Happy birthday to … me! I’m fifty-three today! Prime-number birthdays don’t call out for much contemplation, but it seems rude to myself not to acknowledge.

I’ve long hated my birthday, actually. My subconscious somehow senses it coming and starts making me depressed and overly sensitive long before I even realize the date is approaching. That still happens, but it’s not as intense anymore mostly because now I have my son’s birthday to focus on Oct. 18. So happy birthday to Nevada, too!

And the thing is, I’ve always loved this season, and experiencing it here in Michigan with children has been amazing. Last weekend, with my in-laws visiting from Reno, we made it to DeBuck’s Family Farm in Belleville for slides, games, a wild corn maze, and apple cider, and to Real Life Farm for their fall festival. The week before, we drove to Horning Family Farms in Manchester for their fall open house. I generally dislike hayrides but theirs — rolling past rows of cattle while hearing all about how farmers monitor their vitals via IoT-connected ear tags — was pretty cool.

After the Horning outing, we stopped by state rep (and former Observer contributor) Jennifer Conlin’s annual homecoming party, where my daughter accidentally on purpose “fell” into the swimming pool to kick off a kids-in-clothes pool party. It was hard to blame them; it was over 80, after all. But climate change is a hoax, right?

Your news is here, but it’s a little different than usual. The Observer is under new management, as you know, and we’re going to be making changes to a2view to make it breezier and informative. As always, write us with your thoughts. 

This was last week’s most-clicked link.

– Steve Friess, editor

A $560K oopsie?: A2 sustainability director Missy Stults says she’s responsible for presenting council with an item (that they approved) in which a workforce development grant intended only for the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters also went to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Now the question is whether that’s enough to tamp down the alarm, raised by ex-council member Elizabeth Nelson via YouTube, over councilmember Jen Eyer voting for the item despite doing PR work for the IBEW. Eyer had told MLive she’d been told it was not a conflict of interest. Read more

Mr. Moore, you’re no Jim Harbaugh: On a perfectly dreadful weekend for Michigan sports – that fifteen-inning Tigers loss, the post-humiliation Lions brawl, MSU’s futility versus UCLA – the worst of it might be the Wolverines’ lifeless demise against unranked USC. Penn State, also once a serious contender for the CFB playoffs this year, fired head coach James Franklin after their loss to Northwestern. As U-M drops out of the Top 25, the Athletic is asking if Sherrone Moore needs to watch his back. Like Franklin, big-money donors gave him the resources to hook in his top recruiting prizes, only to fall to an unranked squad while Ohio State romps along at No. 1. In the age of NIL, it’s no longer even the fans’ reactions or the win-loss record that matters; if the donors say it’s time for a change, how would AD Warde Manuel refuse?

City staff can now spend up to $90K without vote: Council previously had to vote on anything over $75,000 (which would range from office supplies to some consultant and construction contracts), but last week they unanimously raised that minimum. In 2021, voters approved an increase to the minimum from $25,000 to $75,000 and gave council the ability to adjust it for inflation. A probe by MLive found that since then, in several instances, staff spent exactly $74,999 to avoid competitive bidding on some purchases.

No Kings II: There are six events scheduled Saturday for the national day of anti-Trump protests:

• Ann Arbor: 9:30 a.m.-noon at Veterans Memorial Park
• Ypsi: 1-3 p.m. at Riverside Park
• Saline: 10 a.m.-noon at Michigan Ave. and Ann Arbor St.
• Chelsea: 12:30-2:30 p.m. at Pierce Park
• Whitmore Lake: 10 a.m.-noon, location disclosed to registered attendees.
• Milan: 1-3 p.m, location disclosed to registered attendees.

$1M in state funding for The Gateway: A2-area lawmakers landed the funds in the newly released state budget. The money will cover almost a third of the cost of designing of the swoop-accented pedestrian bridge (see image below) that will stretch from the B2B Trail at the riverfront’s Broadway Park West all the way to 721 N. Main St., a vacant city-owned lot slated to become a park. Treeline Conservancy is overseeing the project.

It’s always Groundhog Day at AADL: That furry, bespectacled blob with the puffy blue jacket is the Ann Arbor Library District’s new mascot, Akako G. Shins. Per the library folks, “Our mascot’s name comes from a word in Ojibwe: akakojiishiins, which means ‘little groundhog.’ It’s the diminutive form of akakojiishi.” Akako is, as that suggests, a groundhog — or woodchuck or marmot, all synonyms which I did not know! — and it’ll rear its head next for a Halloween costume contest at the downtown branch on Oct. 26. No word on how many more weeks of autumn that will portend. (Disclosure: AADL is in the process of purchasing the Ann Arbor Observer.)

Lima Twp. may OK joint joints: Michigan’s legal cannabis industry is reportedly oversaturated and the state just hiked up the taxes again, but a citizen-initiated question on the Nov. 4 ballot aims for relief from the western Washtenaw pot desert. Pot sales are banned in Chelsea, nobody has opened anything in Dexter, and the nearest dispensary is at least twenty-five minutes east of Lima.

The $100M car wash empire: I missed out on the free car washes being offered via social media ads and text messages by Jax Kar Wash’s new Jackson Ave. location because I didn’t think the offer was real. Now, reading up about the burgeoning Southfield-based chain in Crain’s Detroit, I realize it definitely was. That opening marks Jax Kar’s sixty-sixth site in Michigan and Wisconsin. The secret? Private equity, of course. Read about it here

Wanna be a city councilmember? One just resigned in Chelsea because she found herself “juggling too many balls in the air,” WEMU reports. Her term still has two years left, though, so her former colleagues will appoint a replacement. Candidates interested in filling the seat on council for a term ending in November 2027 can fill out an application and submit a letter of interest to [email protected].

All about the (fake) Benjamins: Counterfeit $100 bills that have beset other parts of Southeast Michigan are popping up around Saline. Police say takeout restaurants are particularly vulnerable.

First-of-its-kind graduation: Washtenaw County held its first ceremony for twenty-seven inmates who earned high school diplomas and GEDs under a new program. The event kicked off the sheriff’s department’s I.G.N.I.T.E.program, which “aims to reverse the cycle of generational incarceration through education and job training” for people preparing to return to society. Read more

U-M’s busy wrecking balls won’t be coming for houses where playwright Arthur Miller and Swedish architect-cum-diplomat Raoul Wallenberg once lived. Jan Schlain explains the unusual decision to relocate the latter next to the former and save both. Read more

Editor emeritus John Hilton unravels the curious case of “Joan’s Bags,” a fictional Ann Arbor store supposedly going out of business after thirty-nine years that’s advertised on MLive. Turns out, it’s just a bit of AI-generated clickbait.

Petra Kuppers offers this rumination on Ford Lake Dam Bridge on Poet Tree Town.

• Ready to move on from Wolverine football? The men’s basketball season is about to start with Michigan’s tallest player ever, Aday Mara. Read all about him
• A former U-M prof wins the Nobel Prize for chemistry.
• With average home sale prices up 3 percent to $521,537 year-over-year of August, Washtenaw County’s market “been one of the more resilient pockets in Southeast Michigan this year,” according to a market report from Reinhart Realtors. Read more
• Local Jews and allies gather tonight at the Jewish Community Center to reflect on the Israel-Hamas hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal. It was planned as a two-year commemoration of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, but it’s now been reworked as a “community-wide” effort to reflect, according to an email from a local rabbi.
• Tuesday was the sixty-fifth anniversary of JFK unveiling an idea that became the Peace Corps during a 2 a.m. speech outside the Michigan Union. Unveiling may be a little bit strong; according to the University Record, the mention at U-M was more of what we’d now call a trial balloon.
• Conde Nast Traveler offers its picks for nine AirBnBs to stay in around town for “Game Day Weekend” ranging from $241 to $618. Oddly, they published it the weekend U-M was playing in California.
• Exceptional Journeys, a three-year-old nonprofit that provides daily activities for adults with special needs, is planning to expand.
• It’s not a local story, per se, but CNN’s eye-opening report about the scam behind those emails and texts containing fake receipts should be required viewing — especially for my mother. 

White Lotus grows a café: The collaborative enterprise of the local Tsogyelgar Buddhist community is expanding into a new multifaceted storefront on Zeeb Rd., Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. The White Lotus Farms Café sells the fourteen-year-old farm’s microgreens, pizzas, baked goods, pasta, cheeses, and botanical skincare products. Their branded products are still available at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Argus Farm Stop, and Eastern Market in Detroit, too.

Endo Vibe Cannabis opens in former Sticky spot: The one-time McDonald’s is again selling flower, gummies, and other cannabis accoutrements following a September soft opening at 1070 N. Huron River Dr. It’s the third location in Michigan for the brand, which has stores in Adrian and Houghton Lake.

Campus Bike Shop closes this weekend with liquidation sale: Owner Bill Loy’s death in early September following a long illness has prompted his son, Chuck, to wind down the business on Maynard St., according to a Facebook post. The final stage of the going-out-of-business sale will be 10:30 to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Loy opened his first bike shop in Ann Arbor in 1968.

Two winter coat donation options: Donors can get a $25 coupon toward a purchase of $125 or more at J. Crew at Briarwood Mall through Dec. 31 when dropping off a gently used coat for the national One Warm Coat campaign, a spokesperson tells a2view. Alternatively, the Ypsilanti Library District branch on W. Michigan Ave. is collecting used outerwear through Oct. 31. 

Volunteers needed to pack free lunches: Three local Rotary clubs will be assembling thousands of meals for families in need at Pioneer High from 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 8. The Send Hunger Packing effort benefits Kids Coalition Against Hunger. For more information or to donate, click here.

Emagine offers pink popcorn for breast cancer cause: A portion of the proceeds for the snack at the movie-theater chain with a Saline location goes to the Pink Fund, according to a social media post. The nonprofit helps people with the disease pay household bill payments and provides them financial advice.

By Bree Stilwell

Are these questions from actual people? Can I really ask you anything, like, even about my love life??

Yes, please! WSS is currently—and always—accepting questions on all manner of topics: love lives, dog obedience, mysterious shapes in the sky, best brand of pencil. Nothing’s off the table, but you can bet I’ll put a townie spin on every answer.

I’ve been blown away by the response to WSS so far, with every column stacking impressive online views week after week. In fact, it’s been so successful, we’re transitioning to a monthly print column in the Observer. We’ll still show up in a2view, and maybe with a few extras, but on a monthly basis.

Read more

Next reader question (look for it in the November Observer!): My in-laws will be staying with us over Thanksgiving this year for the first time. They’re lovely people, but I really struggle with houseguests. How do I get them out of the house as often as possible, while not hurting their feelings?

Need Ann Arbor-ish advice? Email [email protected].

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: See PBS Prehistoric Road Trip host Emily Graslie discuss her career as a science communicator at the Ann Arbor District Library’s “The Power of Curiosity with Emily Graslie,” also available via livestream. 6 to 7 p.m., AADL Downtown, 4th fl. Free. 

Saturday: Catch the closing night of Stephen Mallatratt and Susan Hill’s chilling 1987 play, “The Woman in Black,” about a lawyer who tells the story of his encounters with a vengeful ghost. Age thirteen and up. 8 p.m. nightly through  Saturday, Cahoots, 206 E. Huron St. Tickets $14 to $20 in advance and (if available) at the door. 

Sunday: Take your family to Ann Arbor Parks and Recreation’s Buhr Park Boo Bash, which has a silent disco, food trucks, and crafting. Also, there will be a costume contest (3 p.m.), with youth and adult brackets, and more. 1 to 6pm, Buhr Park, 2751 Packard Rd. Free. 

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

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