The Metro

IndyCar teams and drivers hit the streets of downtown Detroit next week for the city’s annual Grand Prix. That will come after this weekend’s running of the Indianapolis 500 — known as the world’s largest single day sporting event.

However, there’s a cloud over this year’s race, as the team and series owned by Detroiter Roger Penske are embroiled in scandal. The issue stems from an illegal part found on two of the Team Penske cars during Indy 500 qualifying last weekend.

Compounding frustrations among competitors, this isn’t the first time Team Penske has been caught in a technical scandal. It was discovered last year that the team had illegally mapped a button on the steering wheel to give the cars more power.

Penske has responded to this year's infraction by firing the entire senior management of his Indycar team, while the series has pushed his cars to the back of the starting field as a penalty. 

WDET's Alex McLenon and Quinn Klinefelter joined The Metro on Thursday to share more about the situation as it unfolds.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Jalen Rose is probably best known for what he’s done on the basketball court. He was one of the leaders of the University of Michigan’s Fab Five basketball team in the '90s, and then went on to play for various teams in the NBA before becoming a broadcaster. 

But in addition to his many accolades in sports, Rose has been an advocate for educational equity — giving back to the city he grew up and started his career in. In 2011, he started the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy charter school in Detroit, which is now expanding to Royal Oak Township. 

Rose is also hosting an event in Detroit this week as a part of the “State of the People POWER Tour” — a national grassroots campaign to center Black voices and advance the Black community through service and strategic action. He joined The Metro to share more about the tour and his life in Detroit.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Eli Savit is trying to reshape how justice works in Michigan — starting with what happens inside a prosecutor’s office.

As Washtenaw County’s top prosecutor, he ended cash bail for most cases, declined to charge some low-level drug offenses, and launched a transparency effort to track racial disparities in prosecution.

Supporters of progressive prosecutors like Savit say they’re helping to fix a broken system, while critics say they’re putting public safety at risk.

Now, we’ll see what kind of appetite Michigan has for this approach as Savit announced last week that he's running to be Michigan’s next Attorney General. Other candidates so far include former federal prosecutor Mark Totten, seeking the Democratic nomination, and Republican attorney Kevin Kijewski. Dana Nessel, Michigan’s current attorney general, is term-limited and can’t run for reelection.

Savit joined The Metro on Wednesday to talk about what kind of justice he believes Michigan needs next.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Prom is an exciting time for high school seniors here in metro Detroit. It’s a right of passage — a moment to celebrate hard work, friendships, and the end of one chapter before beginning another.

But for many families, prom doesn’t just come with emotional weight — it comes with a financial one. Parents often spend thousands of dollars to get their kids ready for the big night. And if there’s more than one child in the house, the cost can quickly get out of reach for many.

Today on The Metro, we spoke with MacKenzie Thompson, founder of The Prom Promise — an initiative dedicated to making prom more accessible for students across Detroit. We also spoke with Renaissance High School senior Jillian Jones, whose prom is coming up this Friday.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Movement began in 2000 as a grassroots tribute to Detroit’s role in the birth of techno — a massive event at Hart Plaza, with walls of sound pulsing the music of famous artists from across the globe.

Yet it also remains an acknowledgment that Detroit is at the center of it all. The festival has long honored the raw, electrified spirit of the city — where basement beats from the Belleville Three became a global language. 

Movement isn’t just a party. It’s a space where sound, struggle and innovation come together — and where Detroit keeps redefining the future of music.

Sam Fotias, director of operations at Paxahau — the organization that produces the Movement festival — joined The Metro on Tuesday to share more about what's in store this weekend. And just a heads up that WDET will once again be teaming up with Paxahau as an official media partner for the event.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

The Great Lakes still gleam and sparkle — but their waters are heavy with the weight of what we’ve done. Algal blooms cloud once-clear bays. Shorelines erode under rising waves. 

The lakes are the eternal vessels of what we’ve left behind: aging pipes, invasive species, and poisoned fish. And it’s all amid a warming climate.

Feeding this system is the Detroit River — one of its vital arteries. It’s moved ore and industry, waste and wildlife. A crossing. A corridor. A dumping ground.

Now, a billion-dollar cleanup is on the table. But this isn’t just about sediment and sludge. It’s about legacy and injustice — and whether we can learn to care for what we once used thoughtlessly.

Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, has spent years asking that question. She joined The Metro on Wednesday to discuss some of the most urgent or overlooked threats to water health across the state.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

President Donald Trump made news recently by threatening Walmart if it raises its prices because of tariffs. The retailer said it might have to increase some prices because of the high cost of the global trade war. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that Walmart should “eat the tariffs” and not pass them on to customers. The President ominously wrote that “he’ll be watching.”

This comes as a new survey by the University of Michigan found confidence in the U.S. economy is steadily eroding. Researchers say the widely-watched Consumer Sentiment Index has shown a sharp decline throughout this year and is now at a three-year low.

WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter spoke with Director of Consumer Surveys at the University of Michigan, Joanne Hsu, about the trend.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

New data shows the city of Detroit gained more than 6,800 residents in 2024.

The city’s population now tops 645,000, officials announced earlier this month, which is an approximate increase of about 25,000 people over the last three years.

Ashley Williams Clark,  vice president of Detroit Future City and director of the Center for Equity, Engagement and Research, joined The Metro to talk about what it’ll take to keep people coming to Detroit, and what the expansion means for the city.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Literacy rates in Michigan lag behind the national average, with the pandemic making things even more difficult for students — both in Michigan and across the country.

A fairly new Ypsilanti nonprofit, Dzanc House, is working to support youth in Washtenaw County through literary and cultural arts programming and workshops.

To talk about the organization's efforts to support youth literacy, Charlene Choi, director of programs and communications for Dzanc House, and Digital Coordinator Paola Ortega joined the show.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

The Detroit Lions had an outstanding 2024, breaking several franchise records. 

The Lions ended the season with 15 wins and 2 losses. The team's Super Bowl dreams ended in a loss to the Washington Commanders during the playoffs.  Last week, the team’s 2025 schedule was released. They’ll start the season in Green Bay against the Packers. 

Editor in chief of the “Pride of Detroit” news publication Jeremy Reisman joined The Metro to take a closer look at the recent NFL Draft and upcoming season.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.