The true cold set upon us so suddenly I hadn’t the opportunity to pull all of our braided hibiscus trees inside. Overnight, the leaves wilted and they started looking so sad. Take a look. I’m certain we have smart people out there who can tell me if they’re salvageable and, if so, how to save them. Email me please!

We have a lot going on in this week’s rundown. The sign-stealing drama involving Michigan seems to offer new wrinkles every day, but it does feel like we’re close to some sort of specific outcome that could alter what was promised as a possible championship season. That story just bums me out because I want to win, but I don’t want to win by cheating. Beyond that, there’s some very troubling crime news, some much-needed financial help from the legislature for Ypsilanti Community Schools, and a wacky tale of a stolen trailer.

As we honor the nation’s veterans on Saturday, I hope you all keep their sacrifices on our behalf on your minds in the week ahead.

–Steve Friess, editor

Sign-stealing drama roils, with U-M now accusing other Big Ten teams: According to ESPN, Michigan sent the conference documents it believes shows three teams – Ohio State, Rutgers, and Purdue – sharing information about the Wolverines’ signs last season. That’s the latest turn of events in a week that also saw the Big Ten inform U-M that it is considering disciplinary action that sources for CBS Sports say would likely include a suspension for coach Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh has denied any knowledge of the alleged scheme in which now-resigned Michigan staffer Connor Stalions appeared to buy tickets to opponent games in order to have the sideline sign-calling recorded on video. Yahoo! Sports writes that U-M and Harbaugh plan to sue if he is suspended. Stalions is the subject of a fascinating Wall Street Journal article (paywall) that details how he parlayed a lifelong obsession with U-M football into a job on the Big House sidelines. 

U-M football approaching record 1,000th win: The second-ranked Wolverines go for win No. 999 this weekend against ninth-ranked Penn State,  as the 144-year-old team closes in on becoming the nation’s first college team to reach that milestone, SI.com reports. At a press conference last month, Harbaugh offered some ideas to commemorate the feat: “What if in the endzone, ‘Michigan’ was spelled with a ‘1G’, instead of an ‘IG’? The ‘M’, that’s a roman numeral for 1,000. There will definitely be a sticker on the helmet.”

EPA says Gellman plume is eligible to be Superfund site: The designation moves the effort to remediate the sprawling subterranean chemical contamination one step closer to being placed on the National Priorities List, according to a press release from congresswoman Debbie Dingell and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Gelman Sciences, a medical filter manufacturer that shut down in 1986, allowed the industrial solvent 1,4-dioxane to seep into the ground and contaminate groundwater in Ann Arbor and Scio Twp. Superfund designation could lead to significant federal funding to help clean it up.

Interim AAPD chief made a ‘gut-wrenching decision’ to leave: Aimee Metzer, after twenty-five years on the force, retired last month to take a newly created job as director of support services for U-M’s division of public safety and security at Michigan Medicine. She tells James Leonard in this month’s Observer that, having hit the full-pension threshold, she was persuaded by the new opportunity to move on. Metzer counts among her successes her ability to hire new officers to fill vacancies left by a rash of departures during Covid and national protests around policing. The department continues to search for a permanent chief after city administrator Milton Dohoney recommended rejecting all four finalists interviewed this summer. He tells Leonard, “I do not intend for the calendar to turn over in ’24 and we don’t know who the chief is.”

Council rezones parking outside former Sears to make way for mixed-use plan: The switch, which received a unanimous vote but still requires a second reading, impacts more than eight acres at Briarwood Mall where a proposed development would include a grocery store, a sporting goods store, and a 354-unit apartment complex, Fox 2 reports. The project also relies on the demolition of Sears, which has been vacant since 2018.

$2M to $4M condos proposed: The fifteen units in the building, which would overlook the Argo Cascades on Longshore Dr., would each have at least three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and 2,500 square feet, MLive reports (paywall). It would rise on property owned by Huron River Holdings LLC on what is now a city-leased parking lot for Argo Park canoe and kayak livery. Planning Commission staff is evaluating the proposal. At the expected list prices, they would be the most expensive new condos ever in Ann Arbor.

Legislature wipes out $42 million in YCS debt: That’s the largest chunk of the $114 million approved to relieve five struggling school districts of obligations that have crippled their finances, the Black Chronicle writes. The Ypsilanti Community Schools debt originated with the Willow Run School District prior to its merger with the Ypsilanti Public School District in 2013 and has cost the merged entity some $2 million a year in interest. Districts in Muskegon Heights, Benton Harbor, Inkster, and Pontiac also received debt relief in the measure.

AAPS approves contract for interim superintendent: Details were unavailable, but the often fractured board voted unanimously to the terms for Jazz Parks, who starts the job on Nov. 17, MLive writes. Parks takes over from ousted  superintendent Jeanice Swift while the board conducts a national search for a permanent replacement. This week’s vote comes after the board split 4-3 against approving the contract because some trustees wanted more time to digest it.

Popular choir teacher reaches separation agreement with YCS: The district still has not indicated specifically why Crystal Harding, a thirty-six-year veteran, was placed on leave in April from her job at Ypsi High, MLive reports. A letter to Harding said she was being investigated for “unauthorized field trips, fundraisers, student interviews and news reporting,” but she told the outlet she was never interviewed or asked to answer any questions about her conduct, and only agreed to retire because she was threatened with termination. “Even if they had found something that I had done that was inappropriate – I’ve never received a warning (or) any kind of discipline before,” she said.

Scio Twp. voters sink fire millages, Manchester’s support cityhood: Turnout in Tuesday’s off-year elections was low, but the dozen or so Michigan cities and townships to offer early balloting had an easy time of it, Bridge Michigan writes. In Washtenaw, the pioneer was Scio, where the county’s unofficial tabulations show 405 people voted during the nine-day polling period prior to Election Day. Far more voters, 3,143, cast absentee ballots and 1,613 voted in person on Tuesday. Two millage proposals aimed at adding firefighters and a second fire station failed by 2-to-1 margins after the opposition dotted township roads with “Vote NO” signs.  Also Tuesday, the electorate in Manchester voted to become a city, the seventh in Washtenaw County, WEMU reports.

Three new state lawmakers reflect on a heady first year: Jason Morgan, Jennifer Conlin, and Carrie Rheingans, all members of the Michigan House elected from the Ann Arbor area, tell Eve Silberman in this month’s Observer about their decisions to run and their proudest pieces of legislation. The slim Democratic majority has been prolific, passing or considering measures on gun safety, LGBTQ+ rights, tuition benefits for veterans, and health insurance reform.

Ten high-tech public bathrooms OK’d for downtown: Council approved a pilot project in which Throne Labs Inc. will provide ADA-accessible restrooms with touchless features to be placed around the city, ClickOnDetroit writes. The potties will be installed from summer 2024 to summer 2025, at which point there will be an assessment of how well they did, according to a city website.

Beavers dam Fleming Creek, amaze visitors: This is the first recorded occurrence of a beaver along Fleming Creek since the Botanical Gardens was established, according to the Facebook page of the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arborteum. We plan to watch and learn from their activity along the creek and have no plans to intervene at this time. The species had been all but eliminated in these parts by trapping more than 150 years ago, so their resurgence and appearance is “an exciting event.”

Deer breaks into Law School library: The white-tailed doe crashed through a first-floor window and wandered the halls on Oct. 27 before being safely led back outdoors, the Daily reports. As is typical these days, the deer quickly became an online meme after the Law School took to social media about the intrusion.  

Police investigate sexual assault during Purdue game: A woman was attacked by two men who followed her to her car during Saturday night’s football matchup, according to a campus police press release. She had parked on the grounds of the Ann Arbor Golf & Outing Club. Anyone with information should call (734) 794-6920 or e-mail tips here. 

Ypsi man guilty in 2015 rape: Lewis Smith, thirty-nine, was convicted last week of sexually assaulting a woman incapacitated by heroin in a case that took years to adjudicate because the victim’s rape kit was not processed in a timely fashion, Fox 2 reports. Attorney general Dana Nessel credited the Washtenaw County Sexual Assault Kit Initiative for bringing Smith to justice.

Whitmore Lake couple perish in one-car crash: Driver Jonathan Cogar, forty-eight, and his wife, Chelsey Cogar, died Monday after their vehicle collided with a tree in Northfield Twp., MLive reports. Police say they have no eyewitnesses but that drugs and alcohol do not appear to have been a factor in the crash. According to Chelsea Cogar’s Facebook page, the couple celebrated their son’s second birthday last week.

Catholic priest sentenced to one year in jail on sex abuse charges: In his plea deal revealed Wednesday, Timothy Crowley admitted to molesting a ten-year-old altar boy in the 1980s at Jackson’s St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Hillsdale’s St. Anthony Catholic Church and Ann Arbor’s St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, MLive reports. Crowley, seventy-four, also will be on probation for five years after his jail sentence. He was defrocked in 2015.

Man accused of eleven armed robberies in a month: Willie Hopkins, fifty-six, originally arrested in August in connection with a hold-up in Pittsfield Twp., now faces federal charges for that robbery and ten others, ClickOnDetroit reports. The spree, which typically involved stick-ups with a Glock at gas stations late at night in Ypsi or Ann Arbor, ran from July 11 to Aug. 8. Police say when they seized Hopkins’ phone, they found internet searches for phrases that included, “What happens after a bank is robbed?”

Israel-Hamas conflict continues to reverberate locally: Students and community members gathered on the Diag at U-M on Friday to show support for Israel, the Michigan Daily reports. It’s the latest rally or vigil put on to support one side or the other since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Also this week, an array of local leaders including congresswoman Debbie Dingell and representatives of various police departments issued a statement condemning threats, violence, or discrimination motivated by passions inflamed by the Middle East war, ClickOnDetroit reports.

County approves $2.18M in rent aid to prevent homelessness: The “immediate impact package” includes $750,000 to give at-risk families stipends of up to $600 per month for a year for basic needs, according to the resolution passed unanimously on Nov. 1. Another $710,000 will go to prevent evictions, $250,000 is for winter shelter operations, $150,000 is for short-term emergency hotel stays, and $250,000 will be for “rapid rehousing.” The stipend program could assist up to 175 families.

Legislature OKs $42.5M renovation at EMU: Roosevelt Hall is a nearly century-old building that’s home to the GameAbove College of Engineering and Technology, EMU Today writes. The state will kick in $30 million to the university’s $12.5 million to modernize the building, built in 1924 as a high school, to accommodate “advanced technology programs.”

Big House deploys metal detectors: The press release calls it a “walk-through weapons-detection system” designed to enhance security at North America’s highest-capacity sports venue. Attendees at the Michigan-Purdue football game on Saturday night told a2view they looked like typical metal detectors. Some folks who set off detectors were asked to empty the contents of their pockets and then go through detectors again. The university says it will soon begin using the system at Crisler Center, Yost Ice Arena and “other identified locations as deemed appropriate.”

May Mobility raises $105M in venture capital: That brings the six-year-old autonomous vehicle technology company co-founded by U-M computer science professor Edwin Olson to a total of $300 million, according to a press release. The funding round is led by NTT Group, which secured the rights to deploy May’s technology in Japan, as well as Toyota Ventures, BMW i Ventures, State Farm Ventures, and others. May’s technology has guided more than 350,000 autonomy-enabled rides so far in twelve cities including Ann Arbor; Trilby MacDonald wrote about riding May’s shuttle in the June Observer.

U-M solar car makes dramatic comeback in cross-Australia competition: Autoweek’s Emmet White showers the Astrum with accolades in a piece on last month’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. A glitch during qualifying put the student-built car in thirty-second place leaving the starting point in Darwin, but Astrum fought its way back to fourth by the time it reached Adelaide, 1,800 miles away.

Bizarre heist leaves Fowling Warehouse without its mobile unit: Detroit Free Press columnist Neal Rubin (paywall) has a grand time digging into the curious case of the theft of a black trailer belonging to a Ypsi business that offers a bowling hybrid in which players knock down pins with a football. The sixteen-foot trailer, which the owner bought for $6,650 in 2021, was chained to a light pole outside the business when someone pulled a U-Haul up early on Oct. 24 and drove off with it. Rubin writes that the owners brought the trailer to EMU sports events “charity cotillions, car shows, food truck rallies, graduation parties and just about anyplace else they could park. It held five lanes, 10 sets of pins, five footballs, tents, banners, chairs, hopes, dreams and whoops of joy.”

Angelo’s, a local classic, gears up for its Dec. 23 closing: Owner Steve Vangelatos tells Dave Algase in this month’s Observer about the emotional ride he’s been on since he announced in May that the landmark restaurant on Catherine St. would shut down. The rush of customers since then is making 2023 “my best year sales-wise, ever” but nothing will stop the closure since he’s finalizing the $4.5 million sale of the property to U-M early in 2024. Vangelatos, who took over from his father Angelo, in 1986, also tells the origin story of the famous raisin toast. 

Longtime employee buys Renaissance apparel shop: Owner Roger Pothus died in 2021, leading Bill Sizer to purchase the Main St. institution in a sale that closed last month, MLive reports. Sizer has been general manager since 1998. Sizer rehired Todd Lidgard, who worked at the luxury retailer from 1995 to 2005, to lead operations. 

Poke, salad eatery Fuel’d coming to Cranbrook Center: No opening date is available for the restaurant, which is part of an expansion of a popular restaurant in East Lansing, but an a2view spy spotted the Fuel’d sign go up in the space next door to Potbelly this week. The spot was once occupied by Old Carolina Barbeque Co.

Ypsi Meals on Wheels sells out Creature Carnival fundraiser, adds second Saturday show: After the 10:30 a.m. show hit capacity, the Belleville-based magic and animal production troupe agreed to do another at 12:30 p.m. to benefit the non-profit. Tickets are $10 and can be bought here. The money raised goes specifically to YMoW’s Pets Assisting the Lives of Seniors program to provide food, litter, medicine, grooming and vet care for homebound residents’ pets.

Comic performance backs Shelter Association of Washtenaw County: The Nov. 16 show at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase, titled “Put a Roof On It,” features comedian and actor Matt Braunger. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased here. All proceeds go to support the anti-homelessness non-profit. 

First Amputee Soccer Camp at U-M held last month: The University of Michigan Adaptive Sports and Fitness Club, in collaboration with the United States Amputee Football Federation, put on the event for twenty-five athletes to bolster the growing sport, the Daily reports.  USAFF board member Emily Eitzman, a Michigan student, oversaw the project and says they’re already planning a second one in early 2024.

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: Catch singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy of acclaimed roots-rock band Wilco in conversation with Michigan Radio host April Baer about his new memoir, World Within a Song, a disarming and inspirational book that looks at fifty songs that have changed his life and asks why we listen to music, why we love songs, and how music can connect us. 6:30 p.m., Rackham Auditorium. Tickets $45 (includes a signed copy of the book) in advance here & (if available) at the door. (734) 585–5567. 

Saturday:  Honor veterans at a peace ceremony put on by Veterans for Peace Chapter 93, the group behind a Veterans/Armistice Day memorial display of 230 markers, one for each Michigan soldier lost in the Iraq and Afghan wars. Peace ceremony at 11 a.m.; markers on display 11 a.m. to dusk., southwest corner of Veterans Park. Parking at the Veterans Memorial Ice Arena parking lot, 2150 Jackson Ave. 

Sunday: Take part in the “Original A2 Turkey Trot,” chip-timed 5K, 10K, and “Iron Turkey” (both 5- and 10K) races. Also, a one-mile fun run and various races for kids twelve and under. Five-deep awards in five-year age divisions. Finisher’s medals, awards, T-shirts, race photos. 9 a.m. (registration begins at 7:45 a.m.), Hudson Mills Metropark, 8801 North Territorial, Dexter. $30 and up (fun run and kids races, free) in advance here. $10 vehicle entry fee. (734) 585–7101. 

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

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