This summer, the Scripps Howard Fund gave Detroit Free Press reporter M.L. Elrick an award for his column “On Guard”, in which he publishes all manner of exposes, in the muckraking tradition.

Back in 2009, Elrick and his colleague Jim Schaefer shared a Pulitzer prize for covering corruption in the administration of then-Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Elrick is also the creator of a student journalism project called Eye on Michigan at MSU.

GUEST:

M.L. Elrick, journalist, Detroit Free Press

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For a pilot, ejecting mid-flight is always a bad scenario.

Lt. Kegan "Smurf" Gill narrowly escaped from a fighter jet traveling 695 miles per hour, approaching the speed of sound. It’s the fastest survived ejection in naval aviation history.

“I have a very clear linear memory, right up to the point where I pulled the ejection handle, and after that I have no linear memory,” he said about the experience. “But over the course of the years, I'd gotten a lot back in flashbacks, which were often night terrors. So maybe not the most pleasant way to remember something, but that gave me some insights into what had happened.”

A former Naval fighter pilot, Gill flew a training exercise off the East Coast in 2014 when his F/A-18 ran into trouble. His subsequent injuries, including head trauma, changed his life forever.

Gill wrote about the experience and aftermath in his new book “Phoenix Revival: The Aftermath of Naval Aviation's Fastest Ejection.”

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This year Mackinac Island celebrates a big milestone; it's been 150 years since it was named a National Park. It was only the second space given that designation in the nation, behind Yellowstone. Mackinac Island is a State Park these days, and it enjoys a rich and intriguing history that creates a sense of timelessness. Today we explore some of the chronology that take the island from Anishinaabe fishing community, to Revolutionary War outpost, to the carless, fudge-filled spot it is today.

GUEST:

Craig Wilson, Mackinac Island Historic Parks

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Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.

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