The numbers can tell you what is happening in the economy, but they rarely tell you why. 

For example: among college-educated women in their prime working years, Black women are the most likely to be working or looking for work. Yet they make up about 2% of private-sector managers, according to an analysis from economist Valerie Wilson, published last month by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

In other words, showing up is not the same as moving up.

This week, that institute brought a national conference on women and the economy to Detroit. Journalist Kimberly Adams was there, on a panel about Black women in leadership with Donna Brazile, the Democratic strategist who ran Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign.

Adams is host and senior editor of Marketplace Morning Report. She joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss who carries the economy, who gets to lead, and when those two overlap. 

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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One of the most watched races across the country is in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. That area includes Lansing, East Lansing, and the farm counties and exurbs around them, out to Livingston County and the edge of Oakland County.

Republican Congressman Tom Barrett won the seat two years ago by less than four points, and both parties think it could decide who has a majority in the House of Representatives. Barrett’s opponent is progressive Democrat Will Lawrence. The Metro spoke with him last week.

Barrett spent 22 years in the Army. He was deployed to Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, and served nearly a decade in the state legislature before going to Washington.

Since then he’s done something most Republicans haven’t. Four times, he’s voted to say only Congress can authorize war with Iran, and he’s kept President Donald Trump’s endorsement anyway.

Over the weekend, President Trump rejected an Iranian offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The war has continued, and so has the increasing cost of gas prices.

Congressman Barrett joined The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent to discuss where his positions overlap — and don’t — with President Trump’s, and what his plans are if he’s able to keep his seat.

In the conversation, Congressman Tom Barrett said that over 10 million undocumented immigrants flooded across our border when then-President Joe Biden was in office. 

Research from the conservative Cato Institute estimates that the net increase in the undocumented immigrant population during the Biden administration was closer to about 5.5 million people. That’s because millions of people were expelled, deported or returned to their home country or Mexico before President Donald Trump took office.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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Since Detroit has launched ShotStoppers three years ago, the city has seen a 45% decrease in homicides and nonfatal shootings, according to a University of Michigan analysis.  

ShotStoppers is a community violence intervention program that empowers the community to stop violence in their neighborhoods separate from law enforcement responses. 

The program funds selected community-based organizations known as community violence intervention teams to create intervention plans to address violence in their respective zones. 

Each team gets about $175,000 per quarter to support their efforts. The focus is on areas in Detroit that have historically experienced high levels of gun violence.

Teams can get an additional $175,000 in performance-based bonuses if they successfully reduce gun violence at a higher rate than the city.  

In the rest of the city homicide victimizations have dropped by 12% and nonfatal shooting victimizations have dropped by 26% in within the last year according to the city.  

Additional headlines for Friday, Sept. 25, 2026

Preston Townhomes 

The City of Detroit joined nonprofit development company GenesisHOPE and real estate firm Cinnaire Solutions to celebrate the grand opening of new apartments called Preston Townhomes. This is a $14 million affordable housing development bringing 31 new, high-quality homes to Detroit families.

Jeanine Hatcher is the Executive Director of GenesisHOPE who spearheaded the project. Josh Bails, Development Director of Housing and Revitalization Department shared that Hatcher was adamant about getting as many affordable units as possible.  

“When we do a large apartment building that’s affordable housing, almost all the units end up being studios and one bedrooms, and we claw and we fight for as many two-bedroom units as we can get in a project, and it usually ends up being just a handful. Janine [Hatcher] and her team came into this with a mission and a vision of ‘if we’re going to have affordable housing, we want to have affordable housing for families.’ And that is something that is incredibly difficult to do, but they would not compromise… And to see that many 100% units sized for families in a project is almost unheard of.”

The building is built on the former site of Detroit Eastern High School and transform a once vacant building to necessary housing for the city.  

Sports 

NFL  

The Lions are trying to bounce back from last week’s tough loss to the Buffalo Bills. They face off the New York Jets on Sunday at Ford Field. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

MLB 
The Tigers face off against the Pittsburgh Pirates this weekend as they try to climb out the American League Central. They are currently second to last in their division. 

Soccer
Detroit City FC face off against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC at Keyworth Stadium. Game starts at 7 p.m. 

Coffee Week

For all of our Caffeine junkies, today marks the start of Dearborn’s third annual Coffee Week. Going down from Friday, Sept. 25 to Friday, Oct. 2, these seven days celebrate way more than coffee—art, culture, and community as well.

According to organizers, coffee shops will host activations and there will be fun activities scattered throughout the week.

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

For more than a decade, a group of Detroiters worked toward something the city was lacking: there were almost no Black-owned grocery stores. So they set out to build one — owned by the people it serves.

In 2024, the Detroit People’s Food Co-op opened on Woodward in the North End.

Two years later, it is asking for help. The co-op says it is bringing in close to $3 million a year. Before it opened, it projected about $80,000 a week — more than $4 million. 

This month it launched a campaign to recruit 500 new owners and asked shoppers to spend $10 more every time they come in. They named it Mframadan, a symbol from Ghana for a house built to withstand treacherous conditions.

Those conditions are real — food prices keep climbing and many of the people this store was built for are the ones with the least to spare. U.S. Census Bureau data shows 34% of Detroiters live in poverty.

The co-op’s thought was that Detroiters should own their food system, not just shop within it. Two years in, the question is whether that’s something people can afford to own.

Lanay Gilbert-Williams, president of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op and executive director of the Detroit Food Policy Council, joined Robyn Vincent to discuss what supporting a co-op means for a community, some of the store’s higher prices in comparison to chain grocers, and who is actually shopping there.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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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.

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

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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