August 21, 2026

Can you guess what’s pictured above? Click the image to find out!

Last week in a2view, I made a huge error. In linking to former city attorney Bruce Laidlaw’s Substack laying out questions surrounding the death of SouthTown codeveloper Margaret Poscher, I misidentified the deceased. Instead of Margaret, I wrote Heidi Poscher, who is her widow. My two editors also missed it, and the mortification has been intense.

Some readers – including three city councilmembers – also wrote to raise concerns about linking to Laidlaw’s post at all. They found it unseemly and sensationalistic to be looking into the circumstances surrounding any suicide and questioned whether the Observer had independently confirmed what Laidlaw wrote.

We respond to that and more here. The TL;DR version: We disagree. We explain our journalistic case. We doubt that will satisfy everyone.

Meanwhile, your news is here. U-M has chosen a new president, DTE is fighting back against the dump-DTE ballot proposal, MLive makes it easy for you to see who is making big bucks from public employment, turns out that skull that was donated to the Goodwill in Chelsea was real after all, and Washtenaw County will ignore that noted public health expert Donald Trump’s nutty vaccine guidance.

This, of course, is last week’s most-clicked link.

– Steve Friess, editor

View of the Week

What’s up, Doc? Credit: Steve Friess

2 Big Things

Courtesy: Vanderbilt University

1

Vanderbilt provost tapped as next U-M president: Pending board approval at a September 1 meeting, C. Cybele Raver (above) is poised to become the university’s seventeenth president on December 1, according to a press release. Raver’s selection comes after a tumultuous four years for U-M that began with the 2022 firing of Mark Schlissel, the briefest-ever presidential tenure of Santa Ono, and the decision by president-elect Kent Syverud in April not to take the job while he battles brain cancer. Domenico Grasso, the former U-M Dearborn chancellor, has presided since May 2025 when Ono abruptly left for the ill-fated pursuit of the presidency of the University of Florida. Bridge Michigan offers this what-to-know about Raver and the challenges she faces ahead. Oh, and for fans of Grey’s Anatomy, yes – she is Kim Raver’s sister.

2

DTE-backed group sues to block ballot question: Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition, a group funded by the utility, is challenging the certification of petitions submitted by Ann Arbor for Public Power to ask voters to take the first step toward replacing DTE with a city-owned power company. City clerk Jacqueline Beaudry certified the petitions earlier this month, but the plaintiff questions the use of supplemental petition sheets and asserts the wording of the proposed charter amendment violates the law requiring single subjects. The case is pending before judge Patrick Conlin.

From the Observer

Faster, Higher, Stranger: With so many new high-rise apartment buildings popping up like bamboo shoots all over the city, Gabriella Saenz hears from all sides of the debate over higher densities and the losses of venerable businesses and neighborhood charm. While residents may understand the need for development in a rapidly growing city like Ann Arbor, they still want to hold on to what they perceive as good about their beloved town. That’s why Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, a longtime resident, noticed a common reaction: “Why are we putting luxury developments in this cute college town?”

Scouts honored: All five of Ann Arbor’s first female BSA Scouts have earned or will earn their Eagle rank by year’s end, a remarkable achievement given that only 7 percent of all scouts do so nationally, Lucy Langerveld reports. “I also think that there’s something particularly special about being the kind of girl that wants to join a group of guys,” says one of the scouts, Maddie Lowen. “You definitely need to have a certain level of commitment and grit.”

A month in home sales: Alex Kourvo writes about about how an additional bathroom helped transform the layout of a 1929 Craftsman on Montgomery that went for $675,000; a home on Lutz that seems to have been sold mid-remodel; and a 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath, 3,437-square-foot home on Wagner Woods that has a three-level deck and borders Botsford Preserve.

Hit These Links

This library closed this week because of a bedbug infestation. Sorry, bookworms.
A judge threw out felony charges against a U-M graduate student stemming from the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests.
That skull dropped off at the Goodwill in Chelsea was, in fact, a human. According to DNA testing, it was a Black woman between twenty and forty-nine, to be both vague and precise at the same time.
Are police close to cracking a fifty-year-old murder?
Federal records show the Department of Homeland Security sent undercover agents to scope out an anti-ICE seminar at Zion Lutheran Church.
Two Washtenaw County bakeries are under investigation for allegedly stealing employee tips.
The Augusta Twp. board will not face recall elections this fall after all.
Ypsilanti Twp. passed a 180-day moratorium on building new electric infrastructure, its latest effort to impede the construction of U-M’s controversial hyperscale computing center.
On that topic, U-M released more details about the September 9 town hall. You’ll need to register to attend.
MLive was busy sorting through public-employee salary data this week. They found 267 City of Ann Arbor city employees, forty-one employees of the Ride, eight city of Ypsilanti employees, eight AADL employees, and over eighty AAPS administrators and division or department heads make more than $100,000 a year.
The Detroit News thinks Washtenaw County prosecutor and Democratic attorney general nominee Eli Savit could lose voters over a decision not to prosecute anyone after a seizure of 500 pounds of black-market pot.
The city has received forty complaints to its hotline about people using gas leaf blowers since they were banned.
County health officials will ignore Donald Trump’s vaccine executive order and will keep on giving the shots the way scientists and doctors have recommended for years.
Check out the first interior photos of U-M’s schnazzy new dorm complex, Wolverine Village.

Marketplace

Five Below opens one, will close another: The youth-oriented value retailer plans to close the location at Maple Village in January now that it has opened a new store in the former Joann Fabrics & Crafts space at Oak Valley Centre, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. There is one other Five Below in the area, at Arborland.

Casey’s branches out: The beloved tavern near Kerrytown has opened Casey’s Tavern East on 2000 Commonwealth Blvd. on the city’s northeast side in the space vacated by Carson’s American Bistro, Concentrate reports. Casey’s Tavern East is significantly bigger than its Depot St. counterpart, with seating for 275 and a much-expanded menu.

Sandbox VR offers immersive playground: The franchisee, Anil Nichenametla, tells Algase in this month’s Observer that he wanted to open the attraction after his children had fun at one in Chicago. He chose Ann Arbor, where the business opened in June, because it’s “a very happening place.” Sandbox VR allows groups of up to six players to engage in immersive virtual reality experiences ranging from family-friendly dinosaur encounters to shooting adventures to corporate team-building exercises.

Helpers

Free school staples Sunday in Dexter: In advance of the start of the school year, Hive Wellness Collective is offering backpacks, water bottles, and supplies on a first-come, first-served basis at Creekside Intermediate School, 2615 Baker. The event runs from noon to 3 p.m. on August 23 and also includes games and prizes.

Dance troupe rehearsal open for fundraiser: The Terpsichore Collective is letting the public watch them practice a new work by artistic director and choreographer Aimee McDonald at the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsi on August 30 for a minimum $20 donation. After the 4:15 p.m. rehearsal, attendees can chat with the dancers and graze on appetizers. The event is also preceded by an open community dance class from 3–4 p.m. taught by Kari Becker. Tickets are available online or, if available, at the door. Proceeds support the troupe.

Tickets available for Rotary’s September 14 event: Golfers can pay $450 to play a round at Barton Hills and receive passes for lunch, a reception, and a dinner for the fundraiser to support the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor. There will be contests on the golf course that offer chances to win a car, cash, or a sixty-five-inch television. Following the dinner, students from U-M’s musical theater program will perform Broadway tunes. RCAA uses the proceeds to pay for scholarships, provide grants to local nonprofits, and more. For more information, click here.

Things To Do

Friday: Take a whirl at Yost Ice Arena for the “Summer Game Skate,” a free open ice skating session at Yost Ice Arena to celebrate the end of this year’s AADL Summer Game.

Saturday: Catch the finale of Eric Coble’s 2009 Southern Rapture—a dark satire exploring art, commerce, and censorship—at Riverside Arts Center.

Sunday: Taste the heirloom tomatoes on offer at Project Grow’s Annual Tomato Tasting at County Farm Park’s pavilion.

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