Michigan: We Need to Talk

In this episode of Michigan: We Need to Talk, Stephen Henderson and callers from across Michigan use the debate in Lake Orion as a way into a much bigger question: What is local government really for?Residents of the Village of Lake Orion will vote on whether the village should continue to exist as its own government, or whether its services should be absorbed by Lake Orion Township. For some residents, the issue is taxes and services. For others, it is identity, history, local control and the meaning of community.Stephen is joined by Madhu Anderson, senior research associate of local affairs at the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, and James Tatum III, Wayne County chief economist, to talk about why Michigan has so many local governments, what happens when communities consider consolidation or disincorporation, and why these questions are often more emotional than they first appear.At the center of the conversation: When we ask whether a local government is worth keeping, are we talking about money, services, control — or the place we call home?Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

Stephen Henderson and Jake Neher go to Dowagiac, in southwest Michigan, to talk to residents about the unbelievable noise made by a data center that sprung up in a neighborhood. On the show, we talk with Ben Green, a University of Michigan professor who studies industrial impact on residential areas, and heard from callers all over Michigan about the local fights to regulate data centers. Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

Stephen Henderson and producer Jake Neher drove around Detroit with Kyle Zawacki, legislative director for the ACLU of Michigan, looking for Flock cameras — automated license plate readers used by police departments across the state.Police say the cameras help solve serious crimes and find missing people. Civil liberties advocates say they also create a searchable record of where ordinary drivers go, raising questions about privacy, surveillance, data sharing and public oversight.In studio, Stephen is joined by Berrien County Sheriff Chuck Heit, who explains why law enforcement agencies use the technology, and State Rep. Jimmie Wilson (D-Ypsilanti), sponsor of legislation that would create statewide safeguards for Flock cameras and similar systems.Together with callers, they ask: Do these cameras make communities safer, less free, or both? And what rules should Michigan have for technology that can track where cars move through public space?Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

In this episode of Michigan: We Need to Talk, Stephen travels to St. Ignace in the Upper Peninsula to stand on the shore of Lake Huron and talk with former Lt. Gov. Brian Calley about his deep knowledge of and passion for the Great Lakes. Kate Furby, senior environmental reporter for Michigan Public, joined later to talk about the threats to the Lakes. And callers from around the state talked about their Great Lakes experiences - favorite spots, worries about pollution and, remarkably, surfing in the Great Lakes. Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

In this episode of Michigan: We Need to Talk, Stephen Henderson and callers from across Michigan take on the escalating trade fight between the United States and Canada and what it means for Michigan workers, businesses, consumers and the auto industry.Stephen is joined by former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard, who also served as U.S. ambassador to Canada; Ben Buyak of Capital Steel and Builders Supply in Holt, a family-owned Michigan steel business navigating the uncertainty around tariffs; and Flavio Volpe, president of Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association.Together, they explore the costs and consequences of President Trump’s trade policies: whether tariffs can protect American industry, how much pain businesses and consumers should be expected to absorb, and what happens when Michigan’s economic interests are tied so closely to a country now being treated more like an adversary than a partner.At the center of the conversation: What happens when national trade politics collide with the cross-border relationship Michigan’s economy depends on?Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

In this live call-in portion of Michigan: We Need to Talk, Stephen Henderson continues the conversation on Flock cameras and automated license plate readers in Michigan.Police departments say the cameras help solve serious crimes, recover stolen vehicles and find missing people. Civil liberties advocates say they can also create a searchable record of where ordinary people drive, raising concerns about surveillance, privacy, data sharing and public oversight.Stephen is joined by Berrien County Sheriff Chuck Heit, who explains why law enforcement agencies use the technology, and State Rep. Jimmie Wilson (D-Ypsilanti), sponsor of legislation that would create statewide safeguards for Flock cameras and similar systems.Together with callers, they ask: Do these cameras make communities safer, less free, or both? And what rules should Michigan have for technology that can track where cars move through public space?Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

Stephen Henderson and producer Jake Neher drive around Detroit with Kyle Zawacki, legislative director for the ACLU of Michigan, looking for Flock cameras — automated license plate readers used by police departments across the state.Police say the cameras help solve serious crimes and find missing people. Civil liberties advocates say they also create a searchable record of where ordinary drivers go, raising questions about privacy, surveillance, data sharing and public oversight.The full live show airs tonight (8/27) at 8 p.m. on Michigan Public. We’ll ask: Do these cameras make communities safer, less free, or both? And what rules should Michigan have for technology that can track where cars move through public space?Listen live tonight at 8 p.m. on Michigan Public and join the conversation.Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

In this full episode of Michigan: We Need to Talk, Stephen Henderson and callers from across Michigan take on the politics of fear.Fear can help us recognize real danger, injustice and abuse of power. But what happens when fear becomes the default way we understand public life? When we read, watch, scroll or listen to the news, do we become more informed or more anxious, angry, suspicious and powerless?Stephen is joined by Mónica Guzmán, journalist, speaker and senior fellow for public practice at Braver Angels, and Yanna Krupnikov, professor of communication and media at the University of Michigan. Together with callers, they explore how fear shapes our news habits, our political choices, our conversations with people we disagree with, and the way we see democracy itself.The question at the center of the hour: When you finish taking in the news, what kind of citizen do you feel yourself becoming?Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

Before each live episode of Michigan: We Need to Talk, we post a preview of the conversation here in the podcast feed, giving you time to hear the story, think about the issue, and get ready to join us when the phones open.This week, Stephen Henderson talks with Peter Beinart, author of The Beinart Notebook on Substack and Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning.They discuss the politics of fear: what fear does to us as citizens, what it does to democracy, and how it shapes the way communities see themselves and one another. The conversation also looks specifically at the fear many American Jews, Muslims, Arab Americans, Palestinians, Israelis, Iranians and immigrants are carrying in the wake of the war in Gaza and the conflict with Iran.The full live show airs Thursday at 8 p.m. on Michigan Public, with guests Mónica Guzmán, journalist, speaker, and Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels, and Yanna Krupnikov, political scientist and Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan.Listen live Thursday at 8 p.m. on Michigan Public and join the conversation.Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

On our first live episode of Michigan: We Need to Talk, Stephen Henderson continues the conversation on data centers in Michigan with callers from across the state and guest Ben Green, assistant professor of information and public policy at the University of Michigan’s Ford School.Listeners respond to questions raised by our reporting in Dowagiac, where residents say noise from a nearby data center has changed daily life in their neighborhood. The conversation widens from there: What happens when large technology projects come to Michigan communities? Who benefits? Who pays? How much voice should residents have before these projects are approved? And should ordinary ratepayers absorb infrastructure costs tied to AI and cloud computing?###This is the call-in portion of our first live broadcast of Michigan: We Need to Talk.Stephen is joined by Ben Green, assistant professor of information and public policy at the University of Michigan’s Ford School and author of the 2025 report What Happens When Data Centers Come to Town?Together with callers, Stephen and Ben discuss:What data centers can mean for the communities where they are builtNoise complaints and quality-of-life concerns in DowagiacMichigan’s growing role in the national race to build AI and cloud infrastructureThe promise — and limits — of data centers as economic developmentTax incentives, local control and public transparencyEnergy use, water demand and who pays for new infrastructureWhether Michigan can welcome investment without making local communities feel ignoredEach Wednesday, we post the show’s opening reported segment in this podcast feed before the live broadcast. After the show airs, we post the call-in conversation here so you can listen on demand.Subscribe to the Building the Conversation newsletter in the show notes, and send us your thoughts, questions, stories and ideas at [email protected] us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

Before each live episode of Michigan: We Need to Talk, we’ll post the show’s opening reported segment here in the podcast feed, giving you time to hear the story, think about the issue, and get ready to join the conversation when the phone lines open.This week, Stephen Henderson starts in Dowagiac, Michigan, where residents say the noise from a nearby data center has changed daily life in their neighborhood. It’s a story about artificial intelligence, economic development, public safety, local control, and what happens when a community feels like decisions about its future were made without any input.The live call-in show airs Thursday at 7 p.m. on Michigan Public. After the broadcast, we’ll post the call-in portions of the conversation here on demand.===Data centers provide opportunities for large corporate investment in Michigan, but many residents don't want them in their backyard. There's also a growing frustration among data center opponents that public officials are ignoring their concerns. How should Michigan make decisions when the benefits of a project are spread broadly, but the costs are concentrated in one community?In this opening segment, Stephen Henderson introduces the first conversation on Michigan: We Need to Talk: the debate over data centers in Michigan, and what one southwest Michigan community can teach us about the tradeoffs behind new technology and economic development.The question at the heart of the episode:When a project promises progress, who gets to decide what that progress costs and who has to live with it?Listen to this segment before the live broadcast, then join the conversation Thursday at 7 p.m. on Michigan Public.You can email the show at [email protected] to the Building the Conversation newsletter here:https://building-the-conversation.beehiiv.com/p/building-the-conversation-issue-zero-19d8a9682ef142b9Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org

Welcome to Michigan: We Need to Talk, a new weekly call-in show from Michigan Public hosted by Stephen Henderson.This show is built around a simple idea: Michigan needs more spaces where people talk with each other, not just at each other, past each other, or about each other.Each week, Stephen will take up one issue that matters to people across the state: politics, schools, housing, roads, public health, the economy, trust, fear, community, and the decisions that shape how we live together.And the podcast feed is not just a place to hear the radio show later. It’s part of how the conversation works.Most weeks, the broadcast show will begin with a reported, pre-taped segment. That segment will be posted here in the podcast feed a day before the show airs, giving listeners time to hear the story, think about the issue, and consider what they might want to say when the phones open the next day.After the broadcast, the call-in portions of the show will also be posted here, so listeners can hear the full conversation on demand. The feed will also feature extra interviews, additional reporting, and special podcast-only content for listeners who want to go deeper.Subscribe to the newsletterYou can subscribe to Building the Conversation here: https://building-the-conversation.beehiiv.com/p/building-the-conversation-issue-zero-19d8a9682ef142b9Have a thought, question, story, or idea for a future episode?Email us: [email protected] the show is live, the phones will be open.Listen live Thursdays at 7 p.m. on Michigan Public: 91.7 FM in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan; 104.1 FM in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and West Michigan; 91.1 FM in Flint; 89.7 FM in Lansing; and 91.3 FM in Port Huron. You can also stream live at MichiganPublic.org, through the Michigan Public app, or by asking your smart speaker to “play Michigan Public.” Call us anytime at 734-412-7155, or email us at [email protected] our online community at www.MIweneedtotalk.org