Democratic state lawmaker Donavan McKinney announced this week his intentions to run against Congressman Shri Thanedar in the 13th District primary election next year.

McKinney, 32, grew up in the district on Detroit’s east side and is the second person to join the race, alongside former state Rep. Adam Hollier. 

He was first elected to the Michigan House in 2022 as a representative for the state’s 14th district. He was reelected in the 11th House District last year, after district lines were redrawn. 

Metro Producer Sam Corey spoke with McKinney on the heels of his Congressional bid announcement to discuss his campaign priorities, which include advocating for clean air, clean water, and economic security.

Fact check: During the conversation, McKinney said the 13th District is the second poorest in the country. WDET couldn’t confirm that, but it is among the poorest districts in the nation. The Commercial Driver License law McKinney helped pass will also likely impact about one million Michiganders, not two million as he mentioned. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

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WDET is embarking on a new project exploring the multifaceted relationship between trees and community health in Michigan.

Amanda Le Claire, lead reporter and managing editor of the tree project, joined The Metro on Earth Day to talk about Detroit’s tree canopy and some of the most recent stories produced by the WDET newsroom.

Le Claire also shared a conversation she had with Andrew “Birch” Kemp, executive director of Arboretum Detroit, about a community forest restoration project on Detroit’s east side.

Studies have shown that urban tree canopies help make communities more climate resilient, reduce air pollution, and combat the urban heat island effect — exposing residents to higher risks of heat-related illness and higher cooling costs. 

The tree canopy project will dig into all of these topics and more over 24 months of reporting.

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–WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

More stories from The Metro on Tuesday, April 22:

• Detroit’s Pope Francis Center leader reflects on late pontiff’s legacy
• Enjoy ‘Art in the Trees’ at Palmer Park in celebration of Earth Day
• Detroit Public Library is ready to help in many ways
• Michigan ends mandatory life sentences for 19 and 20-year-olds convicted of murder

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

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The race for the U.S. Senate in Michigan is heating up. 

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed declared Thursday morning he is running for the state’s open Senate seat next year.

El-Sayed, who is running as a Democrat, previously served as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services for Wayne County. Before that, he ran for governor in 2018 and lost in the primary to now-Governor Gretchen Whitmer. 

Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Republican Mike Rogers are also in the running to replace Sen. Gary Peters, who vacates his seat next year.

Read more: Mallory McMorrow wants to bring a new generation to the US Senate

El-Sayed joined The Metro on Thursday to discuss why he is running, how his experience as a doctor and scientist inform his vision as a political leader, and what he sees as the most pressing issues facing Michiganders.

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More stories from The Metro on Thursday, April 17:

• Bookstock, Detroit’s largest used-book sale, supporting literacy initiatives across the state
• Auto industry taking an economic turn due to tariffs
• Flint program providing financial support to new moms expands to Wayne County

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Last month, the U.S. government deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a native of El Salvador who has lived in Maryland for the past 15 years — ignoring a federal court order forbidding his removal. 

Garcia, who was detained for alleged association with the MS-13 gang, is now being detained at the Center for Terrorism Confinement in El Salvador. And the Trump administration insists it’s not required to engage El Salvador’s government to bring him back. 

Trump’s defiance of court orders at the national level, is also having a local impact. 

In February, the Trump administration eliminated a legal aid program serving about 26,000 migrant children. The legal aid program was stopped in defiance of a federal judge’s orders. Already, the move has led to the Michigan Immigration Rights Center laying off half of its staff.

University of Michigan law professor, legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Barbara McQuade, returned to The Metro to discuss this defiance to court orders by the Trump administration.

Editor’s note: The Metro reached out to Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall and Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt. We have yet to hear back from them. 

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More stories from The Metro on Wednesday, April 16:

• Labor professor says Trump tariffs’ impact on autoworkers ‘will be very painful’ to watch
• Legendary hip-hop producer J Dilla’s music still beating in Detroit
• Nonprofit aims to conserve bird habitats in metro Detroit

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

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spoke at a Detroit Economic Club event on Monday.

Whitmer also met with President Donald Trump last week in Washington D.C., trying to ensure that Michigan receives federal help to restore power in northern Michigan after severe ice storms in late March. 

But tariffs, and how Michigan is navigating economic uncertainty, were also a focus at the White House and the DEC event. 

Auto suppliers are concerned that Trump’s tariffs will devastate their businesses, driving up the cost of cars and reducing sales. And this is important in Michigan where the auto industry makes up about 20% of our economy. 

WDET reporter Bre’Anna Tinsley attended the DEC event, held at MotorCity Casino’s Sound Board Theater. She joined The Metro on Tuesday to discuss Whitmer’s remarks. 

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More stories from The Metro on Tuesday, April 15:

• Cutting the ribbon on new affordable housing in Southwest Detroit
• A professor’s thoughts on reforming DEI at universities
• WDET celebrating the life and legacy of Judy Adams at Garden Theater this weekend
• Child amputees from Gaza get treatment, hope in Detroit

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

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Many free speech advocates are alarmed as the Trump administration revokes visas for hundreds of international students. Those students could face deportation for committing traffic violations or participating in political activism. 

In both circumstances, this kind of federal action is rare. Students are always at risk of losing their status for criminal convictions, but rarely for political demonstrations. 

People working in the Trump administration, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, say student activists do not have a right to be here. He claims students have been “vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus,” and that international students who “start a riot” will have their visas revoked. 

It is unclear whether any students who have lost their visas have been charged with starting a riot. And so, this has many people worried about crackdowns on free speech and the broader implications for all Americans, including Amir Makled. 

Makled is a civil rights attorney representing a University of Michigan protester pro bono. That protester faces criminal charges filed by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel for allegedly defying law enforcement. 

On Sunday, Makled was detained for two hours by federal agents at Detroit Metro Airport after returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic with his wife and two daughters. 

Makled said immigration officials told him they knew he was an attorney and that he takes on “high profile” cases. They wanted access to his cell phone.

Just last month, Makled appeared on The Metro to explain why he is representing a pro-Palestine protester pro bono. This week, he returned to the show to discuss what he experienced during his detainment at Detroit Metro Airport.

The Metro contacted the regional U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, which was involved in the detainment of Makled. The agency has not yet replied to that request.

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More stories from The Metro on Wednesday, April 9:

• Increased concerns with measles on the rise
• Changes underway on Monroe Street in Greektown
• Local impact of federal cuts to libraries and museums

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

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The Greektown Neighborhood Partnership is working on a “Monroe Streetscape Transformation Project.” 

The project would allow the partnership to occasionally close down certain streets to cars and make them more people-friendly. Some of these changes include expanding pedestrian zones, large landscaping projects, increasing lighting for visibility and new signature signage. 

Greektown Neighborhood Partnership Chair and President Athina Papas joined The Metro to discuss the changes coming to downtown. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

More stories from The Metro on Wednesday, April 9:

• Attorney representing pro-Palestine protestor detained at Detroit Metro Airport
• Increased concerns with measles on the rise
• Local impact of federal cuts to libraries and museums

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.

Diversity, equity and inclusion is going away. It’s been the story for businesses and colleges in America over the last month. 

With pressure from the Trump administration and from the U.S. Department of Education, the University of Michigan and a number of other universities have removed their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offices. 

But it’s not just the White House that doesn’t like DEI. It’s been criticized by some professors, students and public commentators as well.

Metro Producer Sam Corey sat down with two professors to understand how DEI programs work and what could happen as they go away. Robert Sellers is a professor of psychology and education, and the first chief diversity officer at the University of Michigan. Stacy Hawkins is a Rutgers professor, diversity consultant and DEI expert. 

The Metro has reached out to several University of Michigan regents who helped usher in the end of DEI practices and programming. We are still waiting to hear back from those state-wide elected officials. 

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More stories from The Metro on Monday, April 7:

• Mallory McMorrow wants to bring a new generation to the US Senate
• Curbing the impulse to buy more stuff
• Former Sleeping Bear Dunes superintendent warns of cuts to national parks, public lands

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For a good chunk of the 20th century, railcars took Detroiters from point A to point B. 

Along Gratiot and Grand River, people didn’t even own cars. They were too expensive, but there was also no reason to because streetcars crisscrossed Detroit and even went out to places like Port Huron and Ann Arbor. 

In 2025, new cars are really expensive, car insurance is very costly, and public transit is worse today than it was 100 years ago. Today on The Metro, we’re looking at the history and future of public transit in the Motor City. 

Guests: 

• Robert Pfaff: A professor of community and regional planning at Iowa State University. He wrote his dissertation at the University of Michigan about the history of Detroit’s streetcar system.
• Robert Cramer: Director of Detroit’s Department of Transportation. 

We also asked listeners:

“What would convince you to take public transit in Detroit? How fast, how convenient, do the buses or the Q-Line — or some kind of rail system — need to be for you to take it?”

Christina in Detroit said: “I believe in the last four years (public transit is) getting better. Is it the greatest thing in the world, the greatest thing since, like sliced bread? No. But I also think that there is strides, especially with Kramer involved, coming from Detroit People Mover to D-DOT tells me there’s gonna be a lot of changes.” 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

More headlines from The Metro on March 26, 2025:

• Mayor Mike Duggan gave his last State of City address last night. He touted his accomplishments and his work to build coalitions. We talked to WDET Senior News Editor Quinn Klinefelter about the speech. 
• The Department of Education does a lot of things to support college students. One of its primary functions WAS to administer federal student loans and payment plans for college students and graduates, pograms that help make college accessible for students of all income levels. Michelle Zampini is the Senior Director of College Affordability for The Institute of College Access & Success. She joins the show to talk about what student loans and repayments could look like under the Trump Administration. 

• WDET’s Ryan Patrick Hooper talked with Detroit Symphony Orchestra president Erik Ronmark about the release of “Blues Symphony” via Third Man Records. This interview first aired on In The Groove.

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