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May 8, 2026Can you guess what’s pictured above? Click the image to find out! |
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| | After months of being savaged in the court of public opinion as a rapacious, invasive threat, the fine folks behind OpenAI and Oracle’s planned $16 billion hyperscale AI-powering data center in Saline Twp. want an image makeover. Presumably, a gaggle of marketing folks got together to conjure up what could possibly charm and quell the rural yokels all uppity about the potential water and power issues such a mammoth enterprise might bring.
Their solution: Rename it. It shall henceforth be called The Saline Barn. Or maybe the Barn Data Center. Or perhaps just The Barn? They use all of these phrases right here in this one little screengrab.
Look, I don’t know who’s right in the data center fight – are these things a future-forward economic panacea or a resource-devouring cancer? – but I do know the mentality behind this very ham-handed PR move. Someone from a city on the East Coast thought, “Hey, there’s a barn out there! Isn’t that quaint? Let’s act like preservationists! We’ll keep it and build an identity around it!”
There isn’t even a photo of what is referred to in a FAQ answer as “the historic red barn” on the website. There’s nothing to read about the barn’s, uh, history. It feels like a cheap symbol meant to soften the image conjured by, as they refer to the project, “a gigawatt-scale data center campus.” Odds are high the folks who did this think of barns as cute, local structures from nursery school songs rather than the most ubiquitous, practical buildings in agriculture.
The developers actually have a strong selling point to lean into – they’re preserving 750 of 1,000 acres of wetlands, farmland, woodlands, and open space. Instead, now every time we read or write the term “Saline Barn,” we will be reminded of how the big-city simpletons memorialized their condescension.
Your news is here. A commencement address is causing a stir, a school board member abruptly quit, the contract drama between Michigan Medicine and Blue Cross is heating up, the planning commission gears up to turn CLUP into reality, and so much more.
This is last week’s most-clicked link.
– Steve Friess, editor |
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| | | Wolverine Tower’s long, messy goodbye continues. Credit: screengrab from this live webcam |
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| A beautiful day for commencement and controversy. Credit: Mohammad Jama |
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| | Prof’s remarks set off commencement furor: Outgoing Faculty Senate chair and history professor Derek Peterson went off-script during his remarks at graduation at the Big House by praising U-M campus protesters who “opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.” U-M president Domenico Grasso apologized for Peterson’s “hurtful and insensitive” words, which “were inappropriate and do not represent our institutional position” of neutrality on political issues. Peterson responded in an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education by insisting it was just a minor change for clarity: “What I want to emphasize is that I didn’t make the whole thing up out of whole cloth in an effort to deceive people about what I was going to say. They had the script. I changed a few words.” He is receiving support from several education-related unions who condemned Grasso’s apology as well as one petition by U-M faculty, staff, and students denouncing the apology that has drawn nearly 1,600 signatures as of early Friday and another signed by alumni with nearly 900 signers. One prominent Pakistani-American author wrote on Substack that the school’s reaction to Peterson, a MacArthur genius grant recipient, was an example of universities “enabling America’s press freedom collapse.” On the other side, Temple Beth Emeth rabbi Josh Whinston wrote an open letter to Peterson on social media arguing that “knowing that you misled the administration in order to say what you wanted to say diminishes your vocation, and it diminishes you.” Also, the two Republican nominees for regent issued a joint statement attacking U-M for giving “known anti-Israel activist” Peterson this platform, as did some out-of-state politicians. And regent Sarah Hubbard, a Republican who noted it’s nearly impossible to discipline Peterson for this because he has tenure, tells a2view she wants the board and administration to discuss ways to prevent commencement speakers from using “that podium as a platform to get a political opinion out. That’s where I think we can make a change.” Peterson told Zeteo (partially paywalled) that he’s “mystified” by the drama: “It’s a strange predicament. I’m not a provocateur, I’m an academician.” |
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| | AAPS trustee quits amid domestic violence charge: Don Wilkerson, who was elected in 2024 and served as treasurer, resigned abruptly to “prioritize his family at this time,” according to an emailed announcement from board president Torchio Feaster. WEMU reports that the move comes about five weeks after he was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence. Feaster’s note thanked Wilkerson “for 15 years of faithful service to the district and our community. … His commitment to the students and families of Ann Arbor Public Schools has been genuine and unwavering, and I am grateful for everything he has contributed.” Feaster, reached by a2view via text, declined to say if he was aware of the domestic violence charge when he issued that statement. The board has put out a call for nominees to replace Wilkerson through 2026; information on how to apply can be found here. |
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| | BCBSM denies referrals amid contract negotiations: The insurance giant is locked in tense talks with Michigan Medicine that could push 300,000 patients out of network. As a result, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has denied referrals for a kidney transplant and for a nine-year-old needing hernia surgery because the required care could extend past the June 30 contract expiration date. BCBSM sent enrollees this memo on Wednesday updating on the talks. |
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| | Data centers become political liabilities: Saline Twp. supervisor James Marion may face a recall election after the Washtenaw County elections commission approved language for a ballot question. Now organizers, attempting to punish leaders for approving the $16 billion OpenAI-Oracle hyperscale facility known as the Saline Barn, must collect 302 valid signatures (25 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the last governor’s election) to trigger the election. The county panel narrowly rejected petitions to recall two others – the clerk and another trustee – but the anti–data center residents say they’ll tweak the language and try again. This comes as the seven members of the Augusta Twp. board next week could learn the fate of a possible recall petition against them, too, over the rezoning of 522 acres for industrial-scale data center developments. Political pressure has already killed one potential data center; a developer dropped a bid to buy 400 acres in York Twp. after township officials seemed unlikely to approve necessary zoning changes. Meanwhile, U-M may sue the Ypsilanti Community Utility Authority over its recently approved one-year water and sewer service moratorium, which could set back construction of the controversial, sprawling supercomputing site it wants to build with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Ypsilanti Twp. |
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| | | Best-selling author draws inspiration from A2: Prolific writer and Burns Park denizen Camille Pagán’s latest novel, Dog Person, is set in an indie bookstore partly modeled after Literati, Alex Kourvo writes. Pagán, who grew up in Dearborn, got her English degree at U-M and has worked as a national freelance journalist in addition to writing books. She and her husband moved to Ann Arbor in 2010 when she was pregnant with their son and, in 2011, she held the first signing for her debut novel at the Barnes & Noble on Washtenaw Ave.
What’s next for CLUP: Weeks after the Comprehensive Land Use Plan sailed through council in mid-March following more than a year of debate and controversy, Micheline Maynard finds the planning commission has begun what may be a lengthy process of translating the concepts into zoning and other language. One big new idea: a new “floating residential” district amid single-family home areas where developers could build multifamily units. Maynard also digs into how similar cities – including Burlington, Vermont; Minneapolis; Austin; and Charlottesville, Virginia – moved forward with their own density-forward comprehensive plans.
Filmmaker values authenticity in A2 shoot: Trevor Zhou tells Alex Bradley that Ann Arbor, his debut feature slated for shooting this year, is a drama about reconnecting with an old friend during a Before Sunrise–style walk around town. The duo walk past landmarks that include Zingerman’s Deli, Nickels Arcade, and the Big House. “I’ve had meetings where production companies were on board but only on the condition that it be filmed out of state, and I knew I couldn’t do that,” Zhou says. “This movie is a love letter to the town and the community, and to film it anywhere else, then that wouldn’t be the case.” |
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| | | | | | Blue Whale closes: The restaurant and café in Lamp Post Plaza posted a notice on its door this week that it had “closed our doors permanently.” The owners, who opened the enterprise in 2023, expressed sadness but wrote: “We have been unable to accept the increased rent with our new landlord during this difficult economy.” Longtime owner Ron Marten sold the three-building shopping center, first developed in the 1960s, for $13.5 million in November 2025 to Oak Park–based Stadium Property Holdings, according to public real estate records.
Grizzly Peak has a new pardner: At The Ranch Honky Tonk, formerly The Den extension of the connected brewpub, every other bar seat is a horse saddle, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. The joint is the brainchild of Shelby Oberstaedt, the president and COO of True North Hospitality Group, who grew up on a Monroe County horse farm and “always dreamt of running a country western bar.”
Bong shop to take over former Cinnaholic berth: Bongz & Thongz is relocating to a smaller but newer space on E. Liberty, which owner Mohammed Hassan tells Algase is better suited for the needs of his business. The shop offers an impressive collection of handmade glass smoking devices – with prices as high as $20,000 – as well as an array of vapes and accessories. (Despite its name, it no longer sells sex-related merchandise or apparel.) |
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| | | Letter carriers to pick up food donations on Saturday: The annual national Stamp Out Hunger effort is taking on new urgency this year amid funding cuts to food banks and USDA programs that help stock shelves of pantries. In Washtenaw County, letter carriers will pick up shelf-stable nonperishable items left in bags near mailboxes and give them to Food Gatherers.
Ann Arbor Summer Festival’s annual fundraiser is May 15: The nonprofit behind Top of the Park hosts debut – an evening of live music and artistic encounters featuring nearly a dozen artists kicking off A2SF’s forty-third season. Standard tickets for the event are $133 ($75 of which is tax-deductible) and include two artisanal drinks, creative hors d’oeuvres, and dessert. The event runs from 7–9:30 p.m. at HOMES Campus.
Ypsi herb store offers monthly free health-care clinic: Volunteers – including a certified nurse midwife, emergency medical technicians, herbalists, and other practitioners – are available to consult with people about ways herbal remedies can supplement traditional medicine at these events, Concentrate reports. The next community care clinic runs from noon to 3 p.m. on May 17. Walk-ins are welcome. Anyone interested in volunteering can email [email protected]. |
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| | | Friday: Halfway to Halloween Expo is a horror-themed craft show with a haunted house, live performances, and more than 140 vendors offering scary decor, art, costumes, and taxidermy at Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.
Saturday: The Annual Allbreed Cat Show boasts hundreds of cats ranging from local house pets to exotic purebreds competing for awards at WCC.
Sunday: U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens’ annual Spring Plant Sales begin this weekend with a Mother’s Day sale of hanging baskets and container plants.
See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events. |
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