Ypsilanti Township officials passed a 180 day moratorium on major electrical infrastructure in a continued effort to pause plans by the University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory to build a high-performance computing center. 

The University of Michigan wants to build on a 144-acre area along Textile Road.

Ypsilanti Township officials say they weren’t fully informed about the size and details of the project when the university first reached out.

Ypsilanti Township supervisor Brenda Stumbo says local officials have little say over the University of Michigan’s plans. 

“The University of Michigan doesn’t have to go through local government planning, fire safety checks, or building permits because they’re legally exempt from these rules. They also don’t pay taxes to the communities where they’re located,” Stumbo says. 

Records show the university bought nearly 20 acres at 10221 Textile Road in October 2024 for a “future computing center,” and in June 2025, they bought about 125 acres at 10455 and 10635 Textile Road for more computing facilities.

Township legal advisor Doug Winters said local officials only learned the full scope of the project in July 2025, when the university revealed plans for two large computing centers, including one linked to Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The township’s new pause on construction aims to give officials time to see if current land rules are enough to handle a project of this size, especially since it will need a lot of electrical power.

“Right now, we need to review whether our land-use rules match what this project requires,” Winters said. “We’re doing our homework. A 180 day pause is a reasonable amount of time.”

The university says the first phase of the facility will use about 50 megawatts of electricity, with plans to eventually reach 100 megawatts. The site would have its own substation from DTE Energy. The university argues that the center would use less than one-tenth the electricity of a typical commercial data center and it should be seen as a scientific research facility, not a commercial one.

Town officials are still worried about possible impacts on wetlands, wildlife, the nearby Huron River, noise, heat, stormwater runoff, and nearby neighborhoods.

Is money corrupting Michigan’s politics?

According to a Politico poll, 72% of Americans say there’s too much money in politics. Respondents said special interest spending leads to corruption that should be restricted. 

In Michigan, a local campaign believes residents can have a stronger, more representative democracy if political spending by some big-time actors is limited.

The Michiganders for Money Out of Politics measure, which is now on the November ballot, would change some aspects of how money gets into the hands of politicians and political candidates. 

Voters decide Nov. 3, though opponents have asked the Michigan Supreme Court to block it.

Sean McBrearty is the executive committee co-chair for the Michiganders for Money out of Politics campaign.  He spoke with producer and host Robyn Vincent about what happens if the ballot measure passes.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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Michigan is in the national spotlight. 

That’s in part because of the state’s open U.S. Senate seat. If Democrats lose, their path to a Senate majority all but closes.

The race can tell us a lot about the direction of the Democratic Party — what is seen as acceptable to voters, and what appears too extreme. 

That’s because trends here represent things happening elsewhere, in places where manufacturing is declining but still deemed important, where wages are stagnating, and where younger people are leaving in hopes of finding greener pastures in other states. 

So, how should we be looking at the Senate race between Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers? What does it tell us about the politics of the median Michigan voter? And what does it say about the kinds of politics that are possible. 

Adrian Hemond is the CEO of the bipartisan advocacy firm, Grassroots Midwest. He’s also a longtime Democrat. He spoke with The Metro‘s Sam Corey.

Editor’s Note: In this conversation, Adrian Hemond said Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has associated with people who have committed acts of antisemitism. He did not name anyone on air, and we did not press him to at the time. We should have. WDET asked Hemond afterward for specifics and reviewed what he provided. None of it involved conduct by Dr. El-Sayed, and we found no evidence supporting the claim as stated. We should not have let it air unchallenged.

An earlier version of this note included material that did not meet our editorial standards.

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A week ago, the Dearborn City Council moved its meeting to the public library because they expected a crowd. Police were outside in riot gear. Wayne County sent officers on horses. By the next morning, 22 people had been arrested from across Michigan, and from as far as New York and Tennessee.

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud told the council his own daughter didn’t go to daycare that day. Some businesses stayed closed. Sports practices were rescheduled.

What brought all this on was a man with a megaphone who told the council that Muslims had come here to steal, and that their time in this country was running short.

Jake Lang doesn’t hold office. But his words are not far from the ones spoken by people who do. Three weeks ago, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary. Within hours, a sitting U.S. Senator called him a terrorist. A sitting congresswoman called every Muslim holding public office in America “a Trojan horse.”

Last year, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, logged over 8,600 complaints nationwide, more than in any year since the group started counting in 1996. In Michigan, the chapter recorded nearly 500 — also a record, up 25% from the year before. These are complaints people brought to an advocacy group, not hate crimes confirmed by police. But they’re climbing, and they have been for three years running.

Amy Doukoure is the lead staff attorney for CAIR-Michigan, a nonprofit dedicated to combatting anti-Muslim hate locally. She spoke with host Robyn Vincent about why anti-Muslim hate is rising, and what can be done to stop it.

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What should we make of the climate movement’s accomplishments over the last decade?

On one side, the Inflation Reduction Act and Chips and Science Act helped distribute clean energy across the country. Those policies dropped solar prices — 90% over the last decade. Battery storage costs fell by the same amount from 2010 to 2020. 

But the Green New Deal never passed, and many Republicans in Michigan and across the U.S. are against a clean energy transition. President Donald Trump has consistently said climate change isn’t real and the world continues to warm at a rapid clip. 

Jay Inslee has been at the center of the climate movement. He was governor of Washington for three terms, and a presidential candidate in 2020 when he pushed Democrats to take climate change more seriously. 

What does he make of our climate politics today? And where should the climate movement go next?

The Metro’s Sam Corey recently spoke with Inslee when he was in town stumping for Jocelyn Benson in her bid for governor.

The Metro has reached out multiple times to the campaign for Republican John James for governor. They have not yet given us a time when the candidate is available to join us.

A few notes about this conversation:

Inslee mentioned a Washington ballot measure on climate that won 62 percent of the vote. That was a 2024 vote on whether to scrap the state’s climate program — the one that makes big polluters pay for what they emit. Voters chose to keep it.

He also cited a Washington vote on electric school buses. That wasn’t a ballot measure — it was a bill, passed by the Legislature in 2024.

He said President Trump’s White House construction and renovation projects will cost $800 million. According to Reuters, those projects are now more than $900 million.

Inslee said that 80% of rural voters supported a clean energy ballot initiative in Washington. We could not verify that.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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In this episode 

• What comes with the federal education freedom tax credits?
• How many states have opted into the tax credits already?
• The future of education for private, public, and home school students.

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

Governor Whitmer as well as governors across the country have a decision to make regarding a federal program in connection with the Reconciliation Program. This week on MichMash…WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow unpack the details of this program. They are joined by Prof Josh Cowen of Michigan State University and Peter Spadafore who leads the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity.

Cowen is known for being the nation’s leading critics of school voucher programs, but says this program is much different and offers real opportunities for public and private school students. “Unlike any other state voucher program that I have opposed…public school students can use this and they don’t have to exit the public schools to use it, there is a real revenue stream that is definitely available to public schools. That is not true for regular voucher programs.”

Spadafore, is against public schools oppose opting in to the credits because, ” It starts with a long standing opposition to any type of voucher program and this is unequivocally a voucher program. It’s public dollars for private schools. We stand in opposition to that. We have done so along with the voters of Michigan who have twice rejected these types of schemes alongside Governor Whitmer, who vetoed an education savings program that was passed by the legislature a few years back.”
Governor Whitmer hasn’t indicated whether she would make a decision to opt in during the last months of her tenure. 

• More from WDET:

  Michigan Primary 2024 Voter Guide: State House candidates running in metro Detroit

  Slotkin talks Medicaid cuts in GOP’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ voting against California EV mandate

  MichMash: Whitmer clashes with state Democrats after vetoing bills; MEDC revives incentive

It’s said that all politics is local. But these days, that doesn’t appear to be so true. Instead, a lot of it is national because that’s where the drama is — much of it at the hands of President Donald Trump. 

The Republicans who disagree with the president are more likely to lose during an election year. 

That’s why Trump’s endorsements for U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers and gubernatorial candidate John James matter so much. But who are these candidates outside of Trump’s endorsement? What do they stand for? And, what do they need to do to win come November?

Dennis Darnoi is the founder of Densar Consulting, based in Farmington. He often promotes Republican candidates. Darnoi spoke with host Robyn Vincent about the Republicans advancing to the general election in both the Senate and governor’s race.

Editor’s note: Our guest mischaracterized Abdul El-Sayed’s work on medical debt. As Wayne County health director, El-Sayed launched a program that set aside $7 million to erase up to $700 million in debt for 300,000 residents, buying it from providers at a bulk discount. Bridge Michigan reported in June that about $57.4 million has been settled so far, for roughly 83,000 residents, and that El-Sayed has overstated the program’s results on the campaign trail. The program is still active. Our guest also referred to a “$40 trillion budget deficit.” That figure describes the national debt, which is approaching $40 trillion. The federal deficit for fiscal year 2026 is projected at roughly $2 trillion.

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