Podcast Episodes Interviews, Show Notes, and Transcripts

A Flint lawyer helped end a Jim Crow relic—and the hometown paper barely noticed. We sit down with Robert Steiger, a retired civil rights attorney whose argument before the Warren Court contributed to striking down Virginia’s poll tax. From Detroit roots and Michigan training to a chance move to Flint, Bob’s journey shows how a small, principled firm can punch far above its weight. He recalls colleagues who marched in Mississippi, the chill of the McCarthy era, and the National Lawyers Guild net...

Margarette Eby was murdered in 1986 . In an investigation led by Genesee County (MI) Prosecutor Arthur Busch and the Michigan State Police, two cold case rape-murders were solved using the most advance forensic science available. Key details regarding the case: Date: She was found on November 9, 1986, having last been seen on November 7, 1986. Location: She was murdered in her home at the Mott family estate in Flint, Michigan. Perpetrator: Jeffrey Gorton, a sprinkler system installer who worked ...

In this re-edited Radio Free Flint interview, Flint Southwestern graduate Sgt. Phillip Wise recounts surviving the 1975 Operation Babylift crash—one of the most devastating aviation disasters of the Vietnam War.Fifteen minutes after takeoff from Saigon, the rear cargo doors of a C-5A Galaxy failed. The aircraft decompressed. Hydraulics were crippled. The crew fought to return to Tan Son Nhut before crash-landing in rice fields outside the city.

Jeff Natchez went from Flint sandlots to a Detroit Tigers draft pick, riding rookie-ball buses under a young Jim Leyland and sharing fields with future MLB stars. In this remastered conversation, he reflects on the hard fork between college and pro ball, the lessons of the minors, and his reinvention as an optometrist.A Flint story about grit, mentorship, and coming home.

In this Radio Free Michigan interview, Arthur Busch revisits Joe’s early days in Flint and his viral song Flint, Michigan recorded with his 90-year-old grandmother to trace his path from local talent to Hollywood composer. Ryan reflects on evolving recording tech, creative independence, and what it means to represent Flint’s spirit in a global industry.

Do federal officials enjoy absolute immunity from state criminal prosecution? Arthur Busch dismantles the myth of “absolute immunity” for federal agents and explains how state and county prosecutors can and sometimes must bring criminal charges against ICE officers involved in fatal shootings.

The episode looks at what happened to the Bill of Rights under pressure. It discusses how guarantees of counsel, bail, due process, and protection from unreasonable searches were narrowed by exception, doctrine, and rhetoric. The Constitution remained on the page, but its reach shrank in practice.

Flint on the Brink is a clear-eyed examination of an American rust-belt city struggling to decide who controls its future. In this episode, former Michigan prosecutor and legal educator Arthur Busch reads and expands on his essay Flint on the Brink: How Broken Systems, Billion-Dollar “Saviors,” and Flint-First Leadership Are Fighting for the City’s Future . The episode explores how decades of economic decline, segregation, and institutional failure have weakened Flint’s economy and its ability t...

When water systems fail, the damage is not the same for everyone. In Flint, the deepest harm lives in children’s brains. In other cities, the damage is buried in pipes, mains, and hydrants. In this episode, Arthur Busch examines what really gets damaged when public water systems fail—and why the law treats those harms very differently. The episode opens in Flint, Michigan, with the story of Lee Anne Walters and her twin sons, who lost developmental skills after drinking lead-contaminated tap wat...

I Left My Blue-Collar Hometown On A Schwinn And Learned How The "Other Half" Actually Lives Have you ever felt that crushing pressure to leave home just to "figure out your future"? 🤔 In this episode, I’m looking back at 1970, when I ditched the factory smoke of Flint, Michigan, for a 2,000-mile cross-country bicycle odyssey that changed everything . Expect to hear about: Why riding at dawn in the Mojave Desert is basically a 110-degree survival horror movie. 🐍 The "poor man's air conditioner" t...

This is a short excerpt from an upcoming episode of Flint Justice . In this preview, Arthur Busch explores the real Michigan homicide case that inspired Anatomy of a Murder and the lawyer behind it, John D. Voelker—prosecutor, defense attorney, Supreme Court justice, and writer. The full episode examines what this case still teaches us about jury trials, reasonable doubt, and the uneasy line between truth and proof. Full episode coming soon. "Photography by Jim Hansen, LOOK Magazine Photograph C...

In 1952, a saloon killing in a small Upper Peninsula town became one of the most important—and controversial—criminal trials in Michigan history. The lawyer who defended the accused was John D. Voelker: former county prosecutor, defense attorney, future Michigan Supreme Court justice, and a gifted writer who would later publish the landmark legal novel Anatomy of a Murder under the pen name Robert Traver. In this episode of Flint Justice , Arthur Busch examines: the real Big Bay homicide that in...