In the third episode of our Michigan Decides shows about the 2026 elections, Stephen and guests discuss political ads - how and why they're made, how they've changed, and whether they're effective.

Jill Alper, who has done political consulting for nearly 40 years at the state and national level, talked about a number of ads in the current cycle, especially in the contested U.S. Senate race between Democrat Abdul El Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers.

Jason Cabel Roe, also a longtime political consultant, and Michal Traugott, a research professor at the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan, joined Stephen in studio to talk about the ads and talk with callers, who rang in from around the state.

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Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers faced off in a U.S. Senate debate with just weeks to go before Election Day. Immediately afterward, Stephen Henderson was joined by longtime NPR political correspondent Don Gonyea and Gongwer Michigan reporter Liz Nass to make sense of what Michigan voters heard.

What were the candidates trying to accomplish? Who were they trying to persuade? And what did the debate reveal about the larger political divide in Michigan?

Plus, listeners call in with the moments that stood out to them, the issues they still want the candidates to address, and what they need to hear before casting their votes.

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As Michigan: We Need to Talk launches its Michigan Decides series ahead of the 2026 election, Stephen Henderson asks how voters can sort fact from fiction in an increasingly complicated information environment.

Bridge Michigan journalists Jonathan Oosting and Jordyn Hermani take listeners inside their fact-checking process, including claims emerging from Michigan’s U.S. Senate race and the growing use of AI-generated political content. Longtime national political journalist and Knight-Wallace Fellow Libby Casey discusses social media creators, trust and the new challenges AI poses for voters. And PolitiFact’s Caleb McCullough looks at misinformation nationally and explains what he’s finding as he fact-checks Michigan campaigns.

Plus, Michigan listeners share the political mailers, advertisements and online claims that have made them stop and ask: Can I actually believe this?

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In Episode 7 of "Michigan: We Need to Talk," Stephen goes to the source, first, for discussion about AI: He interviews an AI model, Claude, about its uses, its promise and its dangers. The results were surprising, and informative.

We then welcomed Shobita Parthasarathy to the show; she leads the University of Michigan Ford School for Public Policy's Science, Technology and Public Policy Program, and has been researching the effect new technologies have on our culture, norms and practices.

And Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Michigan) joined to talk about what Congress should do to rein in AI development.

Listeners chimed in from all around the state and beyond: Owosso, Milan, Three Rivers, Grand Rapids, Lansing - and Tennessee.

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Michigan Congressman Tom Barrett joins Michigan: We Need to Talk for an extended conversation about the growing anxiety around artificial intelligence — including warnings from people inside the AI industry that increasingly powerful systems could create profound risks for society.

Barrett talks with Stephen Henderson about how seriously Congress should take those warnings, what kinds of guardrails lawmakers should consider, and whether the United States can regulate AI without falling behind China and other global competitors.

They also discuss the rapid growth of AI infrastructure and data centers, the role local communities should have in deciding where those projects are built, and the broader question facing policymakers now: How do you govern a technology that is developing faster than the rules meant to contain it?

This is the full version of an interview excerpted in this week’s broadcast of Michigan: We Need to Talk.

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In this episode of Michigan: We Need to Talk, Stephen Henderson and callers from across Michigan use the debate in Lake Orion as a way into a much bigger question: What is local government really for?

Residents of the Village of Lake Orion will vote on whether the village should continue to exist as its own government, or whether its services should be absorbed by Lake Orion Township. For some residents, the issue is taxes and services. For others, it is identity, history, local control and the meaning of community.

Stephen is joined by Madhu Anderson, senior research associate of local affairs at the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, and James Tatum III, Wayne County chief economist, to talk about why Michigan has so many local governments, what happens when communities consider consolidation or disincorporation, and why these questions are often more emotional than they first appear.

At the center of the conversation: When we ask whether a local government is worth keeping, are we talking about money, services, control — or the place we call home?

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Stephen Henderson and Jake Neher go to Dowagiac, in southwest Michigan, to talk to residents about the unbelievable noise made by a data center that sprung up in a neighborhood.

On the show, we talk with Ben Green, a University of Michigan professor who studies industrial impact on residential areas, and heard from callers all over Michigan about the local fights to regulate data centers.

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Stephen Henderson and producer Jake Neher drove around Detroit with Kyle Zawacki, legislative director for the ACLU of Michigan, looking for Flock cameras — automated license plate readers used by police departments across the state.

Police say the cameras help solve serious crimes and find missing people. Civil liberties advocates say they also create a searchable record of where ordinary drivers go, raising questions about privacy, surveillance, data sharing and public oversight.

In studio, Stephen is joined by Berrien County Sheriff Chuck Heit, who explains why law enforcement agencies use the technology, and State Rep. Jimmie Wilson (D-Ypsilanti), sponsor of legislation that would create statewide safeguards for Flock cameras and similar systems.

Together with callers, they ask: Do these cameras make communities safer, less free, or both? And what rules should Michigan have for technology that can track where cars move through public space?

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