Stateside

Today on Stateside, a conversation with the head of Michigan’s environmental agency on its recent rebranding, and on changing a culture some have accused of being too cozy with corporate interests. Plus, we check in with Antonio Espree, one of Michigan’s so-called “juvenile lifers,” about what it’s like to restart his life after 30 years behind bars.

Megan Williams is a member of a vibrant community of people in Grand Rapids making all kinds of things. Williams works in textiles.  

“Textiles to me is anything with fabric, and I named my company Adventure Textiles because it's whatever I'm experimenting with in textiles," Williams said, adding, "There's so many things to experiment with in the textile category. So I started off with dyeing and that quickly moved to weaving and spinning and felting and everything together. And combining them is what I love to do most.”

Today on Stateside, as General Motors prepares to close the company's Detroit-Hamtramck plant, how is the city of Hamtramck preparing for life after GM? Plus, a treasure trove of Anishinaabe art from Michigan is now on permanent display in Vienna, Austria.

Two weeks after she was sexually assaulted in April 2018, a Michigan State University graduate student got an email from a stranger.

Today on Stateside, Governor Whitmer reopens talks with Enbridge about a tunnel to house replacement pipelines for Line 5. But environmental groups want the current Line 5 shut down before moving forward on plans for its replacement. Plus, park officials say the thousands of shards of glass found on a beach at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore were likely placed there intentionally. 

Sprial cut hams with a sweet honey glaze are a staple of many Easter Sunday dining spreads. That now common method of slicing up a ham has its roots right here in Michigan. 

New York Times food correspondent Kim Severson joins Stateside to talk about tracing the origins of the spiral cut ham.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is in talks with Enbridge about a proposed tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac for its Line 5 pipeline. That's according to the Detroit News.

Today on Stateside, how are Michigan schools preparing for active shooter situations? And what role does the state play in tracking efforts to make schools safer? Plus, Michigan State University's historic role in the divestment movement of the 1970s, and why students there are calling for greater transparency about their school's current investments.

Tenants who try to fight an eviction can quickly get caught up in bewildering legal issues. According to recent reporting from The Detroit News's Christine MacDonald, only 4.4% of renters show up in court with a lawyer. That’s compared to the 83% of landlords who have legal representation in eviction cases.

That has some housing advocates calling on the city of Detroit to provide attorneys to renters who have been evicted.

In her new collection of poems, Goodbye Toothless House, Michigan writer Kelly Fordon takes aim at the idealized facade of marriage and motherhood. Ann Arbor-based poet and writer Keith Taylor has this review for us.

Today on Stateside, does a new pretrial risk assessment tool aimed at helping judges answer complex pretrial questions help or hurt defendants? Plus, we talk to an expert about the spotted lanternfly, a destructive invasive insect that could be making its way to Michigan. 

Listen to the full show above or find individual segments below. 

The Michigan Supreme Court has launched a pilot project to test a program called Public Safety Assessment or PSA. It's a risk assessment tool using a predictive algorithm to help judges make pretrial decisions.

The pretrial period is the time between someone being arrested and tried. At pretrial hearings, judges quickly have to decide whether a defendant should spend that time in jail or out on bail. To make that decision, they have to determine whether that person is likely to not show up to court or commit a crime.

Invasive species can cause major damage to an ecosystem. They compete with native flora and fauna for resources, and often lack any natural predators to control their populations. 

Today on Stateside, the interim president of Michigan State University has publically apologized to survivors of sexual abuse by former MSU sports doctor Larry Nassar. At a Friday meeting, those survivors told the Board of Trustees that apologies aren’t enough. Plus, documenting the architectural creatures that watch over Detroit.

Listen to the full show above or find individual segments below.

Nassar survivors tell MSU trustees that apologies are not enough  

“I was really excited to come across this cocktail called the Jesper Lind in the Death and Company cocktail book because it really gave me an opportunity to highlight three really nice Michigan ingredients in a cocktail,” said Tammy Coxen of Tammy’s Tastings.

Today on Stateside, the state House considers Republican-sponsored bills that would force local police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Democrats and immigrant rights advocates push back. Plus, we’ll check back in with the longest serving exoneree in U.S. history, who is still awaiting state compensation for the 46 years he spent wrongfully imprisoned. 

In late 2016, former Governor Rick Snyder signed the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act, which went into effect the following March.

The law compensates people exonerated of wrongful convictions in Michigan with $50,000 for each year they spent behind bars.

In 2018, Richard Phillips became the longest-serving exoneree in the country after he was cleared of a 1971 homicide conviction. But Phillips has yet to receive any compensation for the 46 years he spent in prison.

Maple sugaring season is just wrapping up in northern Michigan. This delicious tradition of boiling maple sap to make syrup is practiced in the state on many scales.

But indigenous communities in the area were tapping trees long before settlers arrived.

Today on Stateside, we talk with vaccine-hesitant parents as measles cases spread. Plus, learn how your old photos can help researchers track changes to Lake Michigan's dunes.

The measles outbreak continues, and the number of cases in Michighan is climbing. There are now 41 cases confirmed to date in Oakland, Wayne, and Washtenaw Counties.

Doctors and public health officials are grappling with how to best deal with this growing public health crisis, including how they should talk to parents who refuse or delay vaccinations. 

Today on Stateside, around 1,000 Iraqi nationals are in danger of deportation starting Tuesday after a federal appeals court decision ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could move forward with trying to send them back to Iraq. Plus, we talk to a corrections officer a Jackson prison that has lost four officers to suicide in the past two years about how to better support prison staff who are grappling with mental health issues.

A note of warning: there is some brief graphic language in the interview. Listener discretion is advised.

In the past two years, the Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson has lost four correctional officers to suicide. Earlier this month, his family and co-workers honored Michael Perdue, a long-time CO at Cotton, who died by suicide this year.

Corrections officers across the state are hoping these tragic losses will bring attention to the pressures of working in prisons.

Today on Stateside, a report from a state commission says that the state's trial court funding system is "broken." Plus, we talk to the producers of a documentary about CREEM, a Detroit-based rock n' roll magazine that rivaled Rolling Stone during the 1970s and 1980s. 

Michigan's trial court funding system is "broken." That's according to a study released Monday by the Michigan Trial Court Funding Commission.

Tom Boyd is chair of the Commission. He told Stateside that trial court judges are responsible for raising money to operate the courts, and it often influences their rulings.

“It isn't to say that criminals who can afford to pay fines shouldn't pay fines. We're not saying that at all,” Boyd said. “The question is should there be a connection between the amount of money that comes into a court and the amount of money available to run the court?”

The 1970s were an era marked by bohemian wardrobes, protest marches, and groovy disco music. Leaning into this flair, Ann Arbor held its first annual pro-cannabis rally known as Hash Bash in 1972.

This Saturday will be the 48th anniversary of that first event. And it will be the first Hash Bash since Michigan voters legalized recreational marijuana at the polls in November. 

If you aren’t one of the countless people who’ve seen, listened to, and obsessed over Hamilton, you've probably at least heard of it.

Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking biography-turned-musical has enamored countless audiences in the nearly four years since it began playing off-Broadway. In September 2016, the show opened in Chicago, where it has run eight shows every week.