There is a story in this newsletter about some children who raised thousands of dollars to buy their school a therapy dog. The point of getting the animal is to provide aid and comfort to children in emotional turmoil or with special needs. These kids didn’t go through all this effort to acquire a schoolyard plaything; they did it to help their peers.

Every time I worry about how my four-year-old with autism will be received by this world, I read something like this, take a deep breath, and think, “It’ll be OK.” This generation, especially in this town, is more aware of, more sensitive to, more tolerant of people’s differences than probably any in history. I spent my childhood in the 1980s being cruelly mocked because I was a little boy wearing gigantic hearing aids; I really doubt that would happen today.

I’m not naive about the very serious bullying problems in our schools and on the Internet. But we should take our victories and our reassurances where we can find them, and I’m taking mine right now in Brick Elementary School and its innovative principal, Cassandra Coker.

The rest of the news is here for you. It’s a relief to be able to say that not only is our sole violence-related story about something (horrible) that happened twenty-five years ago, but there are a surprising amount of feel-good pieces. Enjoy.

As I bottle up some of my perkiness for the next time I’m feeling pessimistic, I wish you a week ahead of sunshine and emotional support puppy kisses.

–Steve Friess, editor

Michigan contends with pro-Palestinian encampment on Diag: Columbia, Yale, University of Minnesota, and several other schools are also struggling with how to balance the free speech rights of student demonstrators while also maintaining order and safety on campus, the Associated Press reports. Leaders of the roughly forty protesters say they won’t budge until U-M divests from companies that they say have ties to the Israeli military, an action the regents have said they will not take, the Michigan Daily reports. According to the AP, many of those at the encampment refused to tell reporters their names and wore masks covering their faces. The Michigan chapter of the Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday shared a photo on social media of a banner at the encampment that reads, “Long Live the Intifada,” referring to previous bloody conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis. “Calls for Intifada aren’t calls for peace,” the Jewish organization wrote.

Lecturers vote to authorize strike: The 1,800 members of the Lecturers’ Employee Organization voted overwhelmingly to give union leaders the ability to call a work stoppage, according to a press release. It’s unclear whether a strike actually will happen, since the union referred in its statement to a “positive response from management.” The University Record writes that U-M has offered raises of 8 percent, 6 percent, 6 percent, and 5 percent over the coming four years for lecturers at the Ann Arbor campus but that the two sides “remain at odds over salary increases for lecturers at UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint.” In other labor news, a group called ResStaff Allied Organization wrote on Instagram that they have filed with U-M to hold a vote on a union for residence hall workers.

City report calls for cutting red tape and buying property to accelerate housing construction: Assistant city administrator John Fournier hopes the Economic Development Plan he submitted to council in December will “stimulate a level of housing development that, over the long term, can help stabilize housing prices and get a handle on our housing affordability issue,” he tells Antonio Cooper in this month’s Observer. The report also recommends making it easier for the city to buy property, with the first priority “looking at options for new affordable housing in TC1,” the new high-density zones recently created along Eisenhower, W. Stadium/Maple, and Plymouth. The city would plan the site’s use, then “move it through the development process and devolve it to a private partner,” he says.

Road work at E. Madison St. runs late: The intersection of E. Madison and S. Fifth Ave., which has been closed since April 17 for utility work related to the relocation of Elbel Field, is now scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, more than 10 days later than planned, according to the city’s road work blog. Thanks to reader Vanessa Clarke for alerting us after we reported the reopening prematurely last week, based on the date on the city’s site. Clarke pointed out that couldn’t be correct, since when she passed it that morning, there was still ”a 10 foot deep hole across the entire intersection with exposed sewage main held in place by ratchet straps and not a worker in sight.” 

More closure updates: Greenview Dr. from Scio Church Rd. to W. Stadium is closing Monday for water main and storm sewer work until Nov. 15; S. Forest Ave. between Hill and Willard streets remains closed until May 3 for utility equipment installation; and Hill St. between S. Fifth and S. State will be shut down until May 18 for repavement and water main work. And E. University Ave. between South University and Willard St. is scheduled to reopen by 7 p.m. Sunday.

AAPS repurposing trees for new construction: The school district is working with Urban Ashes to salvage trees felled in clearing the plot for the new Pathways to Success building on Stone School Rd., Concentrate reports. The work is estimated to save “approximately 1,984 pounds of carbon [emissions] through salvaging and recycling logs that would otherwise have been sent to a wood chipper.” 

Washtenaw’s economic future is upbeat, report says: The county should enjoy better job growth than the state through 2026 thanks largely to its universities, according to a paper issued by U-M’s Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics. Despite “tepid growth of real wages” and a shortage of available housing, the researchers predict the county will end 2026 with 14,000 more working residents than before the pandemic. 

Longtime county treasurer to retire: Catherine McClary, seventy-two, announced she won’t run for an eighth term this year, saying in an emailed statement that it’s “time to turn the job over to another generation.” The Democrat, first elected to the post in 1996, endorsed the only announced Democratic candidate, Latitia Sharp, a fifty-seven-year-old Ypsi native who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for the Democratic nomination for a county commission seat. McClary, who has managed the county’s finances through an era of dramatic growth, started her political career in 1974 when she was elected to the county commission while still a U-M student. At the time, she was considered a renegade; the county clerk made a stink by refusing to include her in her first roll call because McClary had recently bought tickets for a lottery “whose grand prize was a considerable quantity of marijuana,” according a 1975 article in The Ann Arbor News. Sharp has worked in county government for more than thirty years, including as executive assistant to the county administrator and currently as manager of special projects funding for the public defenders’ office.

Ypsi halts issuance of new pot shop licenses: City council unanimously passed an emergency measure last week on concerns that the large number of retail cannabis stores already open are harming the town’s reputation and creating too much competition, according to city records. The sixty-day moratorium came alongside a 4-3 vote to cap the number of licenses at thirteen with a proviso that the cap could fall to as low as ten if a permit holder doesn’t renew or has their license revoked. That measure comes up for a second reading on May 7.

Humane Society of Huron Valley CEO reiterates no-kill philosophy: “You’d have to euthanize me first!” Tanya Hilgendorf tells James Leonard in this month’s Observer as the number of dogs and cats put down in shelters around the U.S. rose 19 percent last year. HSHV saves 97 percent of the animals in its care, with the few euthanasias coming when animals are either “dying or dangerous,” Hilgendorf says. The increase in abandoned pets has stressed some shelters into euthanizing healthy animals, but HSHV has “a pretty fast adoption rate” despite taking in more than 6,500 domestic and wild animals last year. Volunteers who fostered 1,700 dogs and cats helped alleviate space pressure at the Cherry Hill Rd. facility.

Lincoln Consolidated School kids raise $6,000 for puppy: After students at Brick Elementary held bake sales, dances, and other fundraisers to come up with the money to cover the purchase of a dog plus vet bills and insurance, school board trustees approved the purchase of a therapy dog, MLive reports. The dog will be available to calm upset students, help children with special needs, and other tasks under the management of principal Cassandra Coker. Coker will keep the dog in her home and will undergo training to learn how to care and work with the dog.

Child rapist gets parole, faces deportation: John Robert Lee, forty-four, is a Chilean national convicted in 1999 of kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct after he forced a thirteen-year-old girl riding her bike into his truck at gunpoint and took her to a garage to rape her, MLive reports (paywall). Judge Carol Kuhnke ruled last month that she had no cause to overturn the parole board’s decision to release Lee because he had overgone sex offender therapy and had not had any disciplinary issues in prison in seventeen years. Lee, who was nineteen at the time of his sentencing, is expected to be turned over the U.S. Marshals Service in early May. 

Vacant Pizza Hut in Scio Twp. demolished: Driven Brands, the owners of the long-defunct restaurant site at 5630 Jackson Rd. had it knocked down without obtaining permits, according to the county. MLive reports that doing so defied a March court order and is likely to prolong the legal tussle between the government and the owners, a global auto-services company that bought the land for $1.25 million in 2022.

New basketball coach making big splash in recruitment: A month into the job, Dusty May is earning widespread accolades for his success convincing five well-regarded players from other schools to don maize and blue in just five days. The Athletic (paywall) declared U-M “among the early winners” of the recruitment season, a popular YouTuber says May is “dominating the portal,” and the Internet is flooded with memes about him. On the College Hoops Today podcast on Monday, May said that after landing transfer commitments from players at Ohio State, Yale, Auburn, North Texas, and Alabama, his roster is “almost complete.” The former coach at Florida Atlamtic University took over a troubled program with several star players leaving for other schools following Juwan Howard’s firing and one of U-M men’s basketball’s worst-ever seasons.

Two WiHi seniors stunned by $50,000 scholarships: Tess Rosa-Davies and Karishma Mathew, both seventeen, learned they would be receiving Exceptional Learner Scholarships at the honors convocation at Washtenaw International High last week, MLive writes. The money comes from an anonymous $1 million donation to the school in 2016. Mathew plans to pursue a degree in data science at U-M; Rosa-Davies says she’ll study philosophy at University of Washington. 

Ypsilanti Twp., Ann Arbor to study toxic algae blooms: The governments have agreed to share and collect data on the growth of harmful organisms on Ford and Belleville lakes, MLive reports (paywall). The township and the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which discharges treated wastewater into the Huron River, will cooperate on monitoring water quality. 

TheRide to add Washtenaw Express route: The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority launches an Ypsi-A2 line that will run every half-hour weekdays between 6 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. starting May 5 that will have just four stops, according to TheRide’s site. The Washtenaw Express will run from U-M’s Central Campus Transit Center to Washtenaw and Cross St. with stops at Pittsfield Blvd. and Golfside Rd. 

Water plant tours for Drinking Water Week: The city facility at 919 Sunset Rd. is undergoing a multimillion-dollar upgrade to construct a new ultraviolet disinfection system, and the public is invited to free forty-five-minute tours from 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 4. Advance reservations are recommended; to sign up, click here.

A2 YMCA picks new leader from within: The nonprofit’s search for a president and CEO took a turn in March when their pick rescinded his acceptance of the job, but the board said in an announcement that it is pleased to promote chief operating officer James Highsmith to the top post. Highsmith is a thirteen-year veteran of the AA Y. Muffy MacKenzie, who chaired the search committee, said Highsmith’s “collaborative leadership style, depth of knowledge of the community, and his passion and dedication to the Y and its mission are second to none.”

“Candy queen” wants to preserve collection: Sara Taylor Eggleston, sixty, has more than 1,000 novelty sweets in a stash that she began collecting in 1983 with a candy-filled red roller skate, MLive reports. The collection has been in bins in her basement for years, but now she hopes a museum will want it for its historic and pop-culture appeal. Most of her items haven’t been opened and many have the original price tags. Her favorite: A dryer with candy “clothes” that tumble when it is cranked.

Next generation brings Dos Hermanos to Scio Twp.: The sons and nephews of the owners of the Mexican grocery and restaurant in Ypsi have opened the fast-casual eatery Dos Hermanos Express at 25 Jackson Industrial Dr., Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. Owners Alex and Hiram Arreola – whose father Reyes and uncle Nicolas are the eponymous “two brothers” behind the the original Ypsi Dos Hermanos and a newer branch in Westland – bought the defunct Moe’s Grill and More in the plaza across from Sam Hill for their new addition to the family chain. “We were mentally prepared for this. We already knew what we were getting ourselves into,” Alex says. “It’s hard work. It’s short hours of sleep.” 

Raising Cane’s coming to South University high-rise: The fast-growing chicken-fingers chain is expected to become an anchor tenant of Vic Village South, MLive reports. The Louisiana-based restaurant, whose only current Michigan location is in East Lansing, will open this fall with the building, a thirteen-story luxury student high-rise. 

Pretzel Bell to open rooftop patio: The reincarnation of the classic Ann Arbor haunt is set to expand after it landed unanimous approval from the Historic District Commission to renovate the  building, a one-story remnant of the three-story 1860 Mack & Co department store that cut down after an 1899 fire and given an Art Moderne facade in 1939, according to city records. The panel found the plans “would be only nominally visible from across Main St.,” a key requirement for additions atop historic buildings.

KidFest concert to benefit First Steps PTO Scholarship Fund: Local musician Joe Reilly is set to perform his “fabulous family concert” at Leslie Science and Nature Center on May 4 to support reduced-price tuition for the AAPS-based early childhood program. KidFest, which also involves a range of “fun family activities,” runs from 3 to 5 p.m., with the show at 4 p.m. Tickets are $5 for kids two to seventeen, $10 for adults, or $35 for a family of up to eight people, and can be found here. 

Growing Hope expands tool-lending library: The Ypsi nonprofit and urban farm has teamed up with the Washtenaw County Conservation District to offer hand tools and larger farming equipment to local community gardens, hobby farmers, school sites, and more, Concentrate reports. The partnership will enable Growing Hope to expand and better promote the program, which will now have a “larger library space and a more sophisticated lending system.” To learn more, call (734) 786-8401 or email [email protected].

Volunteers needed to rescue abandoned 200-year-old cemetery: The Ypsi chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is hosting a clean-up day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 4 at the Popkin burial ground off Pratt Rd. in Scio Twp., MLive reports. The Popkins were a family of early settlers who bought 160 acres in Scio in 1826. DAR member Denise Frost became interested in the abandoned cemetery when she set out to find the grave of Sylvester Richmond, a native of New York who served as a scout in the Continental Army during the American revolution. The Friends of Popkin Cemetery hope to refurbish the historic resting place by 2026, the nation’s 250th anniversary.

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: See Purple Rose Theatre Company’s production of “The Antichrist Cometh,” the premiere of Livonia playwright David MacGregor’s comedy about a happily married man who discovers that he might be the Antichrist. Wed. to Sun., through May 5. 3 p.m. (Wed. to Sat.), 8 p.m. (Fri. and Sat.), and 2 p.m. (Sun.), Purple Rose Theatre, 137 Park St., Chelsea. Tickets $30 to $48, available at purplerosetheatre.org, by phone at (734) 433–7673, or (if available) at the door.

Saturday: Take in The Regenerate! Orchestra as part of University Musical Society’s Ypsilanti Freighthouse Residency. 7:30 p.m. Sat. and 2 p.m. Sun., Ypsi Freighthouse, 100 Market Pl.. Pay what you wish. Preregistration required at ums.org/season or (734) 764–2538. 

Sunday: Drop off and/or take home used puzzles and board games at Ann Arbor District Library’s Puzzle and Board Game Swap. Only bring items that contain all of their parts. Noon to 2 p.m., AADL Downtown 4th fl. Free. (734) 327–4200. 

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

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