What a weekend, to say the least. Rarely am I glad the weekend is over, but I was this time around.
At least there's a birthday to celebrate today: Michigan's 189th.
Let's catch up on stories you might want to know about around town and what we've been talking about on the podcast. If this is your first time here, sign up for future notes for free.
Detroit's two big papers will soon have the same owner. USA Today’s parent company is moving to buy The Detroit News, which would put both of Detroit’s legacy dailies — the News and the Free Press — under the same corporate roof barely a month after their decades‑long joint operating agreement ended. [Release]
They insist the papers will still publish separately. But given the industry track record and the precarious state of local news — we’ve got questions about what this means for competition, coverage, and jobs in Detroit’s media ecosystem.
With this development, my money is on one surviving.
Instead of a major war between two dailies — at least as far as ownership, the white flag was raised before the first rival Sunday edition could be printed.
Maybe we should have taken the fact the News missed that first goal as a sign.
To me, what's most important is the service to the community and those talented individuals still being able to do that work.
Me and Norris Howard discuss with our first reactions about what that might mean on the latest Daily Detroit podcast. [Daily Detroit] [Apple] [Spotify]
7 Important (or Interesting) Things Around Town
🚧 I-94 between Romulus and Dearborn is going to be under construction for three years. The work to rebuild the freeway starts in late February, and a pair of public meetings are coming up, too. [ClickOnDetroit] [MDOT]
đź’¸ The empty and embattled historic Leland House in Downtown Detroit may be going up for auction in March as part of the bankruptcy process. [Crain's Detroit Business]
🎨 The City of Detroit is seeking qualified emerging and seasoned artists for the Joe Louis Greenway Mural Project. Themes include Highland Park heritage, Detroit veterans & visual Haiku. [City of Detroit] via [Detroit Greenways Coalition]
🦆 Washed Up Coffee in Detroit's West Village will be carrying muffins and scones from the award-winning Sister Pie this week. [Instagram]
🎷 The Detroit Jazz Festival is focusing their footprint on Hart Plaza this year. The number of stages will stay the same, but instead of having a wing out by Campus Martius, the whole thing will stay on the riverfront. [JazzFest]
đź’µ Looking for help getting your retail brick-and-mortar business in Detroit, Highland Park or Hamtramck off the ground? The $100,000 Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest by TechTown is back. Applications are open now through February 27. [TechTown]
đź‘€ Armadillos in Michigan? Climate change is allowing them to push north. [Bridge Michigan]
Notable Quotable
From time to time, I'm going to start highlighting smart snippets around what's happening in our city, region, or state I see that you should know about.
On the worsening economic condition of Michiganders:
“We were so concerned with keeping auto jobs that we missed the stuff that was coming,” said Don Grimes, who has forecast Michigan’s economy for decades and who counts himself among those who initially didn’t fully grasp how the economy was fundamentally shifting to high-wage, high-education-attainment service jobs.
The wage gaps between Michigan and what Grimes described as benchmark states are startling. Adjusted for cost of living, real wages in Massachusetts last year were an average $16,116 per worker higher than in Michigan, while Texas wages were $5,513 higher.
- "Michigan getting poorer for lack of knowledge jobs," via Michigan Advance
I do want to take a moment and talk about Minneapolis. I'm not going to replay the awful details, but I personally can't help but think of the powerful line from George Orwell's 1984: "The Party told you to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
It was a reminder that on the ground reporting and local voices are crucial. It's important to have local stories told by locals.
In that spirit of localism, here's a little set of local outlets to check out around what's happening there that were recommended to me by a listener of our podcast who's from Minnesota, in alphabetical order:
MinnPost - Independent, in-depth reporting on civic and cultural affairs in Minnesota.
MPR News - Local public radio station that has been doing a great job of real-time and timely updates.
Racket - A writer-owned, reader-funded, alt-weekly-style publication that focuses on fun and fearless journalism.
Sahan Journal - An independent publication devoted to covering immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota.
Were you here for Detroit in 2016? Norris, Devon and I were, and we got around the table last week and talked about our perspectives. You can watch in the video above.
We saw the first QLINE streetcars get delivered, when it felt like the creative class was driving the narrative, brunches were everywhere, loft parties were happening in half-abandoned buildings, and you could still find a half-decent apartment for under $1,000.
Admittedly, this is some peak elder millennial core stuff — and everyone's perspective will be different. So have a watch above or take a listen on the podcast [Apple Podasts] [Spotify] and let me know what you remember.
That's it for now. Remember that we can't do this without you, and you can help this community flourish by becoming a member on Patreon for $5 a month or less than $50 a year (or more if you're feeling generous, we have various swag benefits for you).
Remember that you are somebody,
-Jer
p.s. No music track tonight, but I will leave you with this fascinating story of a church on my beloved east side. It involves a secret recording, a Detroit pastor, and a historic murder trial.
