A Professional Women's Hockey League team is coming to Detroit – a milestone that was inevitable. The hockey fans here are passionate, the championships are plentiful and the hockey history here is long. Considering the city’s deep connection to hockey, it’s fitting for Detroit to be one of four cities joining the PWHL in its fourth season.

Maya Smith, a journalist with the women's athletics platform The IX sports, joined the program to discuss how it happened.

Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin is one of the most closely watched politicians in her party right now.

A former CIA analyst, she took three tours in Iraq alongside the military, and spent years in national security under both Republican and Democratic administrations before she ran for office. Then she won a House seat in a Trump-led district, followed by a Senate seat in a state President Trump carried. When her party needed someone to deliver the Democratic response to President Trump’s address to Congress, they picked her.

She’s been called a centrist. A pragmatist. A rising star. She's also been called too cautious — not progressive enough, not tough enough — at a moment when many Democrats argue the party must get louder. The Metro's Robyn Vincent spoke with her at the Mackinac Policy Conference.

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

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

"Black Summers" - a book about growing up in the urban outdoors -  is a compilation of writings from Detroiters. In it they detail what it’s like to experience a summer here. But it’s not just about playing tag at the park or barbeques on Belle Isle. The book balances the joys and freedoms that come with the season while remaining very aware of how our racial history at one point restricted it. 

The 33 entries in the book range in their style and depth. Together they paint a picture of what it's like to be outside in Detroit. Desiree Cooper is the editor of the book. She joined the program to explain how she weaved these pieces together. 

How much has politics changed in the last 20 years? That was a different time— a time before President Trump and MAGA, before the wealth gap continued expanding, before we were as polarized as we are today, and before algorithmic media took hold. But how different were things, really? What can we learn from that era of politics? And what are the things that we should be happy we’ve left behind? Jennifer Granholm was the governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011. She was also the energy secretary under the Biden administration. She’s on Mackinac Island, and will be speaking at this year’s policy conference. She spoke with The Metro's Robyn Vincent.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." 

Why does that framing always skip over what we survived? Or how we're still holding it all together?

New research published in American Psychologist is asking exactly that.

The study out of Michigan State University, Affirming Racial and Gender Identity Supports Mental Health, found that for sexual and gender diverse people of color, affirming your identity, is a source of real psychological strength.

But the research also finds something more complicated. Growing through oppression, developing yourself through the experience of discrimination, builds resilience. 

And it also costs something. The researchers named that honestly. And that honesty is part of what makes this work different.

Dr. Aldo Barrita is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. 

Dr. Joshua Parmenter is an assistant professor at Arizona State University and licensed psychologist specializing in the mental health of LGBTQ+ and marginalized BIPOC communities.

Both joined The Metro to talk more about the study and its results. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming  On-demand. Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts

Darryl DeAngelo Terrell is a multidisciplinary artist who uses photography, videography, and sound to illustrate Black liberation. Growing up gay in Detroit was, Terrell could not fully express themselves. They use art to envision a world that embraces every part of their being. 

Terrell lives in New York now, but they are an extension of the Black LGBTQ+ community of Detroit.  

Cary Junior II spoke to Terrell about how their artwork in its many forms is a tool for Black and queer liberation. 

Before the massive crowds and international acts that the Movement Electronic Music Festival in Detroit has grown to attract, electronic and dance music in the city was largely underground. In the 80s and 90s you had to catch names like Jeff Mills and Carl Craig in warehouses or after hour Detroit clubs. 

The late Ken Collier is considered to be Detroit's “godfather of house” The DJ was known for his iconic sets at Club Heaven - a well known Black LGBTQ afterhours spot in the city.

At a time when people were ostracized for unconventional lifestyle, Collier’s work and many other regulars at Club Heaven made it a place where Black LGBTQ+ folks in Detroit could find support and guidance. 

Damon Percy came of age during that time. He is a member of the House of Charles at Club Heaven, a cultural historian, and a writer who has been working to preserve the club's history. He is the archival producer for the upcoming film "Heaven in Detroit," which is loosely based on his own experience there.

Damon Percy joined the program to talk about his experience. 

Money is getting tighter. The cost of life can be even more daunting if you have a kids. Children are expensive — diapers, food, clothing, and so much more.

We don’t have statewide paid family leave in Michigan, but a public-private partnership has tried to ease the cost burden. Rx Kids provides unrestricted cash to mothers who are at least 16 weeks pregnant or to guardians who have a child who is six months or younger. It began in Flint two years ago. Now, Rx Kids has expanded to dozens of communities across Michigan.

What have the impacts been for moms and kids? And, why is Rx Kids popular among people and places across the political spectrum?

Nushrat Rahman is the Economic Mobility Reporter at the Detroit Free Press and BridgeDetroit. She spoke with The Metro's Robyn Vincent.

Life is becoming less affordable for Michiganders. And in Lansing, despite the constraints they face, many believe lawmakers are not doing enough to change that for residents. With state Senator Erika Geiss term limited out of her seat, two Democrats are now vying to improve life for residents in parts of Detroit and Downriver.

Justin Onwenu is running as a Democrat for District 1’s state Senate. He spoke about what he wants to change with The Metro's Robyn Vincent.

Have you ever looked at a grocery receipt and felt your chest tighten? You're not alone. Roughly half of Americans say they struggle to afford rent or a mortgage. Food prices keep climbing. Household debt just hit a record $18.8 trillion.

Financial therapist Lindsay Bryan-Podvin says the affordability crisis isn't your fault — but that doesn't mean you're powerless. She joins Robyn Vincent on The Metro to talk about debt, shame, and what actually helps when the numbers stop working.

Bryan-Podvin is based in Ann Arbor. She founded Mind Money Balance and is the author of "The Financial Anxiety Solution."