A year ago this morning, I was browsing second-hand winter coats for the kids when my husband called in tears. “Barbara died,” he said. I left my cart in the aisle and headed home to a new life.

Barbara was Miles’ aunt but, more importantly, his companion for decades and his protector during some difficult times in his family. On our first date back in 2004, I told him my non-negotiable was that I wanted to have children. He replied that his was that he was a package deal with the ailing aunt he lived with and cared for. In accepting these parameters, we committed to the life that we went on to live for twenty years. Our homes required first-floor bedrooms with bathrooms for Barbara, our vacations meant finding friends or paid help to stay with her, and we acclimated to the loud drone of MSNBC or QVC coming from her room at all hours. I attended the births of our children on my own while Miles stayed home with Barbara.

In exchange, she gave us a lot of sage advice, countless laughs, and a plethora of strangely useful gizmos bought off the TV. She’d had a high-flying career as a producer at NBC News in Washington D.C. and New York, and oh, the stories she told of her exploits with Andrea Mitchell, Nancy Dickerson, and other female news pioneers. 

I like to think our kids added a few years to her life with their energy and unconditional affection. “I love him with my whole heart,” she wrote of our autistic son in her final text to me, the night before she died in her bed of a sudden heart attack, in response to some silly photo I’d sent her. She was a week shy of 83.

Much of the past year was a response to that morning. My in-laws spent days cleaning out her room and, in that time, witnessed up close the challenges our son presents to us. Months later, they sold their home in Georgia and bought a condo in Belleville to be closer. We scattered Barbara’s ashes in Ocean City, MD, where she took Miles and his sister for summers in their youth. And we set about to keep her memory alive for our own children. This weekend, we’ll have brunch in her memory at Holiday’s Restaurant, one of her favorite spots.

– Steve Friess, editor

Citing national security concerns, U-M ends Chinese partnership: Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University began their collaboration in 2005 focused on engineering degrees, the University Record writes. The breakup comes after Michigan congressman John Moolenaar, a Republican and chair of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, wrote to president Santa Ono that the UM-SJTU joint institute “has also operated as a sophisticated military-academic-intelligence nexus for over a decade” for China. In October, five U-M students associated with SJTU were charged with spying on US-Taiwanese exercises at Camp Grayling, the training facility for the Michigan Army National Guard in northern Michigan.

School districts on alert after PowerSchool data breach: The company behind the widely used cloud-based K-12 software announced in late December that it had been hacked but did not specify what information had been stolen, according to a Jan. 9 letter from AAPS superintendent Jazz Parks. The district also posted a document answering anticipated questions, noting, “Any individuals impacted by this cyber incident will be notified individually in the coming weeks with specific next steps.” The Sun-Times News reports that districts in Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, and Milan had all said they were not impacted.

7,000 applicants vie for twenty affordable Veridian units: The huge number of people seeking low-cost housing in the “green” development off Platt Rd. shows that “housing costs are seriously out of whack” in Ann Arbor, Avalon Housing executive director Aaron Cooper wrote last month in a blog post. “This is one of the most dramatic cases I’ve seen in nearly 20 years in the affordable housing field.” The units are available to people with household incomes up to 60 percent of the area median, with rents ranging from $775 for a one-bedroom unit to $1,075 for a four-bedroom. The Grove at Veridian’s remaining thirty units, Cooper writes, will be reserved “for people who are directly exiting homelessness.”

Council bans on-street parking during snowstorms: The measure, which passed unanimously last week, gives the city administrator the ability to impose a ban when weather warrants, according to city records. It eliminates the current odd-even parking ban that prohibits parking during a snow emergency on the side of the street with odd addresses on odd numbered days and the even side on even numbered days. Councilmember Lisa Disch tells the Michigan Daily the ban won’t be enforced with tickets until 2027 at the earliest to allow time to educate the public. 

U-M forms committee to reform site-naming process: The fifteen-member task force, a product of president Santa Ono’s Inclusive History Project, will develop policies for “new honorific namings of university facilities and spaces,” the University Record writes. The members of the task force, listed here, include faculty, administrators, Rackham Student Government president Angelica Previero, and Central Student Government vice speaker Eric Veal Jr. “The act of naming buildings is not only a memorialization of a particular individual but also a statement about what and whose contributions have particularly mattered in our university’s history,” says task force co-chair Earl Lewis, co-chair of the Inclusive History Project and director of the Center for Social Solutions.

Michigan Medicine, union reach deal: The 4,500-member United Michigan Medicine Allied Professionals announced a three-year agreement Tuesday in a press release. UMMAP, which canceled a planned one-day strike in November, represents a variety of health-care workers, including radiological professionals, physical therapists, medical assistants, social workers, and others. Details of the deal, which must be ratified by members, were not disclosed.

Garrett’s Space to get $373K from county millage: The nonprofit, which plans to break ground this year on a residential center in Superior Twp. for young people struggling with depression, announced the funding via email. According to the press release, funding from the Community Mental Health and Public Safety Preservation Millage will increase “options for in-person wellness activities and support groups in 2025 and develop day programming that will be offered when its residential campus is constructed.”

Developers eye 328-unit apartment complex in Northfield Twp.: The Groves of Whitmore Lake would also include 8,000 square feet of commercial space and a clubhouse on sixty-five acres along N. Territorial Rd., MLive reports. The project, from Auburn Hills-based Detroit Riverside Capital, is expected to come before the township’s planning commission next week. The developers are offering to preserve twenty acres with mature trees and wetlands and create public nature trails there.

Glowing crystals alight in Liberty Plaza: “Oscillation,” a temporary installation sponsored by the Downtown Development Authority, opens tomorrow and remains through March 16, according to a press release. Brooklyn artist Ryan Swanson’s illuminated structures respond with sounds and color changes as people move around them, the DDA says, creating a “totally immersive experience that breaks down social barriers and fuels joyful conversations between strangers.”

Hair stylist dies in lake accident: Forty-seven-year-old Nick Zinis of Grass Lake, who owned Nolas Underground Salon on N. University Ave. in Ann Arbor, fell through the ice on Grass Lake while skating, MLive reports. “Nick cut my hair for the last eight years and my daughter’s for the last four,” writes a2view reader Becky Matz. “He was really a wonderfully unique, weird, colorful person. A lot of people in Ann Arbor (and beyond) will miss him.”

Foster father who survived double murder doing “remarkably well”: Fifty-two-year-old Jeffrey Bernhard of Northfield Twp. remains hospitalized but is “progressing nicely” and is walking around, his pastor Bradley Trask tells MLive. Bernard was shot in the chest and the head on Jan. 1 during a home invasion in which his wife, Jennifer Bernhard, and father-in-law, Stevie Ray Smith, were killed and his nine-year-old daughter and four-year-old foster daughter were kidnapped. The children were recovered safely. Three people have been charged in the incident including Shuvonne Vinson, the biological mother of the foster child. Jeffrey Bernard is a deacon at Trask’s Brighton Assembly of God church.

Man charged in 1989 murder: Advances in DNA technology led Washtenaw County sheriffs deputies to arrest sixty-nine-year-old Buster Robbins of Lapeer County in the death of thirty-one-year-old Beverly Ann Wivell, MLive reports. Wivell’s body was found on the side of the road near Gotfredson and Ford roads in Superior Twp. in September 1989; she’d been shot and run over by a car. Wivell was living out of her car and had a thirteen-year-old son who was living with grandparents in Ann Arbor. Robbins, who is a great-grandfather now and has no prior criminal history, is accused of raping Wivell before shooting her and leaving her for dead. He faces one count of felony murder and was denied bond.

Windows of twenty-seven cars smashed during U-M basketball game: The attack took place in the Pioneer High parking lot on Sunday afternoon during the Wolverines’ home game against Washington, according to an AAPD post on X. Police also posted photos of a masked suspect wearing a hoodie that read “Only the forgotten are truly dead” and are asking for the public’s help in identifying him. The post did not say whether anything was taken, but reminded people not to leave valuables visible in their vehicles. Anyone with information can call (734) 794-6920 or email tips@a2gov.org.

Bank robbery suspect sought: A man claiming to have a gun demanded cash from a teller at the Chase Bank at Plymouth and Green roads on Tuesday and then fled in a gray GMC Terrain, according to a Facebook post from AAPD. Surveillance pictures posted by the police show a White man in a green long sleeve shirt, black pants, and a camo face-covering. Anyone with information can call (734) 794-6920, email tips@a2gov.org, or submit a tip to silent witness at aapd.a2gov.org/silentwitness.

Ypsi police chief leaves after less than two years: Kirk Moore, who moved from Henderson, NV, to take over in April 2023, retires on Jan. 27 and captain Timothy Anderson will fill in as interim police chief until the job is filled permanently, according to a city press release. Moore struggled to retain officers during his tenure; last year the Ypsilanti Police Officers Association voted that it did not have confidence in Moore or Anderson.

Trinity Health expands anti-drug program to AAPS with $307,287 grant: The hospital system announced on Facebook that it is getting funding from the Community Mental Health Partnership of Southeast Michigan to extend its Project SUCCESS effort beyond its current arrangement with Lincoln Consolidated Schools. Among other services, the program can deploy counselors to schools to conduct drug screenings and make treatment referrals.

The Wolverines’ $12M quarterback: The tale of how U-M persuaded Belleville High star Bryce Underwood is a landmark event in the evolution of college football in the era of Name, Image, and Likeness deals, Micheline Maynard writes in this month’s Observer. Underwood, the nation’s top recruit in the Class of 2025, was committed to LSU until famous alums and boosters put together an eye-popping package that he couldn’t refuse. “It’s the new Wild West, man,” says author John U. Bacon, a longtime observer of Michigan athletics. “You compete, or you lose.”

Missing New Hampshire cat found in Ann Arbor: Paul Ambler, owner of Kumiko, doesn’t know how she made her way 800 miles west from Londonderry after vanishing eight months earlier, MLive writes. Around Thanksgiving, the cat was brought to the Humane Society of Huron Valley and identified through her microchip. She was last seen by the Amblers walking by the pool with a rabbit in her mouth. Since her return, Ambler says, she prefers to remain indoors and snuggle.

Restaurant Week kicks off Sunday: More than forty eateries around town are offering special prix fixe menus and discounts as part of the annual event. Options range from “mouthwatering three-course meals to unique specialty dishes,” according to the organizer, Main Street Ann Arbor. Participants span far beyond Main Street, from the Dixboro Project to the east to Zingerman’s Roadhouse out west. A list of offerings and reservation links are here.

Taste Kitchen owner opens meatless eatery: Red Lotus is a passion project for chef-restaurateur Danny Van, who went vegan for a year a few decades ago but found it professionally incompatible with his career ambitions and the need to taste his meat and seafood dishes, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. Starting slowly with lunchtime hours, Red Lotus shares several elements with Taste Kitchen: an elegant yet casual full-service experience, a fusion of international influences, and an ever-changing menu. “I want to push it to the point where [when] people come in here, they say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe Ann Arbor has plant-based food at this level, and not expensive!’” Van says. 

Avalon Cafe and Kitchen moves a block west: The breakfast-and-lunch spot shut down its site on E. Liberty St. just before Christmas and reopened Monday at 224 S. Main St., according to an Instagram post. Its new berth is next door to the Pretzel Bell, which is also owned by Mission Restaurant Group. In a statement last month, Avalon’s owners said the old location was not profitable and that they believe synergy with dinner-focused Pretzel Bell will make for “a perfect match.”

County offers $5 radon tests: The health department is observing National Radon Action Month by selling the kits for half price, according to a press release. Radon is a tasteless, colorless, and odorless radioactive gas that causes cancer and occurs naturally in nearly all types of soil and rock. Homes should be tested at least every two years because radon can enter through cracks in the foundation, crawl spaces, hollow-block walls, floor-wall joints, and openings around floor drains and sump pumps. The test kits are available on weekdays at the Ypsilanti City Clerk’s Office at 1 S. Huron St., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; the Ypsilanti Twp. Residential Services Department, 7200 S. Huron River Dr., from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m.; the Washtenaw County Environmental Health Division, 705 N. Zeeb Rd., from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1-3 p.m.; and Salem Twp. Hall, 9600 Six Mile Rd., from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Habitat for Humanity holds open houses Saturday: Prospective buyers can tour the nonprofit’s two newest renovated homes, 626 Lynne Ave. and 1374 Hawthorne Ave., both in Ypsi. Each is a small 3-bdr., 1-ba., ranch with a detached two-car garage. Lynne Ave., which is open from 10 a.m. to noon, is priced at $257,900; the Hawthorne Ave. house, which is open 1:30 to 3 p.m., is for sale for $215,900. Both are available to graduates of Habitat’s Home Ownership Program. For more information about the homes, click here. Applications are being accepted through Jan. 29; for a form, email elena@h4h.org or call (734) 925-7839.

Pioneer High quiz bowl team raising money for national championship: The ten-student squad, which has qualified for the High School National Championship Tournament in May in Atlanta, launched a GoFundMe campaign for the $7,500 needed for travel and registration. As of Wednesday, they’d brought in a bit less than $2,300.

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: Catch MSU music professor Etienne Charles, a Trinidad-born composer-trumpeter, with his ensemble, in “Earth Tones,” a multimedia performance of jazz originals that borrow musical idioms from coastal communities at risk from climate change. 7:30 p.m. Fri. and Sat., Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 North University. $41 to $51 (students $15 to $20) in advance only online or at (734) 764–2538. 

Saturday: See drag performer Sasha Velour, who won Season 9 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race and co-hosts HBO’s We’re Here, use classic drag lipsynching, storytelling, video skits, wild costumes, and music from Stevie Wonder to Steven Sondheim to create a spectacle that blends political statement, high glamour, and camp humor. 8 p.m., Michigan Theater. Tickets $25 to $90 in advance online, at (734) 668–8397 or at the door.

Sunday: Join the Westgate library’s Comic Drawing session, where local artist Kamron Reynolds shares tips on creating a character, character action, and sequencing stories, then leads an all-ages comic drawing session. Reynolds also performs a few songs in his rap persona, Kool Ade Kam. 2 to 3:30 p.m., AADL Westgate, 2503 Jackson Ave. Free. (734) 327–4200. 

Monday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day): Hear writer and activist Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, give the 2025 Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture, sharing lessons from her parents and discussing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus. Followed by Q&A. 2 p.m., Michigan Union Ballroom. Also available via Zoom. Free. U-M Library MLK Committee.

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

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