Laura Weber Davis
Executive Producer, StatesideLaura is Executive Producer of Stateside. She came to Michigan Public from WDET in Detroit, where she was senior producer on the current events program, Detroit Today.
She began her career in public radio as an intern before taking a job as a Capitol-beat reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network.
Laura was born and raised in Ann Arbor, and has had a lifelong love affair with Detroit and Michigan more broadly. She is a graduate of Michigan State University (Go Green!) and she received a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Southern California.
Laura is an audiophile with a public radio habit, a dusty-record music head with a crate-digger’s heart, a toddler wrangler, a beach goer, a Jane Austen lover, a horseback rider, a dog walker, and an active listener who loves to hear and tell a good story.
Whatever she is doing at this very moment, she’d rather be listening to showtunes.
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The city of Detroit recently demolished a building with deep ties to the city’s Chinese-American community. Richard Mui joins us to talk about the building and Detroit Chinatown's history — as well as where it's headed next. -
The desert of Nevada reveals to Matt what's essential for survival — for him and for his horse, Smokey. The blazing sun and isolation peel away at Matt and threaten his morale for the long journey ahead. -
Stellantis' Mack Avenue automobile plant continues to receive citations from EGLE due to foul odor emissions. Listen to today's pod to hear how the pollution is affecting neighboring residents. -
Ride of Passage is a limited series podcast about one young man's solo ride across the country on horseback. -
Matt makes his way into the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and encounters the first true test of his ability to withstand the wilderness alone. He learns about equipment he doesn't need - a tent - and which he does need - a staple gun. -
In order to ride horseback across the country, Matt would need a horse and a trail. The problem is there were no modern trails that were tested all the way across on horseback. And there were few modern examples of what kind of horse would be good for a 5,000-mile ride. -
Twenty years ago, Matt Parker was in that weird phase of life right out of college; rudderless and adrift, unsure of what adulthood would hold. And then an idea hit him like lightning — he'd ride across the country on horseback. Never mind that he'd never really spent time with horses. But he was ready for the challenge of a lifetime. -
In 2003, Matt Parker set out on a journey that would take years to complete. He became the first to ride horseback across the country on the American Discovery Trail. -
April Baer and Dustin Dwyer have a debate about our fresh water beaches vs. salty seaside beaches. -
Rufus Snoddy's "construction paintings" almost always stretch beyond the confines of a canvas. Stateside visited Snoddy at his studio in Traverse City to get a glimpse into his mind-bending art and the concepts that inspire him.
