Happy Thanksgiving! This year, we are going to my in-laws – and that fully encapsulates the thing I’m most thankful for. My husband’s parents sold their home in Georgia and spent much of this year renovating a condo in Belleville so they could be near to us. Since I left home for college at age 17, I’ve never lived within even an hour’s flight of family. It’s thrilling to me and great for the kids.

It also means I don’t have to do as much for the meal, which I don’t mind! As of right now, though, I’m bringing this potato-leek soup, this cheesy potato casserole, and these sweet potatoes. I may Coco Chanel that plan and drop one. Got a simple and unusual starchy side to suggest in these waning hours? Email me!

The news for this short week is here. Have a great holiday.

– Steve Friess, editor

P.S. Last week’s a2view mistakenly said the Shelter Association’s Fill That Truck food and clothing drive would be Nov. 22; in fact, it had already occurred, on Nov. 8 (a press release online gave the later date). Readers also alerted us to errors in a Facebook post listing Thanksgiving-related charitable events; the author of the post has since removed it. We regret providing incorrect information.

Lured by $10M offer, Belleville football phenom flips to Wolverines: Bryce Underwood, the nation’s No. 1-rated recruit from the Class of 2025, is expected to receive eight figures in name, image, and likeness deals over four years now that he has decommitted from LSU and agreed to play for U-M, CBS Sports reports. ClickOnDetroit writes that Underwood said he always wanted to play for his hometown team but felt former head coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t take enough interest in him. Former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady is reportedly among those who worked behind the scenes to persuade Underwood to go blue. Front Office Sports reports another celebrity wrinkle: Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison was among those pledging millions, along with Barstool Sports founder and U-M alum Dave Portnoy, to the Champions Circle collective for Underwood; Ellison’s wife, Jolin, is a U-M alum. Two days after Underwood’s announcement, he appeared in maize and blue on the sidelines at U-M’s blowout win over Northwestern in the season’s final home game, USA Today observes.

Faculty Senate chair warns that U-M may retreat on DEI: In an email to members first posted on social media by anti-DEI activist John Sailer, Rebekah Modrak sounds an alarm that the Board of Regents could vote to eliminate or restructure the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as soon as Dec. 5. Modrak urges faculty to join a rally on Diag at noon on Monday and attend the meeting next Thursday. DEI programs are being targeted by conservatives across the country who contend they foster divisiveness and amount to reverse discrimination. “With seemingly no interest in accessing evidence about the successes or challenges of the program, the regents cannot understand what DEl encompasses,” Modrak writes. 

3,600 tenured professors sue for back pay: The lawsuit filed in Lansing this week alleges that U-M owes about $2.5 million per year because the plaintiffs received their annual raises in September instead of in July when its fiscal year begins, MLive reports. Though the practice is longstanding, the suit covers only the last three years, the maximum permitted under Michigan law. 

Ypsilanti District Library ditches X for Bluesky: YDL says it will “no longer be posting library updates” on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, a decision widely criticized in the Facebook version of its announcement. “Keeping It Real” Substack author Dave Bondy quoted a statement from YDL in which the library district explained that “our social media management tool allows us to connect to up to three social media platforms at once, and right now our efforts to reach the community are most effective on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky.” On X, the statement said, YDL was seeing “shrinking audience” and less engagement. Bluesky, which became publicly available in February, has more than 22 million users; X had more than 335 million active users as of last month. X has become controversial since it was bought by billionaire and Trump enthusiast Elon Musk, who has altered the site’s algorithms to promote more conservative content, PBS reports. Other local entities have opened Bluesky accounts, including the Ann Arbor District Library, several U-M departments, and the Ann Arbor Observer, but only YDL so far has said they will stop using X.

Ypsilanti lands $7.5M to remove Peninsular Paper Dam: The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, established by Congress and overseen by the Department of the Interior, will pay about half the anticipated cost to restore the Huron River to its natural flow, according to a press release. The city was ordered to remove or repair the 1920 dam following a state inspection a decade ago, and has been working toward the removal since 2019, according to its webpage on the project. Environmentalists say the structure’s removal will improve habitat for walleye, smallmouth bass, white bass, and sensitive native mussel species. Work is expected to begin next fall. 

Beavers prosper, proliferate as water quality improves: Matthaei and Nichols Arboretum natural areas program lead Jeff Plakke tells Kati Shanks in this month’s Observer that the excitement in 2023 over beavers building a dam has carried over to this year with more dam activity and sightings of new beaver families. Experts say the recovery of the local population, which had been decimated by fur trapping in the mid-1800s, is finding hospitable habitat along the area’s waterways as oily pollutants, which are harmful to their coats, have been removed.

Parent volunteers scarce in AAPS: Especially since the pandemic, recruiting help in classrooms has become a lot harder, Julie Halpert writes in this month’s Observer. Teachers say they used to have little trouble finding parents who could spend parts of the day in class, but now “there’s been a loss of community feeling,” Burns Park PTO president Kory Zhao says. School board trustee Jeff Gaynor posits that part of the problem is that schools may be “less welcoming” to external visitors because of security concerns. Volunteers are scarcest where they’re needed most, notably at Title I elementary schools that suffered support-staff cuts amid the district’s financial problems.

Developer, Pittsfield Twp. at odds over apartment plan: Schafer Development wants to reduce an approved plan for 212 apartments in a four-story building to fifty-six units in a three-story townhome-style building, MLive reports (paywall). Township officials were unhappy with the reduction in housing density for the complex slated for Carpenter Rd. near Clover Lane Dr., so Schafer says it will try to come up with a compromise. The developer says inflation and other factors make the larger project less financially feasible.

Harriet St. area to receive $1.4M upgrade: The Ypsilanti neighborhood between First Ave. and Hawkins St. will get updated pedestrian crossing ramps and crosswalk pavement markings next summer, according to a press release. A mid-block crossing with bump outs will be added at Armstrong Dr. and sidewalks will be brought up to current ADA standards. The last piece of funding was secured last week when the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments announced it would kick in $163,000; the remainder will be paid for by the city and the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study.

Voting surges at U-M hubs: Nearly 15,000 people either voted or dropped off absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 election at the Museum of Art on Central Campus and the Duderstadt Gallery on North Campus, the University Record writes. That’s three times as many as in 2022, although the sites were only used to collect absentee ballots then. The two sites also processed 6,373 in-person voter registrations during the 2024 cycle, accounting for 88 percent of the City of Ann Arbor’s new voters.

WCC program offers free tuition, fees for teaching certificates: The community college, a consortium of Michigan intermediate school districts called Talent Together, and the Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative are offering a way for people with little or no college credit to attain teaching certificates via online and virtual courses, Concentrate reports. A sixteen-student pilot program started this fall with the expectations that the program will ramp up to fifty additional students for the winter semester. Talent Together expects to open the application process for the next round in coming weeks.

Input sought on I-94 self-driving lane: MDOT is hosting “public participation sessions” on Tuesday from 10 to 11:30 a.m., 1 to 2:30 p.m., and 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Van Buren Twp. Hall, to hear reactions to plans for a nearly forty-mile roadway from Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. to Detroit’s M-10. Feedback can also be submitted online here until Dec. 19. An environmental impact study published this month projects that the project could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing road congestion and improving traffic flow, but it also has the potential to divert I-94 traffic into low-income and minority neighborhoods that line the highway.

Trinity Health launches endowment honoring doctor: The Mark Oberdoerster Internal Medicine Education Endowment intends to support scholarships for aspiring physicians, according to a press release. Oberdoerster, sixty-eight, died in August following an unidentified medical incident while riding his bicycle in Ann Arbor Twp. An internist, he practiced medicine in the area for more than thirty-five years. Trinity is accepting donations to the fund here.

KPOT opens on Carpenter: An all-you-can-eat Korean restaurant where diners cook their meals at the table has opened near the Target store in the space formerly occupied by Lane Bryant, Dave Algase reports in this month’s Observer. The eatery boasts thirty-seven tables equipped with hot pots and grills, along with buffet-style stations for sauces, hot ingredients, desserts, and fruit. “There is an event to it, where you actually get to cook the food in front of you yourself,” says general manager Jeff Yeung, “So it’s not just a meal.”

Blue Tractor spins off a Tex-Mex spot: The fast-casual concept Texacano Tex-Mex BBQ took over an underutilized portion of the brewpub, sharing an entrance with the affiliated Mash bar downstairs and its kitchen with Blue Tractor, Algase writes in this month’s Observer. The three establishments are operated by Mission Restaurant Group. “The aim is to have a nice, casual place where people can come in and have a nice meal without any pretension,” general manager Dave Horchem says. “You can have a great meal for under $20 and walk out of there with leftovers.”

Siam Square finds new berth after V Kitchen closes: Co-owners Ethan Pham and Terry Phung of the Vietnamese restaurant announced on Facebook that he would shut down on Nov. 25. Dave Algase reports in December’s Observer that the Thai restaurant Siam Square, recently forced to abruptly move out of the Victory Inn and Suites when it closed in September, is taking over the space at 883 W. Eisenhower Pkwy.

Giving Tuesday offers plethora of charitable opportunities: From the YCMA to the Ark and from U-M to the Washtenaw Area Council for Children, local groups are looking for support during the annual post-Thanksgiving event that lands on Dec. 3 this year. Many, like the Hope Clinic, First Steps-Ann Arbor PTO, and the Washtenaw Community College Foundation, have big donors poised to match gifts received on Tuesday. 

Options for free Thanksgiving meals: According to Food Gatherers, in Ann Arbor, the Vineyard Church is handing out to-go meals from noon to 2 p.m. at the Delonis Center, 312 W. Huron St. In Ypsi, the Hope Clinic at 518 Harriet St offers grab-and-go meal kits between 5 and 6 p.m., and Chelsea Hospital, 775 S. Main St., hosts a meal from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (registration required by calling the Chelsea Senior Center at (734) 475-9242.) In addition, the Stone Chalet Bed and Breakfast Inn and Event Center offers a free meal from noon to 5 p.m. RSVP here, although it’s not required.

EMU doubles giveaway turnout: Fifty volunteers handed out 15,000 pounds of food outside the George Gervin GameAbove Center last Thursday, providing Thanksgiving meals to 540 cars, MLive reports. That’s twice the number that came by for the 2023 event; vehicles began lining up at 7:30 a.m. even though the giveaways didn’t begin until 10 a.m. Drivers chose between a whole ham and a fourteen-pound turkey along with pie, vegetables and potatoes. According to the report, “EMU president James Smith and his wife, Connie Ruhl-Smith, personally sponsored the event and were on hand to help distribute meals alongside Ypsilanti Mayor Nicole Brown and groups from the Ann Arbor Community Foundation and EMU Credit Union.”

By Jennifer Taylor

Thanksgiving: The annual Ann Arbor Turkey Trot is sold out, but you can still cheer on runners at this 5K race through downtown Ann Arbor that features holiday-themed costumes. There is also a 1K “Tot Trot” for kids under age ten. 8:15 a.m. (1K Tot Trot) and 8:45 a.m. (5K), 337 E. Liberty St. at Fourth Ave.

Friday: Sing some Christmas tunes with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen at the Michigan Theater’s “White Christmas Sing-Along.” The 1954 backstage musical is about army buddies who make it big in show business and fall in love with performing sisters. The audience is invited to sing along to the Irving Berlin songs, including “White Christmas,” “Sisters,” “Snow,” and more. Preceded at 7 p.m. by a caroling session. 7:30 p.m., $16 (students, seniors, veterans, and kids under twelve, $13) in advance or at the door. (734) 668–8397. 

Saturday: Take a festive guided lantern-lit hike after dark at Hudson Mills Metropark’s Annual Holiday Glow Hike. The trail is about a half-mile and slightly hilly. All are encouraged to wear “glow apparel,” if they have any. Followed by cocoa and treats around a campfire. All ages welcome. Children must be accompanied by a registered adult. 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Hudson Mills Activity Center, 8801 N. Territorial Rd., Dexter. $5 (children under two, free), registration required by 4 p.m. here. $10 vehicle entrance fee. (734) 426–8211. 

Sunday: Embrace your inner hippie with some free-form dancing at “Elemental Ecstatic Dance.” Flow toys, hula hoops, and other props provided. Dancers of all ages and abilities welcome. Wear loose clothes, barefoot or stocking feet. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A2 Yoga, 2030 Commerce Blvd. $20 (age thirteen and under, free) cash or Venmo (@andjru) at the door.

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

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