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Racist scheme to suppress voter turnout in Detroit leads to convictions of right-wing fraudsters

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
1 August 2025 at 17:55
Two right-wing fraudsters charged in a robocall scheme aimed at suppressing turnout of Black voters in Detroit in 2020 pleaded no contest to felony charges Friday. Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, who have a history of spreading hoaxes and outlandish conspiracy theories, face up to seven years in prison when they are sentenced in Wayne County Circuit Court on Dec. 1.

Duggan’s family members stand to benefit from controversial steam project in Detroit's Lafayette Park

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
31 July 2025 at 16:02
A controversial steam pipeline project in Detroit’s historic Lafayette Park was quietly pushed forward by city officials while members of Mayor Mike Duggan’s family stood to benefit from its approval, Metro Times has learned. Internal city emails and planning documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show top members of Duggan’s administration worked behind the scenes to override historic preservation staff and steer the project through Detroit’s Historic District Commission (HDC), despite warnings it would cause irreversible damage to the nationally recognized landscape. At the center of the project is 1300 Lafayette East, a luxury cooperatively owned tower near downtown where boilers failed in 2022 and several of Duggan’s family members live.

Video captures moment Detroit driver crashes through Midtown building

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Lee DeVito
29 July 2025 at 12:52
A motorcycle dashcam caught a dramatic incident on Wednesday evening when a man lost control of his car and wound up driving through a building in Midtown. The video, posted on Facebook by Khanh Cai, shows a 2017 Ford Fusion being driven along Woodward Avenue as it begins to drift. It then rides up over the curb of a QLine stop and swerves just feet away from the motorcyclist before it hits another vehicle and smashes through the front door of 5708 Woodward Ave., coming to a stop at the other side of the building.

U-M escalates punishment of pro-Palestinian activists after failed prosecution

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
25 July 2025 at 15:36
The University of Michigan is ramping up its crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests by bringing disciplinary charges against 11 current and former students and creating a new role that works with the police department to handle punishment, activists tell Metro Times. The charges stem from campus protests from 10 to 14 months ago. The University of Michigan Board of Regents, which has repeatedly targeted students who have spoken out about Israel’s war in Gaza, brought the charges under a newly revised student code of conduct, according to TAHRIR Coalition, a grassroots pro-Palestinian group.

Judge rules against Detroit Thermal in Lafayette Park dispute over steam line

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
24 July 2025 at 19:48
A judge on Thursday upheld a temporary restraining order that blocks Detroit Thermal from running steam lines though the historic Lafayette Park neighborhood in Detroit, forcing 600 residents of a nearby high-rise apartment to find another source of heat for the winter. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Annette Berry sided with residents of the nearby townhomes, who filed a lawsuit on July 1 accusing the utility of trespassing and damaging a nationally and city-protected landscape to run steam lines to the nearby 1300 Lafayette high-rise.

Wayne County judge bars blockchain slumlord from collecting rent on hundreds of Detroit properties

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
23 July 2025 at 20:34
A Wayne County judge has barred a blockchain-based real estate company and its affiliates from collecting rent or evicting residents at hundreds of their distressed rental homes in Detroit, unless the properties are brought up to code and receive certificates of compliance from the city. The court order, signed Tuesday by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Annette Berry, marks a significant development in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the city of Detroit against Florida-based Real Token, its founders Remy and Jean-Marc Jacobson, and more than 165 shell companies tied to their blockchain business.

Lafayette Park residents accuse steam company of trespassing, intimidation as court fight escalates

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
23 July 2025 at 18:44
A battle over a controversial steam project in Detroit’s Lafayette Park Historic District is boiling over as residents accuse utility company Detroit Thermal of trespassing, violating permit conditions, and using intimidation tactics in an effort to install underground steam lines through their historic neighborhood. Leaders of the cooperatively owned townhomes in Lafayette Park say Detroit Thermal resumed construction this month in defiance of a temporary restraining order, prompting renewed outrage and a call for city officials to intervene.

No, there is not a ‘Tea Bag Killer’ in Detroit, police say

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Lee DeVito
23 July 2025 at 18:05
It sounds like something straight out of the TV show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. A series of viral social media posts claim five women in Detroit have been found dead with tea bags stuffed in their mouths — allegedly the work of a serial murderer dubbed the “Tea Bag Killer” in retaliation for using a controversial smartphone app to gossip. But Detroit police say there is absolutely no truth behind the lurid tale.

‘This one stings’: NBC cancels ‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society’

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Jim McFarlin
22 July 2025 at 22:13
Now we may never know who was wearing that duck costume at the Halloween garden party. Or for that matter, who killed Alice’s dog. In the Metro Times last month, Bill Krebs, Grosse Pointe Park native and co-creator of the NBC primetime soap-satire Grosse Pointe Garden Society, made an impassioned plea to readers to watch reruns of the show’s first season on the network’s streaming service, Peacock.

Michigan State Police refuse to release videos of fatal shooting of Highland Park man

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
22 July 2025 at 17:46
Family, friends, and the attorney for Stephen Mason are calling on Michigan State Police to release video footage of the fatal May 16 shooting by a state trooper in Detroit, citing conflicting eyewitness accounts and a growing suspicion of a coverup. They’re also urging state Attorney General Dana Nessel to appoint an independent special prosecutor, saying the state cannot fairly investigate itself.

Detroit Bishop Ellis III admits to past affair, denies explosive claims from former church member

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
22 July 2025 at 14:08
Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, the longtime leader of one of Detroit’s most influential Black churches, acknowledged Monday night that he had “an inappropriate relationship” with a former church member, but he denies many of the explosive allegations she made in a series of now-deleted TikTok videos. The former member, Melody Walker, said the relationship began in 2002 when she was 22 and Ellis was 47, and continued off and on until about 2018.

Activists demand Duggan end police cooperation with ICE after Detroit raid

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
21 July 2025 at 17:45
A coalition demanding police transparency and accountability is calling on Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to stop the city’s police department from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following a controversial immigration raid that led to three arrests, including two protesters. In a letter sent to Duggan last week, the Coalition for Police Transparency and Accountability urged Duggan to direct the Detroit Police Department to adopt a “non-cooperation” policy with ICE and take steps to protect Detroiters from federal immigration enforcement.

Detroit Evening Report: Older adults outnumber children in nearly half of US counties, data shows

✇WDET 101.9 FM
By: Nargis Rahman
14 July 2025 at 20:54

The U.S. Census Bureau released new data showing the population of adults 65 and older is increasing, while the population of people 18 and younger is decreasing.  

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The population of adults age 65 and older rose by 3.1% (to 61.2 million) while the population of those under 18 decreased 0.2% (to 73.1 million) from 2023 to 2024, the data shows.

Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch, says those changes affect communities of color most among the 4.4 million people who live in cities like Detroit, Warren and Dearborn.  

“The data in 2024 is showing that the non-Hispanic white population is the only population in the Detroit metro area where younger adults are outnumbered by older adults,” she said.

Bowers says nationally, the number of older adults and children 18 and younger now are similar. 

Other headlines for Monday, July 14, 2025:

  • Seventeen nonprofits, businesses and community groups working to reduce food waste will receive support through the state-funded NextCycle Michigan initiative.
  • The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) says federal funding cuts could strip 300,000 Medicaid recipients of their health insurance. Medicaid is the largest insurer in the state, covering one in four residents. Health department director Elizabeth Hertel says the cuts will also affect her agency’s efforts to protect public health.
  • A city building in Dearborn was renamed last week in honor of Dearborn’s first Arab American councilmember, Suzanne Sareini. Sareini served as a council member six terms, from 1989 to 2013. The city’s senior housing building — formerly called the Hubbard Manor East — will now be called the Suzanne Sareini Manor.
  • The Detroit Documenters, a program which trains and pays people to attend city meetings, is hosting a photo documenting workshop this week. Cydni Elledge, senior photographer and editor at Outlier Media, will lead the workshop, set for 2 p.m. on Tuesday, July 15.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

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The post Detroit Evening Report: Older adults outnumber children in nearly half of US counties, data shows appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

No longer a ‘what if?’: Trump’s threat to abuse military power is now a reality

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Angel McKissic and Peter Hammer
11 July 2025 at 13:42
A few weeks ago, in response to non-violent protests opposing recent ICE raids at schools and workplaces, the Trump administration illegally deployed military forces to Los Angeles — over the objections of both the mayor and California’s governor. This blatant abuse of federal power violates constitutional protections and federal law. It represents an alarming escalation designed not to “maintain order” or “ensure public safety” but to intimidate communities, suppress dissent, and silence constitutionally protected speech.

Trump’s war on public media puts Detroit’s WDET at risk

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
10 July 2025 at 13:33
WDET, Detroit’s beloved public radio station known for its independent journalism and deep ties to the local music scene, is fighting for its future as President Donald Trump escalates his attacks on the media. A Trump-backed House bill, which passed by just two votes on June 12, would claw back $1.1 billion in already-approved funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Ferndale businesses targeted in extortion scheme, Nessel alleges in lawsuit

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
9 July 2025 at 19:21
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed a lawsuit against two men accused of creating fake companies to harass and intimidate small business owners in Ferndale in an attempt to extort money, her office announced Wednesday. The lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, alleges Eric Vander Ley, with the help of his brother Daniel Vander Ley, formed 17 limited liability companies using the exact names of well-known Ferndale businesses, including Como’s Restaurant, Urbanrest Brewing Company, Bags and Beads, Tin Can Cocktails, and Beau’s Grillery.

New program to provide free home repairs, reduced energy bills on Detroit’s east side and in Highland Park

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
9 July 2025 at 14:57
A new home repair and energy efficiency program is launching on Detroit’s east side and in Highland Park, aiming to help low-income residents reduce their utility bills and improve their living conditions at no cost to them. With $8 million in legal settlement funding, the Whole Homes, Whole Community initiative will provide free energy audits, home repairs, weatherization upgrades, and eventually solar installations to residents in the 48203 and 48214 ZIP codes.

Macomb County men avoid jail after illegally dumping chemicals that turned Bear Creek fluorescent blue

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
8 July 2025 at 14:32
Two Macomb County men who illegally dumped hazardous chemicals that ended up in Bear Creek in Warren, turning the water a fluorescent blue, dodged jail time and were fined just $3,500 each after pleading no contest to environmental crimes. Saad Somo, 50, of Washington Township, and Marvan Talal-Razooqi Batoo, 40, of Shelby Township, were sentenced in 37th District Court in Warren, the same day they entered their pleas, the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office announced Monday evening.

Detroit mentor charged with handing out marijuana edibles to teens at juvenile detention facility

✇Detroit Metro Times
By: Steve Neavling
7 July 2025 at 14:28
Three 17-year-old boys were taken to the hospital after a mentor at the Detroit Juvenile Detention Facility allegedly gave them marijuana-infused gummies while they were locked up. The mentor, Joseph Robinson, 22, of Detroit, was charged with felonies, including four counts of furnishing a controlled substance to minors and four counts of furnishing contraband to prisoners.

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