Val Waller

UAW launches historic strike against Big Three automakers

Some 2,600 nonstriking General Motors and Ford workers in Kansas and Michigan face temporary unemployment due to fallout from striking plants (9/15/2023)

Kyra Harris Bolden was tapped by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as the first Black woman to rule on Michigan’s Supreme Court

Kyra— Michigan’s first Black Woman Supreme Court judge, holds a picture of her great-grandfather, Jesse Bond, who in 1939 was lynched in Tennessee. Upon learning the history, Bolden pivoted away from psychology, and toward law. “I had to be involved in the justice system because of the injustice that happened with my family,”

Brandy Robinson a Detroit Ballot Challenger

“I was proud of the response of Detroiters, of those Black women and Black men who stood up to make sure that that wasn’t gonna happen. Not in our city, not on our watch, not today.”

Smokestacks and forgotten residents: Dearborn opens new health department

A student works writes in a classroom of Salina Intermediate School, which sits across Ferney Street and railroad tracks from more than a dozen smokestacks that help power the steel industry

Trump Supporter at TCF Center

Trump Supporters gather at the TCF Center in hopes of preventing the full ballot counts. At this point, Michigan electoral votes were set to go to Biden. Nov 8, 2020

Smokestacks and forgotten residents: Dearborn opens new health department

The industry that drives much of the auto industry also pumps toxins into the air — a concern to parents like Samraa Luqman, called the “Erin Brokovich” of Dearborn, pictured here with her children, Aria Aleen Kash, 3, and Deen Kash, 6. (For Bridge Detroit)

Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Labor Day, 2022.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks with members of the AFT (American Federation of Teachers) at their E. Jefferson location, as part of a Labor Day union site tour. (For Emily’s List)

Front yard memorial draws attention to African-American lives both lived and lost

John Thorne, pastoral minister at Sacred Heart Parish and executive director of the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance, created a memorial in his front yard for the black men and women whose lives have been taken unjustly over the years, complete with crosses bearing both their images and names. (For Detroit Catholic)

Finding faith in trauma: Oxford student sees God's promise shine through darkness

For Oxford High School senior LeeAnn Johnson, 17, the tragedy of Nov. 30, 2021, became an occasion to share her faith in God with others. (For Detroit Catholic)

Michigan COVID nurses reach their limit

Brenna Tresidder, a COVID-19 nurse at DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital in Oakland County, said the pandemic has worn out frontline nurses in her unit

Michigan has dramatically lowered the rate of inmates returning to prison

Gary Maxwell, released from prison in 2011 and pictured at his backyard camper in Detroit, has been homeless for much of the past decade

Guest column: What it means to be a Black photojournalist covering the protests in Detroit

(For Model D)

Detroit students hustle into class, masked up and temperature checked

Students at the Paul Robeson Malcom X Academy danced to hustle music every 30 minutes on their first day. (For Bridge Detroit)