Detroit Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield says she will retain Todd Bettison as the city’s police chief.  

In a statement released Tuesday, Sheffield praised Bettison’s results – citing Detroit’s record drops in violent crime – including the lowest homicide rate since the mid-1960s.  

Bettison had a 27-year long career in the police department, before becoming Detroit’s Deputy Mayor in 2022.  Mayor Duggan made him Police Chief earlier this year after former Chief James White left to become the head of the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network. 

Additional headlines from Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Sewer tunnelling project  

The Great Lakes Water Authority is starting a new project with the goal of alleviating sewage overflows in parts of Southwest Detroit.  The authority will hold a ceremony Thursday to launch the assembly and operation of a tunnel-boring machine.  

The $87 million infrastructure project will eventually build a three-quarter mile long tunnel that will redirect excess rainwater and snow melt away from the normal system into the Oakwood Retention Treatment Basin.  The GLWA says that should reduce sewage levels and overflows into the Rouge River.   

The tunnelling is scheduled to begin in the spring. 

North Corktown housing 

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced a new housing development in Detroit’s North Corktown neighborhood.  

The project will create 23 new apartments and retail space.  About 30% of the apartments will be classified as affordable housing.

The state is providing a $1.5 million grant from its Revitalization and Placemaking program.  The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation is also providing a $530,000 low-interest loan for the project. 

Trump addresses the nation 

President Donald Trump says he will deliver an address to the nation tonight.  He announced the action Tuesday on his Truth Social platform.  The president did not immediately say what the subject of his speech would be.  

The live address from the White House takes place at 9 p.m. and will be available on select broadcast and online platforms. 

Windsor street renaming 

Just across the river, the Chaldean Association of Windsor is holding a special street renaming ceremony.  

A section of Marentette Avenue will get the secondary name “Chaldean Way.”  Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens and other officials will be on hand for the ceremony.  The association says there are thousands of Chaldeans living in and around Windsor. 

 The event takes place at 3 p.m. on Friday. 

Christmas Eve one week away 

And Christmas Eve is just a week away.  That means many merchants around Detroit will be busier than normal as residents do their holiday shopping.  

Many large retailers will have extended hours to accommodate additional shoppers.  Independent stores may have expanded hours too, but check before you go.  

And if you haven’t been downtown in a while, you can look for several new shops, especially along Woodward Avenue near the new Hudson’s building.  

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Almost a decade ago, President Donald Trump began campaigning on a very different American policy than the one we previously had. He wanted America to be tougher on China, to build a wall across the Mexico-American border, and to put “America first.”

Today, a lot of that strategy has remained intact, some of it even influencing the Biden administration’s policies.

How do Americans feel about our country’s foreign policy stances? And, how do they want to see America lead?

Rebecca Lissner is a Senior fellow for US foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Brady-Johnson distinguished practitioner in grand strategy and lecturer with the Jackson School of Global Affairs at Yale University.

This month, she began speaking with people around the country about what they make of American foreign policy. She is in town to understand how people in metro Detroit feel about the topic, and joined The Metro to share her findings.

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, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Editor’s note: Some photos in this story contain language that may be considered offensive to some readers.

Millions turned out at No Kings protests nationwide as a pushback against President Donald Trump’s policies on everything from tariffs to immigration raids.

Republicans criticized the protests — calling them the “hate America” rallies.

In Detroit, over ten thousand people rallied. The event started in Roosevelt Park in front of Michigan Central Depot.

Detroiter Imani didn’t want to give her last name out of fear for her safety. She wore a unicorn costume in solidarity with protesters in Portland.

“Portland is fighting hate with fun and being silly, and I like that,” she said. 

Imani adds that she’s bothered by how immigrants and U.S. citizens have been treated by federal law enforcement in other cities.

“That is a concern of mine, because Chicago is like our cousin. So if it’s happening over there, it could definitely happen over here, and that’s why I truly support what they’re doing, too, and support the way that they’re fighting back for their community.”

Following the rally, protesters marched to the Customs and Border Protection field office in Downtown Detroit.

Kassandra Rodriguez is with the Detroit Community Action Committee. She says the Trump Administration immigration crackdown means Detroit should be a sanctuary city. Rodriguez says that’s something she’s addressed with City Council President Mary Sheffield.

“When we’ve gone to city council and presented our ordinance, she did say that she would fight for immigrants, and I’m hoping that she holds to that promise.”

Rodriguez says many Latinx people stayed home in fear of ICE.

“A lot of them are very scared, you know, they view these big movements, big protests, as a place where they might get targeted. So it’s so important, even more important, that so many of us come out here and are able to elevate their voices and and share their stories.”

Detroiter Michelle Coates was near the rally, but not there to protest. She said she understands why people are upset.

“People’s tired of unrest, people’s tired of inflation, people’s tired of working day in day out, just to make ends meet. You know the cost of living is going up and up.”

Coates also echoes concerns about authoritarianism in the U.S.

“We, as people of the country of United States of America, is not just going to stand here and let him do and dictate the way he want to and just make us just bow down and just accept whatever he want to give us.”

Detroit Police arrested one pro-Trump counter protester. It was unclear if they made other arrests at the peaceful event.

More Michigan protests

Thousands more rallied across metro Detroit, with protests in Ferndale, Wyandotte and Dearborn. WDET Production Assistant José Llanas attended a No Kings rally in Ann Arbor in Veteran’s Park.

Listen what the protestors had to say below.

I think we’re moving in a direction that I just don’t really support. It would be really nice if we all got back to the normal course of business within government as well as everybody resorted back to just being decent people. Normal is what I would like to see.

 Nobody’s paying us to be here. We’re paying to be here. And, we need to end the fascism that’s happening right now. We need to save the immigrants in this country, and we need to save our citizens because we are next on the list… I just never thought that we would get here as a people.

I’ve got a lot of empathy for the people in the cities where the National Guard is actually being deployed, and so I think that the real emphasis needs to be placed on those places. And it’s fun to be here and it’s nice to have this community event, but also we need to remember why we’re here. And it’s not a really joyous thing.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is suing the federal government on behalf of eight people currently held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The civil rights group argues that these undocumented immigrants — many of whom have lived here for over a decade or were brought here as children — are no threat to the public.

33-year-old Jose Daniel Contreras-Cervantes is a Mexican national and has been in custody since a Macomb County traffic stop back in August. He has leukemia that requires daily medication.

Lupita Contreras is an American citizen and Jose’s wife. Their three children are also citizens. She says he’s not getting the care he needs.

“For 22 days, Jose did not receive his medication, which he is to take daily for his leukemia,” Contreras said. “Lapses in his medication and medical treatment can cause severe symptoms, including damage to his vision, infections and the loss of his life.”

Contreras-Cervantes is currently held at the newly-reopened North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin.

The ACLU wants a judge to release the eight detainees while their immigration cases go through the court.

The Trump Administration ended a bond program for people awaiting their hearing. The Department of Justice and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are opting to jail undocumented immigrants, oftentimes seeking to deport them without due process.

Many times, immigrants showing up for scheduled court hearings have been taken into custody.

ACLU of Michigan Senior Staff Attorney Miriam Aukerman says judges should have the final say over how these people are detained.

“In this country, due process is fundamental,”Aukerman said. “We don’t just lock people up and throw away the key. Rather, judges decide who should be behind bars. That is true for citizens and non-citizens.”

Another man, Fredy De Los Angeles-Flores, has lived in the U.S. for 15 years, but not legally. However, he is the sole caregiver of his 13-year-old U.S. citizen son.

The ACLU of Michigan has already successfully petitioned to get one man, Juan Manuel Lopez-Campos, released on bond after being detained at the Monroe County Jail.

For the Macomb County Sheriff’s office, Commander Jason Abro told WDET that it is common practice for deputies to inform Customs and Border Patrol when an undocumented immigrant is taken into custody. In Contreras-Cervantes’ case, he was pulled over for speeding, but arrested for not having a valid driver’s license.

Commander Abro says the Macomb County Sheriff’s office is not actively aiding ICE investigations and are not a part of the federal Section 287(g) immigration enforcement program.

Aukerman says the change in policy is meant to punish people who are seeking a better life in the U.S.

“This directive is specifically designed to force people to give up their claims for immigration relief and leave their families behind,” Aukerman said.

“The cruelty of this new directive is not an accident. Cruelty is the point.”

In 2020, 15 Republicans tried to cast Michigan’s electoral votes for President Trump, even through President Biden won the state by 154,000. In this episode of MichMash, WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow break down how the legal case against these electors unraveled.

Then, Executive Director of the Michigan Association of Counties Steve Currie joins the show to talk about how the state budget affects local governments.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Trump administration wants American museums to be less critical of our history. 

On Tuesday, the White House called for a “comprehensive internal review” of eight Smithsonian museums. They want institutions to celebrate American exceptionalism instead of discussing race and America’s racial history, and to avoid negatively discussing the president. 

Already, one Smithsonian museum changed its exhibit about President Donald Trump. It omitted that the president made false statements challenging his 2020 election loss, as well as a statement that said Trump delivered a speech encouraging lawless action at the Capitol. 

The current administration says it wants our museums to end partisanship and to “restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.” But many worry that, instead, the president is stoking an already-heated culture war and limiting free speech.

How should these museums respond to political pressure? How should American museums react to criticism and make appropriate changes? And, what is their role in critiquing and celebrating American life?

We asked Devon Akmon, Director of Michigan State University Museum and core faculty member in MSU’s Arts, Cultural Management & Museum Studies program for his perspective. 

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, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Tuesday advanced President Donald Trump’s request to cancel some $9 billion in previously approved spending, overcoming concerns from some lawmakers about what the rescissions could mean for impoverished people around the globe and for public radio and television stations in their home states.

The Senate vote was 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie.

A final vote in the Senate could occur as early as Wednesday. The bill would then return to the House for another vote before it would go to Trump’s desk for his signature before a Friday deadline.

Republicans winnowed down the president’s request by taking out his proposed $400 million cut to a program known as PEPFAR. That change increased the prospects for the bill’s passage. The politically popular program is credited with saving millions of lives since its creation under then-President George W. Bush to combat HIV/AIDS.

The president is also looking to claw back money for foreign aid programs targeted by his Department of Government Efficiency and for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“When you’ve got a $36 trillion debt, we have to do something to get spending under control,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

The White House tries to win over skeptics

Republicans met with Russ Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, during their weekly conference luncheon as the White House worked to address their concerns. He fielded about 20 questions from senators.

The White House campaign to win over potential holdouts had some success. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., tweeted that he would vote to support the measure after working with the administration to “find Green New Deal money that could be reallocated to continue grants to tribal radio stations without interruption.”

Some senators worried that the cuts to public media could decimate many of the 1,500 local radio and television stations around the country that rely on some federal funding to operate. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting distributes more than 70% of its funding to those stations.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she was particularly concerned about a lack of specifics from the White House.

“The rescissions package has a big problem — nobody really knows what program reductions are in it,” Collins said. “That isn’t because we haven’t had time to review the bill. Instead, the problem is that OMB has never provided the details that would normally be part of this process.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she didn’t want the Senate to be going through numerous rounds of rescissions.

“We are lawmakers. We should be legislating,” Murkowski said. “What we’re getting now is a direction from the White House and being told: ‘This is the priority and we want you to execute on it. We’ll be back with you with another round.’ I don’t accept that.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Collins and Murkowski joined with Democrats in voting against the Senate taking up the measure.

McConnell said he wanted to make clear he didn’t have any problem with reducing spending, but agreed with Collins that lawmakers didn’t have enough details from the White House.

“They would like a blank check is what they would like. And I don’t think that’s appropriate,” McConnell said.

But the large majority of Republicans were supportive of Trump’s request.

“This bill is a first step in a long but necessary fight to put our nation’s fiscal house in order,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.

Democrats warn of the consequences

Democrats warned that it’s absurd to expect them to work with Republicans on bipartisan spending measures if Republicans turn around a few months later and use their majority to cut the parts they don’t like.

“It shreds the appropriations process,” said Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats. “The Appropriations Committee, and indeed this body, becomes a rubber stamp for whatever the administration wants.”

Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that tens of millions of Americans rely on local public radio and television stations for local news, weather alerts and educational programs. He warned that many could lose access to that information because of the rescissions.

“And these cuts couldn’t come at a worse time,” Schumer said. “The floods in Texas remind us that speedy alerts and up-to-the-minute forecasts can mean the difference between life and death.”

Democrats also scoffed at the GOP’s stated motivation for taking up the bill. The amount of savings pales compared to the $3.4 trillion in projected deficits over the next decade that Republicans put in motion in passing Trump’s big tax and spending cut bill two weeks ago.

“Now, Republicans are pretending they are concerned about the debt,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “So concerned that they need to shut down local radio stations, so concerned they are going to cut off ‘Sesame Street.’ … The idea that that is about balancing the debt is laughable.”

What’s ahead in the Senate

With Republicans providing enough votes to take up the bill, it sets up the potential for 10 hours of debate plus votes on scores of potentially thorny amendments in what is known as a vote-a-rama. The House has already shown its support for the president’s request with a mostly party line 214-212 vote, but since the Senate is amending the bill, it will have to go back to the House for another vote.

Republicans who vote against the measure also face the prospect of incurring Trump’s wrath. He has issued a warning on his social media site directly aimed at individual Senate Republicans who may be considering voting against the rescissions package. He said it was important that all Republicans adhere to the bill and in particular defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement,” he said.

–Reporting by Kevin Freking, The Associated Press. Congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro and staff writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Stephen Groves contributed.