By Philip Marcelo The claim that voters in Detroit were prevented from casting ballots on Election Day after officials mistakenly said they’d already voted by absentee ballot is false. Certain polling locations in Detroit had an issue checking-in voters on Tuesday morning, but that was due to a data glitch that was quickly resovled, state and city officials confirmed. No eligible voters were prevented from casting a ballot. “Minor technical glitches are not unusual in any precinct because administering elections is a complex business,” said Liette Gidlow, history professor at Wayne State University.

As Americans vote in the 2022 midterm elections, U.S. President Joe Biden warns that democracy is at risk. In a speech less than a week before voting day, Biden blamed false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent for eroding trust in U.S. democracy. Kidada Williams, associate professor of history at Wayne State University, participates in a podcast discussion about the United States’ crafting of democracy after the Civil War during Reconstruction.  

The number of Black Americans eligible to vote reached a record 30 million in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. WKAR’s Megan Schellong spoke with Ronald Brown, an associate professor at Wayne State University who specializes in race and politics, about this community’s priorities before heading to the polls. “The top issue, this election period for African Americans in Michigan is going to be inflation. And inflation, because a recent study by the New York Reserve Board found that Blacks and Latinos are paying more for gas, more for food, and the cost of living is higher for them. So, it’s going to drive many African Americans, I think, to the polls this year,” Brown said. Brown also believes election integrity will galvanize voters. 

By Makena Roberts  Food resources face challenges in a variety of ways, from climate change affecting global warming to interruptions in production as a result of COVID-19. A rising middle-class United States and a growing appetite for Western cuisine have increased demand for meat-based diets. Between the land it takes to raise livestock, to the technology required for commercially catching fish and a rise in temperatures across the globe that threatens agriculture, scientists are exploring new alternatives for food. Some have suggested crickets, seaweed, and cultured meats as sustainable food options that could one-day stock the shelves of grocery stores across the United States. Julie Lesnik, an assistant professor of anthropology at Wayne State University, discussed the potential for mass-produced “edible insects” like crickets. Crickets produce high levels of protein and even greater levels of calcium and iron compared to pigs and cows. These figures could vary depending on what a farmer feeds their livestock, Lesnik said. But overall, insects pack high amounts of nutrients.  

Walter Edwards, professor of linguistics and former director of the Humanities Center, participated in an interview with The Conversation about African American Vernacular English. “The biggest misconception – in fact it’s a widespread misconception – is that this form of everyday speech is just broken English; that people who speak it are unable to speak standard English or too lazy to do it,” he said. “It is a misconception that has been there since the beginning of the inhabitation of this country by Black people. Stigmatized as it is, Black English is as sophisticated and diversified as any other linguistic variety; it’s a testament to the achievements of Black people.” 

By Glenda Lewis and Tracy Wujack  Undecided voters say they’re still seeking information to make decisions ahead of Tuesday’s election. Typically, undecided voters make up a percentage that could make or break a final decision on a front-runner. Brady Baybeck, associate professor of political science at Wayne State University, says in today’s climate it’s not about being undecided as much as it is being uninformed. “If you look at the polls, they’re saying 4% are undecided. I would guess that’s probably an overestimate,” said Baybeck. “Because of the polarization of the national political science, because of the innovation of information, media coverage and the ads and things like that, how can you not be aware of what’s going on? I know you might be confused about how you get involved, but does that truly mean you’re undecided? Not necessarily, it just means you’re not informed.” 

Halloween marks the 96th anniversary of one of the most famous magicians ever. You may not have known, but Harry Houdini performed his last show in downtown Detroit before dying at a Detroit hospital in 1926. Day before his show, in Detroit, he was performing in Montreal when someone asked to punch him in the stomach. Houdini was known to be a strong man with powerful abs. "Legend has it, he wasn't ready for the punch, and they hit him pretty good," Jeff Horner, a senior lecturer at Wayne State said. Horner, who is an urban planner and calls himself an amateur historian, said Houdini wasn't feeling well on the train ride down to Detroit. Houdini gave his last performance at the Garrick Theater, which stood near the corner of Griswold and Michigan Ave. in downtown Detroit. "He was supposedly in great pain during the performance, but gave folks their money's worth," Horner said. Houdini died at Grace Hospital, which is located near the current DMC Campus, after his performance at the Garrick. According to Horner, people led seances in the hospital room Houdini died in for years trying to make contact with Houdini. "The ultimate trick of any illusionist is to come back from the dead," Horner said.

By Whitney Burney  Millions of Michiganders are expected to turn out to the polls in less than two weeks to decide who will serve as Michigan’s next governor. Voters will also get the chance to decide the fate of countless school boards and which judges will serve on the state supreme court. While many voters say they know who they’d like to see in the governor’s seat, fewer know who they’d like to be elected in smaller races. “It’s great for us to have a voice,” said William Carter, a Wayne State University film student who will be voting for the first time this November. Carter said he’s most concerned about the state of education, wealth equity and climate change. He said he’s planning to vote in-person to give himself more time to learn about each candidate. Numerous WSU students discuss their voting plan and views on the election. Experts say when voters get to the portion of their ballot with more obscure races and less familiar names, some decide not to cast a vote at all. “There’s estimate that approximately 5-20% of voters basically stop voting when they hit the spot when they don’t know the candidates and that’s a pretty significant amount,” said Brady Baybeck, associate professor of political science at Wayne State University.  Baybeck said when voters decide to forego making a choice at the end of the ballot, it’s called ballot roll off. “In many of these races, there’s traditionally very little competition. If there’s only one candidate on the ballot, it doesn’t really matter if they vote,” he said. “Having said that, if it’s a competitive election, those local offices are the closest to the person.” Baybeck discusses shifts in local races becoming more nationalized, and an increase in spending on those campaigns. He encourages voters to use non-partisan websites and be aware of disinformation on social media.  

By Minnah Arshad  Even with four times as many Detroiters working from home since 2019, commuters are still on the road for about as long as they were before the COVID-19 pandemic began. According to the American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of remote workers in Detroit increased from 3.5 percent in 2019 to 15.1 percent last year. However, the average commuting time for Detroit workers has remained stagnant at around 25 minutes, according the bureau’s estimates. “Even something like a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic hasn’t had that profound of an effect on drive times,” said Jeff Horner, an urban studies and planning professor at Wayne State University. “There’s always going to be a relatively long commute, because we live in this sprawled-out city.”  

By Sarah Todd and Amanda Shendruk  Daily living is a lot of work – and the world relies on the unpaid labor of women to keep households functional. Women spend an average three to six hours per day on cooking, cleaning, watching over small children and ailing relatives, and any number of other domestic tasks, compared to men’s average of anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. Some economists warn that paying women for household work could wind up encouraging them to drop out of the labor force. A 2021 study by Yulya Truskinovsky, assistant professor of economics at Wayne State University, supports this concern. “Often, we think we prefer to have a family member take care of [relatives] rather than a stranger or a professional. But at the same time, compensating people for providing care is pulling them out of the formal labor market,” Truskinovsky said. “If we don’t kind of design compensation in a way that mimics the formal labor market, then I think there are a lot of costs.”  

It doesn’t look like much: Just a sea of tall weeds littered with broken bottles, pieces of smashed china and a wide variety of things that most of us would just call trash. But to a group of Wayne State University students, these are keys to the past. And they can open doors that have been locked for more than 100 years. The 13 students (and a handful of volunteers) armed with shovels, spades, measuring tape, markers and whatever else they need to carefully dig into and document the past are exploring what may be the richest archeological site in Hamtramck. “What we’ve learned through preliminary archival research thus far is that this site was the location of commercial and residential buildings from at least 1881 onwards,” said Krysta Ryzewski, WSU chairperson and professor of anthropology at Wayne State, who is directing the students. This is the third archaeological dig Wayne State has done in Hamtramck.    

As parents recorded them, big smiles, giggles and tears filled the eyes of young Black girls as they reacted to seeing Halle Bailey as Ariel in the teaser trailer of the new live action adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Bailey, a Grammy-award winning artist marks Disney’s first Black live-action princess. In Disney’s 100-year history, there has been one Black Disney princess. As some praised Disney’s bold move, there has also been criticism over Disney’s decision to cast Bailey. Lisa Doris Alexander, a professor in the African American Studies department at Wayne State University, says she believes seeing this clip of a Black Ariel shows why it’s so important for children to see representation. “You only have to look at the TikTok videos of little Black and Brown girls seeing the trailer for the first time beaming with joy to know my thoughts,” Alexander said. “That’s why representation is so important because those little children are saying ‘she looks like me,’ ‘an undersea princess looks like me’ and that brings them joy. The story of the ‘The Little Mermaid’ is a bit problematic, but we should let the little ones have their joy.”     

To many in the LGBTQ community, there seem larger, more pressing issues, and in some cases there are. Homelessness. Mental health crises. Suicidality. But tobacco use, more likely among LGBTQ people than other groups, is a health threat. Michigan authorities are working to address the inordinate rate of smoking and vaping among LGBTQ people. Overall, LGBTQ people are 1.5 to 2.5 times more likely to smoke cigarettes than heterosexual individuals, as reported by the state health department. Unmet health care needs and substance abuse are linked, and addressing the higher rates of smoking is important because of all the possible and well-documented health consequences associated with smoking. “Which then magnifies the health disparities that exist,” said Luisa Kcomt, assistant professor and expert in health equity and health disparities at Wayne State University. “So, if we don’t pay attention to tobacco use, and it keeps proliferating, and we allow the tobacco companies to market to them, then they’re just going to have a higher risk of getting sick earlier and dying sooner.”  

The world, including metro Detroit, is reacting to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Janine Lanza, associate professor in the history department at Wayne State University, discussed the impact the queen had on so many lives. “I think that much of the way she ruled was shaped by the fact that she was a woman on a throne that was meant for men. She was relatable, she was a young wife and a young mother when she took over the throne when her father died. And yet, she always had a stature and a regal way about her that showed that she was doing her duty to the county and to the institution of the monarchy. And so, she really blended those two elements of being queen very well, I think,” Lanza said.  

Across the Detroit Public Schools Community District, student math performance, which was already alarmingly low before the pandemic, has gotten even worse. Federal COVID relief funds were used to support summer programs, but district officials are still laboring without a clear formula for how best to tackle the problem. While there’s growing consensus on the benefits of one-on-one and small-group tutoring for literacy education, math experts and educators continue to debate the most effective solutions to the more recent learning loss and the longstanding insufficiencies that have plagued math education in Detroit and across the country. The school board approved a $319,500 contract with Math Corps, a nonprofit tutoring group housed at Wayne State University, to provide Tier 2 and Tier 3 support for students at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School.  

It seems like whenever you turn on your TV, check social media or even tune into the radio, the rise in mass shootings consumes the headlines. It's something that has become an unavoidable reality in the U.S. But what does the oversaturation of violence in the media do to our psyche? Pontus Leander, the director of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Wayne State, said the normalization of violence culture in the U.S. could lead to more shootings. "We might not notice that in a certain context or a certain situation, that we are gradually - over a period of weeks or months or years - getting used to the idea of a behavior that was previously not only not normative, but appalling," Leander said. 

Do you have grandparents or parents who swear not to wear white after Labor Day weekend until Memorial Day weekend? The fashion rule seems to be fading, but holds some history. Local 4's style editor Jon Jordan and Wayne State University's lecturer of fashion design and merchandising Monika Sinclair weighed in on the history of the fashion rule. The rule is connected to social class in New York City and started in the 19th century. Those who were white and linen in the summer wore them for many reasons, but of a higher class, especially in New York City, could afford to wear white since they were not doing labor that would get their clothes dirty. Sinclair said the rule was started by wealthy women who came from old money who wanted to separate themselves from society. "They were the ones that could afford to leave the city and go on vacation and put away their dusty clothes from the city while wearing lightweight, white clothing. White was seen like a leisurely type of apparel back then. It would be considered formal wear because they were used to being dressed in these corsets and big gowns, but essentially, they were white," Sinclair said. "So if you had white clothing, you had money. You could afford to go on summer vacations and wear white and stay cool."