Articles
Detroit High School Sports This Week
9/19/2026
Three DPSCD football games last week were decided by 40 points or more: Central 55-0 over Pershing, Martin Luther King Jr. 55-6 over Henry Ford, and Cass Technical 52-0 over the Mumford/Marygrove co-op team, which fields one team under both school names. This week the district has 49 games scheduled, 13 Monday and 15 Thursday, with the co-op team hosting Cass Technical Monday and traveling to Western International Friday. Ten games carry conflicting times, venues or opponents — Tuesday's volleyball slate carries four of them, each match listed at two start times, and Frederick Douglass Academy is listed against two different Thursday opponents at the same hour. None is resolved here. Two more entries are simply carried as the feed reports them: a Thursday tennis match listed at 4 a.m., and two Western International swim meets listed with no school name.
Detroit News this Past Week
9/19/2026
Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison faces an inspector general investigation over calls he made asking activist Jahdante Smith and businessman Marvin Walker to remove social media photos of Mayor Mary Sheffield with Walker, her former boyfriend; Detroit police have referred their investigations into both men to an outside agency; the Free Press reported a source saying the FBI took the "public corruption side" of the Walker case. Separately, Charlie LeDuff of the Michigan Enjoyer reported that Walker alleged Sheffield used him to collect illegal kickbacks during her council tenure — an allegation Sheffield denies and Walker himself denies making. A Detroit gas station owner, Barry Willis, was convicted after investigators found 42 kilograms of fentanyl, a pill press and cash in a Detroit stash house; he faces a mandatory minimum 15 years. A federal complaint accuses Laura Whisenant of misusing $121,980 in Social Security benefits meant for her uncle, who lived in a Detroit home without running water or electricity from 2017 until Adult Protective Services removed him in 2023; investigators said a wood-burning fireplace was the only heat source, while an APS petition said he was at risk with no heat at all. Henry Ford Hospital marked 50 years of training emergency physicians, a program that helped shape national standards for stroke and sepsis treatment. Regionally, the Michigan Supreme Court sent Oxford shooter Ethan Crumbley's life sentence back to the Court of Appeals for review. Heat peaks near 75 degrees Saturday. Comments are open below.
What's Happening This Week in Detroit
9/19/2026
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra opens its season with a Joshua Bell gala (listed on both Friday and Saturday, unresolved), Weezer plays Little Caesars Arena Wednesday, and the Detroit Black Film Festival opens Wednesday at 315 E. Warren. Disney On Ice runs two Sunday shows at Little Caesars Arena, the Tigers host the Nationals Monday through Wednesday and the Pirates Saturday, and World Ballet Company's Swan Lake runs Thursday and Friday at Music Hall Center. Saturday closes the week with Corktown and Greektown Oktoberfests, the Detroit Black College Expo and Totally Rad Vintage Fest at Huntington Place, and a free family Stroller Roll at Robert C. Valade Park. DPSCD has 49 games scheduled this week across football, volleyball, soccer, golf, tennis, swimming and cross country, with the Mumford/Marygrove co-op team playing twice. Those, and last week's results, run in the separate Detroit High School Sports edition.
Detroit High School Sports This Week
9/12/2026
Five DPSCD football games last week were decided by 40 points or more: East English Village Preparatory Academy 57-0 over Western International and Denby 48-6 over Communication and Media Arts on Sept. 10, then Cass Technical 46-0 over Southeastern, Martin Luther King Jr. 41-0 over Renaissance and Osborn 40-0 over Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men on Sept. 11. Mumford and The School at Marygrove both report beating Henry Ford 16-8 in football on Sept. 11, and Henry Ford's own record names Mumford as the opponent; both claims are carried as reported and which school played the game is not resolved. Western International also won twice in boys soccer. In season standings, Cass Technical, East English Village Preparatory Academy and Martin Luther King Jr. are all 3-0 overall at the top of Detroit Public School League-Blue football, and Cody leads DPSL-Gold at 3-0. This week the district has 49 scheduled games, 13 Monday and 16 Thursday, including five football games Monday and six Thursday. Nine games carry conflicting times or venues, and two more name two different opponents - Thursday's listings put Cass Technical against two and Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men against two more at the same hour; none is resolved here.
Detroit News this Past Week
9/12/2026
A Southwest Detroit restaurant owner, Juan Romo-Padilla, was charged with laundering more than $140 million to Mexican cartels through more than 100,000 structured wire transfers since 2022. The Michigan Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on whether Michael Jackson-Bolanos, acquitted in August of first-degree murder in the 2023 killing of synagogue president Samantha Woll, can be retried on the charges jurors deadlocked on. Detroit's Board of Ethics is reviewing candidates, including a former federal prosecutor who helped convict Kwame Kilpatrick, to investigate Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett Jr. over an outside board seat at Lear Corp. And the Beatrice Early Childhood Center opened in Southwest Detroit after a $1 million renovation by Starfish Family Services and Brilliant Detroit. Regionally, DTE Gas won a $74.52 million rate increase from state regulators and, hours later, told the commission to expect another filing in November; Attorney General Dana Nessel criticized the timing. Heat peaks near 82 degrees Sunday. Comments are open below.
What's Happening This Week in Detroit
9/12/2026
The Lions host the Saints at Ford Field Sunday at 1 p.m. and the Tigers host the Rockies at Comerica Park at 12:10 p.m., with Lily Allen at the Fox Theatre and Rickey Smiley at Sound Board the same day; several Lions home-opener watch parties and tailgates also run Sunday at bars and venues across the city. Monday brings Chief Keef to the Fillmore Detroit and a Coffee & Conversation with Council Member Whitfield Calloway at 8 a.m. Jensen McRae plays the Majestic Theatre and Sons of Legion the Fillmore Tuesday, with Gary Clark Jr. at the Fillmore and Xavier Wulf at Saint Andrew's Hall Wednesday; smaller club dates run both nights and no city meetings are scheduled. Disney On Ice: Find Your Hero runs Thursday through Saturday at Little Caesars Arena, Descendents and Social Distortion play the Fillmore Thursday, and Friday brings Party Animals Detroit to Comerica Park and Jim Gaffigan to the Fox Theatre. Saturday closes with FrankenFest Detroit at Historic Fort Wayne, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performing “Miles Davis and John Coltrane at 100” at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, and Bowling for Soup at Saint Andrew's Hall. Around Metro Detroit, Dermot Kennedy plays Freedom Hill Sunday and the 2026 AAA Auto Expo runs in Dearborn Saturday. The week's news runs in a separate Detroit Community Thrive news edition and DPSCD's 49 games in a separate Detroit High School Sports edition.
Dally in the Alley returns Saturday with six stages and a 12-hour schedule
9/10/2026
Dally in the Alley returns to Detroit's Cass Corridor on Saturday, September 12, running 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., free and sponsorship-free as it has been since 1978 under the volunteer-run North Cass Community Union. Six stages carry the day: 56 music sets across the Dally, Alley, Garden, Patio East and Patio West stages, plus ten Community Stage sessions ranging from yoga and the Cass Tech Chamber Strings to the dog show, a drag show and a closing DJ set. Music starts at 11 on the patio stages and runs late, with Miz Korona at 8:30 and Room 131 closing the main stage at 9:30, Norm Talley wrapping Patio West at 9:30, and the Alley Stage and Patio East both going until 10. Parking is scarce, so the QLine's Canfield stop — two blocks from the Cass & Forest entrance — is the better bet, though readers should note the festival's site plan and its FAQ disagree on whether the west entrance is at 3rd & Forest or 3rd & Hancock. Outside food and sealed water are welcome, leashed pets too, weapons and outside alcohol are not, and with no ATMs on site it's worth bringing cash; the Kids Fair runs 11 to 5 on Forest just east of 2nd, and the whole thing goes rain or shine with Sunday held in reserve.
This Week in Detroit
9/5/2026
An EF2 tornado with 115 mph winds tore a 3.5-mile path through Detroit's east side Thursday, Sept. 3 — the city's first confirmed tornado in decades — collapsing buildings, snapping trees and prompting Mayor Mary Sheffield to declare a state of emergency for the hardest-hit area plus Belle Isle; sources disagree on whether it had been 33 years (per NOAA data cited by The Detroit News) or since 1997 (per the mayor's office and ClickOnDetroit), and both are carried rather than resolved. A 15-year-old, Isaiah Lamar Gordon, was charged as an adult in the fatal shooting of a woman outside an east-side liquor store on Aug. 21 — sources disagree on the victim's age (57, 60 or 65 depending on the report) and on the identity of a second, surviving victim, and both versions are carried rather than resolved. Six workers were hurt, two seriously, in an accident after Saturday's Ed Sheeran concert at Ford Field. Separately, Mayor Sheffield's former partner Marvin Walker denied a report that he took kickbacks tied to her time on City Council; Police Chief Todd Bettison and activist Jahdante Smith gave dueling accounts of a phone call and phone seizure tied to the same controversy. Regionally, storms knocked out power to more than 350,000 customers across Southeast Michigan. Heat peaks near 90 degrees Wednesday before cooling into the mid-70s Thursday.
Detroit this Week August 30, 2026
8/29/2026
Mayor Mary Sheffield and Police Chief Todd Bettison responded publicly this week to a controversy involving activist Jahdante Smith's arrest and phone seizure after he posted old photos of Sheffield with a former boyfriend — Bettison says the criminal investigation into Smith predates his call asking Smith to remove the photos, while FOX 2 Detroit reports the search warrant Smith received is dated a week after that call; both versions are reported here rather than resolved. Separately, the FBI's search of Quality Behavioral Health, a Troy-based provider under federal investigation, reached Detroit facilities as well, raising concerns about care for the more than 123,000 people served by the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network. Tenants displaced from the Leland argued for compensation in bankruptcy court, a 21-year-old Detroit woman was charged after an unsecured handgun wounded her 13-year-old sister, and the week closes with the Detroit Jazz Festival opening Friday at Hart Plaza, free and open to the public, after a forecast high near 101 degrees Wednesday.
Your Week in Detroit: August 23–29, 2026
8/22/2026
Two of Detroit's major cultural institutions are heading to the ballot together: the Detroit Historical Society and the Charles H. Wright Museum have launched a campaign asking Wayne and Oakland voters to approve a 0.2-mill, 10-year operating levy in November, which would grant free admission to residents of both counties and fund transportation for students and seniors. Elsewhere, four members of one family were shot Friday on the east side, leaving a 40-year-old mother in critical condition and prompting Ceasefire Detroit to appeal for witnesses, while Perfecting Church is finally nearing completion after two decades of delays, lawsuits and a stall during the 2008 crash. Detroit programs went 1–2–1 in boys soccer, led by Cass Tech's 8–2 win over Wyandotte Roosevelt, and the Tigers' wild-card hopes remain mathematically alive but narrow. Weather is mild through Wednesday before an inch of rain lands Thursday as high school football opens citywide, then clears for a weekend headlined by Jill Scott's three-night run at the Fox and back-to-back Ed Sheeran shows at Ford Field.
Your Week in Detroit: August 16–22, 2026
8/15/2026
DETROIT — Aug 16–22
A $4 million fraud case unravels over text message, Jackson Jobe returns throwing 100, and the week runs from Gladys Knight to My Chemical Romance.
Two metro Detroit residents are charged in an alleged unemployment fraud scheme spanning 32 states — the case broke when Dearborn police caught a withdrawal in progress and found the messages on her phone. A week after trading Skubal and Mize, the Tigers blanked the Giants 8–0 behind Jobe's first start since May 2025. Lions sixth-round pick Ahmed Hassanein sacked Joe Burrow in the preseason opener and cried on the field. Wednesday brings an inch and a half of rain and a high of 75°, twelve degrees below Tuesday. Out this week: J. Cole Sunday, Gladys Knight Tuesday, MCR with Iggy Pop Friday, and Lions preseason Saturday — plus a full slate of free library programming Monday.
Your Week in Detroit: August 9–15, 2026
8/7/2026
Two days of thunderstorms open the week before Wednesday breaks clear and Saturday cools to 71°. A Wayne County jury convicted three men in the 2025 shooting death of 6-year-old Rylee Love, killed by a stray bullet in his own bedroom, with sentencings set for August 21 and September 2. Karmanos Cancer Hospital is suing the Detroit Medical Center and Tenet Healthcare over an attempt to raise its service costs from $28.5 million to more than $82 million a year — DMC says McLaren underpaid for a year and is asking a safety-net hospital to subsidize it. Out this week: Jack Harlow at the Fillmore, a stacked weekend at Little Caesars Arena, jazz nightly at Cliff Bell's, and free eye exams and produce shares across the library system.
Ribs & R&B Music Festival Returns to Detroit's Riverfront This August
7/25/2026
Detroit, mark your calendars. The Ribs & R&B Music Festival returns to Hart Plaza August 7–9, 2026 for Detroit's Official National Barbeque Weekend.
Three days of soul, R&B, and the best barbecue on the riverfront:
📍 Friday, Aug 7 — A tribute to Martha Reeves, The Miracles ft. Mark Scott, The Temptations Revue ft. Phase 5 + a surprise guest TBA
📍 Saturday, Aug 8 — Ro James, Klymaxx, Midnight Star
📍 Sunday, Aug 9 — Changing Faces, Atlantic Starr
🍖 Local pitmasters serving up ribs, brisket & chicken all weekend
🎟️ Free entry before 4pm Fri / 1pm Sat & Sun · Kids 12 & under always free
✨ VIP & Reserved seating packages available now — early bird pricing won't last
Gates open 11:30am–11:30pm all three days at Hart Plaza on the Detroit riverfront.
Detroit Community Thrive Weekly Roundup
7/25/2026
Detroit sees the same weather pattern — sunny open, midweek storms, clearing skies by Wednesday — with today's air quality rated Good. This week's news mixes high-profile legal stories (the Nicole Curtis lawsuit, the MGM Grand stabbing, a Land Bank case resolved in a veteran's favor) with civic issues like the minimum wage increase, calls to release two detained teens, and pushback over the city's lone public pool. The events scene was the busiest of the three cities, with 40+ listings condensed down to daily highlights spanning festivals, nightlife, and library programming.
Marcus Elliot Spotlight
7/19/2026
The day Marcus Elliot was supposed to get his saxophone was September 11, 2001. His parents had to turn around and go home. A week later they tried again — and a stranger at the rental counter overheard them hesitating over the price, and said: my son's saxophone is just sitting in a closet. Take it.
That instrument became everything. 🎷
Five albums. A Kresge Fellowship. A Joyce Award. Twenty years of teaching — and a personally funded scholarship at his own high school. Marcus Elliot has been giving back what was given to him ever since.
Catch him live this Tuesday, July 21 at the Detroit Public Library — Java and Jazz, 6–8 PM, free admission. Link in bio for tickets.
Your Week of Shows, Nights & Sets Around the City
7/16/2026
Twenty-eight events. Six days. A city that never really slows down. From Sunday brunch sets to Saturday's marathon of shows across the metro, here's everything on the board this week for Detroit's music, arts, and nightlife scene.
Detroit Bookfest returns July 19 as the largest festival in its history
7/14/2026
Detroit Bookfest returns to Eastern Market on Sunday, July 19, 2026, for its ninth year — and organizers say it's the biggest edition yet. The free, one-day festival expands across four Eastern Market sheds, an added parking lot, and a new DTE Plaza children's area, hosting more than 300 vendors (booksellers, authors, publishers, libraries, and literary nonprofits) and an expected 10,000+ visitors. New this year is a children's author stage where ten Detroit-area authors read throughout the day, alongside hands-on art activities from the DIA and Arts & Scraps. The festival also runs an ongoing children's book drive with Birdie's Bookmobile — last year's goal of 2,000 books was blown past with 4,700+ collected, and this year's target is 6,000. Notable vendors include John K. King Used & Rare Books, author-illustrator Jim Benton, comics shop Vault of Midnight, and the Detroit Public Library's Mobile Library.
Concert of Colors Turns 35: Detroit's Free Festival of the World Returns July 15–19, 2026
7/12/2026
Concert of Colors returns July 15–19 for its 35th anniversary — five days, 11+ venues across Midtown Detroit, and it's completely free.
This year is dedicated to founder Ismael "Ish" Ahmed, who passed away in January after helping shape this very lineup. Saturday opens with "Celebrating Ish," a public tribute and procession in his honor.
Don't miss:
🎻 Kronos Quartet's "Glorious Mahalia" — Fri
🎙️ Don Was Detroit All Star Revue: "A Salute to The Scene" — Sat
🥁 Hassan Hakmoun's Moroccan trance — Sat
🎷 NEA Jazz Masters Carmen Lundy & Gary Bartz — Sun
🇬🇧 Steel Pulse — Sun
✨ Sheila E closes it out — Sun
Free. All ages. All week. See you in Midtown.
VOTER GUIDE: What's on the August 4, 2026 Primary Ballot in Detroit
7/11/2026
Detroit's localized guide to the August 4, 2026 State Primary breaks down voting logistics, statewide executive and open U.S. Senate races, congressional district boundaries, and ballot proposals on regional transit and school debt funding.

