Detroit Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield says she will retain Todd Bettison as the city’s police chief.  

In a statement released Tuesday, Sheffield praised Bettison’s results – citing Detroit’s record drops in violent crime – including the lowest homicide rate since the mid-1960s.  

Bettison had a 27-year long career in the police department, before becoming Detroit’s Deputy Mayor in 2022.  Mayor Duggan made him Police Chief earlier this year after former Chief James White left to become the head of the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network. 

Additional headlines from Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Sewer tunnelling project  

The Great Lakes Water Authority is starting a new project with the goal of alleviating sewage overflows in parts of Southwest Detroit.  The authority will hold a ceremony Thursday to launch the assembly and operation of a tunnel-boring machine.  

The $87 million infrastructure project will eventually build a three-quarter mile long tunnel that will redirect excess rainwater and snow melt away from the normal system into the Oakwood Retention Treatment Basin.  The GLWA says that should reduce sewage levels and overflows into the Rouge River.   

The tunnelling is scheduled to begin in the spring. 

North Corktown housing 

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced a new housing development in Detroit’s North Corktown neighborhood.  

The project will create 23 new apartments and retail space.  About 30% of the apartments will be classified as affordable housing.

The state is providing a $1.5 million grant from its Revitalization and Placemaking program.  The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation is also providing a $530,000 low-interest loan for the project. 

Trump addresses the nation 

President Donald Trump says he will deliver an address to the nation tonight.  He announced the action Tuesday on his Truth Social platform.  The president did not immediately say what the subject of his speech would be.  

The live address from the White House takes place at 9 p.m. and will be available on select broadcast and online platforms. 

Windsor street renaming 

Just across the river, the Chaldean Association of Windsor is holding a special street renaming ceremony.  

A section of Marentette Avenue will get the secondary name “Chaldean Way.”  Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens and other officials will be on hand for the ceremony.  The association says there are thousands of Chaldeans living in and around Windsor. 

 The event takes place at 3 p.m. on Friday. 

Christmas Eve one week away 

And Christmas Eve is just a week away.  That means many merchants around Detroit will be busier than normal as residents do their holiday shopping.  

Many large retailers will have extended hours to accommodate additional shoppers.  Independent stores may have expanded hours too, but check before you go.  

And if you haven’t been downtown in a while, you can look for several new shops, especially along Woodward Avenue near the new Hudson’s building.  

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After decades of decay, Detroit’s historic Packard Plant could be on the road to redevelopment.

The city announced a letter of intent with a developer to give 28-acres of the site new life. The plant as a whole has been a significant structure throughout Detroit’s history. It has seen the heights of the automotive boom and the consequences of disinvestment and neglect. 

When auto manufacturing operations at the plant came to an end in the mid-20th century, another generation reimagined the space. So which moments deserve to be preserved in its next chapter? 

Dave Marchioni, the industrial and automotive curator at the Detroit Historical Society, and John Lauter, Packard Plant historian, revisit key moments throughout it’s history. 

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

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More stories from The Metro

What policies do Black residents in Michigan want to see?

The Center for Community Uplift at the Brookings Institute measured the quality of life for Black residents across the state of Michigan. They found that Black residents own less homes, have a lower life expectancy and make less money than the state average. But they also discovered Black communities in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and some Detroit suburbs bucking that trend.

The team lead by Senior fellow Andre Perry surveyed residents in those areas and others across the state asking which policies and programs were working. After 150 Black residents responded, the team compiled that feedback and published a list of 29 policy recommendations in October.

Perry joined the program and broke down some of the findings from the report. 

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

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More stories from The Metro

Pontiac launches new Down Payment Assistance Program

The City of Pontiac unveiled its Down Payment Assistance Program this week, an initiative aimed at expanding homeownership opportunities for first-time buyers and encouraging wealth and investment in Pontiac neighborhoods. City leaders are inviting renters to apply for this first-of-its-kind program.

To qualify:

• Your prospective home must be in Pontiac.
• Applicants must be first-time homebuyers or individuals who have not acquired a home in the past three years.
• You must complete a homebuyer education session through the organization National Faith Homebuyers and receive a certificate.
• You must work with the homebuyer organization to meet HUD and program requirements.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 313-255-9500.

Additional headlines for Friday, November 21, 2025

Detroit breaks ground on new affordable housing near Brewster Wheeler

The City of Detroit broke ground this month on four new buildings that will bring 211 units of affordable and permanent supportive housing to long-vacant land next to the Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center.

The units will have rents based on 30 to 80 percent of the area median household income.

Three of the buildings will include 53 units that received 9 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the State of Michigan. They will offer a mix of one- and two-bedroom units starting at less than $500 a month.

The fourth building will be a 52-unit permanent supportive housing development, with each unit supported by project-based vouchers that keep residents paying no more than 30 percent of their income for rent.

Completion of all projects is scheduled for 2027.
More information: https://detroitmi.gov/news/work-begins-80m-development-bringing-211-new-units-affordable-permanent-supportive-housing-brush 

Sports

NFL
The Detroit Lions face the New York Giants on Sunday as they try to bounce back from a tough loss to the Eagles. The Lions are currently third in the NFC North. The game will be held at Ford Field, with kickoff at 1:00 p.m.

NBA
The Pistons have won 11 games in a row. They’ll look to keep the streak alive as they face the Bucs at the Fiserv Forum. Tipoff is Saturday at 8:00 p.m.

NHL
The Red Wings sit at the top of the Atlantic Division as they prepare to face the Columbus Blue Jackets tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at Little Caesars Arena.

The Rink at Campus Martius opens for the season

The holiday season brings the return of The Rink at Campus Martius Park, which opens to the public starting tomorrow. From November 22 through March 1, visitors can experience what USA Today named the No. 1 Best Ice Skating Rink in the country in its 2024 ranking.

For hours and additional details, visit: https://downtowndetroit.org/experience-downtown/things-to-do/the-rink/

Local shopping for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday

DER will be off for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but local businesses will be out in force for the holiday shopping weekend. Online tourism site Visit Detroit has compiled a list of local shops to explore, including sneaker boutiques, floral shops, art galleries, and more.

To see the full list, visit: https://visitdetroit.com

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Detroit held a grand opening for the Violet T. Lewis Village senior apartment complex on Wednesday. It sits on the site of Michigan’s first and only historically Black college. The school was founded by a Black woman named Violet T Lewis. 

The Lewis College of Business offered courses in typewriting, bookkeeping, stenography, penmanship and office management. It was closed in 2013 amid Detroit’s bankruptcy and was re-opened as the Pensole Lewise College of Design and Business in partnership with the College for Creative Studies. 

Dr. Violet Ponders is Lewis’s granddaughter. She tells the story of how her grandmother started the school. 

“When she got out of school, she found it difficult to get the kind of job that she wanted. Then once she began to go and do some other things, she then found out that there were there was nobody that looked like her in offices doing office work. So, you know, she kept saying, we got to do something. We got to do something. So she did something. She founded the college in 1928. She was an educator, but yet she touched the souls of people in a different kind of way.

“One of the things she started was the March of Dimes fashion extravaganza, a group of community women here in Detroit raising money for polio. Everybody called her mommy TV. Those of us who were in the family, there was a certain place on the stairwell … where she stopped being mommy TV, and she became Doctor Lewis. And we would ebb and flow that way all of the time.” 

Violet T. Lewis was also one of the founders of the Gamma Phi Delta sorority. 

Fashioned in the sorority’s iconic baby blue and pink Dr Contessa Bell, the 14th president and CEO of Gamma Phi Delta says Violet T. Lewis’s impact echoed far beyond her lifetime. 

“She helped build a sisterhood rooted in service, leadership, business excellence, and empowerment through Lewis College of Business. She opened doors that many believed were locked. She championed education when it seemed like it was impossible, and during her time when it wasn’t easy, and especially for women.” 

Detroit City Council person Angela Whitfield Calloway is a member of the Gamma Phi Delta Sorority and has proposed more affordable housing in the city since taking office in 2021. 

She says Lewis had done more in the city than simply opening an HBCU. 

“She owned that property over there on John R and Ferry when Black folks were restricted from owning properties over there because of the restrictive covenants in the deeds. But she worked around that and opened that school.” 

The Violet T. Lewis Village is a senior apartment complex, with rents based on income starting as low as $427 for a one bedroom. To find out more about availability call 313-270-9150 or pvm.org.

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