Today on Stateside, the Michigan Legislature’s newly-elected House Speaker discusses what issues he wants to prioritize when he steps into the position this January. Plus, a Democrat on the Oakland County Board of Commissioners talks about his party's plans after winning a majority on the board for the first time in four decades.
Listen to the full show above or find individual segments below.
Newly-elected state House Speaker Chatfield talks road funding, bipartisanship, Line 5 tunnel
- Republican State Representative Lee Chatfield is newly-elected state House Speaker. He joined Stateside to talk about what message he heard from Michigan voters last week, how he intends to work with Governor-elect Whitmer, and what his priorities will be when he officially assumes his role in January.
Caravan to travel 1,700 miles to witness border problems
- This week, a group of faith leaders in Ann Arbor are taking a caravan of protestors to the Tornillo detention center in Texas. There, the group hopes to draw attention to hundreds of unaccompanied minors who are being held at the center after crossing the U.S-Mexico border. Michigan Radio’s Tracy Samilton joined the group and sent us this story.
Theater Talk: A classic opera, a batch of musicals, and a serious drama
- Encore Michigan’s David Kiley fills us in on the latest productions coming to professional theater companies around the state this November, including Assassins at the Flint Repertory Theatre, A Comedy of Tenors at the Tipping Point Theatre in Northville, and The Barber of Seville at the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit.
Democrats control the Oakland County Commission for the first time since the 1970s
- David Woodward is a Democratic Commissioner in Oakland County. He joined Stateside to talk about a major upcoming shift in Oakland County politics as Democrats prepare to have their first majority on the county's Board of Commissioners in more than 40 years.
- Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson declined a request for interview, and sent a statement that reads in part: “The results of Tuesday’s election were not unexpected. My administration has always reached across the aisle, especially at budget time, to pass a bipartisan, balanced, three-year budget. We will continue to do so." You can read the full statement here.
Law professor: Providing attorneys to tenants facing eviction improves outcomes for everyone
- In Michigan, 92 people face eviction each day. That rate is slightly above the national average. Attorney Brian Gilmore, the director of the Housing Law Clinic at Michigan State University, shares why he believes that eviction is “the civil equivalent of capital punishment,” and why supplying tenants with a lawyer could help keep people in their homes.
Michigan cities face eviction crisis. Here are some solutions.
- Warren, Detroit, and Lansing are among the top 100 cities in America when it comes to rates of court-ordered evictions. In order to learn more about how other communities are dealing with this crisis, WDET’s Jake Neher traveled to Cleveland to see how that city is addressing housing insecurity and poverty.
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