The theme this week is hidden treasure. I took my son over to the downtown library on Wednesday to kill some late-afternoon time and check out the neat exhibit of the Observer’s decades chronicling Ann Arbor that graces several walls of the second floor. It’s one thing to know that this publication has been here a long time and done a wonderful job of recording news and history; it’s another to walk around and fall into the 500 pages chosen for this display.

In an era when many of us rarely even touch printed newspapers anymore, it is a reminder of its power to evoke emotion and comfort in ways electrons on screens don’t. I strongly recommend a stop before it leaves the library in September, although it might be a better experience without a rambunctious four-year-old who just wanted to run up and down the steps.

But there’s more treasure awaiting you in this collection of electrons below! Specifically, the coolest story of the week – that of the U-M archaeologist whose team found ancient gold coins stored in a small pot in western Turkey. Turns out, hiding valuables in the flour canister may have historical lineage! 

There’s plenty more treasure here and, happily, nothing bloody or violent. Do dig in as summertime wanes.

– Steve Friess, editor

Pittsfield Twp. sues to halt airport expansion: A citizens group known as the Committee for Preserving Community Quality joined the township in the lawsuit against MDOT and the City of Ann Arbor over lengthening the primary runways at Ann Arbor Airport, MLive reports. The plaintiffs claim MDOT illegally approved an environmental assessment allowing the project to move forward and Ann Arbor misused federal grant funds for assessment work. They argue that the expansion is unsafe and will harm surrounding neighborhoods.

Blighted buildings to be razed: Council OK’d a $1.4 million contract with 21st Century Salvage to knock down buildings at the former city service yards at 415 W. Washington St. and 721 N. Main St., a picnic shelter at Veterans Memorial Park, and the Farmers Market office at 315 Detroit St., according to city records. The work begins in September with the demolition of the hulking eyesore across from the Ann Arbor YMCA where the city is in negotiations with developer 4M to build a housing complex.

New streetlights coming despite opposition: Dark-sky advocates urged the city to use dimmer LED bulbs for neighborhood streets to reduce light “trespassing,” but council voted unanimously to move ahead with 58-watt LEDs for all of the 4,000 fixtures it plans to convert, according to city records. City staff said the cost and staff requirements to manage two different wattages was untenable, but the fixtures will have shielding to reduce light on private property. The effort will cost $1.25 million, most of which is coming from a $980,000 grant from the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. The conversion is expected to save the city over $300,000 per year on its electric bill.

Inflation bites at the farmers market: A quart of sweet cherries or blueberries from Kapnick Orchards now costs $10, up $1 from last season, co-owner Scott Robertello tells Micheline Maynard in this month’s Observer. Greenhouse owner Cheryl Wagner, who specializes in bedding plants and perennials, says growers are seeing increased costs for “our soil, our containers, our seed prices, our seedling prices, fuel, and electricity.” But Robertello understands shoppers’ pain:, “I don’t think people’s buying power has increased at all.”

U-M move-in prompts traffic, parking changes: Several streets around Central Campus will be turned into one-way roads and parking meters will be bagged as tens of thousands of students and their families flock to town in advance of the new semester. Check out the list of changes, which run from Wednesday, Aug. 21, to Sunday, Aug. 25, here. 

Two road closures, three reopenings: The shutdowns are Stony Creek Rd. at Paint Creek, between Textile and Whittaker roads, which closes Friday until late October to replace a failing fifty-seven-year-old bridge, and Scio Church Rd. between Zeeb and Wagner, which closes during the day starting Monday for five days for resurfacing, according to the county. On the reopening side, a new roundabout at Whittaker and Willis roads will open next week after the intersection was closed for more than ten weeks. Also, Huron River Dr. between N. Maple Rd. and N. Main St., is due to reopen tonight after a one-month closure to replace a culvert and Monroe St. between State St. and Tappan Ave. was scheduled to reopen yesterday after a three-week closure for gas main work, the city says.

Wolverines close out Olympics with nine medals: Former water polo student-athlete Abby Andrews won silver as part of Australia’s team, according to MGoBlue. Community High grad Hobbs Kessler failed to advance past the semifinals of the 800-meter and left Paris without medaling.

Museum of Natural History hires new director: Lucie Howell arrives at UMMNH after seven years as chief learning officer at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, the University Record writes. Before that, she was the STEM director at Teach for America, director of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Center for STEM Teaching and Learning at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, and the academic program officer at the U-M College of Engineering’s Center for Engineering Diversity and Outreach Pipeline Development.

Library exhibit traces A2 history through Observer archive: The presentation on the second floor of at the downtown branch includes 500 pages from our magazine from 1976 to 2022 that AADL director Eli Neiburger says speak to events and trends of their times, Debbie Merion writes in (where else!) the Observer. Though many of the older pages have yellowed with age, the content seems quite contemporary, Neiburger says. “We are still talking about many issues discussed in that first issue,” including growth and development, parking, and Black history. The pages displayed are a fraction of the 65,000 Observer pages digitized by the library to commemorate the city’s bicentennial. They’ll be on display through September 15, and the entire archive is online at aadl.org/annarborobserver.

Four Pro-Palestinian protesters plead to misdemeanors: Timothy Marvin, twenty-three, Ian Beck, twenty-two, Edward Trager, sixty, and Gabriel Vieira, twenty-five, are pleading guilty to attempted resisting and obstructing officers in exchange for dropping felony charges stemming from a sit-in at U-M’s Ruthven Building in November, MLive reports (paywall). They’ll be sentenced next month and face a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail. Forty people were arrested at the Nov. 17 protest against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, but prosecutors only pursued charges against these four men whom they say engaged in “assaultive behavior.”

Man charged with breaking into four businesses: Sixty-three-year-old Frank Henry Green is accused of five incidents of breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony between July 18 and July 29 including Zingerman’s Roadhouse and, on two occasions, the Dairy Queen on W. Stadium Blvd., MLive reports (paywall). Police say he took money from the DQ register on one of those break-ins but did not mention anything taken in the other incidents.

Cedric Simpson goes viral again as defendant curses: The district court judge was startled when, after adjourning a case of misdemeanor trespassing, defendant Darrell Jarrell declared, “You guys can kiss my ass,” Fox 2 reports. When Simpson began to react, Jarrell repeatedly used the f-word. Simpson charged him with six counts of contempt of court, each carrying a potential three-month sentence. Jarrell was unhappy that Simpson had set a September trial date; he wanted the matter resolved sooner. The story went viral, making it the second time this year the judge was at the center of a national sensation; in May, his nonplussed reaction to a man with a suspended license appearing in a Zoom hearing while driving became a social media hit, too.

Assessor lets Santa Ono keep property tax break: The U-M president bought a home in West Bloomfield, where he lived for the first year of his tenure because the President’s House was undergoing a $11.5 million renovation, the Detroit News reports. Ono has declared the house as his primary residence even though he now lives at the Ann Arbor mansion, and the city assessor has ruled that this is a permissible maneuver. The designation saves Ono about $3,800 on taxes for Walled Lake Consolidated Schools.

City expects $94,000 from Kroger in opioid settlement: Council accepted its share of a $1.4 billion national settlement that ends litigation accusing the grocery and pharmacy chain of negligence in dispensing addictive medications, according to city records. Ann Arbor is receiving money from CVS, Walgreens and Walmart as well; the funds are targeted to mitigate the effects of the opioid epidemic.

Anti-scalping effort draws $2.5M federal lawsuit from ticket broker: Michigan Athletics’ decision to implement a ban on buying tickets solely for resale blocked some prolific secondary market vendors from buying, MLive reports. Kevin Brick of Maxim Tickets, Inc. asserts the changes constitute “unfair, unconscionable, and deceptive business practices” in violation of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. 

Harbaugh declines offer to be honorary co-captain for opening game: The controversial former head coach says his new job as coach of the Los Angeles Chargers will keep him too busy to pop over to Ann Arbor on Aug. 31 game against Fresno State, ESPN reports. The team will celebrate U-M’s national championship at the Big House that day; Harbaugh’s parents will be on hand in his stead.

“Farts” tagger says he’s making a documentary: Ryan Meade acknowledged to MLive that he’s the one who has been writing that word hundreds of times over other work in Graffiti Alley. He describes himself as a filmmaker and street artist who has been tagging for more than thirty years. He says he had a run-in with soon-to-be-retiring Marquee Arts CEO Russ Collins while writing “Farts” in the alley that prompted him to consider making a movie about it with Collins as his antagonist. Other taggers complained that Meade was defacing their work.

County shortens millage questions for November election: Clerk Larry Kestenbaum says the language was confusing, repetitive, and unnecessarily long, and that putting all of it on the ballot would have required a second page, WEMU reports. Voters will decide four countywide millage questions, including funding for mental health and emergency services, on Nov. 5. Kestenbaum says they will leave out an introductory paragraph on each question.

Park basketball courts design selected: The entry by artists Amanda Humphrey and Joe Trumpey, which depicts a colorful and abstract Huron River, green burr oak trees, and a bold city skyline, garnered the most votes in the competition to honor the city’s bicentennial, ClickOnDetroit reports. The design will be painted onto the courts at Bicentennial Park and Leslie Park. Anyone who’d like to help paint at Bicentennial Park (formerly Southeast Area Park) from Aug. 23 to 25 can volunteer by clicking here.

Vote now on art for downtown signal boxes: Fifteen finalist designs must be whittled down to eleven winners that are expected to adorn the equipment in a competition being hosted by Creative Washtenaw. They range from images of monarch butterflies and sunflowers to various permutations of the Huron River. Vote here. The project is a partnership between Lucie & Larry Nisson, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, and the City of Ann Arbor Public Art Commission.

U-M archeologist’s team finds cache of ancient gold coins: Christopher Ratté, professor of classical studies, and other researchers unearthed the treasure buried in a small pot in western Turkey in an ancient Greek city, the Record writes. The coins, which Ratté says date back to the fifth century B.C., show a figure of a kneeling archer, the characteristic design of the Persian daric, a gold coin issued by the Persian Empire and probably minted at Sardis. The coins will remain in Turkey. 

Founders sell Songbird Cafe, opening new venture: Co-owner Jenny Song tells a2view that she and her mother, Youn Song, have divested from the Plymouth Mall restaurant they opened in 2012. The Songs still own the bakery operation of their business and are planning to open a new shop, Two Songs Bakery & Mart, next month at 1958 S. Industrial Hwy. Song says she is not at liberty to disclose the new owners of the restaurant.

Thrift store that employs people with disabilities opens second location: Nu2U Again, which opened in Saline in 2018, has added an Ann Arbor shop at Carpenter and Packard, Dave Algase reports in this month’s Observer. The original store employs nearly fifty people, about half of whom have disabilities. The nonprofit finds employees through partnerships with Saline Area Schools and the Eisenhower Center, and they plan to make similar alliances in Ann Arbor and Ypsi, according to vice president Allison Bradley.

Marshalls relocating at Arborland: The discount apparel and sundries shop is shuffling a few buildings down at the shopping plaza on Washtenaw by US-23, with a grand opening set for next Thursday, the company says. To mark the occasion, the old location is selling off its inventory at discounts and the company says it will donate $10,000 to the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, according to a press release.

Comerica Park event raises $2,500 for EMU Student Emergency Fund: More than 500 alums, students. and employees turned out to see the Kansas City Royals thump the Detroit Tigers, EMU Today writes. The team donated $5 of every ticket to the fund, and participants received a pullover with Tigers and EMU logos on it. The Eagles’ mascot, Swoop, danced for the crowd during the seventh inning stretch.

“Repairsday” offers free help fixing broken items: Every Thursday, members of All Hands Active hang out in the basement of 255 E. Liberty Suite 225 from 6 to 8 p.m. to try to repair or repurpose electronics, furniture, toys, and other things brought in by the public The tinkerers in the organization can’t promise they’ll succeed in fixing things, but they’ll try. The sessions are livestreamed here. 

Final week for Stuff-a-Bus campaign: The nonprofit Western Washtenaw’s Value Express is collecting school supplies at any Chelsea State Bank branch to distribute to needy kids at schools in Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Grass Lake, Stockbridge, and Pinkney, according to a press release. Needs include pens and crayons, lunch boxes, binders, and water bottles. 

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: Visit the “12th Annual Paint Dexter Plein Air Festival,” a two-day exhibit and sale of works created by local and visiting artists who have been painting outdoors throughout Dexter since Aug. 12. Also, art workshops for kids and adults. Today, spectators are welcome at a “Quick Draw Competition” (9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.). Also, an art sale (2 to 9 p.m.), and a meet-the-artists beer and wine reception (2 p.m.). 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Fri.) and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Sat.), Monument Park, Dexter. Free admission. paintdexter@gmail.com, (734) 580–2229.

Saturday: See local actors in Brevity Shakespeare’s 75-minute production of the Bard’s high-spirited farce “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” 8 p.m. (Fri. & Sat. and Aug. 23 and 24) and 2 p.m. (Sun. and Aug. 25), the Mix Studio, 332 Harriet, Ypsi. Tickets $15 (students and seniors, $10). Limited capacity; reservations recommended. 

Sunday: Pick up some native Michigan seedlings grown by the Matthaei horticulture team at U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens’ Native Plant Sale. 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Sat.) & 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Sun.) U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N. Dixboro Rd. Free admission; metered parking. (734) 647–7600.

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

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