The Metro

After President Donald Trump took the country to war and raised costs, many Republicans are finding it difficult to campaign this election season. In general-election polls, Democrat Jocelyn Benson holds the lead. But in politics, anything can happen.

Last week, two debates spotlighted the active Republican candidates for governor: Congressman John James, Mike Cox, and Perry Johnson. Who are they, and what do their campaigns reveal about the Republican Party in Michigan?

Andrea Bitely is the founder and principal of Bitely Communications, a Lansing‑based public‑affairs firm. She spoke with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent about the stories the Republican candidates are telling, and why they signal significant changes in the party. 

Hundreds of thousands of Michiganders lost power over the weekend of July Fourth, prompting a conversation about the fragility of the electrical grid in the face of climate change. Democratic lawmakers have proposed solutions: fair compensation for power outages, guaranteeing improvement of utility services, ensuring customers aren’t contributing to CEO bonuses and more. But these bills are gaining little to no traction, often deprived of a hearing. Why can’t politics fix this issue? Colin Jackson is a reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He joined The Metro’s Robyn Vincent to discuss why gridlock in Lansing has meant a less stable electrical grid.

Learning has become harder for many students as fewer people are reading due to the distractions of new technologies.  While Artificial Intelligence spreads information quickly, it doesn't necessarily offer the depth of traditional teaching. So, how does one teach deep learning when most Michigan fourth graders aren't reading proficiently? Erik Meerschaert is a special education teacher at Lake Orion High School. He also just became the 2026-2027 Michigan Teacher of the Year, and he’s the state’s candidate for the National Teacher of the Year award for 2027. Meerschaert joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss why he loves his job, and how that joy helps construct bonds with his students that aid them in the learning process.

There's a quiet that settles into a house when the power has been out for days — the hum is gone, the refrigerator's given up, and if someone inside depends on a machine or medication that has to stay cold, the quiet starts to feel like something else. That was the Fourth of July weekend for many in southeast Michigan, after storms knocked out power to more than 450,000 customers — some for five days. Now comes the argument over what people are owed. State Representative Alabas Farhat, whose Dearborn and Detroit district was among the hardest hit, is calling for legislative hearings and bigger compensation than the state's $42-a-day credit — a credit even DTE's CEO concedes "doesn't cut it." Farhat joins Robyn Vincent to make his case. Have thoughts? Email the show at [email protected].

While Detroit law says a landlord cannot rent a home until it’s been deemed livable by city inspectors, 86% of Detroit’s landlords are operating illegally as they have failed to secure Certificates of Compliance for their properties. Last week, the Detroit Tenants Union, with support from several legal groups in the city, filed a lawsuit, alleging the 36th District Court chief judge has “failed to perform a clear and legal duty” because the court’s rulings contradict city law, effectively leaving residents vulnerable rather than upholding the statutes protecting them.

Professor Donovan McCarty is the director of Michigan State University College of Law’s Housing Justice Clinic and counsel for the Detroit Tenants Union. He joined The Metro’s Robyn Vincent to discuss why he believes the court is falling short, and how it needs to be held accountable.

The 36th District Court did not respond to The Metro's request for comment.

Federal judges across the country are facing a bizarre, chilling intimidation tactic: anonymous deliveries of unordered food to their homes, a quiet message saying, "We know where you live." As political threats against the judiciary spike, a bipartisan group of judges has broken an institutional code of silence to take a protest bus tour through the Midwest.

This week, the tour hits Michigan. Retired Federal Judge Victoria Roberts—a trailblazer who spent 25 years on the bench in Michigan’s Eastern District—joins host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to pull back the curtain on a judiciary under siege, and why her former colleagues are fighting back.

Metro Detroit has the largest population of Maltese Americans in the country at nearly 13,000, but preserving family histories is an uphill battle. Joseph Lubig, author of "Maltese in Michigan" joins The Metro to discuss immigration stories and cultural connection for the Maltese community.

Metro Detroit just spent a week in and out of the dark — first from the heat straining the grid, then from storms that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes. And that's the grid Michigan already has. Now the state is preparing to add data centers built to power artificial intelligence, each one drawing as much electricity as a small city.

Who pays to build all that new capacity — the tech companies, or the rest of us? And who's even making these decisions? Nicholas Schroeck, dean of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, joins host Robyn Vincent to talk about the fight over Michigan's grid, your electric bill, and whether the public has any real say. Have thoughts? Email the show at [email protected].

Come November, thousands of political seats are up for grabs. One of the most compelling races in Michigan is the Senate. That’s in part because of what it says about the Democratic Party, especially after Mallory McMorrow dropped out. Dennis Darnoi is the founder of Densar Consulting, based in Farmington. He spoke with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent about the Senate race and how it reflects changes to politics in Michigan and beyond.

A parasite called cyclospora is spreading through Michigan, and health officials still haven't found the source. In a normal year, the state sees about 50 cases; in the last two weeks, it has counted 700 infections among people aged 8 to 84, according to Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical officer for the state of Michigan.

It usually rides in on fresh produce — berries, herbs, leafy greens — but so far, no food has been named. Oakland County health officer Kate Guzman, a nurse by training, joins host Robyn Vincent to explain how investigators hunt for an invisible source and what it means that, a year ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped requiring states to report this exact parasite to one of its main early warning systems.

Editor's note: This conversation was recorded before the latest case counts were released. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services now reports 700 cases of cyclosporiasis. The outbreak is ongoing and the number continues to rise.