We had an extra day between editions of a2view because of our pre-holiday delivery last week, but the news this week is nonetheless surprisingly light. I take that to be a good thing; it means a long, very hot Fourth of July weekend passed without much mayhem. Whew!

Then we had that massive rain deluge and, again, there is precious little to say about it outside of a briefly flooded U-M parking garage and a greener landscape. We need to appreciate these quiet times when they happen, right?

I’ll take the moment to urge everyone to go here and vote for Clague Middle School student Jiyun Byun’s design for a new state “I Voted” sticker. It’s just heads and shoulders better than any of the other elementary/middle school entries and is the only one that has any Ann Arbor-specific flavor to it. Vote for the other local ones, too, if you want, but that’s the one I want on my lapel on Nov. 5.

– Steve Friess, editor

State budget includes $3M each for M-14 sound wall, B2B Trail: One earmark will pay for a noise study and construction of a barrier in the stretch between N. Main St. and Miller Rd., MLive reports. The study could take up to eighteen months after the new budget year starts in October, MDOT says. Another $3 million goes to the nonprofit Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative to support completion of the county’s forty-five-mile Border to Border Trail. Fewer than ten miles remain to finish the project.

Council reallocates $3.4M once earmarked for unarmed crisis response: The city rejected the only response to its request for proposals for such a program in December. With no resolution yet on how such an alternative policing system would work, it had to find other uses for the pandemic-era money before it was lost, city documents say. Instead, council voted to spend $2 million on a Barton Dam embankment project, $500,000 for a city emergency operations center, $400,000 for Bicentennial Park improvements, about $400,000 to buy a second ambulance for the fire department and $100,000 to support domestic violence survivors.

TheRide lands $25M federal grant for hydrogen and hybrid buses: Federal Transit Administration acting administrator Veronica Vanterpool announced the funding Tuesday during a visit to A2. The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority sought the money for its emissions reduction program, including two hydrogen-fuel cell buses, a hydrogen fueling station, and more than a dozen hybrid buses to replace diesel buses, according to an FTA post on Facebook.

Donor gives $7M for Schembechler Hall renovations: The Monroe-Brown Foundation‘s gift goes towards a $24 million rebuild that will include new offices and locker rooms, according to MGoBlue. In recognition, the space will be named the Robert J. Brown and Robert M. Brown Sr. Locker Room. The Browns were the first father-son duo to have been football team captains, the elder in 1925 and the younger in 1962.

U-M kicks in $425,000 for park upgrades: Of that, $300,000 goes for a universally accessible playground at Bicentennial Park, whose name change from Southeast Area Park is official today, according to the city. MLive reports the university also is putting $125,000 into new playground equipment at Fuller Park near the Michigan Medicine hospital complex. The upgrades are intended to celebrate the city’s 200th birthday this year.

Defunct fire station to make way for affordable housing: The property at 1510 E. Stadium is being transferred for $35,000 to the Ann Arbor Housing Commission, city documents say. It has been used as AAFD office space since it stopped functioning as a firehouse in 2003. The commission will also use it for offices until they decide how to redevelop the plot.

Pro-Palestinian student-activist’s honor revoked: Salma Hamamy, president of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, received the Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award in January but lost it in May after she made social media posts deemed to be encouraging violence, the Detroit News reports (paywall). Hamamy insists her posts were taken out of context; in one, she wished “utter death to every single individual who supports the Zionist state. Death and more.” Anti-Israel activists say that the revocation of the honor, and steps to prosecute demonstrators for alleged crimes related to the protests, are part of an ongoing campaign to punish them for speaking out.

Four Art Fair participants tell their tales: Jan Schlain profiles a quartet of artists in this month’s Observer as the annual event takes over the town late next week. Ceramicist Richard Meyer tells of a demanding apprenticeship in the 1970s under his future wife. Multimedia artist Scotty Jones speaks of being inspired by his great-grandmother’s ancient sewing machine and Andy Warhol. Occupational therapist-turned-painter Kelly Kozloff has her own booth for the first time to show her work, whose “abstracts and landscapes evoke foggy mornings on an empty beach,” Schlain writes. And painter Richard Wilson recalls how encouraged he was when his middle school teachers showcased his drawings of prominent Black historical figures.

Woman’s body ID’ed as Brazilian tourist: Suzan Christian Barbosa Ferreira, forty-two, was found on June 30 along Earhart Rd. in Northfield Twp., MLive reports. She had been traveling in parts of North Carolina and Michigan and was identified via dental records. Her sister launched a GoFundMe campaign that has raised about $5,000 so far to transport Ferreira’s body home whenever police permit that. Police provided no information about the death, but her sister wrote, “Her body was found in a rural area, lying in a road culvert, [a] victim of a cruelty.”

Man arrested in water treatment plant break-in: Michigan State Police say the suspect, a thirty-three-year-old man from Belleville, gained entry Monday to the Sylvan Twp. facility by cutting through a barbed wire fence and spray-painted over the windows to not be seen inside. The suspect is accused of pouring cement down the drains and adjusting some electrical connections, putting 300 homes in the area under a Do Not Drink advisory until yesterday. There is no evidence that water quality was compromised but residents were advised to flush their house plumbing systems and appliances before drinking it again. 

Superior Twp. supervisor torches trash collector: Ken Schwartz wrote on Facebook that he has promises from Priority Waste, which took over for GFL on July 1, that the poor service and communication will improve. The township board held a special meeting on Wednesday to hear complaints from residents and explanations from PW officials. “Superior has had several trash provider transitions in the past and none of them were very smooth, but this one was a disaster,” Schwartz wrote in his post.

Brief closures of M-14 ramps, US-23 this weekend: The southbound side of US-23 closes from N. Territorial Rd. to Barton Dr. at 8 p.m. Friday and is expected to reopen at 5 a.m. Saturday, MDOT says. Crews will partially demolish the Joy Rd. bridge, which was damaged when struck by a semi on June 17 and is not expected to reopen until Aug. 30. Meanwhile, the eastbound entrance ramps to M-14 off Maple Rd. will close at 6 p.m. Friday and reopen at 3 p.m. Saturday for resurfacing, MLive reports.

AAPD goes retro with new squad car designs: The fleet used to have dark blue paint and a bright blue stripe, but now it has a black body with white doors and a silver badge, Micheline Maynard writes in this month’s Observer. The retro look was conceived to mark the department’s 150th anniversary in 2021 but the rollout lagged due to the pandemic, AAPD spokesman Chris Page says. Six of nineteen patrol vehicles have the new design, and the rest will be phased in as they’re replaced.

STIs down overall, but some groups see rise: A report from the Washtenaw County Health Department found the number of sexually transmitted infections declined from 2022 to 2023, with 6 percent fewer chlamydia cases and 17 percent fewer gonorrhea cases. Some subgroups saw increased reports, however, including thirteen- to seventeen-year-olds, people over fifty, and Hispanic residents.

Historic Ypsi library reopening delayed: The Michigan Ave. branch of YDL was expected to reopen Aug. 3 but can’t because of a backorder on lighting, director Lisa Hoenig writes in a website update. The building has been closed since catastrophic flooding last summer. “We can only put the shelving in place once the lighting is up, and we can only put books on the shelves once the stacks are where they belong,” Hoenig says. “At this point, I hesitate to announce a revised opening date.”

ABC to close Saline plant, lay off 156 people: The Toronto-based company, which acquired the factory when it bought Windsor Mold Group in 2022 for $165 million, is transferring its production of plastic automotive parts and components to a facility elsewhere in Michigan, the Saline Post reports. ABC Group Sales & Engineering says the Saline site’s final day is expected to be Dec. 31.

Seven local artists are finalists in state’s “I Voted” sticker contest: The submissions from Roman Salazar of Forsythe Middle School and Jiyun Byun of Clague Middle School are among twenty-five in the elementary/middle school category, while Shanon Kawata of Community High School has an entry in that category. In the general submission category, two entries by Ypsi Township’s Jacob Adams made the cut, alongside one each from EMU student Naomi Barbour of Ypsi, Cole Allen of Ypsi, and Emily Buckley of Ann Arbor. There are twenty-five finalists per category, and you can vote for their favorite three in each here until the end of the month. The winning designs will be available to voters at the polls in November. 

AADL selling off “idle equipment” on Saturday: All items are $1 in the sale, which includes furniture, computers, monitors, and shelving, the library district says. Used CDs and DVDs will be five for $1. The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 265 Parkland Plaza, which is also the new home of the Friends of the AADL Book Shop. Cash and credit cards are accepted; sale items must be picked up no later than 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Food truck rallies return to Ann Arbor Farmers Market: Mobile vendors will converge at the Kerrytown-area market from 5 to 8 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month through October beginning next week, the city says. Updates, including lists of food offerings, will be posted on its social media channels.

Iggy’s Eggies opens: The new downtown breakfast spot on E. Liberty is the brainchild of U-M alum Eli Boyer, Dave Algase writes in this month’s issue of the Observer. This is Iggy’s second location, after a walk-up window in Detroit. Boyer says he got the name from his then-three-year-old daughter, who often shouted about the Mario Kart character Iggy. Boyer also owns a seafood bistro in Ferndale. 

FedUp gets $50,000 from Ypsi, hosts fundraiser tomorrow: Council approved the funds to support the nonprofit ministry that provides showers, job training, free meals, and support services out of its 16 S. Washington St. site, according to city records. The organization is also hosting a Backyard BBQ at the Ypsi Freighthouse from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday. Tickets – $25 for adults and $15 for teens thirteen to eighteen – can be bought here (kids twelve and under are free). Activities include a “pie-in-the-face contest.”

Rec center for medically vulnerable kids opens: The Children’s Healing Center offers a safe space to play and congregate for people under twenty-six who have illnesses or autoimmune disorders that make many places hazardous to them. MLive reports that the 11,000-square-foot facility in Ypsilanti Twp. opened this week. Funded in part by a $2 million state grant, this is the group’s second location; the first opened in Grand Rapids in 2015. 

CAN seeks donations in Back to School Drive: The Community Action Network is asking supporters to buy backpacks, binders, crayons, and other items through an Amazon gift registry for local students in need. They’re also collecting money here. Amazon orders must be delivered by Aug. 15 to allow time to distribute them before the new school year begins. Anyone with questions can send CAN an e-mail or call (734) 994-2985 ext. 124.

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: Join the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy’s Annual Bat Count as big brown bats emerge from their daytime resting place to hunt insects. Bring lawn chairs, blankets, and snacks. No pets. 8 to 10 p.m., Conservancy Farm, 8383 Vreeland, Superior Twp. Free. amctaggart@smlcland.org, (734) 484–6565. 

Saturday: Dip into the Michigan Celtic Festival in Saline, a two-day celebration featuring food and drink, feats of derring-do, kids activities, and Celtic music and dance. No pets. On Saturday, check out the stone and caber tosses, sheep herding demonstrations, and Corgi races. 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. (Fri.) and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Sat.), Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds, 5055 Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. Fri. $8 (kids age 17 and under, free) at the gate only. Sat.: $18 (seniors age 65 and over, $10; youth ages 6 to 17, $5; kids age 5 and under and active military, free) at the gate.

Sunday: See the Union Base Ball Club of Dexter play the Monitor Base Ball Club of Chelsea using 1860s-era rules at the Festival at St. Joseph Church. 2 p.m., St. Joseph Catholic Church grounds, 6805 Mast at North Territorial, Dexter. Free.

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

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