LANSING, Mich. (AP) — State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a rising star in the Democratic Party, announced her bid Wednesday for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, becoming the first well-known candidate to officially enter the race for what will undoubtedly be one of 2026’s most competitive and expensive contests.

McMorrow, 38, has distanced herself from national Democrats in a battleground state Trump won, saying a new generation of leaders is needed to block President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the federal government and deliver a compelling message to win back Trump voters.

“I have been so frustrated seeing really a lack of a plan and a lack of a response coming from our current party leadership,” the Democrat said in an interview with The Associated Press.

She said voters are tired of Democrats’ “gimmicks” and was critical of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who reluctantly voted in favor of Republicans’ spending bill last month.

“It’s so lacking the urgency of this moment,” said McMorrow, a second-term state lawmaker who got a speaking role at last year’s Democratic National Convention.

Democrats are desperate to hold onto the Michigan seat next year, while Republicans see an opportunity to expand their 53-47 majority in the Senate.

McMorrow quickly emerged as a possible contender for Democrats after Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, announced in January that he would not seek reelection. U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens is also considering a run for the Democratic ticket and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has not ruled it out either.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently said he was no longer exploring a bid for the Senate seat, as did Democratic U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, a Democrat, announced he is running for governor in 2026, as second-term Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited.

On the Republican side, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost to Democrat Elissa Slotkin in the state’s 2024 Senate race, is expected to run again.

First elected to the state legislature in 2018, McMorrow went viral in 2022 after giving a fiery floor speech criticizing a Republican lawmaker who attacked her in a campaign fundraising email over her support for LGBTQ+ rights and falsely accused her of wanting to “groom” children.

“I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom” who wants “every kid to feel seen, heard and supported — not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white and Christian,” McMorrow said in the speech.

The lawmaker, who represents a Detroit suburban area and serves in caucus leadership, has sponsored Democratic legislation on gun control and reproductive rights.

–Reporting by Isabella Volmert, Associated Press

President Donald Trump is attacking unions at the federal level in a way not seen since the Reagan administration.

Claiming it was in the interest of national security, Trump banned collective bargaining for employees at 18 federal agencies in an executive order issued last week. The move comes as Trump has cut pro-worker members of the National Labor Relations Board and replaced them with pro-business, anti-union lobbyists.

So what does all this mean for workers in the state of Michigan?

Ron Bieber is the president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. He told WDET that he’s seen this anti-union playbook before.

“If you remember, after 2010 the Republicans took total control of state government. They went after seniors and instituted a pension tax. They went after kids and attacked public education. They went after the working poor and gutted the Earned Income Tax Credit; went after workers and unions and passed Right to Work; and they did all that so they could give business and corporations and their wealthy friends a huge tax cut,” he said. “Working folks organized. We had each other’s back. We stood together and fought back together. We clawed our way back together, and then finally, in the last legislative session, we restored those workers rights.”

However, all that took time. Michigan Democrats didn’t have full control over the state legislature until after the 2022 election. So fighting back can take a while.

On whether Democrats are doing enough to push back against the Trump agenda:

“They’re pushing back. I mean, they’re in the minority,” he said. “…There’s only so many tools you can use when you’re in the minority.”

On whether he agrees with the United Auto Workers that tariffs on the auto industry are a good thing:

“(UAW President Shawn Fain) is fighting to bring back manufacturing and auto manufacturing back into the U.S. And I think that he’s on a good path, and that he’s going to push this through the end, and wherever he goes, trust me, we will have his back, and we will follow his lead, and we’ll support the way he wants to support, auto manufacturing.”

Bieber says the AFL-CIO has been out to several anti-Trump protests already — including a recent one at the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs medical center.

More protests are planned for this Saturday, April 5 and on May 1.

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.

A few hundred people rallied outside a veterans hospital in Ann Arbor this weekend to protest federal cuts to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

President Donald Trump has announced plans to lay off staff, tried to void some federal union contracts, and is calling telehealth workers back into offices that may not have space for them.

State Representative Joe Tate (D-Detroit), a marine corps veteran, said he attended Saturday’s protest as someone who has relied on the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System himself. Tate said it makes him “sick” to see resources scaled back, warning that could bring dire consequences.

“You have these effects where you’re going to put people in the ground, veterans in the ground, if some of these veterans don’t get the services they need,” Tate said.

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

Tate and others at the protest frequently brought up threats to funding for the 2022 PACT Act, which aims to help veterans exposed to toxic chemicals via risks like burn pits or Agent Orange, as a top concern.

Earlier this month, Trump signed a spending bill that cuts money for the Act as part of a plan to avoid a government shutdown that some Senate Democrats also eventually backed.

Army veteran Justin Coates attended Saturday’s rally carrying an American flag and a megaphone. He said he slept next to a burn pit during his first tour of duty.

“We used to throw like lithium batteries into it and trash and human waste and stuff like that. I slept next to it night, and we used to joke about how we were all going to die of cancer in a few years. So, when the PACT Act was passed, that was great. We were all excited about that. I was able to get on the registry. I told all my friends about it, all the guys in my squad,” Coates said.

He worries what he and his fellow veterans went through will be forgotten. He said he’s lost more friends to suicide than combat.

“Hearing about the cuts to the veteran crisis line, hearing about veteran crisis-line operators having to operate from their cars or in open air cubicles or what have you, just seeing the absolute lack of care for veterans under the guise of increasing efficiency, it’s frankly insulting to everyone’s intelligence,” Coates said.

Read more: How will cuts to the VA and its services impact veterans?

Leadership at the VA, however, has vehemently denied the changes made will translate to cuts to veterans services. In a video response to concerns posted on February 13, VA Secretary Doug Collins dismissed stories about veterans benefits being cut as “hypotheticals” being circulated in the media.

“Reality is, veterans benefits aren’t getting cut,” Collins said. “In fact, we’re actually giving and improving services.”

Collins said the department is running more efficiently and clearing cases sooner.

Since posting that video, Collins has defended reported plans to let go 80,000 staff from the VA. That’s as the department works with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, or D.O.G.E.

A handful of union leaders and elected officials, including Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, and U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-MI 12) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI 6) criticized the Trump Administrations’ decisions at Saturday’s rally.

Dingell said she fears veterans are getting caught up in a “meat cleaver” being taken to several departments. She said she worried about losing progress, noting both Democratic and Republican administrations have struggled to take care of soldiers after they serve.

“We have to honor our commitment and keep working to go forward. And when you see this many people understanding that we’ve got a moral responsibility (to those) who fought to keep us free, that’s what they’re out here for, fighting for those veterans,” Dingell said.

Michigan has around 479,000 veterans, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on whether the state’s felony murder sentencing standard is constitutional and what to do if it’s not.

In Michigan, people over 18 who is are of convicted of a felony such as armed robbery where someone is killed in the process are sentenced to life with no chance of parole.

In an order issued Friday, the court said the questions it will consider include whether life without parole for felony murder violates the Eighth Amendment, whether the state should require proof of malice or intent to commit murder in order to impose the sentence, and whether a decision might be applied retroactively.

The felony murder standard means prosecutors do not have to specifically prove malice or intent. If the court reverses that standard entirely or in part, it could affect the sentences of hundreds of inmates who’ve spent decades in prison.

Timothy Baughman with the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan told the Michigan Public Radio Network the challenge to that standard raises difficult questions. He said there are hundreds of inmates serving life without parole in Michigan.

“Should we overrule that and apply it to everybody who’s convicted and still in prison and alive,” said Baughman, “and some of those, they’re not like the getaway drivers, there are some very vicious murderers.”

But attorney Deborah LaBelle with the American Civil Liberties Union said some of the people convicted under the standard are not the actual killers even if they were involved in the underlying felony.

She said Michigan’s felony murder law is very sweeping in that it treats convicted killers and accomplices the same way when it comes to sentencing.

“If someone dies at the hands of someone else and you were in any way involved with the felony, the crime surrounding the homicide, you get punished the exact same way as the person who committed the murder.”

If the Supreme Court overrules its almost 50-year-old precedent, it would also have to determine the remedy.

“What should we do?” LaBelle said. “Should people be resentenced? Should there be a term of years that we determine is appropriate? How do we handle this?”

The court has not set a date for oral arguments.

President Trump is threatening to raise tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber to 27 percent as soon as this week.

The move could impact everything in the U.S. from lumber needed to build affordable housing to wood chips used to make toilet paper.

Trump says his administration would compensate by harvesting more trees from national forests, which includes several in Michigan.

But some experts say it’s not that simple.

The Michigan Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s Jesse Randall says the issue goes beyond how many trees are available in the state or the nation.

Listen: Trump tariffs on Canada lumber could chop U.S. wood supplies

Jesse Randall: Michigan sits kind of at the forefront of very high-valued timber. And we utilize it in a sustainable manner. I think the material that the president is looking at in terms of tariffs is really going to affect our partners in the Pacific Northwest and down South. I know of one Michigan producer who says they haven’t seen any major uptick because of these proposed tariffs yet.

I think tariffs are a double-edged sword. Our mills and our operators are constantly needing to procure and maintain equipment. So I think that will cost them more money, tariffs or anything that will shut down a supply coming in that is used for construction.

We’re really facing now the start of that spring building period. I think that will add extra pressure to it. And I think you might see, at least initially, some speculative up-buying where people are trying to lock in what they’re going to need for the near term, not knowing what the tariffs will do or if they will be in place for very long.

Some of these larger companies are diversified across the border. I do know that some shipments were held up, they cost a little bit more to get into the country. I believe that’s going to be a blip on the radar and it’ll work itself out.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Why do you think it’ll be just a blip on the radar?

JR: I think our U.S. mills have already begun to adjust to the possibility. I think they’ve already started to look at their procurement side of the equation and say, “If tariffs do come in and we get raw material from across the border, where will we have to source that from instead? Who are our major players on the procurement side?” I think what the proposed tariff has done is really sped up those conversations inside U.S. producers. “Who are we going to have new contracts with? How flexible are those contracts to ramp up?”

Frankly, right now, I see us having a bigger problem than running out of material. We’re going to run out of Qualified Logging Professionals (QLPs) to harvest the material. Within this country, we have an aging demographic in the forest products industry. Not a lot of folks are going into that profession. It’s a lot like agriculture, it’s getting older and they’re becoming more mechanized. But there’s still a level of retirement that is not being replaced with new logging professionals.

What’s scary to me is if these mills immediately call for more material coming from our woods, which we do have in Michigan, they won’t have people to harvest that wood, they won’t have people to haul that wood. That’s what we’re faced with.

We have 1,000 QLPs. That’s not enough to meet the demand that these mills would have if they ran wide open seven days a week. They don’t have the manpower.

QK: One of the things the Trump administration argues in favor of tariffs is that they will cause production to be based more in the U.S. Are you concerned primarily that there is just not enough qualified professionals here at the moment in the lumber business? Or are there other factors you worry about, if it was going to be mainly a U.S.-based timber industry, as opposed to using lumber from Canada?

JR: The cost of entry into this. The equipment is incredibly expensive. Interest rates have risen to the point where the machinery has gotten out of direct reach for a lot of new people to get into. It’s a lot like agriculture. I would have loved as a young adult to have gotten into either forestry or agriculture. But you need to almost be born into an agricultural family that has an established business to be your own producer. It’s very hard for a new person to break in and pay for this equipment and make go of it.

Now, if there’s increased demand and there’s a lack of QLPs, supply and demand laws tell us that the price per unit goes up. Perhaps that will attract more new people to go out and get the loans to begin to start their own businesses.

But there’s another factor. We’ve also had a lot of natural disasters natiowide. And our Michigan QLPs and our trucking professionals are sought-after talent when natural disasters strike. We have a lot of QLPs and haulers that have been put under contract to go and respond to the storms down South and out in the central U.S.

QK: To get rid of fallen trees and the like?

JR: Correct. We saw a lot of that in North Carolina. And our QLPs had gotten these federal contracts to go out and really help those individual states after hurricanes and tornadoes. That all has to be cleaned up by somebody that knows what they’re doing, that has the right equipment. And those contracts aren’t one or two months. Those contracts are six to nine months. That effectively takes them out of Michigan for the better part of the harvest year. You don’t replace that equipment and that level of knowledge overnight. I can’t take a young person who is fresh out of high school or college and put them on a machine and have them be safe and productive. It takes years to develop those skills. And, right now, we have a loss of talent.

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.

It’s been more than 100 days since Michigan’s 35th district has had representation. When will there be a special election to fill the seat? This week on MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Alethia Kasben sat down with Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks. She discusses the significance of that seat, the current status of the state legislature, road funding and her plans for the future. 

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

In this episode:

• The status of the open Senate seat in Michigan’s 35th district
• Brinks on how well the legislature has been working with each other
• Brinks’ plans after the end of her term

Brinks shared that the 2025 legislature has shown potential for bipartisanship despite the unprecedented occurrences these last couple of months.

“In terms of the entire legislature being able to work together across the aisle — I think we’ve proven it’s possible,” she said. “Still some potential for improvement there.”

The Senate majority leader also acknowledged that things are a bit “antagonistic” in the state House. 

The 35th Senate district seat is still vacant, and despite Senate Democrats handling constituent work in that area, Brinks believes when the time comes the state Democrats will produce a candidate to cover the seat.  

“It’s going to be critical that we maintain that seat so that we can maintain the majority,” she said. “We stand in an incredibly positive position when it comes to our chances of maintaining it.”

Brinks shared examples like in Pennsylvania, where a state Democrat won in a race that went for Trump by nearly 15 points. It is up to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to call for a special election.  

More from WDET:

• MichMash: The road ahead with incoming Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks
• Republicans urge road funding revision as Legislature resumes lame duck session this week
• MichMash: Michigan AG discusses legal challenges to Trump, open US Senate seat

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.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan delivered his final State of the City address Tuesday night, speaking to an invitation-only crowd at the new Hudson’s development in downtown Detroit.

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

Duggan spent much of the speech reviewing the city’s successes over the past decade, and focused on some highlights of the past year — such as the lowest homicide rate since 1965 and growth in Detroit’s population for the first time since 1957.   

One of the big challenges for the Duggan administration was the need to eliminate abandoned homes.  There were 47,000 at the start of his tenure.  Last night, he predicted that by the end of the year there would only be 1,000 abandoned homes left in Detroit. 

“Detroit’s biggest battle for the last 12 years has been the neighborhoods, and the 47,000 abandoned houses. I thought we could bring every neighborhood back, and we started by demolishing at rates faster than anybody in the country. But to me the real test wasn’t how many we could knock down…but how many we could save,” he said.

Duggan credited much of the city’s turnaround to the ability of city leaders to work together, instead of fighting and blaming each other for existing problems. Duggan announced late last year that he would not seek a fourth term as mayor of Detroit.

In January, he declared his intentions to run for governor of Michigan – not as a democrat or a Republican – but as an independent. He’s been making stops in different corners of the state since then. 

Other headlines for Wednesday, March 26, 2025: 

• Detroit attorney Todd Perkins has sent out information saying he’ll formally announce the beginning of his campaign for mayor next week.
• Gas prices remain steady in metro Detroit, with AAA Michigan reporting the average price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded is $3.10 — the same as it was a week ago. Prices did jump over the past couple of weeks.  Industry analysts say that price increase was due to higher gasoline demand as Americans travel for spring break.
• March Madness continues to capture the attention of metro Detroiters — especially with the state’s two largest universities — University of Michigan and Michigan State — still in contention for a national championship.

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

The Michigan Supreme Court will hear arguments next month over who gets custody of a frozen embryo following a couple’s divorce.

David and Sarah Markiewicz had four children while they were married. Three were conceived via in-vitro fertilization using the husband’s sperm and the wife’s sister providing the eggs.

The final unresolved issue left from their 2020 divorce is possession of the final frozen embryo.

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in December of 2023 that the frozen embryo would go to the ex-husband because he had the most direct biological connection. The court also rejected an argument that the embryo should go to Sarah Markiewicz under Michigan’s reproductive freedom amendment.

The dissenting opinion argued the ruling ignored a contractual agreement and should be sent back to a trial court to consider the contract in light of the state’s reproductive freedom amendment.

Attorney Liisa Speaker, who chairs the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan, told the Michigan Public Radio Network that people often avoid tough conversations when planning pregnancies using assisted reproductive technologies.

“What if one of them dies before the embryo is implanted and what happens then? They need to be thinking about what happens in the event of a divorce,” she said. “If we have multiple embryos that haven’t been used, what are we going to do with them?”

Speaker said a Supreme Court decision could help set some clear guidance for judges to follow in disputes as IVF pregnancies continue to become more common.

The CEOs of NPR and PBS are appearing Wednesday before a House subcommittee on government efficiency, chaired by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, where they will answer questions about perceived political bias at the public broadcasters. 

Watch the livestream  below, beginning at 10 a.m. ET.

The hearing, entitled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,” was called by Greene in February to examine accusations by conservatives that news and cultural programming at the radio and television networks have a profound liberal bias. She has expressed skepticism that any federal funds should go to public broadcasting.

PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger, who worked at New York City’s WNET public television before taking over the reins at the network nearly two decades ago, will appear beside NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who came to the public broadcaster last year from Web Summit. She is also a former CEO and executive director at the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wednesday’s hearing is part of a larger Republican-led effort to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), established by Congress in 1967 as a private, nonprofit corporation to distribute federal money to NPR, PBS and other public broadcasting entities. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., introduced legislation to bar all funding for the CPB. Meanwhile, Brendan Carr, President Trump’s newly appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has also initiated inquiries of NPR and PBS stations, arguing that their corporate underwriting spots violate federal laws and policies because they too closely resemble commercial advertisements.

NPR receives about 3% of its funding from the government, either directly via CPB or through its member stations, who pay fees to carry its programming. PBS receives 16% of its funds from the CPB.

NPR reaches 43 million listeners each week with its flagship news programs, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Its programming is distributed by 230 member stations around the country, which together hold the licenses to 1,300 local public broadcasters. The programming at PBS ranges from the acclaimed News Hour to children’s programming such as Daniel Tiger.

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Correspondents Scott Neuman and David Folkenflik. It was edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editors Gerry Holmes and Vickie Walton-James. Under NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

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.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will give his final State of the City address on Tuesday from inside the new development at Hudson’s Detroit.

Duggan will not be seeking reelection as mayor of Detroit in 2025. Instead, the longtime Democrat is making a bid for Michigan’s next governor in 2026, running as an independent.

The State of the City address will begin at 7 p.m. Watch the livestream below or tune in to 101.9 FM WDET.