Mike Horace

See smoke or ash in your neighbor? Send your photos to news@wcmu.org As wildfires grow across Minnesota and into Canada, smoke and ash from those fires are moving their way through Michigan. The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert Wednesday for much of the state, as well as visibility warnings due to the remnants of the wildfires.

Posted March 30, 2025 at 1:53 AM EDT As of early Sunday morning, more than 100,000 electric customers in northern Michigan were without power, including nearly all of the Alpena Power Company's service area. Alpena Power Company was reporting 16,386 customers without power, which makes up over 97% of its customers. Presque Isle Electric & Gas customers were also hard hit, with 27,554 outages reported. Great Lakes Energy and Consumers Energy were reporting around 37,000 outages a piece.

Editor's note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length. You can listen to this conversation by clicking the LISTEN button above. Rick Brewer: A new program debuts here on WCMU tomorrow morning: Wild Card from NPR. It will be sharing the 11 a.m. hour with It's Been a Minute. Our program director Mike Horace spoke with the hosts of It's Been a Minute and Wild Card, Brittany Luce and Rachel Martin, about this new hour of culture, interviews, and more.