I’m always excited first and then disappointed by time-capsule stories. We have one this week, and it’s as big a bust as they always are. Our forebears really overvalued the minutiae of their day, didn’t they? The 101-year-old one unearthed at St. Mary’s had coins, a newspaper, and rosaries. Interesting material, sure, but not unexpected.

I get that most people in 1924 couldn’t have conceived of television, much less the internet’s ability to let us see all of those ancient things without cracking open a musty old box. This weekend, the St. Mary’s folks bury another one and surely the contents are already decided. But if anyone’s planning to do one down the line, consider something more creative. Perhaps, say, have school kids write essays and draw pictures that imagine the world as it might be in the year the box is to be opened. Or have them describe what they see as our biggest current challenges so they know what was on our minds now.

What is often missing in these endeavors is a conversation between the past and the future. It’s always, “Here’s some of our stuff. It’s really old now, isn’t that neat?” The future already knows what happened in the past; it’s how the people of the past felt about their world – the anxiety, hope, anger, grief, confusion, excitement, curiosity – that the future will find of interest and possibly even useful.

No need to wait a century for this week’s news. It’s all here. Have a great week.

– Steve Friess, editor

U-M shuts down DEI: A public letter from president Santa Ono announced that “the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion will close. … The DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan, the umbrella strategy for schools, colleges and units, will be discontinued.” The move comes under pressure from the Trump administration and a fear of a loss of federal funding, and a range of student groups took to social media to condemn it. Angry reactions included a letter from the Central Student Government and a joint statement signed by the U-M College Democrats, Michigan Institute for Progressive Policy and ACLU Undergraduate Chapter. In Lansing, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus called the decision “a slap in the face.” The president of College Republicans at the University applauded the move, the Michigan Daily reports. EMU, meanwhile, has no plans to follow suit, WEMU reports.

USDA cuts, freezes create local funding problems: Argus Farm Stop, awarded a $413,480 USDA Local Food Promotion Program grant last year, got a single payment in December before they were frozen, Trilby MacDonald writes in the current issue of the Observer. That left owners Kathy Sample and Bill Brinkerhoff personally responsible for more than $200,000 in unpaid contracts. In another instance, a $24.6 million matching grant to the Legacy Land Conservancy to conserve 4,000 acres of farmland, mostly in Washtenaw County, is on hold. And Food Gatherers counts on the USDA for 15 percent of their annual food distribution—1.5 million pounds of food worth $2.3 million. Executive director Eileen Spring says there’s been no announcement that the program has ended, but orders placed months in advance were canceled.

Bevy of anti-Trump protests draw crowds Saturday: The Washtenaw County Democratic Party held a “Crush the Coup” rally and march downtown; labor unions demonstrated outside the Veterans Administration Medical Center to protest Trump efforts to cancel collective bargaining contracts, according to the Detroit Free Press; and NBC News included Ann Arbor as among the places where folks picketed outside Tesla stores. On Monday, U-M students took to the Diag to protest anti-transgender policies, the Daily writes.

Jewish students, faculty oppose “exploitation of antisemitism”: About 300 U-M employees and 100 students have co-signed letters to Santa Ono urging the rejection of “the Trump administration’s weaponization of antisemitism,” the Daily writes. The signators say the president’s efforts to punish universities financially because of an alleged permissiveness toward anti-Jewish rhetoric is “an effort to harass, expel, arrest, deport, dox, and defame students, faculty, staff, and other academic workers across the country as part of a broader assault on higher education. These actions are a direct threat to the university’s core research and education missions.”

Addiction treatment agencies face dire consequences of funding cuts: Dawn Farm received an order to immediately discontinue any programs funded by the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, the group wrote on Facebook. That affects its Strong Roots program, which currently hosts five families, “and we will not ask them to leave their homes.” Likewise, Home of New Vision took to Facebook to plead for donations after learning it was losing $1.2 million and must lay off twenty staffers. To support Dawn Farm, click here. To support Home of New Vision, click here.

DOGE closes local Fish and Wildlife office: Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” claimed that canceling its lease will save the federal government $336,220, MLive reports. On Facebook, Ann Arbor state representative Jason Morgan called the move “a direct attack on local conservation and environmental protections. This isn’t some distant political game; it’s the Trump/Musk administration agenda dismantling protections for our Huron River, our parks, and the wildlife we cherish.” It doesn’t even appear that the cancellation will save money: the agency’s landlord on Green Rd. is another federal agency, the U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Center. 

Ken Burns writes planning commission to urge “moderation”: The legendary documentarian and Ann Arbor native expressed concerns about proposals to permit larger, multifamily buildings in what are now single-family neighborhoods like the one where he grew up in Burns Park, MLive reports (paywall). Burns, now seventy-one, wrote: “Word has reached me that the Planning Commission in Ann Arbor has prepared a draft comprehensive land-use plan that many residents fear will alter the city’s college town landscape too radically. I’ve read that while smart, high-density development is welcome at many locations, the plan’s broad-stroke approach exposes much of old Ann Arbor to tear down and high-rise building catering only to wealthy buyers and high-end renters.” 

West Park bandshell could be razed: The eighty-seven-year-old structure, shut down and fenced off for four years due to foundation problems caused by an underground creek, would be demolished under a proposed redevelopment plan presented to the city’s parks advisory commission last month, MLive reports (paywall). Built in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project, it famously hosted the Grateful Dead in 1967. The commission is expected to consider the plan which includes a new performance space elsewhere in the park, in May.

No felonies for sit-in protesters: The Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office moved to withdraw charges of resisting and obstructing police against sixty-one-year-old Edward Trager and twenty-six-year-old Gabriel Vieira, MLive reports. Trager and Vieira, who participated in a November 2023 sit-in at the Ruthven Building to protest Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, will instead go through the court’s pre-plea diversion program on misdemeanor charges of attempted obstruction. Two other defendants who previously pleaded guilty to the same misdemeanor “were sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which allows defendants between the ages of 18 and 26 a chance to clear their record for first-time criminal offenses.”

U-M run in March Madness ends: The No. 5-seeded Wolverines were no match for No. 1-seeded Auburn, falling 78-65 on Friday, Sports Illustrated reports. U-M had a nine-point lead early in the second half but then “the Wolverines began committing fouls and unforced turnovers, and Auburn stormed back.”

Chelsea councilmember apologizes for “Heil Hitler” snark: Bill Ruddock, faced on March 17 with a citizen complaining about the city’s decision not to help the Trump administration enforce its immigration policies, began his reply by sarcastically muttering the Nazi slogan, the Sun Times News reports. At this week’s meeting, Ruddock apologized, saying: “My intention was never to diminish the gravity of history, or the profound suffering caused by hateful ideologies. Rather, it was a spontaneous reaction to rhetoric designed to bully and intimidate this council into abandoning its values.”

Road salt runoff stresses urban waterways: The busy, snowy winter required crews to lay down 4,057 tons of salt in the city alone, Brooke Black reports in this month’s Observer. That’s up 656 tons from the winter of 2023-24, and some of it ends up in storm sewers and the Huron River tributaries they feed. Huron River Watershed Council water quality specialist Kelly McCabe says Malletts, Millers, Honey, Traver, and Allen creeks and Swift Run all have higher-than-healthy levels of chloride; the Huron River, the source of most of Ann Arbor’s drinking water, has “acceptable chloride levels.”

Curbside compost collection resumes Monday: Residents can participate by using compost carts, paper yard bags – up 10 bags at a time, each weighing less than 50 pounds – or bundling larger branches/brush for pickup, the city says. These materials can also be dropped off, up to one cubic yard per day, at the Ann Arbor compost facility for free. Single-family residential properties can receive a free 64- or 96-gallon compost cart by calling (734) 994-7336 or emailing [email protected].

U-M switches to virtual parking permits: Physical permits will no longer be valid as of July, when motorists will need to have registered their license plates, the University Record writes. The university says the new system offers “more flexibility” and “greater convenience.” Online registration for virtual permits opens May 1.

“Be kind to snakes,” MBGNA urges: The Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum posted that on Facebook after discovering a dead eastern massasauga. The reptile, Michigan’s only venomous snake, is a “shy and reclusive” protected species so “harming them isn’t just unnecessary, it’s illegal. If you see one, please, give it space, not harm.” As Sarah Royalty Pinkelman reported in the Observer in 2019, the endangered reptile “sits in the middle of nature’s energy transfers. It is predator and prey, and the snake’s removal harms that system. If someone kills a massasauga, they are killing a rodent-eating, blue-heron feeding node in this web.”

101-year-old time capsule unearthed: St. Mary Student Parish members dug it up from beneath the cornerstone foundation at 331 Thompson St. and plan to replace it with a new one this Sunday between Masses, the Daily reports. The one buried in 1924 contained Catholic rosaries, coins, and an April 5, 1924 as well as a copy of the Daily; the new one will contain the April 2, 2025 edition of the paper along with photos of church activities.

Independent pharmacy hosts grand opening today: Nestled between Baskin-Robbins and Little Caesars in the West Stadium Shopping Center is Ann Arbor Drugs, a mom-and-pop shop run by pharmacist Levent Guldal and his wife Stacy, an Ann Arbor native, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer.  Levent came to Ann Arbor to start college but ended up spending fourteen years driving for a beer distributor. He switched occupations after needing the anticoagulant medication warfarin. He became friendly with pharmacist Al Knaak, himself once owner of an indie drugstore, who mentored him into the field.

New coffee shop opens in Ypsi: StimuLatte Cafe on Whitaker Rd. is the brainchild of father-and-son co-owners Ziad and Khalid Awwad, the Eastern Echo writes. They offer a 5 percent discount to students and teachers and a 10 percent discount to first responders, healthcare professionals, and military personnel and veterans. Kahlid Awwad, a lifelong Ypsi resident, says he hopes to expand to a second location once this one is established.

Downtown shoe shop changes hands: Fourth Ave Birkenstock is now Fourth Ave Footwear following the sale of the longtime business by Claire and Paul Tinkerhess to Jeanine LeBrell, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. LeBrell, who’s managed the store for three years, says she’ll still sell Birkenstocks but that she could not get permission from the company to use the brand in the new shop’s name.

Ann Arbor Trout Unlimited hosts fundraiser Wednesday: The event, which runs 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Jolly Pumpkin in Dexter, aims to support efforts to conserve, protect, and restore Michigan’s cold-water fisheries and their watersheds. Tickets are $50 which includes dinner; the group is also raffling off an array of prizes including eight guided trips, $500 to spend at Schultz Outfitters in Ypsi, car washes, pet grooming sessions, and more. To buy tickets and see the raffle inventory, click here.

GoFundMe effort raises almost $75K for Paul Whelan: The Michigan businessman, former Marine, and Ann Arbor native, now living with his parents in Manchester, has struggled to rebuild his life after being held in Russia for five years on trumped-up spy charges, according to the crowdfunding campaign. Whelan talked about his challenges on NPR’s All Things Considered last week, saying, “What we found is that once you’re home, you’re actually on your own. You know, the attention turns on the next guy that’s still locked up somewhere abroad.” He was released in August as part of a multinational prisoner swap.

Ele’s Place seeks volunteers for Derby Day Soirée: The nonprofit that provides support for grieving children and teens needs helpers on May 2 and 3 for its Kentucky Derby-watching fundraiser at Revel Run in Chelsea. “We need volunteers for event set up, decor, registration, clean up and more.” To pitch in, click here. 

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: See the town-and-gown U-M Gilbert and Sullivan Society perform H.M.S. Pinafore, a romantic comedy set aboard a British Royal Navy ship. 8 p.m. (Thurs. To Sat.) and 2 p.m. (Sat. and Sun.), Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, Michigan League. Tickets $30 (seniors, $27; students, $15) in advance at the Michigan League Ticket Office or at the door.

Saturday: Hear Legacy, a performance by Lebanese oud master, composer, and singer Marcel Khalife, joined by his son, pianist Rami Khalife, and his nephew, cellist Sary Khalife. 7:30 p.m., Hill Auditorium. Tickets $15 to $92 (students, $17 to $60) in advance at ums.org, by phone, and (if available) at the door. (734) 764–2538. 

Sunday: Join the spring madness of FestiFools, a gigantic daytime public art parade down Main St. featuring magnificent, huge, bizarre papier-mâché puppets that range from animals and fantastical creatures to celebrities. This year’s theme, “Rev-FOOL-ution,” features revolving and revolution-themed puppets. Anyone in costume is invited to join the parade. Festifools is preceded on Friday by FoolMoon (8–11 p.m., downtown), which features illuminated sculptures, a beer tent, live music, and more. 4 to 5 p.m., Main St. between William and Washington. Free.

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

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