When the Grand Rapids band Ghost Heart plays live, it's a performance spectacle. They played in-studio at Michigan Radio as part of Songs from Studio East. You have to check out the rhythm section of this band. Their drum kit has the standard snares...
Detroit has one of the busiest fire departments in the nation. One problem in the city causes fires to be worse than they should be: broken fire hydrants. It's a problem city hall doesn't want to talk about. Steve Neavling founded the online journali...
It's never too late for fence-mending. That's certainly the case with the Ford family and the foundation that bears its name. Detroit News business columnist Daniel Howes has been speaking with Ford Foundation CEO Darren Walker. Ford and the Ford Fou...
The Ecology Center in Ann Arbor has just come out with its 5th report on toxic chemicals in car seats. The nonprofit group analyzes car seats for the presence of heavy metals and flame retardants. Flame retardant chemicals can migrate out of products...
It seems every new restaurant, bar, or national retail chain opening in Detroit generates excitement in the wake of the city's bankruptcy. Most are owned or operated by white people. But Detroit has many black-owned businesses that survived the worst...
When the housing crisis hit in the mid-2000s, millions lost their jobs. Licensed home builder and Saginaw resident Jeff Little was one of them. Jeff lost his job in 2006, and soon his wife was unemployed as well. Struggling to make ends meet every mo...
How do we break the cycle of poverty? What can we, as a state and a nation, do to help poor children escape poverty and move up and out? Jamie Fogel is a pre-doctoral fellow with Harvard's department of economics and a researcher on the Quality of Op...
Small-town movie theaters are in a fight for their lives. Hollywood studios are phasing out 35-millimeter film in favor of going digital. This means theaters are feeling the pressure to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade their facilities, or be fo...
Thousands of Detroit and Wayne County homeowners face tax foreclosures. Some of those families still have time to save their homes, but they might be paying more in taxes than they should have had to pay. Cheryl West has been living in her home for 6...
You might have heard of Camp Take Notice, the tent city in Ann Arbor that was forced to close nearly three years ago. Viviana Pernot has made a short documentary film about that homeless community and the non-profit group that helps them. Pernot's sh...