Metro Detroit drivers are about to get some relief for a major traffic headache.

The Michigan Department of Transportation is nearing the end of its Restore the Reuther project. 

Crews have been rebuilding I-696 between I-75 and M-10 since early 2025. They took care of the eastbound lanes first and recently completed work on the westbound side.

Starting on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, MDOT will reopen the westbound lanes.

Spokesperson Diane Cross says they’ll also reopen all the off-ramps on westbound 696 except one–the Woodward Avenue exit. She says they were working on Woodward but had to stop because of the annual Dream Cruise.

“We have to come back and do some work on the service drive,” she says. “And because of that, we can’t have any traffic coming off the freeway through the area where we’re working.”

The end is near

To prepare for the reopening of the westbound lanes, MDOT will close the freeway between I-75 and M-10 from 9 p.m. on Oct. 9 until 5 a.m. on Oct. 12. 

Cross says eastbound 696 remains closed between M-10 and I-75, but that won’t last much longer

“We have to repair all those places where we were letting traffic cross over through the work zone,” she says. “We’ve got a lot of clean up in the median on before we can shift eastbound back.”

Cross says that work should be complete by the end of the year.

Once both sides of the freeway are open, drivers will no longer have to use the 26-mile detour around eastbound 696. It has taken traffic south on M-10, east on Davison, and north on 75 to rejoin the Reuther Freeway.

MDOT still has work to do on 696 between I-75 and Dequindre. That will start in 2027, but Cross says they won’t have to close the freeway.

“We will leave two lanes open in each direction,” she says. “It’ll be slow and there’ll be work, but traffic will be able to use the freeway.”

Maintenance will continue

Cross says drivers will see maintenance work on 696 in the years to come.

“We have to take care of small problems before they become big problems,” she says. “You want us doing maintenance because that makes the roadway last longer.”

Drivers can get updates on the project at MDOT’s Driving Oakland website.

The Detroit Red Wings have missed the last ten Stanley Cup playoffs, the longest active postseason drought in the National Hockey League. 

They hope to end that streak in 2026-27. But first, they have to overcome much inner tumult.

That starts with a big question–what should they do about center Dylan Larkin?

Movin’ out?

The Wings drafted Larkin in 2014. He was a rookie the last time the team made the playoffs in 2016. They haven’t qualified since then.

The 30-year-old forward wants to compete for a Stanley Cup before he’s too old. When the 2025-26 ended, Larkin said he wanted out of Detroit, even though his contract has a no-trade clause.

Larkin asked then-General Manager Steve Yzerman to waive that clause and deal him to one of three contending teams. Yzerman was either unwilling or unable to meet Larkin’s demands. In July, Yzerman abruptly stepped down as GM.

As the new season begins, Larkin is still a Red Wing, but he is no longer the captain. Detroit Free Press hockey writer Helene St. James says he’s also nursing an upper body injury that could keep him off the ice.

“He missed all of the preseason,” she says. “He has practiced with the team, but so far has yet to be on a regular line, even in practice.”

Larkin anchors Detroit’s first line. He scored 34 goals last season. St. James says it wouldn’t be easy to replace that kind of production, especially since the team doesn’t have a strong second-line center.

“The question is who’s going to score the goals?” she asks. “Patrick Kane is gone. James Van Riemsdyk is gone. That’s 31 goals between them.”

Even if Larkin stays with the team and returns to the ice, they still have to find a new leader. His trade demand cost him the “C” on his jersey. But if he’s not the captain, who is?

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

“So far, nobody,” St. James says, noting that one player stands out as a possible successor to Larkin.

“Moritz Seider has all the makings of being the next captain,” she says. Seider is a defenseman and captained Germany’s national men’s team in the 2026 Winter Olympics. For now, he and forward Lucas Raymond will serve as alternate captains. 

Whoever leads the team on the ice, owner Chris Ilitch must also find someone else to guide the ship off the ice. So far, he hasn’t been able to hire an experienced GM or assistant GM to succeed Yzerman. Two days before training camp began, Ilitch temporarily promoted player development director Shawn Horcoff to interim GM.  

St. James says at this point, Horcoff might have the job for a while.

“It’s very unheard of than an assistant GM would leave his team in the middle of the season,” she says. 

Whether anyone wants Yzerman’s old job remains to be seen. St. James says the Larkin situation has tarnished the image of an Original Six team that won four Stanley Cups between 1997 and 2008.

“It’s just hard to understand how such a proud franchise could have gotten to this point.”

The Red Wings open the season against the New York Rangers on Friday, Oct. 2 at Little Caesars Arena.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is sticking to its childhood vaccine recommendations as the new school year begins.

The agency says clinicians should follow the schedules set by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Despite that guidance, a growing number of parents in Michigan are deciding not to vaccinate their kids against preventable diseases.

Rates have declined since COVID

MDHHS grants waivers to parents who object to vaccines for religious, medical, or philosophical reasons. In the 2025-26 school year, more than 24,000 students received waivers, a rate of almost 7%. That’s the highest number in 12 years.

Ryan Malosh runs the department’s immunizations division. He says routine vaccinations have dropped since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think what we’re seeing is that that more people are probably wanting to maybe delay some of the vaccines that they’re getting,” he says. “It’s not that they’re necessarily opposed to vaccination, but they’re just maybe concerned about all of the shots at once.”

Science is on the state’s side

Experts say misinformation about vaccines is also contributing to the decline, especially the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. Malosh points to decades of scientific research that has shown the MMR shot is safe and effective.

“A single dose is 93% effective at preventing measles,” Malosh says. “Two doses, which is the recommended schedule for children once they age four to six years old, is 97% effective at preventing a case of measles.”

The guidance comes amid a 35-year high in the number of measles cases nationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 94% of those cases were either unvaccinated or their status was unknown.

Michigan requires students to have at least six vaccinations against communicable diseases. Malosh says that includes influenza.

“That’s for everybody that’s six months of age and older,” he says. “They’re recommended to get a flu shot every year.”

Malosh says if parents have questions about vaccines, they should ask the experts—their doctors.

“They understand the science, and they’re trained in looking at these things,” he says.

The Michigan State Fair comes to the Vibe Credit Union Showplace in Novi on September 3, 2026.

It’s a smaller event than the original state fair in Detroit, which usually began a week-and-a-half before Labor Day. Billed as one of America’s oldest state fairs, Michigan’s annual tradition drew more than 1 million people at its peak in the 1960s.

By the early 21st century, attendance and revenue had fallen so much that the state couldn’t afford to keep it going. The 2009 fair had 217,000 visitors. Almost two months later, then-Governor Jennifer Granholm vetoed funding for the fair.

A few years later, members of Michigan’s agriculture industry rounded up corporate sponsors and revived the event. They’ve held it in Novi since 2012.

Riley Stechschulte is the manager of volunteers and sponsor relations for Michigan State Fair, LLC. She says their agriculture and livestock teams are the heart of the event.

“They had the heart to bring it back so that future generations would have the fair,” she says. “It’s turned into something that families love to attend every single year.”

The tradition lives

Stechschulte says the fair draws an average of 200, 000 visitors over 5 days. It covers a smaller area than the old Detroit fairgrounds, much of which has been redeveloped.

But she says it has something for everyone to enjoy.

“We’ve had a circus in the past, we’ve had BMX bikes in the past, and this year we’re going to have monster trucks,” she says. “It’s a good mix of the old and new.”

The “old” elements refer to traditional features such as animal and plant exhibits showcasing the agriculture industry. One of the highlights is a cow sculpted from Michigan butter. Stechschulte says first-time fairgoers are surprised to learn how much farming matters to the state.

“Agriculture is the second largest industry in Michigan,” she says. “People who live in southeast Michigan don’t see just how much of the state is cornfields and livestock farms.”

Besides sweet corn, Michigan is a major producer of apples, cherries, grapes, peaches, berries, and asparagus.

The next generation of farmers isn’t necessarily rural

The fair gives children living on Michigan farms a chance to show what they’ve learned. But Stechschulte says city kids get involved, too.

“We have an urban scholarship program as well as a livestock and agriculture scholarship for youth involved in the fair,” she says. “Our goal is to get those kids together from rural areas and urban areas and have them teach other about the things that they do.”

The Michigan State Fair runs Sept. 3-7. Admission is $10.

The rise in measles across the U.S. coincides with falling vaccination rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed almost 2,500 cases of the disease in 2026, the highest number since the 1990s.

Measles had been virtually eliminated in America by the year 2000. The anti-vaccine movement has gained strength in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health experts say social media has allowed vaccine misinformation to spread. Self-styled wellness “influencers” have built large followings online, pushing unscientific claims and promoting unregulated health products.

Mariah Wellman is studying this trend. She’s an assistant professor of advertising and public relations at Michigan State University. She says many people turn to the internet because they might not have access to health care.

“They may not see their doctor on a consistent basis,” Wellman says. “They may not have a doctor they necessarily trust.”

(Un)healthy skepticism?

Wellman says many people no longer trust the medical establishment. And they feel like they can get answers online faster than they can from a doctor or health care provider. She says wellness gurus take advantage of that.

“Wellness influencers do a great job of building relationships that make the viewer feel like the influencer really sees them, hears them, knows them, and values them,” she says.

Once people accept misinformation as truth, Wellman says it’s difficult to convince them otherwise.

“It’s incredibly hard to change their minds,” she says.

What’s good for the goose…

But some health experts are turning that around. Wellman says many qualified people in their fields are learning how to use social media to turn the tide.

“We’re seeing some evidence that these expert influencers are growing in their popularity online,” she says. “People are reaching out to them, saying, ‘yes, actually this content has changed my mind.'”

Wellman is writing a book on the strategies wellness influencers use to make people believe they’re authority figures. The book comes out in 2027.