December 16, 2022 • 19 mins
Seven Detroit Free Press journalists take a look at the crystal ball ahead of the new year. With help from Report for America.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:03):
Oh, right. Kerry Junior, the second here and I am
currently in I'm downtown Detroit, just outside of the Free
Press Office building. And I'm. So we've come to the
final episode of 2022. Throughout the year, we have shared
important stories about Michigan and about Detroit, published right here
(00:27):
in our newsroom in downtown. As this year comes to
a close, we thought we traveled through our newsroom and
to our reporters and editors to hear what they're keeping
their eyes on in 2023 and then bring that to you.
I know I've got my eyes on future development downtown.
On what might happen with the paratransit services in the city.
Various other things. I'm going to take you all along
(00:48):
our newsroom and we're going to have a chat. So
here's a look at what's ahead. This is on the line.
(01:12):
So I'm already in our newsroom studio here. All right.
Let me have one up here. Grab my field, Mike,
and my shotgun mic here in the studio. And I'm
going to go ahead and head over to our definitely
in the studio for a walk on our morning. Good morning.
I spot Christine to shame someone to sit down and
(01:35):
talk with her briefly. Hey, Christine. Hello. Good morning. How
are you doing? I am recording.
S2 (01:40):
Okay.
S1 (01:41):
It's good to sit down across from you because I
don't think we've ever done this before. God, that's awesome.
So I'm going to go off the staff and have
you introduce yourself.
S2 (01:48):
I'm Kristin Shamus. I'm a reporter at the Free Press.
S1 (01:51):
As you know, we're talking about what's ahead next year
in 2023. What are you looking at in terms of
your reporting in 2023?
S2 (01:58):
Well, one of the stories that's top of mind in
the year ahead is the story of Paul Whalen. He
is the Nevada businessman who was arrested while he was
traveling in Russia four years ago. He was there for
what he says was a wedding of a friend. And
he says he was set up by the Russian military,
(02:19):
you know, Secret Service Agency. He was arrested in his
hotel room. He was charged with espionage and sentenced to
16 years of hard labor. The U.S. government is saying
that he's wrongfully detained in Russia and they're working to
try to release him.
S1 (02:34):
Are you expecting any movement on that come next year?
S2 (02:37):
His family is is definitely hopeful and they've been working
really hard. It's hard to say. Yes, I have my
earphones in.
S1 (02:46):
So after I spoke with Christine in the NEWSROOM, some
news broke. Brittney Griner was released from Russia. And so
I caught up with her virtually to see how that
impacts Paul Whalen.
S2 (02:58):
President Joe Biden announced that he had brokered a deal
to trade WNBA superstar Brittney Griner for a man named
Viktor Bout, who the U.S. had been holding since 2011. Now,
Griner was arrested because officials said they had found a
vape cartridge containing cannabis oil. She was sentenced to nine
(03:21):
years in the gulag. Viktor Bout is a pretty notorious
Russian arms dealer. He was found to be conspiring to
kill American citizens, and he had tried to sell anti-aircraft
weapons to drug enforcement informants. He was known as the
Merchant of Death. They absolutely were asking for both Whalen
(03:42):
and Griner. Pretty much all the way through this year.
And then it came to a point where, you know,
the U.S. secretary of state said the Russians made it
very clear either we take this deal for Griner or
we make no deal at all. And there have been
some media reports that the Russian government has asked to
swap walen for a man who's being held in Germany
(04:05):
right now. He was a colonel who served in Russia's
domestic spy organization. But we're not really sure what it's
going to take to release Whalen and to get his
freedom from Russia.
S1 (04:20):
All right. So I think next on my list is
Brian DICKERSON, the editorial page editor. But I believe he
is currently in talks with Nancy Carver. If we're still talking,
go ahead. I have time, so I'm only to interrupt you. Okay.
Thank you. You're awesome.
S3 (04:38):
Got an 11:00? Okay.
S1 (04:40):
Stuff. No problem at all. I have an 11:00, too.
So this didn't take more than 5 minutes of your time. Okay.
How you doing, Bryan? Look at this here. So what
are you looking at or keeping your eye on in 2023?
S3 (04:54):
Well, for the last 30 years, one of the most
effective grassroots lobbying groups in Michigan has been the the
pro-life movement generally and right to life of Michigan specifically.
Nobody was more effective in electing sympathetic lawmakers and crafting
(05:17):
legislation to achieve their objectives Every year. They made abortion
a little bit harder. Proposal three came along, and in
a single election, everything they've accomplished was swept away. So
I'm really curious about where that energy is going. They're
not about to abandon it and then say, well, been there,
(05:40):
done that, I guess we'll move on to something else.
S1 (05:42):
You know, you talk about where all that energy is
going to go next year. I remember we had conversations
with with Dave and Claire about this and how, you know,
although we've got the proposal three was adopted, there's still
going to be an ongoing fight in the legislature. There's
like levels to what this means going on. So to
that point it's like it'll be interesting to see at
what level the energy for for the anti-abortion portion movement
(06:04):
goes and how long this fight will go, which I
imagine will go forever.
S3 (06:08):
But at some point, some young person is going to
decide they don't need a parent's permission or a court's
permission to have an abortion, which is what the law
in Michigan currently requires. And they're going to say that
that requirement is no longer constitutional under under proposal three. And,
(06:32):
you know, that will be litigated probably up to the
Michigan Supreme Court.
S1 (06:37):
Wow. Okay. Well, thank you for taking the time, Brian.
I appreciate scary. My next person is Dana. And we'll
go to her desk all the way to the back
of the news room. I go, let's see if she's available. Well, yes. No. Yeah.
(06:58):
Do you have time? Yeah. All right. Happened in the
conference room. I appreciate you taking the time.
S2 (07:04):
Thank you. Now, I'm glad you're doing this.
S1 (07:06):
Before we get too deep into it and just introduce
yourself and in your role at the Free Press.
S2 (07:11):
Yeah. I'm Donna Ivana, and I am the City Hall
reporter at the Detroit Free Press. So I cover anything
from the mayor's office to city council and anything deep
in the neighborhoods involving resident issues.
S1 (07:21):
Donna, what are you looking at in terms of City
Hall in 2023? What do you keep your eyes on?
S2 (07:26):
I'm keeping my eyes on a couple of different things.
So one of them is a paratransit contract. That was
something that got voted down this year where it the
city would have voted on a nearly $50 million contract
to provide for paratransit services, which is for those with disabilities.
Those in the community who use paratransit services said, you know,
(07:47):
these were subpar services. They're either waiting hours over an
hour to get picked up, they're getting dropped off at
the wrong location. They're dealing with unprofessional drivers, drivers not
knowing how to hook up their wheelchairs into the vans. Now,
voting that down poses a problem. Recently, the Federal Transit
Administration said that the city is violating federal law by
(08:07):
not providing those services. And so mayor is now flexing
his emergency powers. He put a contract in place that
would provide these services to avoid any litigation. Councilmembers are
they have to put out a new proposal for a
new contract. And that process could take 3 to 6
months at least.
S1 (08:26):
Just to get an idea of paratransit services, does it
take people from like the door from door to door?
S2 (08:30):
Yeah, that's correct. So there's the direct fixed route, which is,
you know, the traditional bus that you see everywhere. And
then there's paratransit, which is more of a shuttle that
comes to your home. Yeah.
S1 (08:38):
Well, thank you very much then. I really appreciate your time.
S2 (08:41):
Thank you.
S1 (08:42):
You were you waiting for them to come back to you?
S2 (08:45):
Yeah. Thank you. This is. This is great.
S1 (08:47):
Thank you. I appreciate the the you picked up on
the routine of the pass. You know, you think you're, like,
rare for the best quality. I appreciate it. All right, well,
you back to work. It is. And I'm going on
to the next one. I'm going to close the door
for you.
S4 (09:18):
I am now recording.
S1 (09:19):
Awesome. We wanted to get some information on arts and entertainment.
But Nancy Bedingfield wasn't in office, so I decided to
call him up and get the scoop on what he's
keeping his eye on in 2023. All right, Dante. Well,
thanks for taking the time, the quick time today to
talk to you about this. Can you first start off
by having you introduce yourself, your name and your title
at the Free Press?
S4 (09:39):
I'm Dante Bedingfield, the arts and culture reporter for the
Detroit Free Press.
S1 (09:43):
What are you keeping your eye on in 2023 as
we head into the New Year?
S4 (09:47):
The National Endowment for the Arts every year selects three
people that they classify as jazz masters and all three
of this year's or 2020 threes, I should say. NEA
Jazz Masters class is they're all Detroiters. Saxophonist Kenny Garrett,
drummer Louis Hayes, and violinist Regina Carter. It's a big,
(10:08):
big deal. These people are legends. And on April 1st
at the Kennedy Center in D.C., there's going to be
a big celebration and honoring of, you know, of those three,
Louis Hayes. He's one of the most revered drummers in
jazz history. He's been playing since the fifties. Louis Hayes
played with John Coltrane, Horace Silver, which is probably his
best known work. Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson, a lot of major,
(10:31):
major jazz musicians. Regina Carter is one of the youngest
who's ever received this honor. She's 55. She came up
in the seventies and eighties. And Kenny Garrett, he's been
playing since the the sixties or the seventies. There's also
a Detroit artist that I'm really excited about watching in
2023 is Paul Bodell. He is a painter who just
(10:52):
a few weeks ago got back from one of the
most prestigious art residencies in the world. It's Kehinde Wiley
as Black Rock, Candy Wiley as a painter. He's best
known probably for the portrait he painted of President Obama.
I've known artists before who have gone to Black Rock
and have gone on to really, really major things after that.
S1 (11:11):
All right. Well, Dante, thank you so much for taking
the time to talk with me about this. I appreciate it.
S4 (11:15):
Thank you. Happy holidays.
S1 (11:18):
Producer Darcy Moran caught up with Jesse Rhino over a
call to catch up with him on what's going to
be new in the new year on his beat.
S5 (11:25):
I am Jesse Rind and I cover development in real
estate and the business of health care and also general
assignment news and auto insurance for the free press.
S2 (11:34):
So we want to ask you, what are you thinking
of keeping your eye on for big stories, subjects, issues
for 2023.
S5 (11:43):
Or big one is this massive collab between the Ilitch
organization and billionaire Steven Ross's organization, the related companies, and
they have put forth this plan for it's a $1.5
billion plan and it would be building out the District
two Detroit Entertainment and Commercial District around Little Caesars Arena
(12:04):
to brand new hotels. We also would have about a
million square feet of office space. We would have a
lot of new apartments and also some redeveloped apartment buildings,
along with a lot of ground floor retail. 1.0, you
could say, of District Detroit was unveiled back in 2014,
(12:25):
and the Ilitch organization, just on their own back then
did encounter some criticism where, lo and behold, a lot
of that was not built. You know, some was, but
the majority of it wasn't. And people are pretty I
would say they're relatively hopeful because Steven Ross is the
chairman of the related companies and they're a very big
(12:46):
developer in New York. And Steven Ross is a Detroit native,
comes back here fairly often that they think that this
the chances of this happening this time are higher.
S2 (12:58):
What specifically are we expecting to see come to fruition
in 2023?
S5 (13:03):
There will be the first new office building, you know,
of this district, Detroit 2.0 collab that is going to
break ground and that is going to be near Comerica
along Woodward. There may be some more breaking ground. We've
yet to see the total request that the Villages and
Steven Ross's company want in terms of public subsidies. So
(13:27):
we're waiting to see what what they approve.
S2 (13:29):
Is there anything else on this topic of just 2023
news that you want to cover on?
S5 (13:34):
Another big story that's that's going to be in our
midst is auto insurance. There is going to be a
big Michigan Supreme Court case on whether some of the
the cost controls in that that big overhaul that the
governor signed in 2019, whether that, you know, can be
retroactive and apply to catastrophically injured people who are injured
(13:59):
before this is upended, you know, care for for those
catastrophically injured, injured individuals.
S2 (14:05):
Well, Jacey, thank you so much for your time. We'll
let you get back to your day, but appreciate you
so much and I hope you have a good end
of your year.
S5 (14:12):
Oh, thanks. Yeah, you too.
S1 (14:15):
All right. Now back to the NEWSROOM.
S3 (14:17):
But if they did think at.
S1 (14:19):
Some point I'm going to talk with politics reporter Claire Hendrickson.
But she's currently in an interesting and engaging conversation with
Brian DICKERSON. So when she's free, we'll have a chat.
Are you all set and ready to go, Claire? All right.
I'm going to come over just so I can get
you better on the mike. Claire, I think our listeners
(14:41):
are pretty familiar with your voice by now. We had
a pretty busy October. So, you know, we're going into 2023.
What are you keeping your eyes on in terms of
your beat top of mind next year?
S2 (14:54):
Gosh, I feel like I'm still recovering from the midterm
election in some ways. But the big thing that I'll
be really interested to watch play out is Democratic control
of the state legislature now for the first time since
the 1980s. It's a huge power shift that's coming to Lansing,
and it's going to mean a whole new set of
legislative priorities are in play.
S1 (15:16):
Now, I want to bring up one thing that your editor,
Emily Lawler, brought up to us about Michigan potentially moving
up in the schedule in the primaries. He's talk a
little bit about that and what could go on there.
S2 (15:26):
Yeah, sure. So Michigan Democrats have been fighting to be
among the early slate of states that weigh in in
the Democratic presidential primary. And it's something that President Joe
Biden wants to see as well. He recently recommended the
DNC adopt new rules to move Michigan up further in
the calendar. It wouldn't be first, but it would be
(15:48):
among the I guess it's technically five states that would
have primaries at the beginning of the Democratic presidential primary calendar.
So one thing Michigan Democrats who've advocated for this shift
have said is that Michigan is kind of a microcosm
of the entire nation. It's a pretty diverse state. And
so that would give black voters, Muslim voters, Hispanic voters
(16:10):
potentially more voting power here. You typically have states that
are pretty white early on in the calendar and New Hampshire, Iowa.
One thing to note here, so in Michigan election law,
it does say that the presidential primary is the second
Tuesday in March. So moving Michigan earlier in the process
would require a change to the law. The Senate recently
(16:31):
passed a bill to do that, but the House hasn't
voted on it yet.
S1 (16:34):
Well, thank you very much, Clare, for the time. That
was great information. I'm excited. I like politics, loves mobile.
I'm a little biased.
S2 (16:41):
It's always election season somewhere.
S1 (16:42):
It's always election season somewhere. All right. Thank you.
S2 (16:46):
No problem.
S1 (16:49):
All right. Next is our food and dining critic, Lindsay Green.
We'll see if she's she's at her desk if she
has any treats to snack.
S2 (16:58):
Hi.
S1 (16:59):
I figured I'd pop up and see whether you are available.
Do you have 5 minutes?
S2 (17:06):
My name is Lindsay Green, and I'm the dining and
restaurant critic at the Free Press.
S1 (17:10):
I'm just going to hop into it with the general
question of what are you keeping your eye on for 2023?
S2 (17:16):
So I am keeping my eye on pop ups. I
think pop ups have like a real moment in 2022.
Is that what you're wearing? Yeah, 2022. And I'm interested
in seeing how they kind of evolve as we get
farther away from the height of the pandemic. I want
to see if they really start to ramp up even
(17:37):
more as restaurant owners and chefs start to just think
whether it's maybe just more sustainable to think about, you know,
sticking with pop ups as opposed to brick and mortar
restaurants or if they'll start to kind of ease back
into the traditional sense of a restaurant.
S1 (17:54):
Now, when I think of pop ups, I think of
people who own my clothing brand showing up at like
events or like a space that essentially kind of the
same thought of what a pop up is for a restaurant.
What does that entail?
S2 (18:06):
Similar? Yeah, I think a pop up is basically just
an opportunity for a chef to sort of showcase their
skills and get their cuisine out there without the confines
of a brick and mortar. There's a lot that it
takes to open a restaurant. There's overhead that you have
to consider. There's staffing. And we've seen there's a huge
(18:26):
labor shortage over this past year. You know, there's just
a lot of challenges that come with it. So maybe
it's at a restaurant or if a bar has a
commercial kitchen that they can use, they might do it there,
you know. In the summertime, you'll see them outside. You'll
see them maybe popping up. And Detroit has a few
of those alleyways and you'll see pop ups there.
S1 (18:45):
All right. Well, thank you very much for your time.
I appreciate it. All right. Carrie, Julia thanking you guys
for reporting live from the Detroit Free Press newsroom, signing
out this episode with produced by me Darcy Moran and
Robin Chen, Angela Delgado and Marian Streaming are our executive
producers and Peter Batya is our editor. The music for
(19:06):
this show is called Fort Trumbull and was produced by
deejay Lost Boy. Thanks, as always for listening. Merry Christmas.
Happy New Year and we'll see you in 2023.
Oh, right. Kerry Junior, the second here and I am
currently in I'm downtown Detroit, just outside of the Free
Press Office building. And I'm. So we've come to the
final episode of 2022. Throughout the year, we have shared
important stories about Michigan and about Detroit, published right here
(00:27):
in our newsroom in downtown. As this year comes to
a close, we thought we traveled through our newsroom and
to our reporters and editors to hear what they're keeping
their eyes on in 2023 and then bring that to you.
I know I've got my eyes on future development downtown.
On what might happen with the paratransit services in the city.
Various other things. I'm going to take you all along
(00:48):
our newsroom and we're going to have a chat. So
here's a look at what's ahead. This is on the line.
(01:12):
So I'm already in our newsroom studio here. All right.
Let me have one up here. Grab my field, Mike,
and my shotgun mic here in the studio. And I'm
going to go ahead and head over to our definitely
in the studio for a walk on our morning. Good morning.
I spot Christine to shame someone to sit down and
(01:35):
talk with her briefly. Hey, Christine. Hello. Good morning. How
are you doing? I am recording.
S2 (01:40):
Okay.
S1 (01:41):
It's good to sit down across from you because I
don't think we've ever done this before. God, that's awesome.
So I'm going to go off the staff and have
you introduce yourself.
S2 (01:48):
I'm Kristin Shamus. I'm a reporter at the Free Press.
S1 (01:51):
As you know, we're talking about what's ahead next year
in 2023. What are you looking at in terms of
your reporting in 2023?
S2 (01:58):
Well, one of the stories that's top of mind in
the year ahead is the story of Paul Whalen. He
is the Nevada businessman who was arrested while he was
traveling in Russia four years ago. He was there for
what he says was a wedding of a friend. And
he says he was set up by the Russian military,
(02:19):
you know, Secret Service Agency. He was arrested in his
hotel room. He was charged with espionage and sentenced to
16 years of hard labor. The U.S. government is saying
that he's wrongfully detained in Russia and they're working to
try to release him.
S1 (02:34):
Are you expecting any movement on that come next year?
S2 (02:37):
His family is is definitely hopeful and they've been working
really hard. It's hard to say. Yes, I have my
earphones in.
S1 (02:46):
So after I spoke with Christine in the NEWSROOM, some
news broke. Brittney Griner was released from Russia. And so
I caught up with her virtually to see how that
impacts Paul Whalen.
S2 (02:58):
President Joe Biden announced that he had brokered a deal
to trade WNBA superstar Brittney Griner for a man named
Viktor Bout, who the U.S. had been holding since 2011. Now,
Griner was arrested because officials said they had found a
vape cartridge containing cannabis oil. She was sentenced to nine
(03:21):
years in the gulag. Viktor Bout is a pretty notorious
Russian arms dealer. He was found to be conspiring to
kill American citizens, and he had tried to sell anti-aircraft
weapons to drug enforcement informants. He was known as the
Merchant of Death. They absolutely were asking for both Whalen
(03:42):
and Griner. Pretty much all the way through this year.
And then it came to a point where, you know,
the U.S. secretary of state said the Russians made it
very clear either we take this deal for Griner or
we make no deal at all. And there have been
some media reports that the Russian government has asked to
swap walen for a man who's being held in Germany
(04:05):
right now. He was a colonel who served in Russia's
domestic spy organization. But we're not really sure what it's
going to take to release Whalen and to get his
freedom from Russia.
S1 (04:20):
All right. So I think next on my list is
Brian DICKERSON, the editorial page editor. But I believe he
is currently in talks with Nancy Carver. If we're still talking,
go ahead. I have time, so I'm only to interrupt you. Okay.
Thank you. You're awesome.
S3 (04:38):
Got an 11:00? Okay.
S1 (04:40):
Stuff. No problem at all. I have an 11:00, too.
So this didn't take more than 5 minutes of your time. Okay.
How you doing, Bryan? Look at this here. So what
are you looking at or keeping your eye on in 2023?
S3 (04:54):
Well, for the last 30 years, one of the most
effective grassroots lobbying groups in Michigan has been the the
pro-life movement generally and right to life of Michigan specifically.
Nobody was more effective in electing sympathetic lawmakers and crafting
(05:17):
legislation to achieve their objectives Every year. They made abortion
a little bit harder. Proposal three came along, and in
a single election, everything they've accomplished was swept away. So
I'm really curious about where that energy is going. They're
not about to abandon it and then say, well, been there,
(05:40):
done that, I guess we'll move on to something else.
S1 (05:42):
You know, you talk about where all that energy is
going to go next year. I remember we had conversations
with with Dave and Claire about this and how, you know,
although we've got the proposal three was adopted, there's still
going to be an ongoing fight in the legislature. There's
like levels to what this means going on. So to
that point it's like it'll be interesting to see at
what level the energy for for the anti-abortion portion movement
(06:04):
goes and how long this fight will go, which I
imagine will go forever.
S3 (06:08):
But at some point, some young person is going to
decide they don't need a parent's permission or a court's
permission to have an abortion, which is what the law
in Michigan currently requires. And they're going to say that
that requirement is no longer constitutional under under proposal three. And,
(06:32):
you know, that will be litigated probably up to the
Michigan Supreme Court.
S1 (06:37):
Wow. Okay. Well, thank you for taking the time, Brian.
I appreciate scary. My next person is Dana. And we'll
go to her desk all the way to the back
of the news room. I go, let's see if she's available. Well, yes. No. Yeah.
(06:58):
Do you have time? Yeah. All right. Happened in the
conference room. I appreciate you taking the time.
S2 (07:04):
Thank you. Now, I'm glad you're doing this.
S1 (07:06):
Before we get too deep into it and just introduce
yourself and in your role at the Free Press.
S2 (07:11):
Yeah. I'm Donna Ivana, and I am the City Hall
reporter at the Detroit Free Press. So I cover anything
from the mayor's office to city council and anything deep
in the neighborhoods involving resident issues.
S1 (07:21):
Donna, what are you looking at in terms of City
Hall in 2023? What do you keep your eyes on?
S2 (07:26):
I'm keeping my eyes on a couple of different things.
So one of them is a paratransit contract. That was
something that got voted down this year where it the
city would have voted on a nearly $50 million contract
to provide for paratransit services, which is for those with disabilities.
Those in the community who use paratransit services said, you know,
(07:47):
these were subpar services. They're either waiting hours over an
hour to get picked up, they're getting dropped off at
the wrong location. They're dealing with unprofessional drivers, drivers not
knowing how to hook up their wheelchairs into the vans. Now,
voting that down poses a problem. Recently, the Federal Transit
Administration said that the city is violating federal law by
(08:07):
not providing those services. And so mayor is now flexing
his emergency powers. He put a contract in place that
would provide these services to avoid any litigation. Councilmembers are
they have to put out a new proposal for a
new contract. And that process could take 3 to 6
months at least.
S1 (08:26):
Just to get an idea of paratransit services, does it
take people from like the door from door to door?
S2 (08:30):
Yeah, that's correct. So there's the direct fixed route, which is,
you know, the traditional bus that you see everywhere. And
then there's paratransit, which is more of a shuttle that
comes to your home. Yeah.
S1 (08:38):
Well, thank you very much then. I really appreciate your time.
S2 (08:41):
Thank you.
S1 (08:42):
You were you waiting for them to come back to you?
S2 (08:45):
Yeah. Thank you. This is. This is great.
S1 (08:47):
Thank you. I appreciate the the you picked up on
the routine of the pass. You know, you think you're, like,
rare for the best quality. I appreciate it. All right, well,
you back to work. It is. And I'm going on
to the next one. I'm going to close the door
for you.
S4 (09:18):
I am now recording.
S1 (09:19):
Awesome. We wanted to get some information on arts and entertainment.
But Nancy Bedingfield wasn't in office, so I decided to
call him up and get the scoop on what he's
keeping his eye on in 2023. All right, Dante. Well,
thanks for taking the time, the quick time today to
talk to you about this. Can you first start off
by having you introduce yourself, your name and your title
at the Free Press?
S4 (09:39):
I'm Dante Bedingfield, the arts and culture reporter for the
Detroit Free Press.
S1 (09:43):
What are you keeping your eye on in 2023 as
we head into the New Year?
S4 (09:47):
The National Endowment for the Arts every year selects three
people that they classify as jazz masters and all three
of this year's or 2020 threes, I should say. NEA
Jazz Masters class is they're all Detroiters. Saxophonist Kenny Garrett,
drummer Louis Hayes, and violinist Regina Carter. It's a big,
(10:08):
big deal. These people are legends. And on April 1st
at the Kennedy Center in D.C., there's going to be
a big celebration and honoring of, you know, of those three,
Louis Hayes. He's one of the most revered drummers in
jazz history. He's been playing since the fifties. Louis Hayes
played with John Coltrane, Horace Silver, which is probably his
best known work. Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson, a lot of major,
(10:31):
major jazz musicians. Regina Carter is one of the youngest
who's ever received this honor. She's 55. She came up
in the seventies and eighties. And Kenny Garrett, he's been
playing since the the sixties or the seventies. There's also
a Detroit artist that I'm really excited about watching in
2023 is Paul Bodell. He is a painter who just
(10:52):
a few weeks ago got back from one of the
most prestigious art residencies in the world. It's Kehinde Wiley
as Black Rock, Candy Wiley as a painter. He's best
known probably for the portrait he painted of President Obama.
I've known artists before who have gone to Black Rock
and have gone on to really, really major things after that.
S1 (11:11):
All right. Well, Dante, thank you so much for taking
the time to talk with me about this. I appreciate it.
S4 (11:15):
Thank you. Happy holidays.
S1 (11:18):
Producer Darcy Moran caught up with Jesse Rhino over a
call to catch up with him on what's going to
be new in the new year on his beat.
S5 (11:25):
I am Jesse Rind and I cover development in real
estate and the business of health care and also general
assignment news and auto insurance for the free press.
S2 (11:34):
So we want to ask you, what are you thinking
of keeping your eye on for big stories, subjects, issues
for 2023.
S5 (11:43):
Or big one is this massive collab between the Ilitch
organization and billionaire Steven Ross's organization, the related companies, and
they have put forth this plan for it's a $1.5
billion plan and it would be building out the District
two Detroit Entertainment and Commercial District around Little Caesars Arena
(12:04):
to brand new hotels. We also would have about a
million square feet of office space. We would have a
lot of new apartments and also some redeveloped apartment buildings,
along with a lot of ground floor retail. 1.0, you
could say, of District Detroit was unveiled back in 2014,
(12:25):
and the Ilitch organization, just on their own back then
did encounter some criticism where, lo and behold, a lot
of that was not built. You know, some was, but
the majority of it wasn't. And people are pretty I
would say they're relatively hopeful because Steven Ross is the
chairman of the related companies and they're a very big
(12:46):
developer in New York. And Steven Ross is a Detroit native,
comes back here fairly often that they think that this
the chances of this happening this time are higher.
S2 (12:58):
What specifically are we expecting to see come to fruition
in 2023?
S5 (13:03):
There will be the first new office building, you know,
of this district, Detroit 2.0 collab that is going to
break ground and that is going to be near Comerica
along Woodward. There may be some more breaking ground. We've
yet to see the total request that the Villages and
Steven Ross's company want in terms of public subsidies. So
(13:27):
we're waiting to see what what they approve.
S2 (13:29):
Is there anything else on this topic of just 2023
news that you want to cover on?
S5 (13:34):
Another big story that's that's going to be in our
midst is auto insurance. There is going to be a
big Michigan Supreme Court case on whether some of the
the cost controls in that that big overhaul that the
governor signed in 2019, whether that, you know, can be
retroactive and apply to catastrophically injured people who are injured
(13:59):
before this is upended, you know, care for for those
catastrophically injured, injured individuals.
S2 (14:05):
Well, Jacey, thank you so much for your time. We'll
let you get back to your day, but appreciate you
so much and I hope you have a good end
of your year.
S5 (14:12):
Oh, thanks. Yeah, you too.
S1 (14:15):
All right. Now back to the NEWSROOM.
S3 (14:17):
But if they did think at.
S1 (14:19):
Some point I'm going to talk with politics reporter Claire Hendrickson.
But she's currently in an interesting and engaging conversation with
Brian DICKERSON. So when she's free, we'll have a chat.
Are you all set and ready to go, Claire? All right.
I'm going to come over just so I can get
you better on the mike. Claire, I think our listeners
(14:41):
are pretty familiar with your voice by now. We had
a pretty busy October. So, you know, we're going into 2023.
What are you keeping your eyes on in terms of
your beat top of mind next year?
S2 (14:54):
Gosh, I feel like I'm still recovering from the midterm
election in some ways. But the big thing that I'll
be really interested to watch play out is Democratic control
of the state legislature now for the first time since
the 1980s. It's a huge power shift that's coming to Lansing,
and it's going to mean a whole new set of
legislative priorities are in play.
S1 (15:16):
Now, I want to bring up one thing that your editor,
Emily Lawler, brought up to us about Michigan potentially moving
up in the schedule in the primaries. He's talk a
little bit about that and what could go on there.
S2 (15:26):
Yeah, sure. So Michigan Democrats have been fighting to be
among the early slate of states that weigh in in
the Democratic presidential primary. And it's something that President Joe
Biden wants to see as well. He recently recommended the
DNC adopt new rules to move Michigan up further in
the calendar. It wouldn't be first, but it would be
(15:48):
among the I guess it's technically five states that would
have primaries at the beginning of the Democratic presidential primary calendar.
So one thing Michigan Democrats who've advocated for this shift
have said is that Michigan is kind of a microcosm
of the entire nation. It's a pretty diverse state. And
so that would give black voters, Muslim voters, Hispanic voters
(16:10):
potentially more voting power here. You typically have states that
are pretty white early on in the calendar and New Hampshire, Iowa.
One thing to note here, so in Michigan election law,
it does say that the presidential primary is the second
Tuesday in March. So moving Michigan earlier in the process
would require a change to the law. The Senate recently
(16:31):
passed a bill to do that, but the House hasn't
voted on it yet.
S1 (16:34):
Well, thank you very much, Clare, for the time. That
was great information. I'm excited. I like politics, loves mobile.
I'm a little biased.
S2 (16:41):
It's always election season somewhere.
S1 (16:42):
It's always election season somewhere. All right. Thank you.
S2 (16:46):
No problem.
S1 (16:49):
All right. Next is our food and dining critic, Lindsay Green.
We'll see if she's she's at her desk if she
has any treats to snack.
S2 (16:58):
Hi.
S1 (16:59):
I figured I'd pop up and see whether you are available.
Do you have 5 minutes?
S2 (17:06):
My name is Lindsay Green, and I'm the dining and
restaurant critic at the Free Press.
S1 (17:10):
I'm just going to hop into it with the general
question of what are you keeping your eye on for 2023?
S2 (17:16):
So I am keeping my eye on pop ups. I
think pop ups have like a real moment in 2022.
Is that what you're wearing? Yeah, 2022. And I'm interested
in seeing how they kind of evolve as we get
farther away from the height of the pandemic. I want
to see if they really start to ramp up even
(17:37):
more as restaurant owners and chefs start to just think
whether it's maybe just more sustainable to think about, you know,
sticking with pop ups as opposed to brick and mortar
restaurants or if they'll start to kind of ease back
into the traditional sense of a restaurant.
S1 (17:54):
Now, when I think of pop ups, I think of
people who own my clothing brand showing up at like
events or like a space that essentially kind of the
same thought of what a pop up is for a restaurant.
What does that entail?
S2 (18:06):
Similar? Yeah, I think a pop up is basically just
an opportunity for a chef to sort of showcase their
skills and get their cuisine out there without the confines
of a brick and mortar. There's a lot that it
takes to open a restaurant. There's overhead that you have
to consider. There's staffing. And we've seen there's a huge
(18:26):
labor shortage over this past year. You know, there's just
a lot of challenges that come with it. So maybe
it's at a restaurant or if a bar has a
commercial kitchen that they can use, they might do it there,
you know. In the summertime, you'll see them outside. You'll
see them maybe popping up. And Detroit has a few
of those alleyways and you'll see pop ups there.
S1 (18:45):
All right. Well, thank you very much for your time.
I appreciate it. All right. Carrie, Julia thanking you guys
for reporting live from the Detroit Free Press newsroom, signing
out this episode with produced by me Darcy Moran and
Robin Chen, Angela Delgado and Marian Streaming are our executive
producers and Peter Batya is our editor. The music for
(19:06):
this show is called Fort Trumbull and was produced by
deejay Lost Boy. Thanks, as always for listening. Merry Christmas.
Happy New Year and we'll see you in 2023.
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