Daily Detroit News Byte

Today, Fletcher Sharpe is in the co-pilot seat. 00:18 - Fan favorite forward Max Todd returns to Detroit City FC. 00:44 - U of M's Mike Smith said he's going pro. What are his prospects? 03:55 - Why isn't Pistons Legend Ben Wallace a Hall Of Famer yet? More: https://theathletic.com/2511074/2021/04/12/ben-wallace-qa-on-hall-of-fame-isaiah-stewart-state-of-the-pistons/ 09:50 - Tigers talk: Akil Baddoo, Miguel Cabrera 16:00 - Fletcher partakes in Ramadan and has good wishes for people Follow Fletch: http://www.twitter.com/SaintFDW Support our work: http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroit  

Today's show is in two parts. News in the front, and a feature conversation in the back. Albert Kahn and his brothers left an immense architectural and design legacy for Detroit and the world.  To help connect fans of Albert Kahn's work and tell the Kahn story, the Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation was started. Pfannes joins us to talk about it. Plus: 00:49 - A COVID-19 update as the CDC says the way to stop this current spike is to shut the state back down. It's putting two allies - Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and President Joe Biden's administration - at odds. Whitmer doesn't seem to want to shut back down. 04:24 - Ford will have a third major brand. Bronco retail stores are coming. Tweet with link to the story and pictures: https://twitter.com/mikemartinez_an/status/1381215717056516097?s=12 05:32 - Feature conversation with Heidi Pfannes on the Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation. More: http://albertkahnlegacy.org/ Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroit  

Today was a far busier day than anticipated. Let's get into the stories: 01:03 - Michigan's COVID situation continues to worsen, and some hospitals are overwhelmed. Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced no new restrictions, but strongly encouraged people to distance, take a pause on in-person learning, and more.  05:49 - StockX raises more money, putting their value at $3.8 Billion.  07:00 - GM is shutting down a couple more plants due to chip shortages. This is part of a North American automaker shortage which is impacting Stellantis and Ford. 07:52 - What are the most dangerous stretches of road in Metro Detroit? Which ones bother you? Send in a voicemail at 313-789-3211 or leave a message on Speakpipe: https://www.speakpipe.com/DailyDetroit 09:23 - A pair of popular restaurants have been sold in Ferndale. 10:11 - Our feature story on the Lake Guardian. The 180-foot long EPA research vessel is on a mission to study our great lakes, keep an eye on the lower food web that underpins our ecosystem, and discover n

Devon O'Reilly is in for his weekly segment. Today, we cover a lot. 01:00 - COVID-19, of course. Hospital officials at the University of Michigan are shutting down surgical procedures to allow space for COVID patients as are others in the area. And they're doing this without a government mandate, as hospitals have live in reality and there's only so many beds, drugs and staff. 06:24 - The "Godfather of Detroit," Ray Solomon Jr. has died. 07:41 - Chef Matt Prentice has died at age 62. 09:04 - All of the eco-homes in Midtown have sold at north of $500,000 each. We discuss, here's more: http://www.detourdetroiter.com/ecohomes-detroit-midtown-sold-fast/ 12:54 - Metro Detroit has a speeding problem. We talk about Warren and the Detroit/Hamtramck border. 16:10 - Northville is looking for a city councilmember to fill an eight-month term 16:59 - Free WiFi is coming to downtown Detroit parks including Campus Martius, Capitol Park, and more. 18:44 - The Workforce Intelligence Network has a new training program for ski

Today: 00:43 - Jer thinks there's a problem with framing when it comes to a recent set of stories locally and nationally at a number of outlets about 246 people getting COVID-19 after being vaccinated. He argues that leading with that number and not putting the context of 1.7 million people vaccinated up at the top plays on fear and helps spur misinformation. 03:00 - COVID-19 cases continue to rage. We're in an "extreme" situation according to COVIDACTNOW in Metro Detroit. We run through the data and the stories as 3,000 people are hospitalized and we had more than 8,000 cases Wednesday. 04:56 - The all-electric Chevy Silverado and Hummer EV are being built right here in Detroit. 05:45 - Housing affordability has worsened in the United States and in Metro Detroit. Detroit area rents are up significantly since February 2020, more than 5% per month. National demand for Detroit is increasing and now, according to Zumper, a top five destination for people looking to move to. 06:48 - A local state lawmaker may be

Fletcher Sharpe is back! On the show: 00:35 Fletch talks COVID and his experience 09:40 University of Michigan Men's basketball recap and Isaiah Livers has at least six months of recovery 12:04 U of M's Women's basketball recap and what happened 13:05 Opening Day and Miggy won one fan a bunch of money 13:42 Detroit City FC has a statewide live match schedule and it's going to be on TV and YouTube: https://www.detcityfc.com/news_article/show/1156187 16:48 Previewing the Legends Cup in Chattanooga and their first match against the Cal United Strikers 18:04 Fletcher Sharpe has his thoughts on MLB moving the All Star Game and Draft from Atlanta 21:10 A shout out to Benjamin J. Tallerico, Fletcher's former professor at Wayne State. He lost a three-year battle with cancer on March 23. Follow Fletch on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SaintFDW Our brand new website: http://www.dailydetroit.com (thanks Engineer Randy!) Support us on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroit  

Today's show with Matt Friedman of Tanner Friedman covers three big topics: One - if you turned on the Tigers opening day, you might have noticed a name change and some new graphics as Fox Sports Detroit is now Bally Sports Detroit. We untangle what's happening. Here's Matt's post about it: https://tannerfriedman.com/blog/confusing-tv-channel-name-change-explained/ Two - A marketing stunt with Volkswagen went sour when company public relations people confirmed that there was a new name - Voltswagen. Turns out, the german company says it's "all a joke," but not until it was widely reported in major news outlets. What's the impact? Three - There's a lot of talk about transparency out in the world. But in reality, that usually doesn't happen. And that's not restricted to one political side or another. And we get into it. More: https://tannerfriedman.com/blog/cut-the-b-s-about-transparency/ Thanks to Tom who upped his support and Judy who joined us on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroit  

It's a fun Friday highlighting a show from Metro Detroit, "Alive 2021: A Daft Punk Podcast." It's part celebratory wake, part music history and part camaraderie and memories about the French House duo.  A trio from the Planet Ant Music Theater put together the ongoing series: Andy Reid, Devin Rosni and Darren Shelton and they join Jer to talk about their project. More about Alive 2021 - their website with links to all the places to subscribe in your favorite podcast apps: http://alive2021.com/ More about our podcast sponsor, Fusion Marketing. Make sure you tell John hi: https://tryfusionmarketing.com/ We're mostly funded by our Patreon members. Join us here: http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroit Also, leave us a review or follow us free on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daily-detroit/id1220563942?mt=2    

Jer gets a vaccine shot and shares his unofficial tips for fellow city residents and those that work in the city for getting your shot there.  If you are a city resident or work in the city and want to get a vaccine, please call 313-230-0505.  If you're in the region, check out this Twitter thread from friend of the pod Ken Haddad over at ClickOnDetroit: https://twitter.com/KenHaddad Producer Shianne has an announcement of her own you're not going to want to miss!  Plus, an aperitif topic talking about Joe Louis Arena and how great the space looks now that' it's open (if only for a little while) near the riverfront. If you weren't around from a decade ago, here's a link from 2011 about the issues with old Joe: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/733207-detroit-red-wings-why-joe-louis-arena-needs-to-be-buried

The pandemic situation isn't good. Hospitalizations, something experts had hoped would not jump? They are, but this time among people 30-49 of age. In fact, COVID-19 hospitalizations have basically doubled in a week. ICU admittance is up. So we're doing a deep dive podcast on what's happening with coronavirus in metro Detroit and Michigan. To set the table, according to COVID ACT NOW, the Detroit metro area is averaging nearly 63 new cases per hundred thousand people per day. Experts say that's a very dangerous level. The positive test rate is 14.5 percent. And that's despite nearly a quarter of the region receiving their first dose of the vaccine. The spread of the virus is not slowing down yet. That infection rate that you want below 1 - is at 1.3. Wayne and Oakland counties, over 50 cases per 100k per day. Macomb county is racing to 90 cases per 100k. St. Clair? Nearly 120. We are a day or two away from our highest level of covid ever and it's running rampant through our community. And it's time to talk a

Our deep-dive conversation is with Brian Mulloy. He's doing small-scale development in the city of Detroit through his Ballet Real Estate, but with a focus on building restoration and urban spaces. His transformation of a building at Bagley and Trumbull (and subsequent development of a property few thought could be built on it behind it) has not only has caught attention for its looks — but the amount of hassle he had to go through to get it done. So how can Detroit support smaller developers? How can the city infill neighborhoods instead of building giant, block-sized developments? How has the advent of the "Motor City" emptied the city of Detroit? We get into that and more.

00:40 - Coronavirus is roaring back in Metro Detroit. Cases are skyrocketing, and unfortunately, hospitalizations are up too. Sewage testing in Macomb County shows that we may very well have more cases ahead. We get into what's happening, as well as run down vaccine expansions in Detroit and the possibility of some districts moving back to remote learning as test positivity rates exceed 9%. 02:40 - The old warehouse with the Boblo Boat sign will be demolished as part of a bigger deal. More: https://www.dbusiness.com/daily-news/moroun-family-and-port-authority-end-master-agreement-boblo-building-to-be-demolished/ 03:20 - Road improvements are coming as part of massive $3.5 billion bonding issue. We cover some top level things over the next couple of years, but here's the map to dig in yourself: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3aebfdf9166a47c9ac53caed4b106e04 04:55 - The University of Michigan beat LSU to make it to the Sweet 16. We were going to talk about it with Fletcher, but he's come down with COVID

Listener favorite Steve Friess from Hour Detroit is back on the pod! Today, we're talking about: His big piece on Governor Gretchen Whitmer: https://www.hourdetroit.com/political-topics/the-surreal-life-of-gretchen-whitmer/ Local political predictions, including Detroit Police Chief James Craig's possibly precarious position depending on how the year unfolds: https://www.hourdetroit.com/political-topics/2021-political-predictions-questions-answered-whitmer-duggan-michigan/ And what's happening politically, in general. Don't forget we do this show weekdaily and is in all your favorite podcast apps. If you'd like, there's two ways to support the show: 1) Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daily-detroit/id1220563942?mt=2 2) Become a member at Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroit  

A big question out there for a lot of people has been as we're getting vaccinations out and there's some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel is - how will I return to work? And what will that look like? Major employers in the area usually set the tone as the benefits and structures they offer influence others. One of those, of course, is Ford. The Dearborn-based automaker announced Wednesday their return to work plans for its office workers. Remember the concept of hybrid cars? Well, now, it's hybrid work models. More than half of the 86,000 global Ford employees who have not returned in person yet will this summer. But the office will look different than they left, and where they work will change. It'll also impact the kinds of buildings and structures Ford uses going forward. To unpack what that looks like, Jennifer Kolstad, the global design director of Ford Motor Company's built environments, joins me to talk about it.

Although there has been a loosening of restrictions like dining capacity and gatherings between households, not only is COVID-19 not at bay but we're experiencing a new outbreak in Metro Detroit. Statewide, daily cases are increasing and new regional data from COVID ACT NOW shows that we're near the same spike levels that we saw in the Spring of 2020. COVIDACTNOW, Screenshot of Metro Detroit data from 3/17/21 This is a problem as although there is some progress with vaccination, we don't have anywhere close to herd immunity. Plus, we discuss the report that a large group of people won't take the vaccine – including nearly half of Trump voters and enough portions of some demographics that it'd prevent group immunity. Some areas, like Macomb county, are now exceeding 33 cases per 100k per day.What's driving this and what's next? Dr. Paul Thomas from Plum Health Direct Primary Care joins us. He also talks about ways to build trust when it comes to the vaccine. Support our work: http://www.patreon.com/dailydetroi