There is something known as the Streisand Effect in which an attempt to distract people from something only draws more attention to it. It’s based on a 2003 incident in which the icon, in trying to legally suppress a photo of her home, made it go viral.

Last week in a2view, I caused a different, perhaps more positive Streisand Effect. Our link to vote for Burns Park Elementary School custodian Abdul Akeely in a national contest to be named custodian of the year went, by accident, to a page for tickets to a charity Streisand tribute show. I regret the error, to be sure, but I also hope that having to correct it will actually help Mr. Akeely’s candidacy. Go vote for him.

Beyond that, this week’s missive contains our usual melange of development news, some police blotter stuff and, you know, the world’s oldest chicken. Scroll down to get caught up.

As I attempt to teach my son the words to “Sam, You Made The Pants Too Long” because it’s really the only silly song Barbra ever recorded, I hope it doesn’t rain on whatever parade you are looking forward to in the week ahead.

–Steve Friess, editor 

I-94 reopens after ‘herculean’ five-day repair effort: The highway was shut down from M-14 to Ann Arbor-Saline Rd after a semi-truck hit the Liberty Rd. bridge on March 13. The bridge is also open but down to a single lane, MDOT says. Wixom-based Toebe Construction did the repairs.

City still on hunt for money for new Amtrak depot: Years of futility and frustration have not deterred A2 from continuing its efforts to replace the station on Depot St., MLive reports. The federal government put the kibosh in 2021 on a plan to build a $171 million station and parking complex on Fuller Rd., but deputy city administrator John Fournier says they’ve “been doing nothing but eating and sleeping earmarks for the last couple of weeks to try to dislodge” $1.5 million to restart the planning process.

100 e-bikes coming to town: Council approved an agreement with Spin Inc. to provide the vehicles in a bike-share program similar to the e-scooter program operated by the same firm, MLive reports. The e-bikes, Spin’s model S-300, can go up to 20 mph and run 100 miles on a full charge, according to material provided by the city.

Boyfriend charged in death of Jackson High teacher in Ypsi Township: The body of Alyson Doulos, forty-eight, was found March 13 inside an apartment after police forced their way in on a welfare call, Fox2 reports. Charles Gamez, forty-one, was arraigned Sunday on charges of open murder and unlawfully driving away a vehicle. Doulos, who taught tenth-grade English and previously taught at Jackson College, was strangled to death and suffered blunt force trauma to the head, the Detroit News reports.

Jury rejects self-defense claim, convicts man of slaying: Gary Demonn Chambers is scheduled to be sentenced next week for second-degree murder in the death of thirty-four-year-old Laron Donta Henning in November, MLive reports. Chambers, twenty-eight, shot Henning at the home of a mutual friend in Ypsilanti Township, then called 911 and claimed he had shot an intruder.

Drug dealer who sold fentanyl-laced heroin to customer who died sentenced: Brian Nathan “Mann” George, forty-four, is now serving a four-to-twenty-year sentence after a jury found him guilty in February on three counts of delivering a controlled substance of less than fifty grams. The jury did not convict George on a charge of providing the fatal dose that killed a man in March 2017. He acknowledged that he sold drugs outside a rehab meeting but insisted he didn’t know they contained fentanyl, MLive reports.

U-M student in ICU in Cancun after spring break car crash: Family and friends of Dipita Das are raising money via GoFundMe to pay for an air ambulance to bring her back to the U.S., Fox2 reports. Das and three other graduate students were hospitalized after a February 27 collision while on vacation in Mexico. Das has a broken arm and pelvis, a bruised lung and heart and needs machines to breathe, her friends say. The three others were released and are back in Michigan.

City buying eight duplexes for affordable housing: Council approved the housing commission’s plan to buy the buildings on Siller Terr. and Virginia Ave. for $4.1 million. The city plans to rehab the duplexes and rent them to people with incomes at or below 60 percent of the area median. The money will come from the American Rescue Plan Act and a $2 million loan from the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.

Second phase of Village of Ann Arbor plan unveiled: Bloomfield Hills-based Robertson Brothers Homes says it will construct four more apartment buildings comprising 120 units off Dhu Varren Road, MLive reports (paywall). Phase one, 164 homes and 440 apartment units, received council approval earlier this month. 

Graduate Employees Organization to vote on strike: The union of U-M grad students is frustrated over negotiations with the university over wages and benefits, Michigan Daily reports. The GEO wants a pay increase to a minimum stipend of $38,537 a year, which would be a $14,500 or 62.4 percent increase, according to its published platform. U-M officials says they have offered an 11.5 percent pay raise. A strike would not cause any class cancellations, the school says.

Baristas strike at two downtown Starbucks: Workers at 300 S. Main St. and 222 S. State walked off their jobs on Wednesday along with employees at about 100 locations around the U.S., according to a tweet from Starbucks Workers United. The one-day work action is the latest in a series of strikes and protests around the nation.

SEIU alleges unfair labor practices in Trinity firing of 11: After the health system’s CEO said the outpatient lab employees “put patient safety at risk” by leaving the job without permission, the union slapped back that members followed “normal procedures” for taking the day off to protest a manager’s recent dismissal and to draw attention to work conditions. Trinity’s Arbor Park lab in Ypsi has been closed since the firings because of staffing shortages, MLive reports. (paywall)

Creative Washtenaw to oversee $500,000 in A2 arts grants: The nonprofit received $40,000 from a pot of federal stimulus money set aside for this purpose as well as the job of meting out the remaining $460,000, MLive reports. (paywall) The money must be distributed by the end of 2024, and city council directed that at least $200,000 go to programs for groups most severely impacted by the pandemic.

Michigan Medicine to launch drone delivery of prescriptions: A2-based Zipline is expected to start dropping medication on porches of Washtenaw County residents next year via autonomous electric vessels, according to a press release. The drones, which will be based out of the health system’s soon-to-open specialty care pharmacy in Dexter, can fly up to 24 miles one-way and have a 10-mile service radius. Michigan Medicine expects the new technology to help the health system double its in-house pharmacy business. As the Observer reported in March 2022, that may be necessary to protect hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue from a federal subsidy program.

U-M students to work on $334M military drone development: The Model-Based Systems Engineering lab is partnering with tech contractor Leidos to work on components of an air-breathing hypersonic weapons system for the Air Force, ClickOnDetroit reports. “Not only does this benefit the program directly, but it also creates a pipeline of incredible talent with real world experience for the defense industrial complex,” a Leidos executive says.

Saline High senior wins $250,000 award for cell research: Neel Moudgal, seventeen, topped the field of nearly 1,900 entrants in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, billed by the Society for Science as “the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and mathematics competition. Moudgal was honored for “creating a computer model that can rapidly and reliably predict the structure of RNA molecules using only easily accessible data.”

Ice hockey, gymnastics Wolverines continue post-season rolls: The men’s hockey team defeated Minnesota 4-3 to win its second straight Big Ten title and takes on Colgate on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA championship. Meanwhile, both the women’s and men’s gymnastics squads won their Big Ten championships last weekend. The women’s team heads to Denver for the regional finals starting next Thursday.

Former U-M president Mark Schlissel teaching this fall: The school’s fourteenth leader, who was removed in January 2022, returns to the classroom as a co-instructor for a human immunology course, the Michigan Daily reports. Schlissel, a molecular biologist who became U-M’s president in 2014, remains a tenured professor in LS&A and the medical school. He left office amid a scandal involving an inappropriate relationship with a coworker.

AAPS superintendent passed over for Seattle-area job: Jeanice Swift was one of three finalists to take over the Northshore Public Schools in Bothell, Washington, but the job went to the interim superintendent, the school district announced on its Facebook page. Swift has led AAPS since 2013.

New redevelopment ideas for contaminated Ypsi site: The city bought 38 acres on Michigan Ave. in the 1990s with visions of creating a new neighborhood there, but plans foundered when contamination was discovered on the former industrial and commercial property. To date, only a dollar store has been built. But on Tuesday, city council heard competing ideas for the site, MLive reports. J29:7 Planning and Development offered to put a $100,000 option down on the property while it solicited community input, while an executive with Renovare Development touted the firm’s success redeveloping other Michigan brownfield spaces.

SUV plows into Dos Hermanos Market in Ypsi: Only the driver, who appears to have had a medical incident just before the crash, was hurt because the accident occurred after midnight while the store was closed, MLive reports. The driver’s injuries were non-life-threatening. The popular Mexican market will be closed for a few weeks, but the new Dos Hermanos Mexican Grill next door is open.

EMU athletes embrace Canton boy with mental health struggles: The eleven-year-old, who has had multiple diagnoses since age six, has been an honorary captain of the football team and gets to be on the sidelines for practices and some games, WXYZ reports. He went with the team to Boise for their bowl victory in December, and the players spend time with him away from the field in the off-season, too.

Jogger to get $15,000 for pothole injury: the Ann Arbor city council approved the settlement for Jason Kosnoski after he twisted his ankle in October on Brooks St. in the Water Hill neighborhood, MLive reports. Kosnoski blamed the city for not clearing leaves in an area where there is no sidewalk; the city agreed to the settlement without an admission of fault. Brooks St. is due to get sidewalks and be resurfaced later this year.

Shelter reports lowest owner-dog reunion rate in decades: The Humane Society of Huron Valley says only 43 percent of lost canines were returned to their humans this year, a result of a failure by many to microchip their dogs and cats or to update the information on the chip. HSHV offers microchipping for $20. 

An exacting entrepreneur transforms rock-climbing in Michigan: Nick Cocciolone is expanding his flagship Planet Rock location in Scio Township and preparing to add a Grand Rapids location to his chain, former instructor and Observer deputy editor Brooke Marshall reports in this month’s issue. With the biggest gym and the tallest walls for hundreds of miles in any direction, he’s built a community among people who’d otherwise have to travel to the U.P. or Kentucky for good outdoor climbing. “Once you’re on the wall, everything seems to focus into the task at hand,” he says. “You can’t let go of your mental state for any amount of time.”

Amplifying random acts of environmental kindness: A local website, Climate Hero Stories, has drawn national media attention for highlighting small but meaningful ways residents are making a difference, Grace Shackman reports in this month’s Observer. “People think it’s hopeless, but there is really a lot they can do,” says Don Levitt, spokesman for the site which is the brainchild of an octet of A2-area religious groups hoping to offer some inspiration. Each month, the site features a different story of someone doing something interesting and simple to combat climate change.

Rotary hosts US ambassador to NATO for high schoolers: The local district is holding a meet-and-greet with Julianne Smith at 6 p.m. Monday at Ann Arbor SPARK, 330 E. Liberty. The Brussels-based ambassador told the Rotarians she wants to speak to as many high school students as possible. Registration is required via this link.

Guinness squawks that Chelsea chicken is world’s oldest: Peanut, who lives with Marsi Darwin, is 20 but still spry and chatty, CBS Detroit reports. Darwin says the process of certifying Peanut’s place in the record book was laborious. “They do make you jump through some hoops,” she recalls. She also tells the story of why Peanut almost wasn’t hatched. The Old Farmer’s Almanac says a backyard chicken “with ideal care” usually lives up to 12 years.

Sweetgreen opens second A2 location: Just months after the first of the salad chain’s stores debuted downtown, another launched this week at Arbor Hills. The L.A.-based company went public in 2021 and now has more than 180 locations in sixteen states, Dave Algase wrote for February’s Observer. Local ingredients include bread and goat cheese from Zingerman’s, organic tofu from Ann Arbor–based Rosewood, and sweet potatoes from Zeeland’s Visser Farms.

New crafts consignment shop opens in Zeeb Rd. plaza: Misty Handmade Boutique & Crystals sells wares from more than fifty-five local and regional makers in a 2,000-square-foot space, Algase reports for this month’s Observer. Popular items so far are shadow boxes, plush Minky-style blankets, and knit bees, according to the owner.

A2Vintage relocates in downtown Ypsi: The shop, which sells clothes and vinyl records, moved across the street to a bigger space 128 W. Michigan Ave., MLive reports. The additional room enables the shop to offer vintage neon signs, soda machines, and other antiques. Updates on the April 1 grand opening, which will feature live music and a food truck, can be found here.

Two A2 athletes receive free specialized wheelchairs: The U-M Adaptive and Inclusive Sports Experience used a $35,000 grant from the Hartford insurance company to buy sports-adaptive equipment for Chelsea High senior Jacob Nelson, who has spina bifida and is the state champion in the adapted 100-meter dash, and twelve-year-old Bryan Kreps, who has a neuromuscular disorder and plays with the Michigan Rollverines wheelchair basketball team. MLive profiles Nelson, whose mother says his ability to compete has taught the teen’s typical peers that “he is an athlete.”

Free name-change clinic Friday at downtown library: The two-hour event, which begins at 4:30 p.m., will provide information on how to go about legally changing names and gender information on various government-issued identifications. The Jim Toy Community Center’s OUTreach and the U-M Outlaws are coordinating the seminar. More information can be found here.

Applications for Trinity grants due by April 3: The health system is offering up to $50,000 to local groups and projects for projects serving vulnerable populations in Washtenaw and Livingston counties. For more details and to apply for an Investing In Our Communities grant, click here.

By Jennifer Taylor

March 24 Friday: Join Leslie Science & Nature Center staff on a family-friendly “New Moon Hike” through Black Pond Woods to enjoy the intense nighttime darkness offered by the new moon and do some science experiments on the trail. Followed by moon-themed stories & poems around an outdoor campfire. 7 to 8:30 p.m., LSNC, 1831 Traver. $5 (age 2 & under, free). Preregistration required here or (734) 997–1553. 

March 25 Saturday: Attend the “49th Annual Dance for Mother Earth Ann Arbor Powwow,” a gathering of Native Americans from throughout the Great Lakes area with dance contests, social dancing and demonstrations of different styles of Native American dance, including fancy, traditional, grass dress, and jingle dress. Grand entries on Sat. at noon and 7 p.m. and on Sun. at noon only. Display and sale of traditional crafts and food. Sat. 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Sun. 10:30 a.m.–6 p.m., Skyline High School, 2552 N. Maple. $10 (students/ seniors, $7; kids ages 6 to 12, $5) per day; $15 (students/seniors, $10; kids, $7) weekend pass; kids age 5 and under and U-M students, free; group rates available. Tickets available at the door only. (734) 408–1581. 

March 26 Sunday: Shop the Ann Arbor City Club’s 65th Annual Flea Market, a huge assortment of antiques, collectibles, jewelry, art, books, housewares, linens, tools, and more. On Sun. only, all items half off. Sat., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sun. noon to 4 p.m., 1830 Washtenaw. Free admission. (734) 662–3279.

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

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