Discussions arose about hiring an ombudsman to oversee county officials’ operations, or having commissioners disclose their financial information.
But in a recent Oakland County meeting, neither of those things happened. Instead, county commissioners kicked the responsibility to the state legislature, urging those lawmakers to pass a bill mandating local officials to publicly disclose their assets.
Why didn’t commissioners pass an ethics resolution? And, what ethics rules should be imposed on commissioners?
Oakland County Commissioner Michael Spisz was originally advocating for the county to pass an ethics resolution, but changed course. 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.
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Double Up Food Bucks is a statewide program through the Fair Food Network. It matches SNAP benefits used to buy fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables at participating grocers and farmers markets.
Back in November, SNAP benefit recipients were on edge, wondering if money would be available to feed themselves and their families.
Rachel Hoh; Director of Double Up Food Bucks Program through Fair Food Network
The program extended its offerings in November, introducing Double up benefits, like Double Up bonus bucks offering $40 vouchers for fresh fruits and veggies. Those incentives are ending Dec. 31.
Rachel Hoh is director of Double Up Food Bucks. They spoke to me about the program and its significance to shoppers and local grocers.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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Social media companies are distracting people, sowing division, and preventing kids from experiencing normal childhoods.
Those are the big takeaways of the book, “The Anxious Generation”, by Jonathan Haidt. That book is a big reason countries, states and classrooms have been restricting social media and phone use.
Michigan schools have already taken action. Gibraltar, Dearborn, and Novi school districts have restricted phone use.
In Novi, the school superintendent gave copies of Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation” to anyone who wanted it.
About one year later, how has the book influenced Novi students, teachers and parents?
The Metro’s Sam Corey spoke with Novi Community School District Superintendent Ben Mainka to find out.
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 winter months are often marked by the holidays and the new year. Yet, it’s often lost on most people that domestic violence incidents trend up during this time of year.
The warning signs for domestic violence intensify during this time of year. So, what are the signs and how can we as community members step in to protect survivors of domestic violence?
Tia also spoke with Anne Mantha, the Chief Philanthropy Officer at HAVEN Oakland, a nonprofit serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Oakland County.
If you or a loved one is looking for support, call 855-VOICES4
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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.
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After decades of decay, Detroit’s historic Packard Plant could be on the road to redevelopment.
The city announced a letter of intent with a developer to give 28-acres of the site new life. The plant as a whole has been a significant structure throughout Detroit’s history. It has seen the heights of the automotive boom and the consequences of disinvestment and neglect.
When auto manufacturing operations at the plant came to an end in the mid-20th century, another generation reimagined the space. So which moments deserve to be preserved in its next chapter?
Dave Marchioni, the industrial and automotive curator at the Detroit Historical Society, and John Lauter, Packard Plant historian, revisit key moments throughout it’s history.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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A child has been diagnosed with measles in Oakland County. DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital in Commerce Township has been identified as the likely site of exposure.
People who were in the Emergency Department of the hospital on Dec. 7, 2025 between 7:20 p.m. and 11:10 p.m. may have been exposed.
Kate Guzman, Oakland County Health Officer, told The Metro the child was not vaccinated for measles and had recently traveled domestically.
Vaccine recommendations changing at CDC, FDA
This follows a series of major changes to federal vaccine recommendations and guidelines, made under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy is a vaccine skeptic and his views are becoming policy at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) both of which are under his supervision.
At the FDA, Vinay Prasad, the chief medical officer and head of evaluation and testing, issued a statement forecasting a more time and cost-intensive process for new vaccine approvals. Members of the medical community including former FDA officials, have shared concerns for public health, saying the proposed changes would make thoroughly tested and safe annual vaccines like the flu shot too expensive and time consuming to adapt to new versions of the virus.
Guests:
Dr. Teena Chopra is a professor of infectious diseases and Assistant Dean of professional development in the School of Medicine at Wayne State University .
Kate Guzman is Oakland County’s health officer.
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As we draw closer to the Christmas season holiday cheer is right around the corner. What better way to bring in the Christmas vibes than a holiday concert extravaganza?
This Thursday, Holiday Detroit will put on a one night only showcase of music and dance featuring artists both near and far. Professional dancers, singers and musicians team up with students from Voyageur College Preparatory High School to put on this holiday performance.
Lisa McCall is a renowned choreographer and a producer of the show. She joined the program with one of the showcases’ featured artist: The Temptations lead singer, Tony Grant.
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On Sunday, a father and son killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia. It was one of the deadliest attacks on Jewish people in that nation’s history.
The attack is part of a larger trend of rising antisemitism.
Since October of 2023, American Jews report a rise in antisemitism, including an uptick in violence against Jewish people. This past year alone, high-profile attacks happened in Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and Colorado.
All of this is occurring amid Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, according to scholars.
What is the connection between Israel’s violence and violence targeting Jewish people around the world?
The Metro’s Sam Corey spoke with a variety of Jewish scholars and community leaders to learn more.
This reporting was edited by Metro Host Robyn Vincent.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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Somewhere between the psychedelic 1960s and the arrival of punk in the late 1970s, Detroit had a unique imprint on American music with an avant-garde, noise rock scene. Destroy All Monsters was an influential band and art collective at the time.
Their sound was radical, experimental, and noisy.
The band was formed in Ann Arbor in the early 1970s by Cary Loren, Mike Kelly, Jim Shaw andNiagra.
The group’s influence on art and music in Detroit is being recognized with a retrospective at Cranbrook Art Museum called “Mythic Chaos: 50 Years of Destroy All Monsters.” Also on display through March is a sister exhibition, “Noise, Vision, and Ruins” at the Detroit Public Library, Main Branch and curated by Cary Loren.
Both exhibitions are open through March.
The Metro’s David Leins spoke Lorenabout the group’s origins, and what to expect from the exhibitions.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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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.
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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.
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The Eastern Market just got a guardian to watch over the site. The Robocop statue commemorating the 80s sci-fi film was finally installed after over a decade of planning.
The sculpture was crafted by Venus Bronze Works and artist George Gikas after a crowd sourcing campaign sparked the idea in 2011.
The movie that inspired it centers Alex Murphy, a Detroit police officer who was killed on the job by criminal. A corporation tasked with reducing the city’s crime rate then uses his body to create a crime fighting cyborg.
The movie explores humanity, corporate greed and makes clever critiques of American politics and culture. The concept spawned multiple sequels, comics, an animated series, action figures and more.
But what about the movie resonated so deeply with fans in Detroit that they were willing to help fund a sculpture to honor it?
Curtis Sullivan is the owner of the Vault of Midnight comic book stores and a member of the Robocop fanbase. He joined the program to discuss the significance of the film, its relevance to Detroit, and the new sculpture
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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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.
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What policies do Black residents in Michigan want to see?
The Center for Community Uplift at the Brookings Institute measured the quality of life for Black residents across the state of Michigan. They found that Black residents own less homes, have a lower life expectancy and make less money than the state average. But they also discovered Black communities in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and some Detroit suburbs bucking that trend.
The team lead by Senior fellow Andre Perry surveyed residents in those areas and others across the state asking which policies and programs were working. After 150 Black residents responded, the team compiled that feedback and published a list of 29 policy recommendations in October.
Perry joined the program and broke down some of the findings from the report.
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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.
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Aggressive immigration enforcement has intensified nationwide. As of early this month, more than 200,000 people had been arrested by ICE agents, including about 75,000 with no criminal record at all.
Lue Yang doesn’t technically fit into this context. But his case is close.
Lue Yang (second from left) with his family, including his wife, Ann Vue, and their six children in traditional White Hmong attire.
He was born in a Thai refugee camp after his family fled Laos. The Hmong refugee has lived in Michigan since he was 8 months old. While he is here legally, Yang previously had a 1997 criminal conviction, which was expunged in Michigan, but isn’t recognized by federal immigration law.
That resulted in ICE agents arresting Yang in July at his work. He was in prison until last week when he was released with the help of Michigan Republican Congressman Tom Barrett.
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After a family trip to Syria at the tender age of ten, Michael Ibrahim’s parents handed him an oud. The lute or guitar-like instrument is prominent in Arab music, and it became a gateway that connected Ibrahim to his heritage. Ibrahim insists that he, like any other kid, fell in love with playing music that reminds him of family and of home. Unlike many other kids, he grew older and constructed an entire orchestra to honor it. In 2009, he founded The National Arab Orchestra, and in the years since, the group has performed across the country and established itself as a national leader in Arab music. Locally, the orchestra partners with public schools to teach students about Arab culture and it performs regularly at the Detroit Music Hall. Michael Ibrahim joined the program to share his musical origins, how the orchestra came to be, and why he believes music can bring communities together.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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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.
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