wayne county

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Thursday that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for 19- and-20-year-old defendants violate the state Constitution. We have more from Rick Pluta.

More than 250 felons sent to prison for life with no chance of parole for crimes committed when they were 18 years old must have their sentences reviewed. That decision was released Wednesday by the Michigan Supreme Court. We have more from Rick Pluta.

The Wayne County Prosecutor is asking the Michigan Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that struck down Michigan’s terroristic threats law. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled last week that the law is unconstitutional. We have more from Rick Pluta.

Land preservation efforts in the greater Washtenaw County area are about to expand. In 2024, The Legacy Land Conservancy received its largest-ever grant. It’s a $24.6 million infusion of money from the USDA’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program. WEMU's David Fair was joined by the Conservancy’s Susan LaCroix to discuss the impact that will have in 2025 and beyond in a New Year’s Day edition of "Issues of the Environment."

Over 100 businesses in the area have been awarded a total of $6 million in Going PRO Talent Fund grants from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. WEMU’s Kevin Meerschaert reports.

A project to convert a historic Detroit auto plant into lofts, retail and co-working space and parking received the OK for state funding Tuesday. Colin Jackson has more.

Absentee ballots in Michigan are in the mail or available for pickup. Early in-person voting is already happening in some places. These relatively new ballot options are changing the culture of voting in Michigan. Rick Pluta followed one voter’s absentee ballot from application to drop-off.

The Army Corps of Engineers wants to ship toxic waste from New York to a facility in western Wayne County. It comes from the World War II-era Manhattan Project and has low levels of radioactivity. While the shipment issue winds through the court system, measures are being taken in Lansing. State Representative Reggie Miller is a Democrat from Van Buren Township. where Wayne Disposal is located and where the shipments are scheduled to arrive. She has introduced a bill that would ban all out-of-state waste shipments and discusses it with WEMU's David Fair and Michigan League of Conservation Voters executive director, Lisa Wozniak.

On October 1st of 2023, The United Way of Washtenaw County ceased being an entity unto its own. It merged with, and was rolled into, the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. At the time, leadership said it would not only maintain staff and services in Washtenaw County but expand them. WEMU's David Fair discussed where the merger stands one year later with chapter president and CEO, Dr. Darienne Hudson.

Local community leaders are celebrating the restraining order signed on Wednesday to halt the transfer of radioactive soil from New York to Wayne Disposal in Van Buren Township. WEMU’s Kevin Meerschaert reports.