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This will be a special Mother’s Day because it coincides with my mom’s 80th birthday! I’m looking forward to the big family party at my sister’s outside Philly, but I’m less psyched about the long drive with my noisy, cranky small people. Real-life road trips can be fun, but they’re rarely as momentous as the ones in movies, y’know?
Speaking of movies, I was deluged after my query about the first movie you saw in the theater! There were three categories of note, and you’re welcome to let me know how many of these you’ve seen:
- Classics: “Mary Poppins” (Jim Manheim), “Bullitt” (Edward Vielmetti), “Bambi” (Frank Whelan, Lois Aroian, and Jane Mariouw), “Journey To the Center of the Earth” (Robert Hamel), “Singin’ In the Rain” (Louis C. Rice), “Pinocchio” (Jean Bartlett), “Star Wars” (Vanessa Clarke), “My Fair Lady,” (Eileen Kreiner), “The Ten Commandments” (Terry Morris), “Fiddler on the Roof” (Joanne Kelleher), “The Sword and the Stone” (Mary Jane McCully)
- Those scared by their first flicks: “The Wizard of Oz” (Miriam Meisler), “The Boy with Green Hair” (Renee Robbins), “The Time Machine” (Peter Rea) and “The Birds” (Terry Morris who ran “to the lobby to calm myself down.”)
- Oldies I’m unfamiliar with: “The Vikings” (David Lady), “Darby O’Gill and the Little People” (Carla Bayha), “Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue” (Suzan Alexander), “Rocket Man” (Gary Tooles).
Last week was a heavy news week, this week is lighter. Go ahead and peruse as you wish.
With thanks to the wonderful emergency room staff at Trinity for the amazing care they took yesterday stitching up the terrifying gash on our son’s forehead, I wish you all a safe and ER-free week ahead.
– Steve Friess, editor
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Jeanice Swift has led the Ann Arbor Public Schools through ten turbulent years. Now she’s preparing the district for the decades ahead with a $1 billion rebuilding – starting with a new campus for Pathways to Success. Credit: J. Adrian Wylie.
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Michigan Radio team lauded as Pulitzer finalists: Lead reporter Kate Wells and colleagues Sarah Hulett, Lindsey Smith, Laura Weber-Davis, and Paulette Parker were cited in the Audio Reporting category for Nine Days in a Michigan Abortion Clinic, as Election Looms, an eighteen-minute piece that ran in October 2022. The board called the report from a group of metro Detroit clinics “a visceral documentary recorded behind the closed doors of an abortion clinic, allowing listeners to hear conversations between practitioners and patients, and the controversial procedure itself.”
Superintendent looks back – and into the future: Jeanice Swift’s decade at the school district’s helm has seen major highs, including raising enrollment and passing a $1 billion bond to rebuild the schools, and epic lows, most notably Covid and conflict with the teachers union, James Leonard writes in this month’s Observer. The administrator has been recruited for other jobs after an unusually long tenure atop a major district, but board president Jacinda Townsend Gides hopes “to create a situation where Dr. Swift wants to stay.”
New Central Campus dorms at last: For decades, students have complained about being exiled to North Campus by the rising undergraduate population and scarcity of space on Central Campus, but that’s changing in a dramatic way, Trilby MacDonald and John Hilton report in this month’s Observer. The freshman class grew 18 percent between 2018 and 2022, prompting the regents to finally pull the trigger on a five-building, 2,300-bed complex on Elbel Field north of Hill St. Unlike in most university towns, on-campus housing at U-M is typically more affordable than renting in Ann Arbor.
2020 EMU alumna slain in Texas massacre: Aishwarya Thatikonda, twenty-seven, died from gunshot wounds on May 7 in a mass shooting at an outlet mall in a Dallas suburb, according to a statement issued by the university. Thatikonda came to the United States from India to pursue her master’s degree in construction management at Eastern Michigan, the BBC reports, and worked at a Texas firm.
Ypsi teen dies in crash during police pursuit: Micah Damon Cross II, nineteen, was killed Friday night at Michigan Ave. and State Rd., when his car collided with another vehicle as he fled Saline police, MLive reports. A forty-three-year-old Milan woman and her two young children were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said they pursued Cross because he refused to pull over when they flagged him for reckless driving.
Arrest made in downtown crosswalk attack: Lisa Sommers, fifty-six, suffered three fractures to her jaw while crossing Catherine St. near N. Main St. on a late April afternoon when a man assaulted her, MLive reports. Sommers says she did not know the thirty-five-year-old man charged in the attack.
Accused purse snatcher arrested with unregistered, loaded gun: Jeremiah Facen, eighteen, is charged with larceny on a person, carrying a concealed weapon, and two counts of stealing a financial transaction device in connection with the theft on E. Washington on Monday night of an Ohio woman’s handbag, police say. The suspect is alleged to have used the woman’s credit cards. The woman was not injured.
Chelsea cops release records amid lawsuit: A local couple, aided by U-M Law School’s Civil Rights Litigation Initiative, sued to obtain complaints and disciplinary documents pertaining to alleged police misconduct during racial justice protests in summer 2020, MLive reports (paywall). The city claimed some of the requested documents were confidential, but a new police administration changed course and provided the material earlier this year. The city also reimbursed the residents $2,387 in court and legal fees.
U-M cuts Covid benefits: As the nation exits its state of emergency this week, the university is changing a variety of policies for its related coverage, the University Record writes. As of this weekend, patients under U-M health plans must start paying co-pays for Covid testing and will no longer be eligible for free rapid antigen tests, and university employees will lose access to a special paid time off bank. Vaccinations will remain free.
Michigan Medicine drops Covid vaccine requirement for transplants: The hospital system told a court last week that they have dropped the rule, leaving a pending lawsuit by two patients in need of organs in limbo, MLive reports (paywall). The two patients sued last year on grounds they’d been dropped from the waiting lists because their Catholic beliefs led them to refuse to get vaccinated. The two patients say they oppose the use of aborted fetal cells in medical research; the state says no such cells were used in developing the vaccines. It’s unclear if the patients have been returned to the waiting list.
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A onetime Kroger on Packard – most recently fronted by BGreen Today – coming down yesterday to make way for the seventy-two apartment Packard Row development. Credit: Steve Friess.
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“Overwhelming majority” of grades turned as GEO strike continue: The refusal of graduate students to work was expected to cause a major snarl in the timetable for completing grades for the semester, but U-M provost Laurie McCauley says 91 percent of grades were in by Monday afternoon, the Record writes. The Graduate Employees’ Organization, whose prior contract expired May 3, remains on strike but has committed to only two days of bargaining for the remainder of the month.
Ypsi mayor calls for choir teacher to be reinstated: Crystal Harding, who has taught in the district for more than 30 years, was placed on leave May 3 after recently accusing a videographer of absconding with $700 of student funds meant to pay for a recording of a recent show, MLive reports. Mayor Nicole Brown and others expressed their support for Harding at Monday’s school board meeting. A letter from administrators says the district is investigating “unauthorized field trips, fundraisers, student interviews and news reporting.” The videographer ultimately did produce the tape of the show.
Proposed downtown high-rise shrinks by two floors: Texas-based LV Collective LLC has changed its plan for 711 Church St. to 280 units on seventeen stories, down from 350 units on nineteen stories, MLive reports (paywall). The change comes in response to concerns that the tower would block sunlight from the neighboring Towsley Children’s House.
Onetime Kroger on Packard demolished: The grocery-store-turned-minimall is expected to give way to a mixed-use project called Packard Row that will include seventy-two apartment units, 3,720 square feet of commercial space, and a fitness center. In a post in NextDoor.com, partner Ryan Tobias of the development firm Jackson Dearborn Partners notified the community that wrecking crews would start tearing the store down this week.
Developer sues Pittsfield Twp. for permission to build subdivision: Norfolk Development Corp. and property owner Pittsfield 38 Group, LLC, filed a lawsuit after the township refused to rezone thirty-eight acres off U.S. 12, MLive reports (paywall). Bloomfield Hills-based Norfolk wants to build 88 duplex condos and argues that the site’s agricultural zoning is “illogical” in light of other development nearby.
To the left or not to the left, that is the question: Motorists at southbound Seventh St. at Huron St. are confronted with conflicting instructions, but the correct answer is that drivers are only supposed to go straight or turn right there, MLive reports (paywall). Signage prohibits a left turn, yet the pavement still bears a white arrow indicating it’s a left-turn lane as it was before a recent reconfiguration. The city says they just haven’t been able to schedule someone to fix the pavement markings.
Campus parking permit prices rise in July: The annual rates go up 2 percent, the first hike since 2019, according to an announcement by the U-M Department of Logistics, Transportation and Parking. They’ll run from $71 for a student after-hours permit to $1,920 for a gold permit that gives physicians, executive officers, and deans exclusive access to prime spaces.
Tennis teams advance in NCAA tournaments: Both the women’s and men’s teams easily won their first two rounds last weekend and play at home in coming days in Round Three. The men take on the University of Southern California on Friday for a berth in the quarterfinal next Thursday, while the women go up against University of Virginia on Saturday for a shot at playing again on Wednesday.
U-M men’s lacrosse heads for first NCAA tournament: The team, which won the Big Ten championship on Saturday with an upset rout of Maryland, plays Cornell Sunday in Ithaca, New York. Michigan is ranked No. 15 nationally; Cornell is No. 6.
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Pittsfield gets Greek fast-casual franchise: The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, a growing chain that emanates out of Las Vegas, started serving up gyros and hummus this month, Dave Algase reports in this month’s Observer. The location on Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. is the owners’ fourth Great Greek in Michigan, where they ultimately hope to open as many as twenty-five.
Abbott’s Landscape Nursery to close: The family-owned plant and garden-supplies shop at 2781 Scio Church Rd. will shut down at the end of June, according to an email to the Observer. The business opened in 1985. “The owners are ready to move on and enjoy the next phase of life,” according to the note. The change appears to have been in the works for a while; an April 7 post on Facebook seeking workers specified they only needed help through June.
Chick-Fil-A looking to replace defunct Denny’s: The shuttered restaurant on Washtenaw has sat vacant since March 2022. Now the fast-food chain wants to knock it down and build its first store in the county, MLive reports.
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Residents are urged to fill these orange bags with nonperishable food items and leave them by the mailbox to be taken by letter carriers on Saturday for the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive The donations locally go to Food Gatherers. Credit: Steve Friess.
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USPS workers pick up nonperishable food Saturday: Residents are urged to leave bags and boxes of canned and packaged goods by their mailboxes for letter carriers to collect in the annual Stamp Out Hunger event. Locally, the donations will go to Food Gatherers. Last year, the campaign raised more than 118,000 pounds of food in Washtenaw County alone. For more information, click here.
Storytelling event Friday raises money for Student Advocacy Center: “Telling Tales Out of School” features locals performing spoken-word pieces to support efforts by the organization to keep kids in school. The event begins at 7 p.m. in the parking lot of YCS Athletics, 1779 Packard, Ypsilanti, with an alternative indoor venue at Willow Run Auditorium, 235 Spencer Ln., in the event of rain. Tickets are $30 or $10 with Student ID. A livestream will also be available for ticketholders. Click here for more details.
Bird Center of Michigan puts out the call for volunteers: The Saline-area nonprofit rehabilitates injured or orphaned songbirds, taking in 1,800 birds of more than 85 species last year alone. The group, which moved from Ann Arbor two years ago, is building a new waterfowl facility to accommodate hundreds of ducks and geese in need of help. For more information, click here.
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By Jennifer Taylor
Friday: Hear Brooklyn comic Caitlin Peluffo, a regular on the NYC comedy club scene, at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase. Her loveable, loose-cannon persona lets her tackle a range of risqué subjects, including women’s bodies, dating foibles, and STDs. 7:15 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.) and 9:45 p.m. (Sat.), 212 S. Fourth Ave. $18 reserved seating in advance (before 6 p.m. the night of the show) here, $20 general admission at the door. (734) 996–9080.
Saturday: See Midwest Pro Wrestling Alliance’s “Collision,” where male & female pro wrestlers from the Impact Wrestling, AEW, and WWE circuits, as well as local wrestlers and extras, compete in nine bouts featuring classic pro wrestling storylines, props, interviews, and elaborate costumes. A taping of four half-hour broadcasts to air on the Ypsi-based MI Sports & Entertainment digital TV channel. Concessions and merchandise available. 6 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.), Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds, 5055 Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. Tickets $10 (12 and under, $5) in advance here and at the door.
Sunday: Compete in the “Mother’s Day Time to Teal Run” 5-km race, or just join the 1-km fun run through downtown in this annual event. Features a talk by local Democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell. Emcee is Fox 2 reporter Robin Murdoch. Proceeds benefit the Michigan Ovarian Cancer Alliance. 8 a.m., 209 S. Ashley. $40 (5-km, early registration), $45 (day of), here. (734) 800-6144.
See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events.
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