Hey friends,
Welcome to 2026! I promised myself I'd start with something positive for the year, and the fact is that more sunlight is coming in one- to two- minute increments.
I am very much here for that.
There was a bunch of stuff that happened over the break that I thought it might be smart to catch you all up on.
In case you're interested, here's an audio version of this with expanded stories on our Daily Detroit podcast.
1️⃣ Detroit has a new mayor and a historic first. Mary Sheffield has been sworn in as Detroit’s 76th mayor, becoming the first woman ever elected to lead the city in more than 300 years of its history.
She took the oath in a small ceremony at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, after a decade on City Council where she worked on housing affordability and neighborhood investment. [Michigan Public] [Bridge Detroit]
In related news, longtime District 1 council member James Tate has been named City Council President, and Coleman Young II the Council President Pro Tempore.
💵 Today, Sheffield announced that Detroit is joining the Rx Kids program, making it the largest city in Michigan to take part. [City of Detroit]
Eligible Detroit moms will receive direct cash assistance. A one‑time $1,500 payment during pregnancy and $500 per month for the first six months of the baby’s life, funded through a mix of city and foundation dollars.
📚 Detroit’s main school district is bracing for more than $2.2 million in state penalties tied to how many kids show up to class each day. Under a Michigan rule, districts lose funding on days when attendance drops below 75 percent, and Detroit Public Schools Community District fell under that threshold multiple times last year. [Chalkbeat Detroit]
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti says the policy hits hardest in high‑poverty communities, where absences often track with housing instability, transportation gaps, health issues like childhood asthma, and aging school buildings.
State officials say they are simply following the law, but Vitti wants the district to push lawmakers in Lansing to rewrite the rule so it doesn’t pile financial punishment on top of existing challenges.
⛽️ Sheetz opened its first Warren location and fourth metro Detroit store on Van Dyke, just north of 13 Mile, on the old Pampa Lanes site.
Company officials see Warren as a fit with their playbook: a working‑class, auto‑driven city where people work odd hours and need a reliable 24‑hour stop for food, fuel, and coffee.
This is part of a much larger push, with Sheetz planning 50 to 60 locations and roughly half a billion dollars of investment across southeast Michigan over the next five to six years.
This includes a proposed site at the former Detroit News/Free Press printing plant property in Sterling Heights. [Macomb Daily]
We'll have a ranking and test of various Sheetz food items in our podcast feed later this month.
AutoZone is coming to Detroit's Midtown. It's taking over the spot once held by Rite Aid that closed in March of last year on Woodward just south of Forest. I don't have the opening date yet.
Highland Park officials say they are gearing up to resist any effort to place a new ICE detention and processing center in their city after an internal federal list flagged the community as a possible location. [Michigan Chronicle] [Fox2Detroit]
A Washington Post report describes a Trump administration plan to convert large warehouses around the country into high‑capacity immigrant detention and processing sites, with Highland Park listed as one of 16 smaller hubs nationwide.
🎟️ Wayne State University is inviting the public into Old Main this Saturday for Public Archaeology Day, a free, all-ages event that brings rarely seen artifacts out of storage and into the spotlight. [Wayne State University]
From 10a to 4p, visitors can explore collections tied to Detroit’s past, along with objects from shipwrecks, farmsteads, and other sites across the region.
Archaeologists — including underwater specialists — will be on hand with tools of the trade, hands-on activities, and time to answer questions.
The day also features the new “Fort Archaeology in Michigan” exhibit and access to the Lowrie Geology Mineral Museum, both housed in historic Old Main, opened in 1896 as Detroit’s Central High School.
The event coincides with the Society for Historical Archaeology’s international conference downtown, bringing experts from around the world to Detroit.
🧱 If you like Detroit real estate stuff, you're gonna love taking a look in these apartments on the east side riverfront. This is a cool building that is kind of tucked back by the river, but totally worth checking out. The views are super cool, the layouts spacious, and location great.
Before you go, a few quick things in the Daily Detroit universe:
- Live stream: A YouTube live tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon with the prince of Brightmoor himself, Norris Howard.
- In your podcast feeds tomorrow: A conversation with Veronika Scott of the Empowerment Plan. They will produce their 100,000th sleeping bag coat serving the unhoused this week. [Follow us on Apple Podcasts]
- On newsstands: Check out this month’s HOUR Detroit, where I'm featured in their “Burning Questions” for 2026.
And as always, if you want to support this independent work and get some swag — from sticker packs to rocks glasses — you can become a member here on Patreon.
Thanks to Robert, Andy, Chris, RJ, Tim, and Ami who recently joined us.
Remember that you are somebody,
-Jer
p.s. - Here's a photo to go.
During the tomfoolery of the holiday week, I randomly ended up in a bathroom at a friend's hotel room with a toilet that had a very cool view of the city. Though, it left me with more questions than answers.
Lemme know where you think I was ... dailydetroit -at- gmail -dot- com.
