The Metro
"The Metro" covers local and regional news and current affairs, arts and cultural events and topics, with a commitment to airing perspectives and uncovering stories underreported by mainstream media in Detroit.
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Can this Michigan Republican cross President Trump and keep his seat?
Nationally, one of the most watched races 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. 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.
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Melody Baetens talks fall restaurant experiences
The calendar has officially turned to fall. The leaves will soon turn colors and with that people are starting to think about their favorite autumn activities.
There are no shortage of food and drink experiences in around Detroit to wear your favorite cozy sweater to.
Melody Baetens is a dining and entertainment reporter for The Detroit News. She stopped by The Metro to bring us up to date on what’s happening in the dining scene.
'The auto industry is in a mess.' It could get worse.
Chaos. That’s the trendline in the auto sector of our economy. A war in Iran has raised gas prices. A Trump administration antagonistic to electric vehicles has reshaped the auto industry, causing Stellantis, General Motors and Ford to lose a combined $52 billion as they’ve shifted away from their electric investments. And through it all, the Trump administration has enacted tariffs. In August, America enacted new tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel. Canada responded with tariffs on many U.S. goods, including those aforementioned products. Meanwhile, the price of cars — especially used cars — are increasing.
What do these trends mean for auto companies and auto workers? How are customers affected? Paul Eisenstein is the editor of headlight.news. He’s also the publisher and editor of “The Car Collective” Substack. He spoke with The Metro's Sam Corey.
The hidden risk inside landfills
Michigan buries more trash per person than any state in the country. What happens to it is mostly invisible. A landfill is sealed, and the waste inside keeps breaking down for decades — making methane, liquid and heat. Even on an ordinary day, it releases benzene and other chemicals into the air nearby, and when the waste heats up, those emissions climb with it.
One landfill west of Northville has been running hot since 2019. A well there hit 177 degrees last year, and the state approved running it hotter. Now the company wants to expand. Katherine Blauvelt of Full Circle Future joins host Robyn Vincent on what's underneath, what gets out, and who's supposed to be watching.
Michigan's environmental agency, EGLE, told The Metro the landfill is being properly managed. GFL Environmental said it couldn't answer our questions by deadline.
Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org
Detroiters own this grocery store. Keeping it is the hard part
In a city that's nearly 80% Black, Detroit had almost no Black-owned grocery stores. So for more than a decade, a group of Detroiters worked to build one they would own themselves. The Detroit People's Food Co-op opened on Woodward in 2024.
Two years later, it's asking for help — 500 new owners, and $10 more from every shopper, every trip.
Lanay Gilbert-Williams, the co-op's board president, joins host Robyn Vincent to talk about prices, who's shopping, and whether a community can afford to own its own food. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org
Inaugural 'The Coney' entertainment show to be held this weekend
The anything-goes show called “The Coney” gathers many of Detroit’s A-listers, with proceeds benefitting local youth art programs.
Marc Evan Jackson is an actor, comedian, and entertainer. His work includes roles in TV shows "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "The Good Place." Jackson is also founder of the Detroit Creativity Project and a former member of Second City Detroit, a comedy troupe that closed two decades ago.
Andrew Stein is the CEO of The Michigan Children’s Foundation, whose mission to serve the young people from the state aligns with the improv program.
They stopped by The Metro to discuss the event.
Does the public benefit from a redeveloped RenCen?
Detroit's Renaissance Center inspires different feelings for different people. Some view it as ugly and detached from the city. Others see its tallest towers as an emblem of the city—and some of those same people argue that pouring public money into its redevelopment will detract from other priorities. This question — whether a large public-private project is worth it for the public — has come into sharper focus. That’s because GM and Bedrock are now asking for just under $550 million to subsidize the redevelopment of the RenCen.
Jared Fleisher is the CEO of Bedrock. He spoke about the plan with The Metro's Robyn Vincent. Later, Anne Goulet joined the conversation. She is the principal of two firms, Argitct and Anne R Goulet Architecture and Design.
Pan-Asian music fest revives Detroit's Chinatown as it rebuilds
Detroit’s Chinatown used to be a bustling neighborhood that often marked the first stop in the states for so many immigrants.
According to the 2025 census, 1.7 percent of Detroit’s population identify as Asian American. An effort is underway to restore Detroit's Chinatown.
In partnership with the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit (IIMD), Concert of Colors Neighborhood Programs will host a celebration in old neighborhood.
We Tell These Truths: Music is a Universal Language (A Pan-Asian Cultural Celebration) is Saturday, Sept. 26, 2-4:30 p.m.
It's happening at Detroit Shipping Company in Detroit's Cass Corridor.
Roland Hwang is a lecturer of Asian, Pacific Islander History at the University of Michigan. Hwang is an attorney and a former state assistant attorney general. He is a supporter of Concert of Colors and MC for the event.
The concert will feature virtuoso erhuist Xiao Dong Wei, and her alter-ego, Madame XD.
Wei's musical journey began in China at the tender age of 5. Her work has taken her across the globe and landed her in the Detroit area. She blends traditional Chinese music with contemporary genres. From jazz, rock, and orchestral performance, Xiao plays over 20 instruments.
Additional performers include virtuoso pipaist, Min Xiao-Fen. As well the Great Lakes Taiko Ensemble, and Thomas Xu “Steady Flight Circle” as the DJ for the afternoon.
Wei and Hwang joined The Metro to talk more about the concert and Detroit’s Chinatown.
The Sunrise Movement co-founder trying to flip Lansing's House seat
Will Lawrence helped start the Sunrise Movement, the climate group famous for pressuring Democrats from the outside. He's never held office before, but in August he beat a former ambassador and a former Navy SEAL for the Democratic nomination in Michigan's 7th District.
He's running on a platform of Medicare for All, higher taxes on the very rich, and a pause on new data centers and the most advanced AI — in a Lansing-area seat Republican Tom Barrett won by under four points. Lawrence joins host Robyn Vincent to make his case. Barrett joins The Metro next week. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org
How America has changed — and hasn’t — 25 years after 9/11
Tomorrow marks 25 years since the twin towers came down. What came next reshaped this country. The Patriot Act. Two wars. Here at home, a registration program fingerprinted, photographed and questioned more than 80,000 men and boys largely from Muslim-majority countries. It didn't produce a single terrorism conviction. Almost none of that machinery was ever dismantled.
So, we're wondering: How has American politics changed — and how hasn't it — since September of 2001.
Ali Harb is a freelance journalist based in Washington D.C. He covers American politics, U.S. foreign policy, and politics in the Middle East. He spoke with The Metro's Robyn Vincent.
The Recovery and Resilience Festival welcomes a sober celebration
The Recovery and Resilience Festival in Wyandotte is an upcoming music and art festival focusing on recovery from drugs and alcohol. Festival goers can expect free activities such as creative writing workshops and more.
Christopher Tait, director of Passenger Recovery, and Michael Balcom, director of Be Well My Friends, are the co-founders of the event.
They join The Metro to share their personal experiences that led to them placing sobriety center stage at the Recovery and Resilience Festival on Sunday, Sept. 20.
Season Fair brings the art market to local creatives
The Season Fair is a free non-profit contemporary art fair. This second edition of the fair is titled "Detroit Presents: Other Routes," exploring how six featured artists came into their craft and how their personal journeys shape their art, down to the non-traditional materials they use.
Amani Olu is the founder and curatorial director of Season Fair. Oshun Williams is a featured fine artist on the Detroit Presents Artist Platform. They join The Metro not only to describe the event, but also emphasize the importance of investing in art.
The fair is at The Shepherd in Detroit, on Sept. 11-13.
An initiative wants to remove money from Michigan politics. Can it?
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.
Executive Committee Co-Chair for the Michiganders for Money out of Politics campaign Sean McBrearty spoke with producer and host Robyn Vincent about the consequences if the ballot measure passes.
Who gets to say no to a data center?
At least 19 Michigan communities have voted to pause new data centers . The one going up south of Ann Arbor will use more electricity than a million homes and never shut off. State Rep. Jennifer Wortz, a Republican from Quincy, wants to freeze new approvals across Michigan for a year. Her bipartisan bill has sat in committee since February, and both the Republican speaker and the Democratic governor have said no. She joins host Robyn Vincent to talk about power, farmland, and who decides when a data center comes to town. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org
Cartoons and Stereo Vol 2. celebrates skating, music and art
Cartoons and Stereo Vol. 2 is back for another year.
The free festival will feature multiple local and national musical acts such as Curtis Roach, Liv. E and Kareem Riggins of GENA, Mavi, The Cool Kids, Stoop Lee and more.
Alongside a free music festival, there will be a skateboarding competition. The goal of the Cartoons and Stereo is to celebrate the intersections of music, fashion, art, skating and food.
Stoop Lee is a hip hop artist from Detroit and organizer of Cartoons and Stereo Vol.2. Lee says Detroit's hip hop scene is diverse and that needs to be uplifted. “I wanted to do something that put those two worlds together,” Lee said.
Lee joined The Metro to discuss how his music and skating represents the scene as well as the aesthetic of the city. Cartoons and Stereo is Sept. 19 at the Big Pink on Detroit’s Eastside.
Detroit Jazz Fest is this weekend
This weekend is Labor Day weekend and in Motown—that means it’s time for the Detroit Jazz Fest. Dozens of acts will take the stage in Hart Plaza from Sept. 4-7.
The Detroit Jazz Fest is the world’s largest free jazz festival. This year marks the 47th time the event has been held.
Chris Collins president and director of the Detroit Jazz Fest Foundation. He joined The Metro to preview this weekend’s festivities.
Is Detroit’s police oversight board able to hold cops accountable?
Detroit voters created a board of civilian commissioners in 1974 with the power to investigate their own police department. Eleven members. Its own staff of investigators. Since May, those investigators can no longer pull body camera video themselves.
Victoria Camille represents District Seven on the oversight board. She’s circulating a petition to get that access back. Commissioner Camille spoke with The Metro's Robyn Vincent about what the police oversight board can actually do to hold cops accountable and whether some of its power has weakened.
Editor's Note: After this segment aired, the motion to limit public comment options to solely in-person attendees was rescinded.
School attendance is improving quickly in Detroit. Here's why.
Since the pandemic, Michigan schools have faced a persistent problem: Students are not showing up enough to class. In Detroit public schools, the chronic absenteeism rate has been higher than the rest of the state’s. Recently, that number has been decreasing. In just one school year, chronic absenteeism dropped 10 percentage points. Even in comparison with other high-poverty school districts, a recent report shows Detroit public schools have been the most effective in the state at boosting attendance rates.
Jeremy Singer is an assistant professor of education policy and leadership at University of Michigan-Flint, and does research with Wayne State. He helped write that report, and spoke about it with The Metro's Robyn Vincent.
The house that keeps saying yes: Can Detroiters heal without waiting on the system?
In 2018, a Detroit English teacher started a healing circle in her classroom. Students wrote poetry about what had happened to them. Seven years later, healing is happening in a different space: a two-story brick house on the east side. Kids come to do laundry, use a computer, get tutored, and sit in a circle and talk. Three refrigerators stay stocked around the clock, and people come overnight — some with nowhere else to sleep.
Earlier this year the need outgrew four people. Whatever they put out was gone in a day. So they raised money and opened a free grocery store, and now they want to take it across the city.
Sirrita Darby of Detroit Heals Detroit joins host Robyn Vincent to discuss how much can be fixed outside the system, and how much has to happen within it. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org
Homicides are down. This former FBI agent credits community leaders.
he FBI put out its 2025 crime numbers this month, andthey show the largest year-to-year decline in violent crime rates since estimations began in 1936. Robbery fell 18 and a half percent. Murder dropped by 18.5% — that rate is now tied with 1955 for the lowest ever recorded in this country. Detroit is part of that trend. The city ended last year with the lowest number of homicides since 1965. Carjackings dropped 46 percent.
What nobody fully agrees on is why. Andy Arena spent 24 years in the FBI and ran its Detroit division. He now leads the Detroit Crime Commission. He spoke with host Robyn Vincent about why violent crime is declining — and how to continue the trend.
Detroit actor Bennie Taylor and his growing Hollywood career
Animation fans have long awaited the release of "Coyote vs Acme."
The Looney Tunes film blends live-acting and animation into a movie that sees the character, Wile E Coyote, in a legal battle with Acme after the Acme products the Coyote uses to catch Roadrunner keep failing.
The project was finished, but it was shelved by Warner Brothers in 2023 for a tax write off. After fans pushed for the release, "Coyote vs. Acme" is now in theaters.
And the film has some local ties.
Detroiter Bennie Taylor plays a character role in "Coyote Vs Acme." Since 2020, he's played various character roles and continues to see his screentime grow.
In 2026, Taylor was featured in the film "Buddy," starring Keegan-Michael Key, a Michigan native, Patton Oswalt and Delaney Quinn.
Taylor spoke with The Metro's Tia Graham about his career, Detroit and the future.