Perhaps no city in the country better illustrates the debilitating fallout of racial inequality than Detroit. While whites prospered during the heyday of the auto industry, black people were confined to dilapidated neighborhoods, substandard schools and low-paying jobs. More than a half century later, life hasn’t gotten much better for many black Detroiters. To shed […]
Living in the shadow of the Marathon Oil Refinery in southwest Detroit, Mary McKenzie feels scared and unwanted. She sits on the front porch with her grandson, watching demolition trucks tear down her neighborhood of 43 years. Across the street, three more houses are about to become casualties of a plan by the oil company to […]
By Eric Kiska Dave Chappelle, famed comedian, returned Sunday to Detroit for the first time since 2006 and came out to a lively crowd at the Fillmore. When the surprise show went on sale Thursday through Live Nation, it sold out within 6 hours. The show was something nobody expected, before he came on stage […]
With a 7-2 vote, Detroit City Council rejected putting on the ballot a tax hike to raise about $56 million a year.
It’s hard to imagine the Detroit Free Press without M.L. Elrick. Charismatic, dogged and earnest, Elrick is a relentless watchdog driven by an intolerance for corruption. He and reporting partner Jim Schaefer took down the Kwame Kilpatrick administration with a series of stories that showed the then-mayor committed perjury and carried on a torrid affair […]
Hamtramck and Detroit are exploring a relationship to share fire services at a time when both communities are cutting public safety to fill budget gaps. “The financial realities force us to think outside the box,” Hamtramck City Manager Nervus Nazarko told Detroit City Council this morning. “We would support anything that would make financial sense […]
The Detroit Lions open up camp today in Allen Park, officially beginning one of the most anticipated Lions seasons in recent memory.
More than 50 vacant schools are scattered across the city, often left to rot because the cash-strapped district must decide between demolishing the eyesores and educating children.
The city of Detroit appears to be in the process of selling Belle Isle to Michigan, a move that could mean admission fees for park users, the Motor City Muckraker has found. Council members today demanded to know more about a reported deal being negotiated between Mayor Dave Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder. When asked […]
The state is raping Detroit. For the second week in a row, someone made that declaration during a public Detroit City Council meeting this morning. This time it was Miss Moore, a member of a civil rights coalition, who this morning likened state intervention and federal monitoring of schools to the most heinous of acts. […]