The Metro

Overdose deaths have been falling nationally, statewide and now locally. 

Last year, at the national level, these kinds of deaths dropped for the first time in four years. And in Dearborn in 2024, overdose incidents dropped by 34% and overdose deaths dropped by 43%.

While the numbers are trending down, they’re still extremely high over the last two decades.

Ali Abazeed, founding director of public health and chief public health officer for the city of Dearborn, joined The Metro on Wednesday to discuss the city's efforts to lower overdoses. 

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

The world of fashion is under pressure. Sales have slowed in recent years. People are spending less on clothes due to inflation and economic uncertainty. 

People are also rethinking how they support an industry with many issues. The ugly reality is that the fashion industry has devastated our environment. That, coupled with exploitative working conditions in manufacturing, have buyers reconsidering both what they buy and where they are buying clothes from. 

In Detroit this week, many designers and manufacturers will gather for Detroit Fashion United. The local initiative is part of a global movement that promotes sustainable fashion as the solution to environmental and workplace harms. It promotes more organic materials, fair wages and quality clothing items that last. 

Today on The Metro, we explored how sustainable fashion is helping to address these problems and Detroit’s potential to be the next fashion hub.

Paulina Petkoski, a College for Creative Studies professor, designer and advocate for sustainable fashion practices; and Jen Guarino, president and CEO of The Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center, joined the conversation.

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

Dementia affects more than six million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health, accounting for more than 100,000 deaths each year.

A recent New York University study shows Americans have a 42% chance of developing dementia after age 55 — more than double the risk reported by previous studies. And by 2060, the U.S. is expected to have a million new cases of dementia each year. 

While dementia has several known risk factors, a new study by Bowling Green State University Sociologist Jenjira Yahirun highlighted a lesser known one: your children's level of education.

The study found that parents of college-educated adults are less likely to experience dementia or cognitive decline. 

WDET's Sascha Raiyn spoke with Yahirun to learn more about her research and the strong link between older adults' dementia risk and their adult children’s educational and social status. Raiyn joined The Metro on Wednesday to share highlights from the discussion.

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

America delivers harsher criminal punishments than almost any other country. That harshness can be seen in our prison sentences, which are — on average — longer in comparison to other countries. 

Part of Michigan’s legal system is trying to change that. At the beginning of April, the Michigan Supreme Court banned mandatory life sentences for 19 and 20-year-olds convicted of murder.

To discuss this, Rick Speck joined The Metro. He’s the leadership programs coordinator for JustLeadershipUSA, an organization advocating for criminal justice reform from people who’ve been directly impacted by the criminal justice system. 

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

If you go to the library to borrow a book, you are just scratching the surface of all the tools and resources the library has to offer. 

The Detroit Public Library System stretches across the city, providing access to laptops you can take home, experts and information on the stock market, a place to record and edit your own podcast and so much more. 

Kathryn Dowgiewicz is a public relations specialist for the Detroit Public Library. She joined The Metro on Tuesday to discuss its offerings and how librarians can help find what you’re looking for. 

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

The city of Detroit has a lot of concrete streets, slabs of road and old industrial buildings. 

But green spaces like Palmer Park provide an outlet to connect with nature. The park is home to one of the city's old growth forests with diverse plant and animal life. 

And it’s just one of many spaces in Detroit hosting Earth Day celebrations and events this week to inspire environmental awareness and encourage community involvement.

On Sunday, the park will host Art in the Trees, an outdoor art exhibition among the trees in Palmer Park's old growth forest featuring large-scale sculptures, music, activities and more.

Event organizer Mark Loeb joined The Metro on Earth Day to share more about the event.

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

WDET is embarking on a new project exploring the multifaceted relationship between trees and community health in Michigan.

Amanda Le Claire, lead reporter and managing editor of the tree project, joined The Metro on Earth Day to talk about Detroit's tree canopy and some of the most recent stories produced by the WDET newsroom.

Le Claire also shared a conversation she had with Andrew "Birch" Kemp, executive director of Arboretum Detroit, about a community forest restoration project on Detroit's east side.

Studies have shown that urban tree canopies help make communities more climate resilient, reduce air pollution, and combat the urban heat island effect — exposing residents to higher risks of heat-related illness and higher cooling costs. 

The tree canopy project will dig into all of these topics and more over 24 months of reporting.

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

Caring for the poor and having mercy for the marginalized were values that played a central role in Pope Francis’ leadership, which touched many parts of the world.

In Vatican City, Pope Francis created a sanctuary for people experiencing homelessness. He called them Nobles of the Street.

In Gaza, a small war-torn parish received daily calls from Pope Francis. The pontiff began making those calls shortly after the war in Gaza started in October 2023. 

In southern France, Pope Francis inspired Le Village de Francois, a community partnership offering shared living spaces for vulnerable people, from the elderly to former sex workers and people with disabilities. 

And in Detroit, the late pontiff continues to inspire the work of the Pope Francis Center, which was renamed in his honor in 2016. Led by Father Tim McCabe, the Pope Francis Center welcomes many vulnerable people through its doors, offering everything from meals and hot showers to access to laundry facilities.

McCabe joined The Metro on Tuesday to discuss the life and legacy of Pope Francis and how the center will continue to embody the pontiff's cherished values.

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

The Detroit Reparations Task Force is looking for input from residents as they’re preparing its June report for city council.

Formed in 2023 to explore how Detroit can address “historical discrimination” and harm it has caused Black residents, the group is tasked with putting forth recommendations for potential housing and economic development programs that help address past injustices.

The Detroit Documenters have been following Detroit Reparations Task Force meetings since the group's initial meeting in April 2023.

The group says the survey will help inform its June report, which has the potential to mark the end of the task force entirely. That has some residents concerned, making the argument that addressing historic injustices should be an ongoing practice in the city.

To discuss this further, Metro Producer Jack Filbrandt spoke with Detroit Documenters Coordinator Lynelle Herndon and Documenter Sherrie Smith, who recently interviewed task force member Jasahn Larsosa for Outlier Media. 

Larsosa and the DRTF subcommittee he sits on wrote a 29-page report to start putting some of their ideas to paper. 

“(Larsosa) wanted people to have something that they could visually see, kind of comprehend, throw at the wall, see how it landed,” Smith said. “Tear apart, his words not mine, tear apart and, you know, give that feedback and say, ‘Hey, you know, whether good or bad, we like this. We don't like this. We feel like this works.’” 

Interested in becoming a Detroit Documenter? The next orientation is May 3 and you can sign up here. 

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

There are more women attending college in the U.S. than men, enrollment data shows. 

And more women have college degrees today than men of the same age. Research shows the more education a person gets, the lower their chances are of living in poverty.

Today on The Metro, we’re having a conversation on why boys are struggling with two people who are working to help Black boys find success right here in Detroit — Black Male Educators Alliance Founder Curtis Lewis and Bottom Line Executive Director Danielle North.

We’re looking at this approach through the Black lens because while all boys are struggling, Black boys are falling behind the most. 

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