Detroit, MI
Detroit Evening Report: Waymo cars blocking first responders – WDET 101.9 FM
Federal regulators say the autonomous vehicle company Waymo must stop its cars from blocking first responders. Waymo has been testing its vehicles in Detroit. The head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the agency found several cases of Waymo driver-less vehicles traveling into emergency scenes, blocking firefighters or failing to stop for flashing lights and flares. Federal regulators say they will meet with autonomous vehicle developers to devise ways to address the problem. A Waymo vehicle will stop, however, if it notices nefarious activity from kids riding in it. A Waymo car in California recently stopped in a parking lot and called police after two teens in its back seat allegedly began drinking alcohol and shooting water beads from a toy gun.
Additional headlines for Friday, July 10, 2026
Bar IX location coming soon?
Detroit’s first women’s sports bar is crowdfunding to open a permanent space. Bar IX hosts pop-up watch parties for women’s sports. The bar has raised 65 percent of if its 125-thousand-dollar goal since the campaign kicked off on June 30. Organizers are giving away merchandise such as stickers, keychains, and t-shirts with donations.
African World Festival
The African World Festival is this weekend at Hart Plaza. The festival celebrates culture and history with music, spoken word, food and a retail marketplace. The festival starts today and runs through Sunday. Visit Charles H Wright museum website at for more info and to buy tickets.
Lake St. Clair Metropark to receive updates
Lake St. Clair Metropark is getting 15 million dollars in improvements. The improvements include reopening the North Marina, expanding accessibility across the park, adding new trail connections and modernizing infrastructure. It’s the biggest investment in the park in decades. Renovations at the marina will fully reopen the marina with 78 boat slips for transient docking and bring accessible floating finger docks back to the North Marina basin. All renovations are expected to be completed by the end of summer 2027.
Detroit Riverfront tour
The Detroit Parks Coalition is hosting a free walking tour about the Detroit Riverfront tomorrow, July 11 from 10 a.m. to 11a.m. The tour will give an overview of the history of the riverfront as a well as more info on the newest Ralph C Wilson Centennial Park. Meet at the Dock, located near the Huron-Clinton Metroparks Water Garden across from the Plaza. Parking is available along Jefferson Ave, Rosa Parks, and in the nearby Bagley Mobility Hub and Assembly garages.
Detroit, MI
‘Just trying to understand’: Neighbors question what led to Detroit father shooting involving teen son
DETROIT – Neighbors along a normally quiet stretch of Detroit’s west side said they were shaken Tuesday night after police said a 13-year-old boy shot his father and fled the area in the family’s SUV — along with the family dog.
The teen was arrested in Ohio alongside another individual on Tuesday (Aug. 11).
“It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of anybody getting shot. On this block,” said Jerry King, who said he has lived in the neighborhood since 1997.
Detroit police said the shooting happened about 5 p.m. in the 18000 block of Bretton Drive, where officers were called for a disturbance.
When they arrived, they learned the teen had allegedly shot his father twice in the back before taking off in the family vehicle, said Dietrich Lever, commanding officer of the Detroit Police Department’s 8th Precinct.
“I believe there was an instance of discipline, and he took offense; he, being the suspect, took offense when his father came home and shot him. Shot at him two times, striking him in the back,” Lever said.
Residents said they were stunned to learn the shooting involved a child.
“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for over 36 years and just trying to understand or trying to grasp what is he going through?” said Elizabeth Ashford, who lives near the scene.
Ashford said a neighbor found the father after the shooting and called 911.
“Unfortunately, one of my neighbors that I’m very close with found the gentleman, and he stayed with him until paramedics came,” she said.
Before his arrest, police said the boy was last seen driving a gray 2026 Rivian with Michigan license plate FAX 8251 and traveling southbound on the Southfield Freeway toward Lincoln Park.
Police said the family dog, described as a French mastiff, was also in the vehicle.
Authorities said the teen was to be considered armed and dangerous and urged anyone who saw him not to approach.
“Call 911, call the police and get us out there and let us take him into custody safely,” Lever said before his arrest.
Police said they did not know where the teen obtained the gun or whether it belonged to his father.
They also said they did not have information about what the teen was wearing when he fled, before his arrest in Ohio.
While Lever said there was no immediate threat to the neighborhood and described the area as generally safe, neighbors said the shooting raised concerns about firearms in homes.
“You hear it all the time: keep your guns locked up. If you got guns, keep them locked up,” King said.
Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.
Detroit, MI
Plan to redevelop Detroit’s Renaissance Center will begin community benefits process next week
DETROIT (WXYZ) — The community benefits process for the planned redevelopment of the Renaissance Center in Downtown Detroit gets underway this month.
The plan, from Bedrock and General Motors, reimagines the Renaissance Center and the east Detroit riverfront area and includes demolishing two of the five towers. The Community Benefits Ordinance (CBO) process, which makes projects that are $75 million or mote and get at least $1 million in tax abatements, engage with community members in the neighborhood.
Bedrock Detroit
According to the City of Detroit, the project area is is bounded by E. Jefferson Ave., E. Lafayette St. and the Fisher Fwy (I-75) to the north, the Chrysler Fwy (I-375), Orleans St., McDougall St., and Joseph Campau St. to the east, the Detroit River to the south, and Woodward Ave. to the west.
Bedrock and GM will open a Riverfront Community Hub at Beaubien Place at 521 Atwater St. starting Wednesday, Aug. 19. There, people can share feedback, tour exhibits, participate in workshops and directly engage in with the project team.
As part of the CBO process, a nine-member Neighborhood Advisory Council will be established, and any resident living in the Impact Area is eligible to serve.
Bedrock Detroit
The first meeting for the CBO process will be on Tuesday, Aug. 18. All meetings begin at 6 p.m., with doors open at 5:30 p.m., at Coleman A. Young Municipal Center – Erma Henderson, 13th Floor – 2 Woodward Ave. Detroit, MI 48226 with an option to view the meetings remotely via Zoom.
The full schedule for the meetings is below.
- Tuesday, August 18, 2026 - Introduction of project and CBO process
- Tuesday, September 1, 2026 - Introduction of project and CBO process + Election of two (2) Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) Members - Only Impact Area Residents attending in person may vote in the NAC election.
- Tuesday, September 15, 2026 – 1st convening of the NAC and presentation of project details and financial incentives
- Tuesday, September 22, 2026 - NAC Working Meeting: discuss project impacts and potential community benefits / mitigations list
- Tuesday, September 29, 2026 - NAC presentation of discuss project impacts and proposed community benefits / mitigations list
- Tuesday, October 6, 2026 - NAC Working Meeting
- Tuesday, October 13, 2026 – Developer presentation of response to project impacts and proposed community benefits / mitigations
- Tuesday, October 20, 2026 – Continued discussion of project impact and proposed community benefits / mitigation. Finalization of community benefits package
- Tuesday, October 27, 2026 – if necessary – Continued discussion of project impact and proposed community benefits / mitigation. Finalization of community benefits package
What is the plan for the Renaissance Center?
The plan “right-sizes” the Ren Cen’s footprint along the Detroit River by demolishing two of the towers along the riverfront and transforming the rest of the riverfront into a massive district.
Bedrock Detroit
That public infrastructure includes a new pedestrian promenade from Jefferson Ave. to the riverfront, new public plazas and a new pedestrian and vehicular access to the Ren Cen and riverfront.
The funding would also be applied toward the demolition of the so-called “podium” that encloses the base of the Ren Cen complex.
According to Bedrock, the future of the Renaissance Center would include new housing, a revitalized hotel, new public spaces, an observation deck and more. The goal, the company said, is to turn it into Detroit’s version of Navy Pier in Chicago or Chelsea Piers in New York.
The city said that it will create:
- 934 new mixed-income residential units
- More than 470,000 square feet of retail, entertainment, dining and community recreation space
- Renewed 858-room hotel with meeting rooms, event facilities and an observation Deck
- 17 acres of new civic space, including parks, plazas, waterfront greens and a newly-constructed marina
- 675,000 square feet of modern office space
- 3,700 parking spaces
Detroit, MI
‘The End of Oak Street’ takes place in Metro Detroit. What to look for
Metro Detroit-born writer-director David Robert Mitchell sets his new sci-fi adventure in the suburbs of Metro Detroit.
Dinosaurs invade Metro Detroit in “The End of Oak Street,” the new sci-fi action film from writer-director (and Clawson native) David Robert Mitchell.
Mitchell set the movie in Flowervale, a fictional suburb of Metro Detroit. And while Michigan or Detroit is never mentioned explicitly in the film, there are signs and cues to suburban Detroit all over the film.
They include an early reference in the movie to Michigan Bell; a Tigers-Rangers game on a radio, with a name check of former Tigers catcher Lance Parrish; a Faygo bottle; a copy of a Detroit newspaper that looks an awful lot like the Detroit Free Press; a Tigers cup placed on a dresser; a Red Wings sticker on a bedroom wall; and a black Michigan license plate.
Mitchell, 51, has made four movies, and he’s set three of them — 2010’s “The Myth of the American Sleepover,” 2014’s “It Follows” and now “The End of Oak Street” — in Metro Detroit. Only 2018’s “Under the Silver Lake,” a Los Angeles-set mystery starring Andrew Garfield, takes place outside of the director’s native turf.
“I have a strong personal connection to the area, and I often write stories that take place there,” Mitchell told The Detroit News in 2015, when talking about “It Follows.” “I’m aware there’s a sense of it’s in ‘The American Suburb’ and that’s how it’s seen, but for me, growing up there, it is specifically Metro Detroit.”
Mitchell grew up loving movies and was writing scripts and studying Hitchcock by junior high. In 1985, he attended the local premiere of the independent film “Stryker’s War” (which was later titled “Thou Shall Not Kill … Except”), on which his uncle had worked, and it signified to him that movies were a viable career path.
He attended Wayne State University after high school, and then moved to Los Angeles, where he became a film editor. After shooting “Myth” for $30,000, he shot “It Follows” in Metro Detroit, filming at Clark’s Ice Cream & Yogurt in Berkley and the Clawson parks where he hung out when he was growing up.
“The End of Oak Street” stars Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as parents of two children (Maisy Stella and Christian Convery play their kids) who find their world rocked when, due to a mysterious cosmic event, their suburb is suddenly thrust into a world of dinosaurs. The Platt family is forced to fend for their lives as angry dinos attack them and their neighbors and they try to find their way to safety.
The film is set in 1982, and London and Atlanta stood in for Metro Detroit. In the credits, Mitchell dedicates the film to his father, Robert Allen Mitchell, who died in 2024.
“The End of Oak Street” opens in theaters on Thursday.
agraham@detroitnews.com
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