It’s Super Bowl weekend and the Detroit Lions are not involved. That’s a bummer because we all thought this was our year and, of course, we were all wrong as usual. Still, I have every intention of seeing lions this weekend anyway – the brightly colored ones dancing and shimmying at Briarwood Mall to celebrate the Lunar New Year on Saturday. Not quite the same thing, I know, but the kids will probably be more excited about that than a football game.

Then, on Sunday, I suppose I’ll root for Kansas City, especially after this New York Times piece (paywall) about Patrick Mahomes’s “dad bod” made me feel a whole lot better about mine. Also, if KC is winning, the camera will pan regularly on Travis Kelce’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift. Last year, her appearance led to a whole host of wacky conspiracy theories. What will they say this time?

Whether you care about football, pop music, or Asian culture, I’m glad you’re with us for this week’s news. We’ve got the latest on how the Trump administration’s anti-immigration efforts are playing locally, some happy news for Huron High jazz musicians, and sad news for a Forsythe Middle School student’s Food Network stint. Also, there’s an important warning from Michigan Public about a scammer on UberEats that the company seems unable or unwilling to remove from the app.

– Steve Friess, editor

P.S. A quick thanks to the folks at the Ypsilanti District Library’s Whitaker branch who hosted last weekend’s tea party for kids. We loved it!

School districts defiant about ICE: Ypsilanti Community Schools superintendent Alena Zackery-Ross reiterated in a communitywide email this week that YCS won’t voluntarily help identify or remove undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, WEMU reports that AAPS teachers are calling for the school board to issue a plan for how to respond to possible ICE raids of schools; the administration says its policy is the same as YCS’s, to bar entry and access to records unless required by a court order. Meanwhile, U-M clarified a previous announcement: while classrooms are off-limits to ICE agents except under court order, officers can enter public areas of academic buildings.

Trump orders alarm workers at Ann Arbor’s EPA lab: Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory say the White House’s directives on environmental reporting and government downsizing could result in firings or “create intolerable conditions,” Planet Detroit writes. “We’re not political. We take orders from Republicans and Democratic administrations,” said Mark Coryell, secretary of employees’ union, AFGE Local 3907. “The one thing we don’t like is our work being perverted.”

ACLU sues U-M over campus bans for pro-Palestinian demonstrators: The civil rights group says that limiting five individuals’ access to campus was an abuse of “its authority to ban people from public property,” NBC News reports. One of those plaintiffs, sophomore Jonathan Zou, is only permitted to come on campus to attend class or seek medical care after he was arrested during a protest against Israeli’s military campaign in Gaza in October. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, comes days after U-M suspended the pro-Palestinian group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality for two years and took away its funding, the Associated Press writes. The university says SAFE violated its standards of conduct for recognized student organizations during a protest last spring outside a regent’s home, among other incidents.

AAPS teachers get 1.5 percent raises: Those hired before 2024 will receive the retroactive pay increase for the current school year under a deal between the district and the union, MLive reports. It’s a precursor to negotiations over a new contract for the next school year and beyond. Unionized administrators and support staff will also see 1.5 percent increases. The agreement also provides that elementary school classes will start and end five minutes later in 2025-26. 

District says data breach didn’t impact current students: AAPS says “no active PreK-12 student Social Security numbers have been compromised” after hackers breached the widely used K-12 software PowerSchool, according to AAPS’s weekly email newsletter. The software company says it will provide two years of “complimentary identity protection services for all current and former students and educators whose information was determined to be involved,” but that so far, no local victims have been identified.

Huron High jazz band to compete at Lincoln Center: The band is one of thirty chosen for the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival in New York City in May, according to a press release. To qualify, the Huron squad submitted recordings of select tunes from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s R. Theodore Ammon Archives and Music Library. Huron is one of two bands from Michigan; the other is from Byron Center.

Council approves $2.4M fire truck: Fire chief Mike Kennedy told city council that the price is “bonkers” but said the industry has seen prices spiral upward in recent years as the number of suppliers fell, MLive reports. The new truck, which isn’t expected to be delivered for four years, will replace one in Station 1 downtown. 

Rural governments getting $700K for solar farms: Augusta and York townships will receive $429,050 and $303,900 respectively for hosting the 120-megawatt, 1,000-acre solar farm from Chicago-based White Tail Solar that straddles the two entities’ border, according to a press release from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Construction on the array in the southeast corner of the county is expected to start in coming months.

Superior Twp. says affordable housing complexes owe $100K: The owners of Danbury Park Manor and Sycamore Meadows Apartments, both on MacArthur Blvd., could eventually face liens and other legal actions, MLive reports. Sycamore owes the bulk of the debt, some $85,000, largely in police patrol fees; at least 20 percent of police calls in the township are to these two complexes and there is frequent gunfire, according to new township supervisor Emily Dabish Yahkind.

Sheriff unveils new mission statement, launches logo contest: After an internal contest, Alyshia Dyer chose “Together, we are committed to creating a safer, more just, and compassionate Washtenaw County for all.” According to an emailed press release, it was submitted by fifteen-year department veteran Ryan Schuett, the dispatch operations coordinator, who won a $250 credit toward department apparel. Now the sheriff is looking for a new logo for the Community Engagement Division via a contest open to county residents under twenty-four. The prize is $300. For details and to enter, click here. Submissions are due by Feb. 21.

About those egg prices: A couple of weeks into a second Trump administration won in part on exploiting public outrage over grocery costs, we’re all still paying big money for eggs – and that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon in Michigan, Eve Silberman writes in this month’s Observer. That’s because of two factors restricting supply – an outbreak of bird flu necessitating the destruction of millions of hens in Michigan alone, and the state’s new law requiring eggs from major suppliers to come from cage-free chickens. Owner Mary Jean Raab of Washtenaw Dairy, which acts as an egg wholesaler for restaurants and schools in addition to selling ice cream and donuts, tells Silberman a case of eggs is now nearly four times what it cost in 2022. 

Forsythe student eliminated from Food Network competition: Ella Hayek, one of twelve contestants on the current season of Kids Baking Championship, finished in eighth place this week after the judges found brownies she made too dry. She had made the chocolate brownies with a cheesecake cream cheese filling topped with a raspberry curd as part of a challenge related to this Sunday’s Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet. As a side challenge, the kids also had to make some “bark,” which Hayek did by mixing potato chips and pretzels in dark chocolate. Hayek’s loss came two weeks after she won an earlier competition for a cake that made a cocker spaniel look like a pilot.

Beware of BT’s Wings on UberEats, reporter warns: Producer Tracy Samilton of Michigan Public writes about a fake restaurant using the address of a Chipotle in Ann Arbor that she ordered from in December only to discover it doesn’t exist after the food never arrived. Getting her money back and trying to persuade UberEats to do something to stop the fraudsters proved extremely difficult and ultimately unsuccessful. “This experience is deeply frustrating, and doesn’t live up to our standards,” wrote an UberEats publicist who promised the problem would be fixed. But last month, Samilton found the same scam “restaurant” still operating on the app – and also on DoorDash. She says DoorDash has since removed it.

A tale of two chicken chains: Dave Algase writes about Slim Chickens, which stresses Southern comfort, and bb.q Chicken, a South Korean entry, in this month’s Observer. Both opened in recent months and both are parts of fast-growing chains. Slim Chickens, in Scio Twp., is the first of what franchisees Brad and Todd DeLange of Lapeer hope will be twenty-five locations in southeast Michigan. Meanwhile, bb.q Chicken in Westgate is one of more than 3,500 locations in fifty-seven countries. Franchisee Daniel Choi moved to Ann Arbor from Chicago to open the restaurant.

New event space to open: Chelsea Party Loft aims to host tween and teen parties when it debuts on March 1, owner Greg Gattuso tells a2view. The business offers an event room with a sound and lighting system and a tiki-themed space where parents can retreat during the party. Explains Gattuso: “As a parent, I have been to or booked children’s parties all over Washtenaw County. But as my son grew older, I noticed he and his friends were becoming less interested in the traditional options like movies, bowling and trampoline parks.”

Nonprofit furnishes homes for previously unhoused: House N2 Home co-founder Ruth Ann Logue tells David Fair of WEMU that she came up with the idea for the six-year-old organization when she realized that people without homes also don’t have furniture – or the money to buy it. The group paints rooms for children and adds other touches to welcome the new residents, who come from the homeless or women’s shelters, among other places. “It is people coming who’ve been living in their car, people who’ve been in a tent, people who’ve been sleeping on somebody’s floor, returning citizens, kids aging out of the foster care system,” she says. They worked on 424 homes last year alone.

U-M track star founds group to provide athletic gear: Yasmine Mansi tells MLive (paywall) that she realized the need while competing in Egypt two years ago against “people who were barefoot [or] running in inadequate footwear.” She created SunBundle, which collects used gear and excess inventory from athletic goods retailers to share with people in schools, health centers and homeless shelters in Detroit and Ypsi. “We give away track spikes, sneakers, clothing, deodorant, jump ropes, socks – a lot of different items,” she says. Last month, the Ann Arbor City Council awarded SunBundle $10,000 through its Sustaining Ann Arbor Together grant program.

Friends of AAPS Libraries receives $15,000 for audiobooks: The grant from the James A. & Faith Knight Foundation is funding the purchase of about 200 audiobooks to be accessible online districtwide, according to a press release. The money comes as the school district “significantly reduced” funding for audiobook purchases as part of its belt-tightening efforts amid this school year’s $25 million budget shortfall. “We’re particularly proud of this award, as we were able to achieve it in our first year as an organization,” group president Mike Robins says.

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: Hear star pianist Seong-Jin Cho, known for his poetic, assertive style, celebrate Ravel’s 150th birthday by performing his complete solo piano works in a single evening. Cho has been called “perhaps the finest Ravel interpreter of our time.” 7:30 p.m., Hill Auditorium. Tickets $17 to $108 (students, $15 to $20) in advance at ums.org, by phone, and (if available) at the door. (734) 764–2538. 

Saturday: Head to Chelsea for two cozy events. First, find soft things at the Spinner’s Flock Fiber Market, which has handmade woven goods, yarns, and spinning demos throughout the day. Then, get something sweet at the downtown Chelsea Annual Chocolate Extravaganza, where more than thirty businesses are offering free chocolate tastings, maker demos, sales of chocolate treats, and family activities like a candy-filled egg hunt. Both events run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Spinner’s Flock Fiber Market at Beach Middle School cafeteria, 445 Mayer Dr., Chelsea. Free admission. 

Sunday: If you’re not into football (or even if you are), you can join Leslie Science & Nature Center’s “Superb Owl Sunday,” which has live owl presentations, interpretive stations, and owl-related crafts and activities. Dress for the weather. 10 a.m. to noon, LSNC, 1831 Traver. $5 (ages 2 and under, free). Preregistration required at tinyurl.com/superb-owl-2025 or (734) 997–1553.

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

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