A new polar vortex is bearing down on Michigan and the upper Midwest, forcing widespread school closures, forcing Wayne State University and Michigan State University to cancel classes and the Detroit Zoo to close.

On today’s episode, we run down some of the knock-on effects of the dangerously cold weather, which is expected to produce subzero temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills. Jer speaks with Gary Brown, director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, about the risks to the city’s aging infrastructure.

DTE Energy also has a list of warming centers that will be open around the Detroit region.

In other news, we discuss a report that the Trump administration will not set drinking water limits for PFAS, a dangerous group of chemicals that have turned up in public water systems across the country and Michigan. This as the U.S. Air Force thumbs its nose at the state of Michigan’s request to expand cleanup of PFAS contamination at a former air base near Oscoda.

Other news:

• GM’s vice president of urban mobility and Maven, its car-sharing program, is out.
• Two DMC hospitals face the threat of losing federal funding for Medicare and Medicaid after failing inspections.
• And Third Man Records has opened an analog and digital mastering studio to its Cass Corridor retail empire

Also, it’s our 200th episode!!! We couldn’t have gotten this far without the support of readers and listeners like you. Please consider becoming a supporter through our new Patreon campaign.

Greetings, fellow snow-bound Detroiters. We didn’t let the weather interfere with our podcast plans today and delivered this show from the Royal Oak studio of Podcast Detroit.

On today’s show, newly Detroit-based Chemical Bank is merging with Minnesota-based TCF Bank in an all-stock merger of equals. The deal will see TCF vacate its suburban Minneapolis headquarters and join Chemical in being based in downtown Detroit, where employee head count will eventually reach 500. The Chemical name will go away in favor of TCF, which stands for Twin City Federal Savings and Loan Association.

In other news, attendance at this year’s Detroit auto show saw a small dip in the show’s final wintertime appearance before it moves to June in 2020.

And former Detroit Tigers legend Kirk Gibson has a new title with the team. He’ll be a special assistant to General Manager Al Avila in addition to his duties in the TV broadcast booth alternating with Jack Morris.

Then we run down a bunch of food news:

• Royal Oak craft beer bar Ale Mary’s debuts cannabidiol-flavored cocktails
• Corktown deli Mudgie’s offers a new program to provide hot meals to those who could really use one
• Troy’s Camp Ticonderoga wins some national acclaim for its coziness
• The Drive Table Tennis Social Club in downtown Detroit has closed but is reportedly looking for a new location

And, Little Caesars has a new pretzel crust pizza. With cheddar cheese sauce. It’s apparently a thing lots of people asked to come back.

Find Daily Detroit Representation wherever you get your favorite podcasts. And don’t forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

A bonus pod this Friday, January 25, 2018.

Despite its new owner’s promises to build a brewery, office space, a hotel and more, Detroit’s infamous Packard Plant is once again subject to foreclosure by Wayne County in 2019, according to notices published in the Detroit Legal News last month.

That’s due, at least in part, to unpaid bills to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. But the amount shows up as tax liability.

Although we haven’t been able to confirm the total owed for the water and sewage bills, adding up records found on Loveland’s property website shows that Arte Express owes $302,434 as of August 2018. That’s across a variety of properties that make up the north and south sides of the sprawling Packard facility.

The Detroit Water And Sewerage Department said they wouldn’t be able to confirm the total amount owed across the numerous properties that make up the plant by the end of today. We’ve identified 42 parcels owned by Arte Express at the Packard Plant, with 41 subject to foreclosure on March 31, 2019.

This includes the administration building that the pedestrian bridge fell from earlier this week at 1580 East Grand Boulevard. That parcel is listed as owing $5,587.99.

Peruvian developer Fernando Palazuelo and his Arte Express company purchased the complex out of foreclosure in 2013 for $405,000.

More: http://www.dailydetroit.com/2019/01/25/detroits-packard-plant-is-on-wayne-countys-2019-foreclosure-list/

On Wednesday, the Packard Plant’s bridge collapsed onto East Grand Boulevard. On today’s show, we talk about that and what we know about why it happened. And we use it as a jumping-off point to discuss the plant’s colorful past and ambitious — some might say quixotic — future plans.

In its heyday, the Packard Plant was the largest automotive factory in the world, built for an automobile company known for its engineering and innovations like the 12-cylinder engine and the modern steering wheel.

We also speak with John Lauter, a former tenant and current Packard historian, who fills us in on the plant’s post-Packard years starting in the late ’50s, including its use for film storage, then later on for illegal rave parties. Not to mention, there’s a dose of city hall intrigue at the turn of the millenium.

Greetings from Detroit, which today looks like a snowglobe-turned-dismal outdoor slushie amid a brief thaw.

On today’s show, we discuss a new report from the Michigan State University College of Education that finds tht funding for Michigan’s public schools has dropped more severely than in any other state over the past quarter-century. We’re now dead last among states for total education revenue growth.

The report deliberately looks at the effects of Proposal A, the 1994 state law that drastically changed public education funding in Michigan. It shifted funding from local property taxes to state property taxes, limiting the ability of local residents to determine funding levels for their own local schools.

We had an in-depth interview last year about Michigan’s K-12 woes with Ron French of Bridge magazine. You can listen to it here.

Elsewhere, we discuss a new initiative to redesign the streets around the Detroit Institute of Arts. The public is invited to come to the DIA and provide their feedback on plans offered by three different firms.

Also covered today:

• Peppa Pig’s World of Play is coming to the Detroit area
• Eminem is starring in a virtual-reality documentary set in Detroit
• And the restaurant and winery chain Cooper’s Hawk is eyeing Troy as the location of its second restaurant in Michigan.

And finally, our interview feature is with Detroit entrepreneur Jennyfer Crawford about her new venture. The founder of the popular All Things Detroit market has launched All Things Ticketing. Her aim is to make throwing an event simpler.

On today’s episode, we speak with Diane Cross, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transportation, about the still-unfolding transportation apocalypse on northbound I-75 in Oakland County.

There, potholes have proliferated since Monday, damaging cars, forcing the closure of the freeway and creating massive traffic snarls. Cross says it’s a textbook example of Michigan’s chronic under-investment in its road infrastructure, and emergency road repairs are likely to continue until a planned, multimillion-dollar road reconstruction project kicks off in the spring. UGH!

Elsewhere, we dive into new property values released by the city of Detroit that show rising property values in a little over half of the city’s neighborhoods.

That cool building current with the giant rainbow mural? That’s going to become Chroma Detroit.

An old school built in 1922 will get a new chapter as a INDUSTRY DETROIT.

And yesterday the Element Hotel in the historic Metropolitan Building opened.

In food news, San Morello, the new restaurant in the shiny new Shinola Hotel was featured on the Today Show.

We have confirmation that Buddy’s Pizza is in fact expanding to Grand Rapids.

And we shout out The Daily podcast for their profile on the a new U.S. Democratic House representative, Rashida Tlaib. Here’s a link to that.

Like our show? Here are our back episodes and links to listen on your favorite podcast app: http://www.dailydetroit.com/podcast

Thanks to today's episode sponsors, Bamboo Detroit and Milo Digital.

Have questions? Tips? Ideas? Hit us up. [email protected].

We thought when we went into the office today, it'd be a short day. We were wrong.

Here's what to know around town:

I-75 is crumbling. Both the Northbound and Southbound lanes have major emergency repairs underway.

A highly dispiriting for Martin Luther King Jr. Day - The Detroit News reports that a former political aide to Warren Mayor Jim Fouts says the mayor called former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick the N-word on election night in 2007. More: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/macomb-county/2019/01/21/warren-mayor-jim-fouts-called-kwame-kilpatrick-n-word-ex-aide-says/2636161002/

According to PropertyShark, the difference between the median home sale prices in Detroit’s neighborhoods and downtown is one of the largest in the nation. But we dig deeper into just how odd Detroit's real estate market is, with 15x less mortgages than the national average per 100,000 people. https://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2019/01/14/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-american-downtown-a-look-into-the-home-price-evolution-of-the-nations-urban-cores-in-the-decade-since-the-downturn/

A newly released court memo in the bribery case of Troy’s former city manager argues that Brian Kischnick had a “god complex” and ran a pay-to-play operation rivaling that of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2019/01/21/troy-city-manager-bribery-case/2632999002/

Henry Ford Health System plans to convert a vacant commercial building near its anchor hospital into an arts destination focused on offering youth and family programming and highlighting the talent of local artists. It’ll be called ArtBlock.

Michigan’s new Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, has filed a legal brief that seeks to settle a lawsuit challenging the Republican-drawn legislative and congressional districts. That could lead to new maps drawn for the 2020 election.

Last month we told you about Lincoln’s plan to make a limited number of Continental sedans fitted with suicide doors. Today, the company said all 80 models sold out within two days, despite a price tag north of $110,000.

Grammy-nominated rapper Nas will perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on March 5th.

Could Buddy’s Pizza be expanding to Grand Rapids?

In more food news… Ann Arbor based Seva has been named one of the best Vegetarian and Vegan restaurants in the country by Thrillist.

A longtime Detroit watering hole, The Detroiter Bar, will not be serving alcohol for 21 days.

And, the founder of Olga's Kitchen, Olga Laizon, has passed away. 

If you have questions or feedback for the show, hit us up at [email protected].

Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] 

• Former Governor John Engler is indeed out as interim president of Michigan State University. Replacing him will be Satish Udpa.
• The United Auto Workers says it plans to stage a candlelight vigil outside the North American International Auto Show tomorrow night during the Charity Preview event.
• A giant golden ring has been installed in Sterling Heights on Hall Road near Schoenherr as part of a beautification project.
• Detroit’s oldest drinking establishment got some national love today. The Two Way Inn on Mt. Elliott in Detroit was just named the Best Dive Bar in the country for the 2019 Nightclub & Bar Awards.
• One of Detroit’s Tiki Bars, Lost River, has taken a top spot nationally in Yelp’s ranking of the kitschy (but fun) genre.
• This weekend kicks off the first Michigan Central Station Winter Festival. It will run Friday, January 18 until Sunday, January 27.
• If you’re looking for something fun to do that will have a positive impact on projects in Detroit….. you really need to get to Detroit SOUP this Sunday night.
• Also happening Sunday is Back Alley Bikes’ 7th annual Bike the Blizzard bike-a-thon fundraiser. It runs from midnight to midnight.
• It’s going to be cold this weekend!

First, huge news from East Lansing, where former Gov. John Engler is expected to resign as interim president of Michigan State University in the wake of comments he made about victims of the Larry Nassar sexual-assault scandal. Engler, you’ll recall, was brought in to clean up the mess after former President Lou Ann Simon resigned over her handling of the Nassar affair. But Engler last week told The Detroit News that some victims were “enjoying the spotlight.” It was the latest in a long line of controversial moves and comments he made about the scandal, and we talk about why we believe he was the wrong man for the job from the outset.

Elsewhere, more than 60 unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed to temporarily reopen amid a marijuana shortage. There’s also big news in Ferndale, where Baker College wants to open a flagship urban campus in 2020, a move that could give the city an economic jolt.

Also hoped to deliver an economic jolt is a new partnership between Microsoft and Wayne State University. It targets developing skills for in-demand high-tech jobs. Staying on the jobs theme, Pontiac-based mortgage lender United Shore is looking to hire 800 people this year. And going back to Wayne State, researchers there will study fatbergs after winning an $80,000 grant. 

There’s more for your listening pleasure in the episode above. And don’t miss our guide for how to score tickets to see the acclaimed musical “Hamilton” when it comes to the Fisher Theater.

For today's Daily Detroit Representation, we talk everything North American International Auto Show with our Sven Gustafson who spent a couple days on the floor at Cobo Center.

Topics covered include the general feel of the show, plans for next year's show that will be held in June, the Toyota Supra reveal, the new Ford Explorer, the power of the Mustang brand, the Kia Telluride, a new Ram Heavy Duty pickup with insane torque numbers, Cadillac vs. Lincoln and Ford's new partnership with Volkswagen.

We also share the details on what you need to know to go to the public show later this month.