Welcome back. I’m still Malachi Barrett.

Detroit’s new Emerald Alert system was used for the first time Tuesday to help locate Marjorie Louise Brown Kilpatrick, a 74-year-old Black woman who went missing on Monday.

Kilpatrick was located less than an hour after the alert was issued, according to a subsequent update released Tuesday.

Three hours later, another alert was issued for three missing Black girls. Mariah Johnson, 13, Saniya Johnson, 15, Aaliyah Hamilton, 16, were last seen Monday on the 5000 block of East Outer Drive. Detroit police said late Tuesday that the teens were found.

Anyone with information about missing persons is asked to call the Emerald Tipline at (313) 833-7297.

The alert system was unveiled last week by Council President Mary Sheffield and Police Chief Todd Bettison. It’s meant to help cast a wider net to find vulnerable missing people, Bettison said. 

Sheffield said it was inspired by the loss of Na’Ziyah Harris, a 13-year-old who went missing in 2024 and was never found. Jarvis Butts was charged with sexually assaulting and murdering Harris.

“Too many families have endured the nightmare of missing a loved one,” Sheffield said. “We know that every single second matters when someone goes missing, yet not every case receives the criteria for an Amber Alert, which is why that gap has always weighed heavily on my own heart.”

Emerald Alerts are sent to subscribers of Detroit’s existing 365 Alerts system. Alerts will be sent out for missing children 10 and under, persons reported missing that have special needs, non-domestic kidnapping of an adult and cases where foul play is suspected.

The City Council added $80,000 in surplus funding for the Detroit Police Department’s 2025-26 budget to create a personal alert program for disabled residents who are prone to going missing.

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The City Council remains on break for the month of August. The body will return to work after Labor Day.

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Historic boundary sought in Southwest Detroit 

The City Council’s Historic Designation Advisory Board is nominating a section of the Bagley and West Vernor Highway commercial districts for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

The designation would honor Southwest Detroit’s century-old legacy of Latin American culture, entrepreneurship, and social service. HDAB will present the National Register historic district nomination at its public monthly board meeting on Sept. 11, at 4 p.m.

HDAB was awarded a grant from the National Park Service in 2021 that produced a context study on the histories of Detroit’s Latin American communities, including Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans and others dating back to the 1920s. HDAB staff had these stories compiled into a report now available in English and Spanish.

The National Register of Historic Places is a federal list of historic places worthy of preservation.

NRHP listing is an honorary designation which does not prevent property owners from making changes to their buildings but helps property owners to seek state and federal tax credits and preservation grants.

The proposed Bagley-West Vernor Historic District includes both sides of Bagley Street and West Vernor Highway between 16th and Ferdinand Streets. It also includes the area often referred to as Mexicantown, and the histories of popular restaurants including Mexican Village, Tamaleria Nuevo Leon and Xochimilco.

State officials: Old bridges need investment

Michigan’s Department of Transportation is flagging crumbling bridges that face a high risk of closure without an infrastructure funding package.

Two-thirds of state-owned bridges “far exceeded” their original life, according to MDOT, and more than 100 trunkline bridges could close by 2035. Detroit is within MDOT’s Metro Region, which contains 37 bridges at risk of closure in the next decade.

MDOT specifically pointed to an aging westbound bridge at the I-96 interchange with M-39 in Detroit that carries 45,000 vehicles per day. Detroit Chief of Infrastructure Sam Krassenstein said it’s a critical route for people heading between and through Southfield.

“The I-96 Southfield interchange is really at the center for industry, it’s the center for a major public works facility, and for a lot of residents that live adjacent to it,” Krassenstein said in a press release.

MDOT Chief Bridge Engineer Rebecca Curtis warned the Legislature of a looming funding cliff that would cut bridge investment drastically. According to MDOT, 2029 is slated to be the lowest bridge investment funding year in more than a decade. 

Most of the state’s bridge inventory was built in the 1950s and designed with a 50 to 60-year service life. Nearly 1,000 of the 1,400 Metro Region bridges are approaching or exceeding 50 years old.