The Detroit Health Department says people should continue to plan for poor air quality from Canadian wildfires. Yesterday, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy put out a statewide Air Quality Alert. Smoke is likely to linger this week.  

In Detroit, the air quality is in the “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” range. 

Detroit Health Department Director Ali Abazeed says residents should check current conditions and adjust outdoor activity. He says residents will be notified if air quality worsens. 

People should avoid strenuous outdoor activities, take frequent breaks and keep quick relief medications, such as inhalers, nearby. People should also keep their windows closed and run AC units and filters. 

Residents should monitor health conditions such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness or irritation of eyes or throat. Anyone who is having trouble breathing should contact a healthcare provider. 

Visit airnow.gov for air quality conditions. 

Additional headlines for Monday, July 20, 2026

Dance parties

Detroit Disability Power and DanceAbility are hosting several dance parties to get groovy this summer. Join six Zoom sessions online or in-person workshops. Cara Graninger will facilitate. People can also join in person for three sessions with local musicians. ASL interpretation is available upon request. 

The first in-person event takes place July 21 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Valade Shed on the Detroit Riverfront.  

Wright Museum hosts Golf Classic

The Charles H. Wright Museum’s Women’s Committee is hosting a golfing event next month. The Golf Classic is an annual fundraising event to raise money for the museum. Named in honor of Roberta Hughes Wright—an award-winning author, humanitarian and the late wife of Dr. Charles H. Wright, the founder of the museum—the event also hopes to explore African American history and culture.

Proceeds will go toward the museum’s unrestricted operating budget and children’s educational programs at the museum. 

The Golf Classic takes place Thursday, August 6 at the Lakes of Taylor Golf Course from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Register at thewright.org/events. 

Get Out to Vote Block Party

The city of Detroit’s Department of Elections and Detroit Votes 2026 is hosting a Get Out to Vote block party this weekend. The event takes place Saturday, July 25 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2978 West Grand Blvd. outside of the Department of Elections Office. There will be community resources, entertainment and kids activities. 

Organizations offer tools to beautify city

Several Detroit organizations are coming together to provide community resources for clean-up and beautification efforts in the city. The tool kits are accessible to residents, community groups, and nonprofits. Tools include small construction tools and safety equipment for snow removal and lawn and landscaping. 

The tools can be picked up from the Bailey Park NDC, the E. Warren Tool Library, or the Premier Group Associates in Detroit. 

Visit the Department of Neighborhoods on detroitmi.gov. 

Detroit’s hazy skies have us leaning into the mood with a smoky soundtrack. As poor air quality settles over the city, we’re also welcoming the news of Beck’s first album announcement in seven years by spinning a pair of his songs. Plus, new music from Twisted Teens, favorites from People Under the Stairs, MF DOOM, Cat Power, Mitski, and Hope Sandoval.

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above. 

In The Groove with Ryan Patrick Hooper playlist for July 16, 2026 

• “San Francisco Knights” – People Under the Stairs 

• “Acid Raindrops” – People Under the Stairs 

• “Doomsday (feat. Pebbles The Invisible Girl)” – MF DOOM 

• “A Place to Go” – DJ Day 

• “For Pete’s Sake” – Sweetwater 

• “Draft Morning” – The Byrds 

• “(You Caught Me) Smilin’ (Single Version)” – Sly & The Family Stone 

• “Badu Medley” – Cousin Kula 

• “New Beat” – Toro y Moi 

• “A Glue Too Thick” – Hot Chip 

• “Someone Like Me” – Röyksopp 

• “Ruin” – Cat Power 

• “The Homeless Wanderer” – Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru 

• “You Ain’t the Problem” – Michael Kiwanuka 

• “Rite of the Ancients” – The Budos Band 

• “Spanish Grease” – Willie Bobo 

• “Slipping into Darkness” – Funkees  

• “Light My Fire” – Africa 

• “I’m Confessin’” – Fabienne Delsol 

• “Bonnie And Clyde” – Brigitte Bardot & Serge Gainsbourg 

• “Prisencolinensinainciusol” – Adriano Celentano 

• “Florida Water Blues” – Twisted Teens 

• “New Age” – Blitz 

• “Why Can’t I Touch It?” – Buzzcocks 

• “Talk of the Town” – The Pretenders 

• “Poinciana” – Ahmad Jamal 

• “Showrooms” – Sam Prekop 

• “Diving Woman” – Japanese Breakfast 

• “Come On Let’s Go” – Broadcast 

• “My Love Mine All Mine” – Mitski 

• “The End of the World” – Sharon Van Etten 

• “In The Night” – Beck 

• “Ride Lonesome” – Beck 

• “Let Me Get There (feat. Kurt Vile)” – Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions 

• “Somewhere Good” – Tara Clerkin Trio 

Listen to In the Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org. 

Many Michiganders feel powerless over their own electrical power. That’s because, despite approved rate hikes, when a storm hits the power can be out for days before utility companies like Consumers Energy and DTE Energy are able to restore it. 

But while many are disappointed with the performance of Michigan’s utility companies, some regulators point to progress as outage time has decreased by about 23% since 2019. 

How are Michigan’s utility companies held accountable for their actions? And, what kinds of improvements are taking root?

Dan Scripps is the chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, which regulates DTE Energy. He says the utility’s performance has been improving. 

“Last year… DTE for the first time in at least 25 years… was actually in the top quarter of utilities when you consider performance across the whole year.” 

Scripps joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss what is being done to restore and upgrade the state’s aging grid. 

DTE is a financial supporter of WDET. Our newsroom observes a clear boundary between funders and editorial content, and we do not serve the agendas of those who support us. 

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.

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It is one of the older and more uncomfortable patterns in working life: women in power sometimes pull the ladder up behind them, leaving the women coming after stranded.

Research shows it’s less about gender than about scarcity — about what happens when there are only so many seats at the table.

Danielle North has lived it. She’s a Detroit entrepreneur who’s spent the last decade building what the world didn’t give her: a childcare center, a college program for first-generation students, a women’s leadership network with 11,000 members.

North founded that network in 2014 after some of the hardest setbacks of her career came not from men, but from other women.

Fast forward to this moment, when Michigan has more women in power than ever: a woman governor, a woman secretary of state who has a good chance to be the next governor, a woman attorney general, a woman leading Detroit for the first ever. Many of them are here at the Mackinac Policy Conference this week. So today we’re asking: when women finally get power, how do they keep the door open for others?

North joined Robyn Vincent to discuss.

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.

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House Republicans want to eliminate Michigan’s clean energy law requiring 100% renewable power by 2040.

A second bill would also limit distributed energy sources, such as rooftop solar, to just 1% of a utility’s total energy sales. Democrats say that amounts to a ban on community solar programs like Ann Arbor’s Solarize, where neighbors group together to buy solar panels at bulk discounts.

Ann Arbor solar installations jumped from 17 per year to 180 after the Solarize program launched. The 1% cap could hurt that growth.

Republican Rep. Pauline Wendzel says her bill puts “reliability and affordability first.” 

On the other side of the aisle, Democratic Rep. Tonya Myers Phillips points to utilities and their frequent rate increases as the problem behind high energy bills.

Reporter Kyle Davidson from Michigan Advance joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss the battle over energy costs.

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.

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In 2019, Michigan’s largest utility ended what’s called net metering. That meant if you had solar panels, you no longer got full credit for the extra energy you sent back to the grid. So, instead of getting a dollar’s worth of credit, you might get 30 cents.

But in Ann Arbor, this didn’t slow down rooftop solar, or make it less attractive financially. Solar installations exploded there —from 17 per year before 2019 to 180 per year since 2020.

This is partly because of a program called Solarize — neighbors banding together to get group discounts on solar installations. Now it has spread across metro Detroit.

Julie Roth launched Solarize. Today, she’s the energy manager at the city of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations. She spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.

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

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Usually, they are found in school gymnasiums or church fellowship rooms. Voting booths are among the most intimate spaces in American democracy.

The process is typically quiet and quick, and it is supposed to be equal. But this is not the case for people with disabilities. A new report published by Detroit Disability Power documents just how often there are barriers at the voting booth, and why it keeps getting worse.

1 in 4 Americans has a disability. In Michigan, that number is nearly 1 in 3. Yet this new report finds only 10% of the polling places assessed in 2025 were fully accessible. That’s down from 13% in the previous report covering the 2024 elections and 16% in the report covering the 2022 elections.

Detroit Disability Power has now audited more than 1,000 polling places across metro Detroit. Trained volunteers have visited precincts during early voting, primaries, and on Election Day, carrying a checklist and a mission: ensure the law is being followed.

Eric Welsby is the advocacy director at Detroit Disability Power. He serves on the Michigan Bureau of Elections’ Voting System Advisory Committee for Accessible Elections, and was recently appointed by Governor Whitmer to the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council.

Bakpak Durden is a Detroit-born artist, disability advocate, and one of the people who actually show up to do the audits — at roughly 100 polling sites and counting.

They joined Robyn Vincent to discuss why the number of accessible polling locations continues to shrink and what it feels like to be part of a community treated like an afterthought.

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.

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