The Metro

Xiao Dong Wei is an internationally recognized erhu master whose journey into music began in China at the tender age of 5. Her work has taken her across the globe and landed her in the Detroit area. 

She’s been building a career blending traditional Chinese music with contemporary styles like jazz, rock, and orchestral performance, playing over 20 instruments. But her work goes beyond music. She uses the sounds of traditional Chinese instruments to bridge cultures, expanding what’s considered classical symphonic music. 

On April 24, 2026, the Michigan Philharmonic presents “Sounds of the Pacific Rim,”. It invites audiences to explore the sounds of the Oscar-winning score for Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Xiao will also premiere her own piece "Hometown Reflections." Xiao and Charles Ezra Ferrell joined The Metro to talk more about her music and global connections in Detroit. 

NASA's Artemis II mission has captured the imaginations of a new generation of space enthusiasts, young and old.

Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are  due to splash down in the Pacific Ocean around 8 p.m. EST Friday, April 10 near San Diego. 

When they do, they will step foot on Earth with an extraordinary credential: they’ve been further from Earth than any humans in history, traveling over 250,000 miles and back again.

Ed Cackett is a professor of astronomy at Wayne State University and the Michigan Science Center’s astronomer in residence. He joined The Metro to discuss the gravity of the moment, and the benefits of space exploration.

Getting a college degree in Detroit has never been easy. More than half of all children in Detroit live below the poverty line. Many Detroit public school graduates do not enroll in college within a year of finishing high school. Right now, it could be getting more difficult. Student loan rules are changing in July. The programs that help low-income students get to college are on the chopping block in President Donald Trump’s latest budget. 

How are students impacted by these changes? And, how do we close the college education gap between Detroit and suburban students.

Cyekeia Lee is the executive director of the Detroit College Access Network. She spoke with The Metro's Robyn Vincent.

A new land acknowledgement plaque is being unveiled this weekend at Greenfield Village. It’s a step toward visibility, toward truth-telling, and toward honoring a history that too often goes untold.

But, moments like this are about more than a plaque, they’re about the ongoing work of making Indigenous voices seen and heard.

Heather Bruegl is the curator of political and civic engagement at The Henry Ford. Travis Schuyler is director of programming for the North American Indian Association of Detroit. They joined The Metro to talk about the unveiling and the new plaque.

Ron LeFlore was a gifted athlete who went to prison for committing crimes in his younger years. Baseball became his way out. LeFlore earned himself a spot on the Tiger's roster and played 8 years in the major leagues.

In Adam Henig's book “Baseball’s Outcasts: The Story of Ron LeFlore” he details the former Tiger’s journey from the streets of Detroit to the dugout, and LeFlore’s life after the major leagues.

Henig joined the show to explore some of the lesser known details about Ron LeFlore’s life. 

Nearly 1 in 3 voting-age Michiganders has a disability. The law guarantees them equal access to the polls, but a new Detroit Disability Power report finds that only 10% of metro Detroit polling places met basic accessibility standards in 2025 — and the number has dropped every year since the audits began.

Detroit Disability Power advocacy director Eric Welsby and artist and auditor Bakpak Durden join host Robyn Vincent to talk about what they found on the ground, what it costs disabled voters when the system fails them, and what it would actually take to fix it.

Recently, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that seeks to change how mail-in voting works, having it overseen by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Trump and Republicans are also trying to pass the SAVE Act, which would ensure voters provide documentary proof of citizenship at the time of registration, and a photo ID at the time of voting.

All of this is happening as the president has called to “nationalize the elections”, and as MAGA influencer Steve Bannon has asked ICE officials to patrol polling locations in November.

What should we make of all these things? How secure are our voting systems? And, is the president trying to make voting less secure for his advantage? Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck spoke with The Metro's Robyn Vincent about this and more.  

Detroit is a city where culture doesn’t just live—it moves like the river that shares a name. And this weekend, that energy comes together in a powerful way in Waawiyaatanong. 

The Curved Shores Concert: A Native Artists Showcase is set to take over Spot Lite Detroit, bringing together a unique lineup of Native American artists and storytellers. The afternoon and evening are rooted in culture, creativity, and connection.

It’s part of the larger Concert of Colors Neighborhood Programs, an effort to bring global sounds and meaningful conversations directly into Detroit’s neighborhoods. 

SouFy is a Southwest Detroit native and Native American hip-hop artist. When he’s not on stage performing, he’ll be helping bring this entire experience to life as co-founder of Vibes With The Tribes, the producers of the showcase. 

Charles Ezra Ferrell is on the advisory board for Concert of Colors. 

Both SouFy and Charles Ezra Ferrell join The Metro to talk about the vision, the impact, and what you can expect this weekend as they bring a community together through sound and celebrate Native artistry in Detroit.

Detroit is celebrating historic drops in violent crime. But former forensic technicians are raising alarms about conditions inside the unit that processes the evidence — and a state safety citation backs them up.

Noah Kincade of Outlier Media's Detroit Documenters joins host Robyn Vincent to break down what's happening inside DPD's Crime Scene Services unit. 

Federal judges recently ruled that hundreds of people in Michigan were unconstitutionally detained as they never had a chance of being released on bond. For its part, the Trump administration says it's detaining the “worst of the worst.” But in many cases, non-citizens without a criminal record have been detained.

So, what do ICE arrests and detentions look like in metro Detroit? What are the stories of those who’ve been detained? How are local police involved in the work? And, who’s fighting back? 

Violet Ikonomova is an investigative reporter for the Detroit Free Press. She spoke with The Metro's Robyn Vincent.