We won’t sugarcoat it. 2025 was tough: for Michigan communities facing down data centers, bursting pipes, drinking water threats, flooding and industrial pollution, and for our small newsroom working to cover it all.
Nina Ignaczak, Planet Detroit
Posted inEnvironment
Detroit’s ozone status downgraded: What’s next in the fight for clean air?
The Sixth Circuit ruling returns Southeast Michigan to nonattainment status for ozone and requires state regulators to adopt additional pollution control rules before seeking redesignation.
Posted inHealth and Welfare, Political and Public Policy Information
Federal panel rolls back hepatitis B birth dose recommendation. Michigan will keep vaccinating
The vote effectively returns the country to a policy framework abandoned in 1991, after risk-based screening repeatedly failed to identify infected mothers and stop transmission to their babies.
Posted inEnvironment
Data centers in Michigan: What you need to know
As data centers proliferate across the Great Lakes, driven by AI’s soaring demands, communities face a dual reality: economic growth and environmental challenges.
Posted inTransportation
25 years of fighting for Detroit transit: A conversation with TRU’s Megan Owens
Transportation Riders United is gearing up for its next big battles: a Wayne County transit vote next summer.
Posted inEnvironment, Health and Welfare
Detroit named toughest city for asthma sufferers in new report
Detroit tops the 2025 Asthma Capitals report, highlighting the city’s struggle with high asthma rates, ER visits, and asthma-related deaths, underscoring the urgent need for systemic change.
Posted inEnvironment, Political and Public Policy Information
Transfer prices and your bill: What Michigan’s clean energy law means for you
The formula utilities use to compare renewables to fossil fuels is coming under fire, and the changes could shift dollars toward or away from ratepayers.
Posted inEnvironment
How do transportation struggles affect the health of Detroiters? Planet Detroit project aims to find out
In Detroit, where public transit often falls short, journalist Eleanore Catolico will investigates how lack of reliable transportation impacts healthcare access for older adults, people with disabilities, and those managing chronic conditions, through a partnership with Planet Detroit’s Neighborhood Reporting Lab and the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.
Posted inEnvironment, Health and Welfare
GUIDE: How Michigan’s new universal lead testing law affects your child
Michigan’s new rules require doctors to test all children for lead exposure at key ages, aiming to catch problems early and prevent lasting harm.
Posted inEnvironment, Political and Public Policy Information
Trump administration cuts end Michigan’s Healthy Climate Corps, halt community projects
Michigan’s MI Healthy Climate Corps faces a sudden halt as federal AmeriCorps funding is cut, prompting nonprofits and young professionals to navigate unexpected challenges in sustaining their work and livelihoods.