Up North Lowdown

Margaret has dedicated her life to sewing. She even has tattoos on her hands to help her measure stitches. Today we take a trip to her small but mighty sewing studio in Traverse City. Rena Barch brings us this story as part of the Transom Story Workshop.

Hear our special episode, broadcast live from the Harbor Springs Festival of the Book on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026! Authors, booksellers, a white whale who just wants a friend! What more could you ask for?

A new listening event in Traverse City, and a half century old rock shop closes its doors.

Today, the story of Therese O'Brien. Her family became the caretakers of the Carmelite Monastery in Traverse City when she was 17. She still takes care of the grounds today.

Antrim County Clerk Victoria Bishop made 128 unauthorized changes to the Qualified Voter Files (QVF), in violation of Michigan election law. 58 voters were canceled completely.

The fall equinox arrives today. On the Lowdown, we hear from political candidates and officeholders weighing in on affordable housing, hate speech, rising healthcare costs, and more. Also, hope rises for lake sturgeon with a recent hatchery release on the Boardman-Ottaway River.

A toxic underground chemical plume is making its way through parts of Antrim County. We'll get an update on that, as well as the fighter jet crash and fall seed saving techniques.

We'll get the latest on the F-16 fighter jet that crashed in Grand Traverse County Thursday.

Once upon a time, Cherry Capital Airport (TVC) was a quiet rural airport frequented by regional puddle-jumpers and small prop planes.

Nowadays, jets, airliners, military aircraft and almost a million passengers from all over the world travel each year in and out of TVC.

To accommodate the increasing number of travelers, the airport is building a new concourse — Concourse B.

We'll take an inside look with airport director Kevin Klein.

When wildfire smoke blanketed northern Michigan in July, a lot of us turned to the AQI, or air quality index, for guidance on how to protect ourselves. But gaps in Michigan’s air quality monitoring network, particularly in rural areas of northern Michigan, mean many of us don’t have accurate information. Reporter Miles MacClure takes a deep breath and guides us through the facts.