Detroit has demolished roughly 27,000 abandoned houses and sold another 19,000 formerly vacant homes since Mayor Mike Duggan took office in 2014 and embarked on what became one of the largest residential blight-removal efforts in the country, city officials said this week.
Cannabis businesses are currently taxed on gross income and cannot deduct operating expenses like other companies ordinarily do. Changing the classification could help smaller businesses that operate without a lot of resources.
There are concerns from leaders in the cannabis industry about federal regulations that might follow this move — including taxes. The Trump administration announced that this move was to recognize legitimate medical use and expand medical marijuana and cannabis research for the medical community.
Additional headlines for Dec. 19, 2025
Food vouchers expire Dec. 31
Shoppers have until Wednesday, Dec. 31 to use their Double Up Food Bonus Bucks vouchers. The statewide program expanded during the government shutdown when SNAP benefit recipients were under threat and families didn’t know if they would lose their ability to purchase food.
Run through the Fair Food Network, the program matches SNAP benefits used to buy up to $40 in fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables at partnering farmer markets and grocery stores. It has been operating for more than a decade and is continuing into 2026. Frozen foods will be added to the list of eligible foods as well as unlimited earning and spending options.
If you have questions about the program, call the hotline at 866-586-2796 or visit doubleupfoodbucks.org.
NFL: The Detroit Lions face the Pittsburgh Steelers in a Sunday night match up. Lions fans probably have a Detroit win on their Christmas list because they currently have a 25% chance of making it to the playoffs, according to ESPN reports. If they win the last three games of the season including the game against the Steelers, their chances rise to 95%. Kickoff is at 4:25 p.m. at Ford Field.
NBA: The Pistons fell to the Dallas Mavericks yesterday in a tight overtime matchup. The loss doesn’t change up too much because they are still number one in the eastern conference with a 21-6 record. The next game is tomorrow, Dec. 20 against the Charlotte Hornets at Little Caesars Arena. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m.
NHL: The Red Wings, currently on top of the Atlantic Division, go against the Washington Capitals tomorrow at the Captial One Arena. The game starts at 12:30 p.m.
Detroit Sandwich Week
Detroit Sandwich Week is going down right after Christmas. Sandwiched in between Christmas and the New Year, this annual event celebrates different local sandwich shops each day to support community and small businesses.
This year’s featured shops are Mudgie’s, Vesper and Ayiti Spaghetti, Ladder 4 Wine Bar, Roccos, Tall Trees Cade and Batch Brewing Company. For more information, visit detroitsandwichparty.square.site.
Perfume popup
Artisan perfumer and “scent docent” Terees Western will host a popup at Source Booksellers on Saturday for her business FragranTed. Visitors will have a chance to create their own holiday scents and learn about using scent to celebrate and make memories. The event runs from 2–4 p.m. at 4240 Cass Avenue.
Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Tenants of Detroit’s historic Leland House plan to rally Saturday afternoon, accusing city officials of blocking them from retrieving their belongings after a sudden evacuation earlier this month and raising alarms about what they call a “hostile takeover” of the troubled and storied downtown building.
A downtown Detroit restaurant and nightclub is facing a civil rights lawsuit after an employee says he was subjected to racist and homophobic slurs, physically assaulted by a coworker on the job, and then fired after complaining that management failed to protect him. The lawsuit, filed this week in Wayne County Circuit Court by Marko […]
Detroit’s fine arts community is growing and producing more internationally known creatives. And with so much talent, artists and organizers continue to find creative ways to raise their visibility.
DEROIT SALON is a new initiative produced by the woman-led organization Salonnière that puts Detroit artists in front of global audiences, curators and museums by touring exhibitions that carry their pieces.
KESSWA by Breann White
The collective’s first show was in Paris at Art Basel, where they installed three different exhibitions. Each one highlighted a different area of life in Detroit.
Juana is the Artistic Director and Chief Curator for DETROIT SALON. KESSWA is a vocalist, producer and filmmaker who musically curated the exhibitions in Paris.
Juana Williams and KESSWA joined Tia Graham in the studio to discuss DETROIT SALON’S efforts.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
A Wayne County judge has rejected Detroit Thermal’s bid to shut down a lawsuit brought by residents of Detroit’s historic Lafayette Park neighborhood, keeping in place a court order that blocks the utility from running steam lines through the protected greenspace.
This week, I spun just some of my favorite songs released by artists based around metro Detroit and all across the state of Michigan. Emphasis on some, hah! Because there’s just so many to choose from and, for me, so difficult to narrow it down, but I did my best.
I’ve been covering the local music scene for 20 years, and more than eight of those years have been here on WDET. Each year I’ve found myself giving a similarly-worded year-end appraisal: more and more (and more) amazing music keeps coming out of Detroit! Music that is engaging, experimental, impressively produced, catchy-as-hell, and frankly, inspirational!
Spin the episode above to hear more of my thoughts, and look below to find a list of my top 10 favorite songs of the year!
Fav Songs of 2025!
1.) The Bloodletting – Phabies
2.) Jesse – Danny VanZandt
3.) The Middle – Na Bonsai
4.) Fearless & The Pure – Elisabeth Pixley-Fink
5.) Black Cat Operator – Rogue Satellites
6.) Wildflower – Nancy Friday
7.) Fast Food Napkin – Low Phase
8.) Looks Like We’re Alive – Spencer LaJoye
9.) Do It All – The City Lines
10.) Anymore – Mirror Mask
And stay tuned for two more episodes of MI Local in the year of 2025:
Tuesday, Dec. 23: Highlighting original holiday music by local artists, plus in-studio guests include members of local rock groups Strange Witch and The City Lines, both of whom will perform original Christmas music and a classic cover!
Tuesday, Dec. 30: I’ll run through a bunch of great songs released during the year of 2025 that I nearly missed, plus in-studio guests Emily Rose and Audra Kubat will hang out to perform some original songs live, as well as a cover of Auld Lang Syne!
Happy New Year & Happy Holidays! Thanks for listening!
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Few voices are as deeply woven into Detroit’s musical fabric as Ann Delisi’s. A trusted presence in Detroit radio for decades, Ann brings her unmatched perspective and curiosity to In the Groove with her Best of 2025 selections.
As a longtime champion of artists across genres and generations — from Detroit innovators to global icons — Ann’s picks reflect a career spent listening closely, asking questions, and shaping how this city hears music. Her Best of 2025 continues that legacy, highlighting the records and artists that resonated most with her this year.
Check out Ann Delisi’s full Best of 2025 playlist below, and listen to In the Groove to hear her selections and insights from one of Detroit radio’s most essential voices.
“Midnight Marauders” – Don Was
“Stealing A Kiss” – The War and Treaty
“Gunslinger” – Natalie Bergman
“No Rain, No Flowers” – The Black Keys
“Flower Moon” – Durand Jones & The Indications & Aaron Frazer
“The New Normal” – Sheryl Crow
“Rollin’ B-Side Blues” – The Muggs
“Midnight (feat. Keezy)” – Brother Thunder
“Sober” – Bartees Strange
Tune in Friday, Dec. 12 – Friday Dec. 19 on 101.9 WDET FM, stream anytime at wdet.org — and follow along online for daily Best Of playlists and reflections from our music hosts.
WDET’s unique music programs are dedicated to exploring the music and culture of our region and the world. Keep the music going. Please make a gift today. Give now »
To some, the story of the Packard Plant mirrors that of Detroit. Built in the early 1900s, the building was a major site of auto manufacturing in the city until the mid-1950s, when the plant closed.
But that didn’t spell the end for the Packard Plant. The building continued to house industrial and commercial tenants into the 1990s, and was even home to some legendary Detroit raves.
After a 2022 court order, large parts of the Packard Plant were demolished. What’s left are massive concrete frames and outer shells. No windows. No interiors. No machinery. Just structure. The site isn’t really a factory anymore. It’s a ruin. And now, two developers say they want to give that ruin new life.
What are the plans for the redeveloped plant? And what will it take to make those changes happen?
Developers Mark Bennett and Oren Goldenberg spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent about that and more.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
The project to reconstruct I-375 is meant to do two things at once: rebuild aging infrastructure and repair the harm caused by a highway that, decades ago, tore through Black neighborhoods and business districts in downtown Detroit.
But as plans evolved, the cost of the I-375 reconstruction project was ballooning to $520 million. Criticism was mounting among nearby business owners who feared losing money and Detroiters who wanted to ensure the project would deliver reparative outcomes.
So in August the Michigan Department of Transportation paused the project. Then last month, it was revived with a different plan.
Jason Garza is the Michigan Department of Transportation Deputy Region Engineer. He 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.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
A federal jury on Monday found that a Clinton Township cop used excessive force during a non-emergency encounter, awarding $4 million in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages to Daniel Reiff, who was left blind in one eye after being punched in the face by the officer.
This is the sixth installment in “Exploring Integrity: Reviewing Wrongful Conviction Remedies,” a series examining the impact of conviction integrity units on the American judicial system’s rate of wrongful conviction. Presented by the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism, the investigation is supported by Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The meeting should have happened in 2008. Detroit […]
The City of Detroit is activating warming centers in response to the extreme cold weather forecasted this weekend. The City has also declared a cold weather health emergency and is advising residents to remain safe.
One of the warming centers is the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries on 13130 Woodard Ave. They are opening Friday, Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. through Tuesday Dec. 16 at 9 a.m. Residents in need can access the temporary overnight stand by shelter anytime by walking in without any referrals.
You could also call the Detroit Housing Resource Help Line at 866-313-2520 which is operating 24/7 during this health emergency.
For more information on helpline resources, respite locations and other warming centers go to detroitmi.gov.
Additional headlines from Friday, December 12, 2025
Former Michigan coach faces criminal charges
Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore will be arraigned in court Friday on stalking and home invasion charges.
This happened just days after the shocking news of his firing from the Wolverines program over allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
According to prosecutors, he faces charges of home invasion in the third degree, stalking and breaking and entering or entering without breaking.
The judge has agreed to a $25,000 cash surety bond, continuation of mental health treatment and a GPS tether for Moore, making it clear that any contact with the alleged victim would be a violation of the terms of his bail.
The Detroit Lions have a reunion with former QB Matthew Stafford as they face the Los Angels Rams. If the Lions win on Sunday they will have a 72% chance of making it to the playoffs. If they lose, their chances drop to 42% according to NFL research. Kickoff is at 4:25 p.m. EST as SoFi Stadium.
NBA
The Pistons face the Atlanta Hawks today at Little Caesars Arena. The hometown heroes are currently number one in the Eastern Conference.
Tip off for Friday’s game is at 7:00 p.m.
NHL
The Red Wings face the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday Dec. 13 at the United Center. The game starts at 8 p.m.
Chris Webber hosts basketball showcase
And this Saturday, NBA Hall of famer, Detroit native and former Pistons during the 2007 Chris Webber, is hosting his Michigan basketball showcase this weekend.
Basketball fans across the state will gather at the University of Detroit Mercy’s historic Calihan Hall arena to witness the top girls and boys high school teams in Michigan.
The boys event will be on Saturday Dec. 13 at noon and Sunday Dec. 14 at 4:30 p.m. The girls event will be Sunday at noon. For more information go to udmercy.edu.
Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
Support local journalism.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Coup D’état is a one of two local shops in Michigan to be chosen for New York Times list of 50 Best Clothing Stores in America. The article states Coup D’etat is inspirational and distinctive in its approach to customers and its community.
Located on Detroit’s east side, its nestled in a growing community of new and legacy Detroit residents. The store has embedded itself with local movers and shakers, making sure to be present and open to support local makers.
In 2025, Coup D’état held an art exhibition honoring the legacy of Detroit photographer Bill Rauhauser, highlighting the work he did capturing everyday life in Detroit through the 20th century.
Angela Wisenski-Cobbina is the owner and founder of Coup D’état. She wanted to make sure the boutique was than luxury shop, she wanted it to be inclusive for all people at all price points.
Angela spoke with The Metro’s Tia Graham about opening the space in 2019 and the journey so far.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Detroit Public Schools officials want Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release four high school students the government is holding, including a star baseball player at Western International High School.
Agents arrested Santiago Jesus Zamora Perez and his mother last weekend. Their lawyer says ICE is holding them in Texas.
At a school board meeting Tuesday, students and teachers described a climate of fear at the school in Detroit’s Mexicantown neighborhood.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti says he and the school board will write a letter to ICE asking them to release the students it detained.
Additional headlines from Thursday, December 11, 2025
Kronk Gym reopens
Detroit’s Kronk Gym officially reopened this month in the old rec center where Joe Luis trained. It’s now in the recently renovated Brewster-Wheeler recreation center.
Kronk Gym was Founded by Emanuel Steward and trained dozens of world boxing champions including Thomas Hearns and Lennox Lewis.
Kronk Gym memberships range from $90 to $129 a month, with training and HIIT classes, or $35 a month for youth.
Human Rights Day march
The social justice group CodePink Detroit will join a coalition of grassroots organizations for a Human Rights Day march this Saturday starting at Hart Plaza.
The groups are calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and Military aid to Israel, abolishing ICE and ending National Guard presence in some U.S. Cities. The march begins at 2:00pm.
Dearborn Heights tree lighting saved by local businessman
Dearborn Heights came close to canceling it’s annual tree lighting ceremony this year but a local business man saved the day.
City officials had ordered an artificial tree from China but the shipment ran into serious delays. The city decided to try to find a replacement tree, and businessman Sam Hussein helped pay for it. Hussein told Channel 7 he felt it was the right thing to do and was a great way to give back to his community.
The tree lighting ceremony will take place Friday at 6:30 p.m. outside of the Dearborn Heights City Hall.
Season of Soul
The Charles H Wright Museum’s Season of Soul is back! The daylong event is Sunday Dec. 14 starting at 10 a.m. The event falls on Second Sunday.
The museum offers free admission on the second Sunday of every month. Activities include morning yoga, photos with Black Santa and Mrs. Claus, and a holiday silent disco.
For more information, check out the events page on the museum’s website at thewright.org.
Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
Support local journalism.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Immigration enforcement in the United States has escalated sharply this year. Under the Biden administration, the daily number of people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) peaked at just under 40,000. In President Trump’s second term, that number has surged to more than 65,000.
A striking majority of those detainees — nearly three-quarters — have no criminal convictions.
Michigan has felt this shift acutely. Longtime residents with work authorization, U.S.-citizen children, and active immigration cases are increasingly being detained. One of them is Ernesto Cuevas Enciso.
Who Ernesto is
Ernesto came to the United States from Mexico in 1995. He was three years old. His baby sister, Miriam, was one. They grew up in Detroit one grade apart, sharing classrooms, milestones, and daily life.
As an adult, Ernesto became a DACA recipient. That protection was later revoked when prior, nonviolent misdemeanors surfaced during a renewal screening—a common outcome even for minor offenses from many years earlier.
Today, Ernesto has legal work authorization through a different process and is pursuing a marriage-based green card application. He is a construction worker, a husband, and a father to a one-year-old daughter.
Arrest in Ypsilanti
Last week, Ernesto and another construction worker were near a job site in Ypsilanti when an unmarked vehicle approached. ICE detained both men.
Ernesto Cuevas Enciso with his wife Andrea and one-year-old daughter.
Ernesto is now being held more than three hours from home at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin — currently the largest immigration detention facility in the Midwest.
Ernesto is awaiting an immigration hearing on December 17.
Family and lawmakers call for his release
Ernesto’s family and several Michigan lawmakers are urging ICE to release him on bond. They describe him as not a safety risk, a man who has been following the legal process, supporting his family, and working toward lawful permanent residency.
His sister, Miriam Stone, spoke with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent about the impact of this detention on their family and why they believe Ernesto should come home while his case proceeds.
What comes next
To understand the legal and policy context behind Ernesto’s case and why so many longtime Michigan residents are being detained this year, The Metro also spoke with Christine Suave of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, who explains the legal landscape and what options remain for someone in Ernesto’s position, and State Sen. Stephanie Chang, who discusses what Michigan lawmakers can and cannot do in response to federal immigration enforcement decisions.
The Metro contacted Detroit’s office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We asked why they detained Ernesto, given his legal work authorization and his pending marriage-based green card, and if ICE considers a person with two nonviolent misdemeanors, which occurred over a decade ago, to fall within its priority categories of enforcement.
The agency has not yet responded.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
As one of metro Detroit’s premiere dance companies, Eisenhower Dance Detroit provides local choreographers and directors opportunities to showcase their work. It also gives dancers a space to work and develop their craft in an industry that is extremely competitive.
The dance company is now working with world renowned dance choreographer Maxine Doyle.
Doyle is best known as co-director and choreographer of Sleep No More, the groundbreaking immersive production that redefined site-specific performance in New York and London. Doyle has showcased across the globe, in countries like England, Germany, Switzerland and now the US in Detroit.
“Beyond” will debut at the Detroit Film Theatre in April of 2026. “I Am Not Myself,” commissioned by Doyle, will be a featured.
Maxine Doyle and Artistic Director of Eisenhower Dance Detroit Stephanie Pizzo joined The Metro’s Tia Graham to speak about the power of dance.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Today we center the lens on Detroit-based vocalist, songwriter, producer, and label owner Miyan Bryant, a house and R&B force whose voice has been threaded through this show’s playlists for years.
Miyan’s story is classic Detroit: church-honed soul, club-tested stamina, and a refusal to stay in one lane. She first emerged in the early 1990s, stepping into the global underground with a collaboration with Key Statements, an alias of deep house artist Scott Grooves. From there, she moved through live band work, remakes of R&B standards, deep-house one-offs, and studio session work with heavyweights like Amp Fiddler, James Jamerson Jr., and the Detroit Beatdown camp.
At the same time, she was building a life outside the booth, earning a bachelor’s, a master’s, and PhD credits in deaf communications and developing sign language expression art that folds the deaf community directly into the experience of her music. For Miyan, house music isn’t just rhythm and vocals; it is access, language, and connection.
We’ll trace her journey in five cuts that show her range as a vocalist, a collaborator, and a builder of worlds on the dance floor.
We start at the beginning. The record that introduced Miyan Bryant to the international house community and stamped her as a force from day one.
“Over You (Vocal Mix)” arrived in the early 1990s as a Key Statements production that rides a classic drum pattern, rubbery bass line, and minimal keys, leaving space for Miyan’s voice to carry the emotional payload.
There is a rawness to the performance that feels almost live: ad-libs curling around the beat, notes that crest just as the hi-hats start to hit. There’s a tension between vulnerability and power, a trait that would become one of her signature characteristics.
A foundational anthem, the track helped introduce her to club crowds far beyond Detroit.
From here, we move to another underground favorite that cemented her status among music heads who pay attention to record labels, producers, and catalog numbers as closely as they follow artists.
Produced by Dwayne Jensen, this cut lives in that sacred space where soulful house, gospel, and late-night techno tension intersect.
You can hear the kinship with Chicago’s vocal house tradition and the influence of figures like CeCe Peniston and Steve “Silk” Hurley, both of whom Miyan cites as inspirations and peers. But the phrasing is pure Detroit: unpolished in the best way, conversational, and emotionally direct.
The tune has lived several lives, including a later remaster that reintroduced it to a new wave of underground listeners and reaffirmed Miyan as a vocalist whose work rewards rediscovery.
Track 3: “Love That I Want (BASSRemix)” – Miyan Bryant
From the collaborative lineage of early Detroit house, we turn now to a track that carries her name alone, spotlighting her as writer, vocalist, and conceptual center.
Here, Miyan stands in full command of the song’s architecture. The vocal is crafted with a songwriter’s eye for detail: verses that move, a hook that lands and lingers, and stacked harmonies that thicken the emotional field without cluttering the mix.
It is a clear marker of her evolution into a self-directed artist who can hold her own name on a record and deliver something that hits just as hard as her collaborations.
Track 4: “I Am Energy (Detroit Disco Funk Mix)” – Miyan Bryant
Next up, we step into her current chapter, a record that doubles as a personal manifesto, spiritual declaration, and club weapon. On this cut, Miyan’s voice rides the beat like a wave, turning the dance floor into a space where affirmation, Black futurism, and Detroit’s musical lineage converge.
“I Am Energy (Detroit Disco Funk Mix)” is a fitting emblem of who she has become: an artist whose life, scholarship, and creative practice all revolve around the frequencies she puts into the world.
Track 5: “Treat Me Right” – Miyan Bryant / Carl Bias
For our final selection, we return to collaboration, a space where Miyan has always thrived. Here she teams up with producer and musician Carl Bias who brings Miyan’s sensibilities into a more stripped, conversation-level space. She alternates between direct address and melodic flourish, making the title phrase a demand, a reminder, and a dare.
“Treat Me Right” from Miyan Bryant and Carl Bias, a fitting closer that distills her approach to love, respect, and self-worth over a groove designed to move bodies and shift mindsets. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Miyan Bryant in five songs.
For more journeys into the worlds of artists like this, keep it locked to The Progressive Underground every Saturday evening at 6 p.m. on WDET 101.9 FM and online at wdet.org.
Support the shows you love.
WDET’s unique music programs are dedicated to exploring the music and culture of our region and the world. Keep the music going. Please make a gift today. Give now »
For Miyan, house music isn’t just rhythm and vocals; it is access, language, and connection. Learn more about her journey and sound in this edition of 5-on-5.
This week we tap in with British-Canadian vocalist and songwriter Rochelle Jordan, who has been quietly carving out her own lane as one of electronic music’s most distinctive voices.
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