The Sunrise Movement co-founder trying to flip Lansing's House seat

Will Lawrence helped start the Sunrise Movement, the climate group famous for pressuring Democrats from the outside. He's never held office before, but in August he beat a former ambassador and a former Navy SEAL for the Democratic nomination in Michigan's 7th District. He's running on a platform of Medicare for All, higher taxes on the very rich, and a pause on new data centers and the most advanced AI — in a Lansing-area seat Republican Tom Barrett won by under four points. Lawrence joins host Robyn Vincent to make his case. Barrett joins The Metro next week. Have thoughts? Email the show at [email protected]

Tomorrow marks 25 years since the twin towers came down. What came next reshaped this country. The Patriot Act. Two wars. Here at home, a registration program fingerprinted, photographed and questioned more than 80,000 men and boys largely from Muslim-majority countries. It didn't produce a single terrorism conviction. Almost none of that machinery was ever dismantled. So, we're wondering: How has American politics changed — and how hasn't it — since September of 2001. Ali Harb is a freelance journalist based in Washington D.C. He covers American politics, U.S. foreign policy, and politics in the Middle East. He spoke with The Metro's Robyn Vincent.

More than 450,000 DTE customers lost power in last week's storms. Michigan requires a $42 daily credit — but in the biggest outages, it doesn't start until day four. Rep. Rashida Tlaib joins host Robyn Vincent to discuss the rule, the regulators who wrote it, and her bill to raise pollution fines on utilities that keep raising rates. Have thoughts? Email the show at [email protected]

The Recovery and Resilience Festival in Wyandotte is an upcoming music and art festival focusing on recovery from drugs and alcohol. Festival goers can expect free activities such as creative writing workshops and more. Christopher Tait, director of Passenger Recovery, and Michael Balcom, director of Be Well My Friends, are the co-founders of the event.They join The Metro to share their personal experiences that led to them placing sobriety center stage at the Recovery and Resilience Festival on Sunday, Sept. 20.

For more than a century, the U.S. government took Native children from their homes, cut their hair, forbade their languages and set out to erase who they were. It called them schools and Michigan had several. Reporting on them in 2021, Odawa Anishinaabe journalist Sierra Biidaaban Nadeau found 10 of her own relatives in the enrollment records — her great-grandfather, his siblings, and generations before them. Her book, "What the Ancestors Say," is out Sept. 29. Nadeau joins host Robyn Vincent to talk about what she found, who told her their stories, and what a state does with a history it has barely acknowledged. Have thoughts? Email the show at [email protected]

The Season Fair is a free non-profit contemporary art fair. This second edition of the fair is titled "Detroit Presents: Other Routes," exploring how six featured artists came into their craft and how their personal journeys shape their art, down to the non-traditional materials they use. Amani Olu is the founder and curatorial director of Season Fair. Oshun Williams is a featured fine artist on the Detroit Presents Artist Platform. They join The Metro not only to describe the event, but also emphasize the importance of investing in art.  The fair is at The Shepherd in Detroit, on Sept. 11-13. 

In Michigan, a local campaign believes residents can have a stronger, more representative democracy if political spending by some big-time actors is limited. The Michiganders for Money Out of Politics measure, which is now on the November ballot, would change some aspects of how money gets into the hands of politicians and political candidates. Voters decide Nov. 3, though opponents have asked the Michigan Supreme Court to block it. Executive Committee Co-Chair for the Michiganders for Money out of Politics campaign Sean McBrearty spoke with producer and host Robyn Vincent about the consequences if the ballot measure passes.

At least 19 Michigan communities have voted to pause new data centers . The one going up south of Ann Arbor will use more electricity than a million homes and never shut off. State Rep. Jennifer Wortz, a Republican from Quincy, wants to freeze new approvals across Michigan for a year. Her bipartisan bill has sat in committee since February, and both the Republican speaker and the Democratic governor have said no. She joins host Robyn Vincent to talk about power, farmland, and who decides when a data center comes to town. Have thoughts? Email the show at [email protected]

Cartoons and Stereo Vol. 2 is back for another year. The free festival will feature multiple local and national musical acts such as Curtis Roach, Liv. E and Kareem Riggins of GENA, Mavi, The Cool Kids, Stoop Lee and more. Alongside a free music festival, there will be a skateboarding competition. The goal of the Cartoons and Stereo is to celebrate the intersections of music, fashion, art, skating and food. Stoop Lee is a hip hop artist from Detroit and organizer of Cartoons and Stereo Vol.2. Lee says Detroit's hip hop scene is diverse and that needs to be uplifted. “I wanted to do something that put those two worlds together,” Lee said. Lee joined The Metro to discuss how his music and skating represents the scene as well as the aesthetic of the city. Cartoons and Stereo is Sept. 19 at the Big Pink on Detroit’s Eastside.

This weekend is Labor Day weekend and in Motown—that means it’s time for the Detroit Jazz Fest. Dozens of acts will take the stage in Hart Plaza from Sept. 4-7. The Detroit Jazz Fest is the world’s largest free jazz festival. This year marks the 47th time the event has been held. Chris Collins president and director of the Detroit Jazz Fest Foundation. He joined The Metro to preview this weekend’s festivities.