On Friday, my son and his Young 5s class witnessed the groundbreaking for the new Mitchell Elementary School. He was pretty excited about the big machines; I am pretty excited about the whole darned thing.

I know the families and communities around some of the other schools due for new buildings have serious, legitimate concerns about the environmental and logistical aspects of constructing new schools next to ones that are still in session. But I must say, as part of a heavily diverse, largely low-income Mitchell community accustomed to being ignored and under-resourced, seeing our school lead off the project is quite gratifying.

I watch the excavated dirt (already!) piling up on the other side of the tall blue cordon by the parking lot, it is impossible not to think, “Wow, this is really happening. They’re really doing this for us. We matter.” It feels especially empowering, actually, to have these kids come to school every day over the coming years observing steady progress toward a new educational palace just for them. Yes, there will be noise and traffic. And then there will be a beautiful new school.

The news is here. The national immigration crackdown and federal funding cutbacks continue to pummel the community, there’s a confirmed case of the mumps, and litigation around a fired U-M coach’s alleged cybersnooping grows. So I appreciate having some upbeat stories about libraries and books here, too.

– Steve Friess, editor 

Correction: In last week’s a2view, I misgendered Jaeden Brown, who hosted a fundraiser for research into CTE in honor of one-time U-M football captain and NFL veteran Corwin Brown. She is Corwin Brown’s daughter, not his son. My apologies to the Brown family.

County served with immigration enforcement subpoena: Washtenaw County Commission chair Katie Scott wrote in a statement that they are “reviewing the materials and taking time to understand the County’s legal options.” The Department of Homeland Security is demanding access to I-9 forms, also known as Employment Eligibility Verification, that are collected for all employees. At last night’s meeting, the commission went into closed session to discuss legal options and then voted unanimously to direct their attorney to respond to the subpoena but they did not disclose what the response would say, MLive reports. Earlier at the meeting, several members of the public urged the commission to fight the subpoena.

Two EMU students lose visas: One is from India, another from China, MLive reports (paywall). As has been the case for other international students who have lost their visas or permanent-resident green cards, the Department of Homeland Security provided no explanation for the decisions. Inside Higher Ed says more than 1,400 international students and recent graduates have had their visas revoked at at least 210 colleges and universities as of this morning. In a related development, the ACLU of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit to block the revocation of visas of two U-M and two Wayne State students, contending that they have no criminal records and did not participate in any campus protests.

Fear, confusion grip A2, U-M amid immigration crackdown: With uncertainty about what ICE can do and the university attempting to remove a “target on its back” by canceling some academic activities, Davi Napoleon reports in this month’s Observer about the widespread apprehension and frustration emerging from the Trump administration’s deportation campaigns. Jewish Family Services, the only immigrant resettlement operation in the county, laid off staff after losing $4.7 million in federal funding and is scrambling to raise money to tend to the needs of its most recently arrived clients; a consortium of Jewish groups opposes using “combatting antisemitism … to justify actions that deny others their civil rights”; and county prosecutor Eli Savit worries that the threat of deportation will keep people from reporting crimes or providing evidence.

Current LEAD Scholars to receive funding through graduation: The U-M Alumni Association had announced last month it will halt the program aimed at helping students of color afford college after the current semester. This week that plan was altered, the Michigan Daily reports, with current recipients being told via email they would not be cut off. The association’s website says it will work with the students to find other sources of funding. 

Black graduates ponder next steps after Michigan’s DEI retreat: The U-M Black Alumni Association is hosting a series of Zoom town halls called “A Time Such As This” to “discuss meaningful strategies to help students navigate this increasingly complex and challenging cultural revolution they are experiencing,” according to the group’s Facebook page. Elsewhere on social media, Black alums are posting about how they’re expressing their anger, including by refusing U-M fundraising appeals.

U-M report shows consumer confidence plummeted in April: The monthly survey found the public is more pessimistic about the country’s economic outlook than at any time since 1952 except at the height of the pandemic, CNN reports. A chief cause of the downcast view is volatility and anticipated inflation brought on by the Trump administration’s trade wars, experts say.

City road safety projects hit federal hurdle: Mayor Christopher Taylor said at council’s April 7 meeting that they’ve issued a stop-work order for a number of crucial street projects, including buffered bike lanes and hardened centerlines “all over the city, up to twelve miles, on our various corridors,” MLive reports (paywall). The holdup is an unexplained delay in an environmental approvals that must be issued before work can begin.

Westgate area to get $3M roadwork project: The work on the west side begins next month and includes some 2,500 feet of water-main replacements and upsizing, MLive reports. Construction will take place at the entrances of the shopping center as well as in the parking lot, according to the project page. City engineers aim to have it finished by September.

A2 to host three open houses on new comprehensive plan: The first is next Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Westgate Library, where the public can ask questions and give feedback on a draft that the planning commission and council are expected to finalize by May. The sixty-eight-page plan, which sketches out Ann Arbor’s land-use future over the coming quarter-century, includes a variety of efforts to encourage denser, sustainable, transit-friendly, and affordable residential and mixed-use development. The second open house is set for April 30 from 3 to 7 p.m. at Mallets Creek Library, and the third is from 3 to 7 p.m. on May 7 at Traverwood Library, according to a press release.

Campaign begins for AADL ballot measures: Voters will be asked on Aug. 5 to approve Proposals A and B which, together, would enable the city to sell air rights over the city-owned Library Lane parking structure to AADL so it can build a new mixed-use high-rise including new library, housing, and an urban park. Mayor Taylor emailed followers of his political action committee on Monday inviting them to a fundraiser last night for Supporters of the Downtown Library.

Pioneer High alum joins Katy Perry in space: Former NASA aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, who went on to attend WCC and earn two degrees from the U-M, flew on Monday’s much-ballyhooed eleven-minute rocket ride to low Earth orbit this week with an all-female manifest, WEMU reports. The crew, which also included CBS News personality Gayle King, rode on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin NS-31 mission on Monday. Bowe is founder of the engineering firm STEMBoard and education technology company LINGO. In 2021, she told Hour Detroit her Pioneer guidance counselor told her to stick to cosmetology but she reached for the cosmos instead.

Two dead in road crashes: A sixty-four-year-old Livonia man was killed Tuesday after being hit by a car while reconnecting the trailers of his gravel hauler near Pauline Blvd. and Hutchins Ave., the AAPD wrote on Facebook. That followed a single-car crash at Leforge and W. Clark roads in Superior Twp. early Friday in which the driver died and a passenger was injured, MLive reports.

Dozens added to class-action lawsuit against U-M in hacking case: A lead plaintiff, former Grambling State softball player McKenzie Johnson, held a press conference this week expressing alarm at the prospect that former Wolverines football assistant coach Matt Weiss may have collected private photos and videos of her, WXYZ reports. Weiss, a coach for U-M from 2021 to 2023, is charged with twenty-four felony counts related to illegally gaining access to more than 3,000 women’s email, social media, and cloud storage accounts and downloading intimate pictures and videos. A U-M spokesperson told the outlet Weiss’s alleged actions took place from 2015 to January 2023 and that “upon learning of potentially concerning activity in its systems, the university promptly placed Mr. Weiss on leave, forwarded this matter to law enforcement authorities and moved forward with Mr. Weiss’ termination on January 21, 2023.”

First mumps case since 2018 reported in county: A Washtenaw County Health Department spokesperson tells WEMU that it’s likely a second reported case will be confirmed, too, but there doesn’t appear to be a widespread outbreak. Mumps is a vaccine-preventable illness and a component of the MMR shot, which the health district offers free on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and on Fridays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a walk-in basis at 555 Towner in Ypsi. The shot also prevents measles; while there haven’t been any reported cases in Washtenaw County, the nation is seeing a six-year high in cases including a baby in the Lansing area, WLNS reports.

Ypsi weighs $1,500 payouts to pregnant women: The RxKids program, which already operates in Flint, Kalamazoo, and the eastern Upper Peninsula, would also include $500 a month stipends for six to twelve months after birth, MLive reports. It could cost an estimated $1.2 million a year based on an average of 200 babies born annually to parents living in Ypsi. Council approved $100,000 in seed funding in hopes of attracting private donors to support the concept. 

More residents of Arbor One Apartments told to vacate: The county deemed the eighteen-building complex in Ypsi “unfit for human habitation” in February, but it wasn’t until last week that nearly every unit was tagged with notices to leave, MLive reports (paywall). The condemnation notices cite mold, unsecured doors, leaking plumbing, and missing smoke detectors among other violations.

Ypsi’s downtown library reopens at last: The branch had been closed since a catastrophic flood in August 2023; its reopening had been delayed several times because of construction and permit-related issues. On Wednesday, when a2view visited, the sleek, modernized space was buzzing with activity, although a fussy front door doesn’t quite close properly and some blue painter’s tape still abounds. The classic-revival building was built in 1915 as the city’s post office.

Neighborhoods debate pickleball racket in parks: The fast-growing sport apparently brings with it a surprising level of noise – the ball hitting the paddle can be 25 decibels louder than the hardest-swung tennis smash, Tim Athan writes in this month’s Observer. That’s why residents near Hunt Park in Water Hill complained when someone drew unauthorized lines on the tennis courts and began playing regularly. Those lines are gone and the parks department plans some “public engagement for additional pickleball opportunities” this spring.

Trump shouts out Michigan, Vance bobbles trophy at OSU White House visit: The president congratulated the Buckeyes on their national championship in football but needled them about their loss in The Game to the Wolverines, Sports Illustrated reports. Then, during a photo op, the trophy came apart from its base as it was handled by Vance, the vice president and an OSU alum.

Women’s tennis, men’s gymnastics clinch Big Ten titles: U-M’s tennis squad thumped Washington at home on Sunday and Ohio State on Wednesday to extend the team’s win streak to fourteen matchups, MGoBlue writes. Ranked fifth nationally, the Wolverines close out the regular season at home against Michigan State on Saturday. The gymnastics team, led by Olympic medalists Fred Richard and Paul Juda, took the program’s fifth straight Big Ten title this month, too. Meanwhile, the men’s lacrosse team faces Ohio State on Saturday at home for the Big Ten title. 

WCSX to be U-M Athletics official radio home: Beasley Media Group, owner of the Detroit-based station at 94.7 FM, announced a deal to broadcast all football, men’s basketball, and ice hockey games beginning with the 2025 football season. The conglomerate’s sister station, WMGC at 105.1 FM, will carry select women’s basketball regular-season games, MGoBlue writes. Previously, football aired on Audacy’s WXYT at 97.1 FM and WWJ (950 AM), men’s basketball was on WWJ, and hockey was WXYT at 1270 AM.

Burns Park Elementary to celebrate centennial with bronze bell: The school will host a party on April 25 that will feature jazz, a scale model of the school rendered in cake by Zingerman’s Bakehouse, and a speech by its oldest living alumni, eighty-nine-year-old Mort Hirshman, according to an emailed press release. As part of the festivities, the PTO will unveil the Centennial Bell, which dates back to 1900 and was used by logging trains. It has been rebuilt by Ann Arbor’s Hosford & Co.

Chelsea “books brigade” capture national attention: Video of some 300 supporters helping Serendipity Books relocate its 9,100 books around the corner on Saturday to a new home at 119 Main St. drew attention from the Associated Press, New York Post, NBC News, and other media. The store plans to reopen on April 26 – Independent Bookstore Day.

Downtown breakfast spot opens to-go site: The Hen owner Chris Fronimos has added a location at 1906 Packard St. called The Hen On The Fly to exclusively serve carryout customers, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. Fronimos also has changed the main eatery’s name from The Stray Hen, which he used when he opened in 2021 to differentiate from the other Hen restaurant he co-owned in Chicago; he says he’s feeling more at home in Ann Arbor now.

BBQ restaurant reopens with craft cocktails: Bitter Truth Cocktails & BBQ has replaced Red Rock BBQ in downtown Ypsi with an upscale lounge, MLive reports. Owner Shawn Cool says he did the interior renovations himself, building the new bar, shaping 9,500 feet of molding into custom wainscoting, and selecting new furniture and fixtures with the help of his wife.

Hardcore workout to honor fallen Marine on Sunday: The Travis Manion Foundation, named for a first lieutenant who died in combat in Iraq in 2007, is hosting a fundraiser in Burns Park in which participants pay $40 to run 400 meters and do twenty-nine back squats for seven rounds. The nonprofit provides support to the families of fallen veterans. To sign up, click here.

Tickets on sale for B2B Trail fundraiser: The Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative will hold a Maps and Taps event on May 1 at HOMES Brewery Campus; the evening of drinks and games will benefit the completion of the B2B Trail connection into downtown Dexter. Tickets are $40 and include two drinks, and all donations are matched by an anonymous benefactor. Click here for more information.

“Hell’s Kitchen” contestant cooks for JFS: Chef Jared Bobkin, who has appeared on the Fox show twice, will serve a three-course meal with wine pairings on April 29 inside the food pantry at the Jewish Family Services headquarters on Packard. Tickets, which are $150 per person or $1,000 for a table of six, can be purchased here. Proceeds benefit the food pantry.

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: At the “Found Footage Festival: 20th Anniversary Show,” catch a compilation of strange, outrageous, hilarious, possibly offensive, and profoundly stupid videos – the latest in the popular series by the directors of the award-winning documentary Dirty Country. Age 18 and up. Doors at 7 p.m. 8 p.m., Blind Pig, 208 S. First St. Tickets $15 in advance at blindpigmusic.com/calendar or (if available) at the door.

Saturday: See Theatre Nova’s “Eclipsed: The Sun, the Moon, and Gladys Atkinson Sweet,” the premiere of D.L. Patrick’s drama about Sweet, who, along with ten other Black activists, was arrested, tried, and defended by Clarence Darrow in a murder trial following an attack on her Detroit home by more than 700 white neighbors in 1925. Through May 11; 8 p.m. (Fri. and Sat.), 3 p.m. (Sat.), and 2 p.m. (Sun.). Theatre Nova, 410 W. Huron St. Tickets $30 (age 65+, $25; students, $15) at theatrenova.org or at the door. 

Easter Sunday: Catch an “Easter Day Concert” at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, where the Adult Choir and Chamber Orchestra perform Haydn’s Missa Brevis in F. An Easter service follows. 7:40 and 10:05 a.m., St. Andrew’s, 306 N. Division. Free. (734) 663–0518.

See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events. 

Tell a friend about a2view

For Sponsorship and Advertising information 
Email:  [email protected]

Did this email get forwarded to you? 
Sign up to receive a2view direct to your inbox.