| October 9, 2026Can you guess what’s pictured above? Click the image to find out! |
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| | There are weeks when I have quite a lot to say in this space. This is not one of them.
I thought about regaling you with details of my daughter’s fifth birthday party at Just Play in Dexter, but really it was a super fun party for which I made an acceptable set of Phineas and Ferb cakes and, as Forrest Gump would say, that’s all there is to say about that.
Then I toyed with declaring this week the week I finally decided to embrace my gray – but really I didn’t have the time for both cut and color, and I’m not quite committed to the Richard Gere look yet.
And I considered discussing how sad and counterproductive I found it for local pro-Palestinian activists, whose cause I have a great deal of empathy for, to stage a rally against Israel on the third anniversary of the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. But every way I attempted to delve further into that sentiment felt like putting my hand on a red-hot iron, so I’m going to leave it at that. (Related: My first long-form piece for The Lever posted yesterday and it examines what happens to American Zionism if El-Sayed wins.)
Your news is here. I’ve got an exclusive about Republican regent nominee Lena Epstein flouting U-M demands to stop violating its trademark, the battle over Prop E is heating up, a fresh round of No Kings rallies is coming, a fire has shut down Tomukun and Lab for now, and U-M enrollment hits another record.
This is last week’s most-clicked link.
– Steve Friess, editor
P.S. Editor in chief Brooke Black here. Have you noticed spring flowers, like lilacs, magnolia, or dogwoods, experiencing an unexpected second blooming this fall? If so, I want to hear about it! Email me at [email protected]. |
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| | | | | | | | | Outrage follows council vote against DTE takeover measure: Yousef Rabhi – the presumptive mayor-elect who won the Democratic primary in part by promoting the ballot question that would force the city to begin the process of wresting control of the power grid and transmission lines from the utility – wrote on Facebook that he is “deeply disappointed” by the 10–1 majority’s “support of fossil fuel monopoly DTE’s position.” The resolution directs the city attorney to prepare to litigate against Proposal E if it passes on grounds it would “create internal inconsistencies within the City Charter” and force Ann Arbor to spend millions with “no tax, millage, or other funding source.” Prior to the meeting, a call to urge voters to reject the measure was removed from the resolution, but several councilmembers did as much in their comments leading up to the vote. Supporters of Prop E insisted passing the proposal would merely establish a municipal utility governing board; the resolution refuted that, saying: “the litigation, upgrade, operating and start-up costs of acquisition fall outside any estimated purchase price and are absent from the proponents’ claim that municipalization would cost taxpayers ‘almost nothing,’ and together they would place the city’s general fund, its existing services, and its taxpayers at substantial and open-ended financial risk.” For more about the various sides battling it out over Prop E, check out Micheline Maynard’s piece in the current issue of the Observer. |
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| | SCOOP! Epstein ignores U-M demand to halt Block M use: Lena Epstein, one of two Republican nominees running to fill two seats on the board of regents, is not complying with a letter calling for her to cease and desist her use of the university’s famous and lucrative logo on her campaign website and in ads, a2view has learned. Epstein’s use of the logo without permission would be problematic on its own, but using it in political advertising specifically violates a longstanding neutrality policy, according to a U-M spokesperson. Regent Paul Brown, a Democrat running against Epstein for re-election, emailed a2view: “This is an illegal and inappropriate use of the block M. I know Ms. Epstein has been contacted by the University and told to stop, but apparently she is ignoring those requests and continues to misappropriate the property of the University of Michigan and the citizens of Michigan.”
Epstein did not return voicemail, texts, or emails seeking comment. It is common for regent candidates for U-M, MSU, and Wayne State, all of whom are elected statewide, to bathe their sites and ads in school colors, but Epstein is the only regent candidate in any race this cycle to blatantly deploy the school’s trademark-protected logo. Epstein, co-owner of her family’s petroleum supplier company Vesco Oil, isn’t new to politics; she lost a 2022 bid for U-M regent. She was also Michigan co-chair of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and lost a race for Congress to Haley Stevens in 2018.
Amir Makled, another Democratic nominee, uses what may look to a casual observer like a block M but is actually a slightly different font. Makled did not respond to email or texts seeking comment. |
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| | | A dozen school board candidates speak: Despite the enormous challenges facing Ann Arbor Public Schools – or perhaps because of them – there is no shortage of candidates on the ballot to win five seats. I talked to all of them, covering a range of topics from school closures to teacher salaries to student achievement.
A life in theater in southeast Michigan: Theaters affiliated with the Actors Equity Association union in Dexter, Chelsea, Northville, and Detroit make it possible for thespians to be paid to pursue their craft, Davi Napoleon writes. She talks to Pioneer High alum John Bernos, who has appeared at the Encore Musical Theatre Company and Purple Rose Theatre, and Katherine Banks, who studied theater at U-M, became a drama teacher at Greenhills School, and is currently in a one-woman show about Jane Goodall at Tipping Point in Northville. “It’s a smaller pond here,” Banks says, comparing the Ann Arbor area to Chicago, where she’d had success before relocating here, “but I have been thrilled with the artistic caliber of the productions I’ve been able to be a part of.”
New blog alert!: The Observer’s site is now home to two-time cancer survivor Heather Heath Chapman’s chronicles of her efforts to “get out more” as her nest empties and her health improves. In her first installment, Chapman goes to the movies. |
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| | | If they’re renaming a park after a pioneering U-M football player, shouldn’t it be big enough to have a football field?
Just when you started worrying what all those cranes would do when all those high-rises are completed, along comes a plan to demo another neighborhood of student rentals and replace it with a $120 million, thirteen-story, 240-unit apartment tower.
This year’s Nobel winner for literature, Anne Carson, taught at U-M from 2003–09.
Toyota is building a $50 million, 30,000-square-foot battery plant in York Twp.
Big House headliner Morgan Wallen gave an oddly specific $30,951 to Scarlett Middle School for instruments. AAPS is grateful, of course, but that comes to about 21 cents per ticket he sold over his two shows.
It’s astonishing to think that this will be the first barber college in Washtenaw County, but that’s how WEMU reported it.
I feel duty-bound to provide a link to a report on the second town hall regarding the U-M/Los Alamos computing center planned for Ypsilanti Twp. even though, as I figured, it was full of (slightly less) sound and (just as much) fury but signified nothing.
There’s been lots of media handwringing over the mess of a football season we’ve got going here. Some blame the quarterback and his big-money backers, some blame the coaching, some say the whole team is “fundamentally flawed.” Any which way, something’s got to give.
Beware of this parking meter scam!
Ann Arbor Open and Slauson Middle School faced “not credible” but still scary and disruptive bomb threats.
Here comes No Kings: Get Out the Vote edition.
After all the accusations from the right that anti-Trump protesters are merely paid agitators, this tale about Republicans trying to do it to Abdul El-Sayed using U-M students adds credence to the notion that every accusation is a confession.
It’s impressive, given how hostile the Trump administration is to so much research that could be interpreted as political, that U-M’s Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention just received $11.2 million to study “topics ranging from secure storage and youth mortality to digital health interventions and technology-facilitated reporting systems.”
54,181.
The Bank of Ann Arbor has acquired Huron Valley State Bank for $52 million.
Experts tell ClickOnDetroit that many Washtenaw County seniors have seen reductions in their SNAP benefits.
This woman has allegedly been trying to, uh, set utility poles on fire? Umm … why?
Council unanimously voted to ban the use of glue traps to catch mice. Local real estate guy Stewart Beal thinks this is going to lose elections for Democrats.
Chelsea Schools may backtrack slightly on its pioneering no-cellphone policy.
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Tomukun Noodle Bar, Lab Cafe temporarily shuttered by fire: Both suffered smoke and water damage after a blaze that appears to have originated in a kitchen trash can early Saturday, the Michigan Daily reports. The building suffered about $150,000 in damage, but an Ann Arbor Fire Department post on Facebook claimed AAFD “saved an estimated $1,750,000 in building and contents” in dousing the fire. Tomukun Korean BBQ, a neighboring sister eatery, was also impacted but was able to reopen the following day.
Afternoon Delight Café to close October 31: The owner of the venerable downtown breakfast spot has tried to sell the business for months, but she tells MLive that she’s ready to move on after failing to find a buyer. The E. Liberty mainstay has been in business for forty-eight years.
“Judgment-free resale shop” due to open soon: Purgatory Exchange, which is awaiting its occupancy permit, is the brainchild of inveterate thrifter Elizabeth Padgett and her brother, Thomas, who believe the progressive ethos of Ann Arbor will be good for business, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. With nearly 6,000 square feet to work with, “we’re going to have a lot more inventory than traditional consignment,” Thomas says, but “it’s gonna be more curated than a thrift store.” The store will be in a “buy-only” phase at first. |
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| | | Swim in U-M’s pool to support cancer research on Sunday morning: The public is invited – for a minimum $50 donation to the Rogel Cancer Center – to partake in a dip at the Donald B. Canham Natatorium as part of a Swim Across America fundraiser. The pool event includes relay races and “an official University of Michigan swim workout,” according to the website. Ann Arbor native Lucas Caswell, who currently swims with Washington University Swimming & Diving, is leading this year’s swim.
Walk to benefit Jewish Family Services is Sunday afternoon: The annual Walk a Mile in My Shoes fundraiser kicks off at Burns Park Elementary at 2 p.m. to support the work JFS does in providing support for newly arrived immigrants and refugees. Registration and donations are not required to partake in family-friendly activities in the park that include facepainting, lawn games, and an artisan market. For more information and registration information, click here.
Free flu shots available: As the season arrives, residents have a variety of opportunities to get the jab. The Washtenaw County Health Department is hosting an evening flu clinic from 5–7 p.m. Monday and provides the vaccine to walk-ins or by appointment (call 734–544–6700) on Mondays and Wednesdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. EMU students can get the shots in the Student Center Ballroom from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on November 3. U-M is hosting a clinic open to the public at New Hope Baptist Church on Chapin from noon–4 p.m. on October 17. In all cases, patients will be asked for insurance information, but uninsured people will get the shots for free.
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| | | By Jennifer Taylor
Friday: Hear the lecture “What Are Emotions, How Do They Work, and Why Are They Like That?” by Dr. Laith Al-Shawaf as part of U-M’s Evolution in the Public Eye Award celebration at AADL’s downtown branch.
Saturday: After an eight-month renovation, U-M Museum of Art’s Alumni Memorial Hall reopens with a discussion with social-practice artist Rick Lowe (1 p.m.), art-making with artist Holly Bass (2:30 p.m.), and guided tours on the hour.
Sunday: Put on a Halloween costume and paddle Gallup Pond in a kayak or canoe to gather candy from costumed characters at Ann Arbor Parks & Recreation’s “Trick or Treat on the River.”
Monday: Socialize, play games, and build your clowning skills at Dzanc House’s “Ypsi Clown Social.” Clown attire encouraged.
Tuesday: Hear “The Immortal Khazntes,” a performance of traditional Jewish cantorial music from the early-twentieth-century repertoire of women who performed in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish, at Temple Beth Emeth.
Wednesday: Join a relaxed evening of board games at Argus Farm Stop. If you want, bring a game to share.
Thursday: See the musical Come from Away, set in the week following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when thousands of people on planes diverted to a tiny Newfoundland town were welcomed with open arms.
See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events. |
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