Here at 7 News Detroit, we want to make sure you start your day off on the right foot, informed about weather, traffic, the latest news and more. That's why we have the 7 Morning Digest, where we'll get you out the door informed and ready to go.
What's the weather for today?
A Winter Weather Advisory will wrap up at 9 a.m. for the southern counties in metro Detroit, and after a slick start, temps will gradually warm up.
We will rise above freezing by 11 AM around and south of Detroit and in the northern burbs during the afternoon. The high will end up in the mid to upper 30s. Winds: WSW and increasing to 15-25 mph later.
Tonight: A clearing sky with temps near 17. Gusty winds from the west 15-25 & gusts near 40 mph.
Friday: A cold morning with wind chills in the single digits. Partly sunny with a high near 29°. Winds: W 5-15 mph.
We're also tracking a snow storm this weekend that could bring heavy snow on Saturday, but Sunday looks normal.
Any traffic issues?
We haven't seen major traffic crashes shutting down highways, but with the ice overnight, people are taking it slower on the roadways in the area, so be prepared. Check our live traffic map before you head out.
The top stories to know about
Hundreds rally at Michigan Capitol in protest of Trump administration policies
Upward of a thousand people rallied outside of the Michigan state Capitol Wednesday afternoon. They chanted in opposition to actions taken by President Donald Trump. The event was part of a 50-state protest against the Trump administration.
The crowd was made up of people concerned about the Trump administration's policies and executive actions either enforced or considered since he took office.
“We don’t want tariffs. I mean, farmers, we don’t want handouts from the government. We want open and free markets. This guy is trying to shut down those markets. We’re still recovering form the last time that he imposed those tariffs,” Dennis Kellogg, a soybean farmer, told 7 News Detroit.
The issues each protester leans toward varies greatly.
“He’s attacked the poor. He’s attacked the immigrants. He’s attacked the marginalized communities in this country,” activist Willye Bryan said.
For a differing viewpoint, 7 News Detroit reached out to the Michigan House Republicans.
Republican state Rep. Joe Aragona said, “These people are out of touch.”
“Donald Trump won for a reason. He won overwhelmingly in the electoral college, won the popular vote handily and I’m seeing signs out here to allow for illegal immigration. I’m seeing signs for... a lot of people out here apparently hate Elon Musk," he said. "The guy’s working basically for free to try and clean up the federal budget, which everybody knows there is a lot of waste."
'You violated her': Mothers of young Pontiac home invasion victims speak out, sheriff issues warning
Parents are speaking out about a violent spree of break-ins targeting young, adolescent girls that the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.
The sheriff’s office says they know of at least four incidents where a man has broken into or attempted to break into homes in the last few months. A knife has been involved in some of the incidents, leading to frightened residents locking up their windows and doors.
Two upset mothers with very similar stories living only about two blocks apart say their daughters were violently targeted.
Shauntay Pryor is a mother of four. Back in October, her 15-year-old daughter saw someone jump out of her unlocked bedroom window on the 600 block of Northway Drive after she woke up. She says in January, the man then came back — this time breaking the locked window to get inside, escalating the violence.
“He made her undress, take off her clothing and was threatening to kill and told her that he would stab her and she said she felt uncomfortable," Pryor said. "When he started to take his pants down, she started fighting him.”
In the commotion, her daughter was choked and stabbed in the hand. The man then took off once a sibling noticed the violence in the middle of the night and screamed.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Monica Smith's 10-year-old daughter was attacked on the 100 block of N. Marshall. She woke up to the sound of her daughter screaming.
The suspect is described to be 17 to 21 years old and usually covers his face with a hoodie or ski mask, targeting homes in the early morning hours. Now community groups like Pontiac United are saying no more.
News Literacy Project: How to identify misinformation amid the rise of AI content
For many of us, news and information are available at our fingertips, but so is AI-generated content.
Photos, videos, and even voice recordings. Wayne County Sheriff's Office Digital Forensics Expert Britton Foreman said right now, we're seeing more of the negative impacts of AI technology.
Related: This week National News Literacy Week, presented by The News Literacy Project, The E.W. Scripps Company, and USA Today, focuses on providing educators with the tools and resources they need to help students more skillfully navigate today’s information landscape. More about this effort and tools here: NewsLiteracyWeek.org
“School bullying right, that’s a big one. Revenge porn, that’s another big one where you see a lot of these revenge porn cases where these people they’ll go in there, they’ll doctor something that didn’t actually happen, put it out there and it looks real, but it’s not," Foreman said.
Although it can be difficult, Foreman said there are some ways you can spot AI-generated images and videos that are made to spread false information, better known as deep fakes.
In one video he showed me, you can see the skin is too perfect. Foreman also said looking closely at fingers, faces and backgrounds for anything unnatural may help you spot content that isn't real.
But whether it's for good or for bad, there's no denying that AI is going to become more prevalent in our lives, especially for teens.
