This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. Walking around Traverse City, it’s hard to miss the yard signs with a smiling cartoon bee proclaiming “No Mow May.” The signs are part of a conservation initiative aimed at raising awareness of how lawn care can impact pollinators and plant life ..read more

On Monday, the Detroit Tigers released a new hip-hop-inspired video highlighting their new “City Connect” uniforms. The video features several players driving through Detroit where they meet up at a warehouse for a cipher-like hip-hop show. The video features emcees P.L., Stretch Money, Valid, and GMAC Cash, with a cameo by none other than Eminem himself at the end ..read more

R&B singer Brian McKnight has been criticized as of late for being a deadbeat father, and Detroiters made it clear that they are not fans, potentially influencing the cancellation of his upcoming Motor City show. The 54-year-old vocalist is estranged from his older biological children, a situation made messier recently due to multiple incidents, such as calling them “products of sin,” changing his name to become a “Sr.” to his new son, and publicly disputing his ex-wife. Well, people from Detroit can be brutally honest ..read more

You’ve seen America’s Funniest Home Videos. The Found Footage Festival is kind of like that, but weirder. Its creators bill it as “the world’s largest collection of strange, outrageous and profoundly stupid videos ..read more

My favorite Renaissance Center moment came in the mid-1980s when Detroit Mayor Coleman Young spoke there at a long-forgotten public event. The RenCen was a proud achievement for the Motor City’s chief executive in that era and it had just undergone one of its periodic interior renovations. “It’s beautiful,” the mayor said, “but I still can’t find my way around this damn place.” Young smiled and chuckled as he said it — as he often did when kidding on the square ..read more

On Friday, May 3, Michigan State Police responded to a tense but peaceful protest by University of Michigan students outside the U-M Museum of Art (UMMA) with pepper spray and physical force. Members of the U-M Board of Regents, who have refused to officially respond to student requests for a meeting to discuss university divestment from Israel since students set up an encampment on the U-M diag nearly two weeks ago, were believed to wait inside the museum building. Student protesters were joined outside the museum by community supporters, including families with young children ..read more

More than 100 faculty and staff members at Wayne State University denounced a “racist assault” on protesters demanding the school divest from companies linked to Israel. In an open letter this week, the employees condemned WSU President Kimberly Espy and the Board of Governors for their silence as campus police forcibly removed protesters from a Board of Governors meeting on April 26. The students were calling on the university to pull money from Israel-related companies as the country continues its brutal war on Hamas in Gaza ..read more

The spirit of Detroit shines bright through jessica Care moore. As a poet, recording artist, publisher, filmmaker, activist, educator, and mother, she radiates the hardworking essence of the city. With pride, she founded publishing house Moore Black Press, nonprofit Moore Art House, groundbreaking rock ’n’ roll movement Black WOMEN Rock!, and punk duo We Are Scorpio ..read more

Detroit’s food truck season kicks off next week. The Downtown Street Eats food truck rally launches Monday, with a rotation of dozens of food trucks and other local restaurants in Cadillac Square and the Woodward Esplanade. The food trucks will be available from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays through Oct. 10, as well as during special events ..read more

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