Michigan Watch show

Michigan Watch

Summary: Michigan Watch is Michigan Radio’s investigative/accountability reporting unit. Headed by veteran reporter Lester Graham, Michigan Watch provides in-depth reports on topics of importance that may require a longer and more involved examination. These include the workings of state government, education, the environment, and jobs and the economy. Among the specific topics covered by Michigan Watch have been the influence of money and politics in Michigan elections, changes to the state’s mandatory no-fault insurance system, following Michigan families that have been removed from welfare, and separating truth from fiction in election advertising.

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  • Artist: Mark Brush
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Podcasts:

 Auto insurance costs can vary wildly depending on which side of the street you live | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 242

Detroit has the highest auto insurance costs in the nation. Depending on the survey, it costs somewhere between seven thousand and ten thousand dollars a year.

 The Kerner Commission and why its recommendations were ignored | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 619

News media around the world are talking about Detroit’s resurgence. Politicians in the city and the state, such as Gov. Rick Snyder, hype its revitalization. “New investments have helped fuel a rapid dramatic transformation of Detroit and today it’s America’s comeback city,” he said in a video . But that’s only part of the story of Detroit. In the city’s neighborhoods, many people are still struggling. However, there was a plan released in the 1960s to help end racial discrimination in Detroit

 Future uncertain for most business districts outside of downtown Detroit | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 240

Update: 5/24/2017 The business, Hammer Time True Value Hardware, closed shortly after the interview with owner Bill Kamman. That leaves another substantial gap in the business district on E. Warren Avenue in the MorningSide neighborhood. There are small business districts throughout Detroit that are barely hanging on. They were once thriving. But population loss and the loss of wealth in the neighborhoods have created hard times for neighborhood businesses. The question is: what to do with them

 Experiments in reviving Detroit neighborhoods | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 274

Detroit might be one of the largest socio-economic laboratories in the world. Billionaires are rehabbing iconic downtown buildings. The federal government is funding demolition of tens of thousands of abandoned houses. And private foundations are testing out all kinds of projects to see what might spark neighborhood revival. I was recently on Detroit’s east side, driving in the MorningSide neighborhood. Barham Street is a favorite among illegal midnight dumpers. There are a lot of vacant lots

 Police training could be key to solving racial bias | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 261

More in this series from Michigan Radio and its Detroit Journalism Cooperative partners can be found at www.detroitjournalism.org The news has been full of stories in recent years about police killing unarmed African-Americans. Those reports have been disturbing.

 Black political power grows, but prosperity remains elusive | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 471

America struggles with race and those struggles are intensifying. As the white majority has been shrinking, racial tensions have been rising. You can see it in anti-immigration movements. It’s in the feeling among some white people that they’re being oppressed. Meanwhile, a new generation of black protest organizations has been taking to the streets as black Americans feel a greater threat from white-dominated politics and police. Race relations have changed since the civil rights movements of

 Detroit bankruptcy lesson: Underfunded pension funds could trip up other municipalities | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 243

As Detroit approaches the one-year anniversary of emerging from the nation’s largest-ever municipal bankruptcy, Michigan Radio is examining one of the lessons learned.

 New international bridge to bring more pollution to already polluted neighborhood | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 249

When the Gordie Howe International Bridge from Canada to the U.S. is complete, it’s expected that thousands of trucks a day will travel through the Detroit neighborhood of Delray. Residents there want the government to keep additional pollution to a minimum.

 DTE: New Fermi 3 nuclear reactor an option | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 230

Alarms are going off. People are checking gauges , trying to determine what's wrong. We’re in a large simulator of a nuclear reactor control room at the DTE Energy Fermi 2 power plant on Lake Erie near Monroe. Employees are being trained to deal with just about any foreseeable problem a nuclear power plant might face.

 City of Detroit has rocky relationship with Arab-American gas station owners | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 238

F or many years Detroit residents and businesses didn’t see a lot of services from the city. After an emergency manager and bankruptcy, one of the first city officials some people saw was an inspector or police officer citing them for a building or business violation. Some business owners say it got ridiculous. Last fall Arab-American gas station owners asked to meet with the Detroit Police Department about getting multiple citations for the same offenses. They complained that police officers

 WW II veterans in Michigan recall the war | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 481

World War II ended 70 years ago in September. Here are three stories from veterans who live in Michigan. We'll start with a love story. Bill Berkley, U.S. Navy, Pacific Bill Berkley was just a kid without a care in Paducah, Kentucky until December 7 , 1941. “I was 14 years old, but I can remember that day just like it was yesterday. We had been playing football and I got home and mom was crying,” Berkley says, recalling when he first learned of the attack and the death of so many sailors. All

 Cheaper auto insurance for Detroit, but at what cost? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 233

People in Detroit pay some of the highest auto insurance rates in the nation. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan believes that’s part of the reason people move out of the city. He’s put together a plan to provide cheaper auto insurance for city residents. Some critics think it would be a bad deal for Detroiters.

 Broken fire hydrants contribute to more Detroit buildings burning | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 246

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.

 Detroit business has become a landmark | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 241

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 of the city’s struggles. One of them has even become something of a landmark in the city.

 People in Wayne County unnecessarily losing homes to foreclosure | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 228

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.

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