| October 30, 2026Can you guess what’s pictured above? Click the image to find out! |
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| | It’s finally time!
No, not for Halloween or for this dang election to be over. (I mean, sure, that, too.)
But it’s time to turn the clocks back on Sunday, which means it’s time for me to tease MLive for their breathless coverage of this important moment. They first started warning everyone about it in June (!) and this week followed up with a reminder as well as a piece about how time changes create “more danger than one might think.” Indeed!
Is this topic really the clickbait that all of these stories would suggest? Have you seen any other clickbait you find mystifying or maddening? Share it with me!
Your (non-DST) news is here. There’s an EPA plan for the Gelman Plume, thousands of people are voting early, Literati is making a big move, and there’s a beautiful piece about a Howell kid and the U-M marching band that you should save for when you need a distraction from waiting for election results.
This is last week’s most-clicked link.
– Steve Friess, editor
P.S. It’s time once again for Coffee With Brooke! On Monday, November 2, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., editor in chief Brooke Black will be at Arbor Farms Market at the tables near the registers. Bring your opinions about the magazine, ideas for topics you’d like to see covered, critiques, concerns, questions — she values reader feedback and wants to hear from you!
Forward this email to a friend |
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| | | Huron River, four days before Halloween. Credit: Heather O’Neal |
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| | | | | | Gelman agrees to deal with plume: Forty years after the likely carcinogen 1,4-dioxane was first discovered creeping into groundwater around the medical-filter manufacturer’s factory in Scio Twp., the EPA announced an agreement that obligates the company to address the subterranean problem. A 107-page court filing dictates that Gelman Sciences will be responsible for trying to staunch the eastward spread of the plume by extracting and treating groundwater, dig up contaminated soil from around the site of the former factory, and pay for independent experts who will assess the situation and explain it to the public. The agreement comes seven months after EPA added the Gelman Plume to the Superfund National Priorities List. It is a big victory for Ann Arbor congresswoman Debbie Dingell, who for years has advocated for a stronger federal response and calls the agreement “a major step forward.” Gelman began using the chemical as a solvent in 1966 and stopped in 1986. The court filing details the longtime practice of disposing of contaminated wastewater underground. Learn more about the background of this issue in Heather Finch’s piece in the November Observer. |
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| | Council efforts against Prop E draw complaint: Former city councilmember Elizabeth Nelson has asked the state to consider campaign finance violations after council voted 10–1 on October 5 on a resolution opposing as “financially reckless” the ballot question to force Ann Arbor to take its first steps toward taking over the power grid from DTE. Citing a section of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act that demands public bodies “maintain strict neutrality in each election and that a public body or a person acting on behalf of a public body shall not attempt to influence the outcome of an election held in the state,” Nelson insists the resolution violates the law. The public discussion of the resolution, she asserts, amounted to an “inappropriate use of public resources” in the form of thirty-five minutes of “television broadcast and YouTube recording of the public body expressing opposition to Proposal E.”
Excerpts from the resolution and the public discussion were prominently used in a campaign mailer from the DTE-funded Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition. Nelson claimed in a her filing to have “evidence of coordination” between councilmember Erica Briggs and the campaign committee, “with likely intent to use this Resolution 26-1684 in the mass mailing.” Nelson believes an October 2 email from Briggs to a variety of anti-Prop E figures talking about the need to raise money to send a mailer amounts to a signal that council’s resolution would be useful fodder in such an effort.
In an email to a2view, Briggs denied any coordination, stating that she’s avoided involvement in the DTE-funded opposition group and instead is working with the separate citizen-led anti-Prop E group Voters for a Sustainable Ann Arbor. “It’s frustrating to see the DTE-backed group draw content from quotes provided by supporters of Voters for a Sustainable Ann Arbor and [from] council, but the reality is those comments exist and were made in public spaces. No coordination is needed to get that info.” Briggs also accuses Nelson of pushing “a disingenuous narrative” for “political theater.”
In related news, the city this week filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate Prop E, should it pass. |
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| (From left) Jeanne Hodesh, retired Downtown Home & Garden owner Mark Hodesh, and Literati owners Hilary and Mike Gustafson. Credit: Doug Coombe |
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| The journey that led Literati to Downtown Home & Garden: Jeanne Hodesh, whose family owns the S. Ashley and Liberty building, explains in the November Observer the serendipitous path that has now resulted in the independent bookstore owners, Hilary and Mike Gustafson, planning a 2027 relocation. Hodesh writes of her childhood as the daughter of the owner of the DH&G business and building. In the weeks that followed the announcement that the venerated business would close, “My dad’s phone rang with calls from developers and real estate agents. People were quick to offer their ideas. It should be a grocery store, a music venue, a gallery. Why not a nonprofit art space, a new incarnation of Treasure Mart, a home for a magnificent model train? ‘Not condos. Not a bar. Not a restaurant,’ my dad promised.”
Covid, screens, AI complicate efforts to teach kids to read: In the third part of the Observer’s series on literacy, Shelley Daily delves into why it’s been difficult to improve reading and writing abilities and how students who lag behind confront greater challenges in college. Tom Zimmerman, who directs the WCC Writing Center, says many students still “self-identify” as students of the pandemic. “They tell me, ‘I was a Covid middle school kid, you know, I missed a lot of stuff.’” The rise of generative AI, too, has led students to outsource some of their information gathering and academic writing to chatbots, a phenomenon that U-M history professor Derek Peterson calls a “five-alarm fire for higher education.”
Tattoo business darkened by scammer: Andrew and Claire Sinelli, the husband-and-wife owners of tattoo shop Blackthorne Social Club, tell Alex de Wild that hucksters have been creating fake online accounts to impersonate artists and then take deposits on fake appointments. “I was actually in Claire’s chair when one of the scammers messaged me,” Hannah Stickler says. “They start by asking you what design you’re interested in. It feels authentic.” De Wild also writes about how he created his own fake account and pursued one such scammer to see what would happen. |
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| | | | | | Two pot shops snuffed out: One, Crave Cannabis, opened in 2023 with aspirations of turning their Research Park Dr. facility into the city’s first consumption lounge, but it didn’t happen, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. The company still has a dispensary in Monroe. Also shuttered is Butter on State Cir., which faced strong industry headwinds.
Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger is back: The new owners of the iconic stand, who shut it down in March for a major renovation, reopened on Wednesday and plan a larger celebration in November. Micheline Maynard reports that brothers Ethan and Noah Kaplan, Pete Levin, and Doug Botsford bought the business from the Manger family after owner Richard Manger died last year and consulted with the Mangers “to ensure the restaurant’s classic menu, distinctive character, and loyal following remain central to its future,” according to a press release. The Kaplans are partners at York Food & Drink, Mothfire Brewing Co., and Leon Speakers; Levin co-owns Joe’s Pizza and Bo’s Bagels. Botsford will serve as the operating partner.
Seva for sale for $495K: Owners Maren and Jeff Jackson tell MLive they are ready to pass along the vegetarian eatery and retire – but they’re not closing it. They’re the second owners of the fifty-three-year-old restaurant, where Maren worked as a cook while she was a U-M undergrad in 1979 and which they bought in 1997. Originally located on E. Liberty (in the space now occupied by Jerusalem Garden), they moved to Westgate in 2013. A Detroit location opened in 2011 and closed in 2025. The business is listed at Colliers Ann Arbor. |
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| | | Challenge promotes disability inclusion: In advance of the U-M–MSU rivalry game on November 7 at the Big House, ROTC cadets from both schools will run a relay race on the sixty-four-mile route between the schools’ stadiums in honor of the late Alex Powell, who died from a rare cancer in 2010 when he was a freshman at MSU. This year, as part of the annual tradition, U-M’s Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services department is calling on members of the public to complete their own sixty-four-related feats. “It could be 64 minutes of reading about disability justice, 64 acts of kindness, 64 pages of a book, 64 repetitions, 64 laps—or a donation to a disability advocacy organization,” according to the website.
GoFundMe launched for service dog: Donors have pitched in more than $14,000 of the $18,000 cost for specially trained canine to help fifteen-year-old Abigail Ladd, who suffers from epilepsy, PTSD, and significant sensitivity to light and crowded environments. Ladd endured a traumatic brain injury when she was nine after being attacked by neighborhood kids, her father writes. “A service dog can’t undo what happened to her, cure epilepsy, or erase PTSD,” he writes. “But the right dog can give her another layer of safety, help her regulate when the world becomes overwhelming, and make it possible for her to navigate more of that world independently.”
Sponsor a family for the holidays: SOS Community Services seeks donations of gift cards or purchases off an Amazon wish list by the first week of December to help parents in need buy holiday gifts for their children. The goal of the annual program is to provide fifty families with enough gift cards to buy $50 worth of gifts per family member. Donors may purchase $10 to $25 cards for stores like Meijer or Target, and can ask questions by emailing Maya King at [email protected] or Tammy Clemens at [email protected], or by calling (734) 961–1950. |
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| | | By Jennifer Taylor
Friday: Irish music ensemble Selkie conjures a traditional Samhain evening, blending spooky storytelling, haunting melodies, and dark humor to celebrate the Celtic transition to the new pastoral year at Kerrytown Concert House.
Saturday: Join the musical mayhem at the U-M Halloween Concert, an annual tradition of the two U-M Music School orchestras hamming it up in costume while performing such ghoulish works as Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. A large portion of the audience comes in costume.
Sunday: Bring your carved pumpkin to the spooky, family friendly “All Hallows Illumination of Frog Island,” where LED lights are provided to light pumpkins and John Hammond’s Halloween Spooktacular jazz band plays. Costumes encouraged.
Monday: Hear U-M psychology professor Kent Berridge discuss “Pleasure, Desire, and Addiction in the Brain” at AADL Downtown.
Tuesday: Get advice from writer-artist August Lam, who discusses her new book, You Don’t Need a Smartphone: A Practical Guide to Downgrading Your Phone and Upgrading Your Life, at Literati Bookstore.
Wednesday: Learn about AADL’s 3D printing resources and basics of 3D design at “Intro to 3D Printing,” then print something to take home.
Thursday: See U-M opera students perform Puccini’s bittersweet love story La Rondine (The Swallow) about a French courtesan and an idealistic young man who offers an alternative to her life of excess.
See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events. |
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