negotiations have been ongoing ever since. Teamsters Local 283 authorized the strike by a 95% vote.
Local 283 President Steve Hicks says they are asking for union security, seniority rights and an increase in pay.
“Since the pandemic, inflation is sky high from 2019 in double digits, and has cut into the spendable income of our members here,” Hicks told WDET. “So we need to get [a] percentage that’s a lot higher than what they are offering, which is 3% per year.”
Hicks says the union sent several emails asking to bargain over the last offer made by Marathon, but were denied.
In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Marathon officials said they were “disappointed” that union members decided to go on strike, saying the company has met with union leadership regularly for the last nine months to reach a new labor agreement.
“The company has negotiated in good faith, but the union thus far has been unwilling to agree to acceptable terms for an agreement and, instead, has decided to engage in a strike in support of its bargaining positions,” the statement read. “We are fully prepared and have implemented plans to continue safely operating the facility with trained and qualified Marathon employees, and a safe and orderly handover to these experienced team members has been completed.”
Officials at Marathon say the refinery will continue producing transportation fuels for the region during the strike, and that they “do not anticipate supply disruptions.”
But Jeff Tricoff, a relief worker for the Local 283, says those workers have not had enough training to keep the community safe.
“They are trained and qualified in other plants, not in ours,” Tricoff said. “Every plant is different. Things are located in different places; everything has its own intricacies. It takes us nine months to over a year to train, and they brought them in in a couple of weeks and said they are fully qualified.”
Teamsters workers at the Marathon refinery work in a wide variety of classifications, including board operators, field operators, chemists, laboratory technicians, electricians and mechanics.
Tricoff says the union workers take great pride in keeping the plant one of the safest refineries that Marathon has.
Reporting by Bre’Anna Tinsley, WDET.
Other headlines for Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024:
A recent poll from The Detroit News and WDIV-TV (Channel 4) of 600 likely voters showed an extremely tight presidential race in Michigan, with 44.7% of participants supporting former President Donald Trump, 43.5% supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, and 7% selecting a third party candidate.
Wayne County officials are holding a town hall meeting Wednesday evening to talk about the transport of nuclear waste from New York to a landfill in Van Buren Township. The town hall will take place at 6 p.m. at the Wayne County Community College – Ted Scott Campus in Belleville.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will host a District 7 community meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, at Chapel Hill Baptist Church, focused on neighborhood cleanup efforts in commercial areas.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Mark Craighead, who was exonerated after spending more than seven years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, filed a criminal complaint Wednesday against the Detroit detective who elicited his false confession in June 2000. Craighead alleges former Detective Barbara Simon engaged in a pattern of criminal wrongdoing by committing perjury, illegally detaining suspects for long periods without a warrant, and assaulting and threatening witnesses. Simon was the subject of a two-part Metro Times series that exposed her aggressive and illegal tactics that led to false confessions and wrongful imprisonment.
The Detroit Lions kick off the 2024 NFL season in an unfamiliar role — Super Bowl contender.
The team has never played in one and hasn’t won a league championship since 1957. They came close last season, leading for most of the NFC title game before the San Francisco 49ers came back to win, 34 to 31.
Die-hard Lions fans have endured more than 60 years of dashed hopes and dismal play, during which one family has owned the franchise — the Fords.
Author Bill Morris has written a new book, “The Lions Finally Roar.” It focuses on the team’s history of failure and its more recent success.
A door closes, a window opens
William Clay Ford, a grandson of Henry Ford, bought a share of the team in the 1950s and became the sole owner in 1963.
Morris says frustration motivated Ford’s interest in the Lions.
“I think it was a sort of reaction to a rejection he suffered inside Ford Motor Company,” Morris said.
William Clay Ford owned the Detroit Lions for over 50 years.
William Clay Ford designed the Continental Mark II in the 1950s. Morris says Ford was immensely proud of the car. But at $10,000, it was too expensive for most consumers.
“Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Liz Taylor all wanted to have one for themselves, which they bought, but not many other people did,” Morris said.
The author notes the company lost about $1,000 for every Mark II it made. William Clay Ford’s older brother, Henry Ford II, killed the project. Morris says that was a major blow to the younger Ford, and a big reason why he took an interest in the Lions.
“He saw that as a fallback and a way to make his mark, since he couldn’t do it inside the Ford Motor Company,” Morris said.
A dynasty of despair
William Clay Ford owned the Lions from 1963 until his death in 2014. During those 50-plus years, the team had 13 winning seasons and won a single playoff game.
Morris says Ford cared deeply about the Lions and wanted them to be successful.
Bill Morris has written novels about Detroit.
“The players, for the most part, adored him,” Morris said. “He was, personally, a very likeable man, and people who knew him loved him.”
The problem, Morris says, was that Ford hired a string of executives — including Russ Thomas and Matt Millen — who were not good at their jobs.
“He had never really run a business,” Morris says. “He had a knack for choosing the wrong people and sticking with them for reasons that nobody really knows to this day.”
After Ford died, his wife Martha became the sole owner, but the team fared no better on the field. Mrs. Ford relinquished control of the Lions and passed it on to her daughter, Sheila Ford Hamp, in 2020. The team won five games in Hamp’s first year. She fired head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn and brought in a new regime in 2021.
“Chris Spielman, a former Lions player came in,” Morris said. “Then they came up with a general manager, Brad Holmes, and a coach, Dan Campbell, who were really smart choices as it would turn out.”
Dan Campbell speaks with the media during a press conference in Allen Park, Mich.
At first, it didn’t look like it would work out. The Lions lost 10 of their first 11 games in 2021 and started 1-6 the following season.
Morris says, like her father, Hamp remained loyal to the people she hired despite the rough start.
“She walked into the practice facility in the middle of that season and said, ‘I understand it’s going to be tough, and we’re going to stick with these guys,'” Morris said.
After that, the team won eight of its last 10 games, finishing 9-8 in 2022. The next year, the Lions claimed their first division title since 1993 and won back-to-back home playoff games for the first time in franchise history.
A liability becomes an asset
Morris says while loyalty may have been her father’s weakness, it’s been Hamp’s strength so far.
“She stuck with the right people, unlike her father, who stuck with the wrong people,” Morris said.
The book arrived in stores on Sept. 3, 2024. The Lions open the 2024 season against former franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams at Ford Field on Sunday, Sept. 8. Detroit beat L.A. in last season’s playoffs.
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Detroit disciples and Detroit Lions fanatics both old and new: how should we be feeling this week? Are we insulted, or inspired? Justified… or terrified?
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