I’m now in my first week of having both kids off to school all day and I’m not sure how to feel. I spent so much of the past two years getting our autistic son from one therapy appointment to another and limiting the number of hours we paid for care for our daughter to what we absolutely needed to do our work. This meant a lot of driving and a lot of hands-on childcare, which was rewarding, exhausting, and stressful.

It also distracted me from my career. Now, I put the children where they belong for the day and then I get about six uninterrupted hours to write, report, research, read. I also have no excuses anymore for missing deadlines or turning down assignments! I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but at the moment I find it…confusing.

On a more serious note, there’s something else for which I have no excuse. One of my roles at the Observer is to compile the data for the Home Sales Map that runs in the print edition and to write a few items about interesting nuggets I find in the data. This month, however, I committed a cascading series of mistakes that resulted in the entire printed map being a mismatch of addresses from another month and prices from this one.

In other words, the map in the magazine – as many Observer readers alerted us – is entirely incorrect. We’ve fixed this online here. I’m incredibly embarrassed, sorry, and grateful we live in an era where big mistakes can be corrected quickly, if only online.

With that, I leave you all to the news of the week.

– Steve Friess, editor

Pro-Palestinian candidate sues over U-M regents nomination: Huwaida Arraf, a lawyer and activist recruited to run by students protesting the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, received the most votes at the Michigan Democratic Party’s convention in Lansing last month, but officials announced that incumbent Denise Ilitch and former regent Shauna Ryder Digg had won the two nominations according to a weighted-vote system based on geography. “The Michigan Democratic Party has its own rules and bylaws, and they did not follow them,” Arraf charged at a press conference via Zoom today, saying that the party had refused to answer questions about the number of legitimate voters, the vote tabulation and the weighting system. The case could complicate the party’s ability to mobilize the state’s Arab and Muslim voters in a key swing state in the presidential election. Citing the hundreds of activists who attended the convention to vote for her, Arraf said the party had “distanced, disenfranchised, and disillusioned the hundreds of new members that came to participate in the process.” As of publication, the party had not responded publicly to the 130-page lawsuit. 

Joe Biden due in A2 tomorrow: AAPS superintendent Jazz Parks emailed parents Thursday to alert them to possible school pick-up and bus disruptions as the presidential motorcade will “close I-94, bridges and several streets throughout the city on Friday, September 6, between 2:15 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. and again from 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.” Biden is making his first Ann Arbor visit as president to talk up accomplishments on infrastructure, ClickOnDetroit reports. The White House says the president will appear at a shared facility for UA Local 190 and IBEW NECA 252 on Jackson Rd. in Scio Twp. First lady Jill Biden canceled a planned visit to Ann Arbor in July, just days before the president announced he would end his re-election bid.

Next sheriff eked past opponents on rural, online strength: Alyshia Dyer, who won the Democratic nomination – and, in deep blue Washtenaw, effectively the office – by a mere 384 votes last month tells the Observer’s James Leonard she credits her victory to grassroots campaigning in areas that rarely get attention and an effective digital ad push. County clerk Larry Kestenbaum notes that Dyer’s chief opponent, community engagement director Derrick Jackson, relied on more traditional tactics such as mailers. Dyer will be the county’s first female sheriff, a distinction Kestenbaum believes helped her.

All but seven laid-off AAPS teachers recalled: The district brought most of the fifty-five teachers back to staff classes and still has twenty-one positions open, a development that seemed to surprise trustees at last week’s board meeting, MLive reports. “We eliminated 94 positions, and those 94 positions are still eliminated,” superintendent Jazz Parks explained. The recalled teachers and additional postings are for “positions that we did not eliminate from the budget but became vacant through attrition.” The seven who were not rehired did not have certifications necessary to fit jobs that are open.

District to host meetings on construction plans at six schools: The public is invited this month to hear more about coming upgrades paid for by the $1 billion bond issue passed by voters in 2019, MLive reports. The schedule starts next week with meetings on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Dicken Elementary followed by a 5:30 p.m. meeting on Tuesday at Lakewood Elementary. Future meetings are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 at Slauson Middle School, 6 p.m. on Sept. 23 at Lawton Elementary, 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 24 at Logan Elementary, and 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 at Thurston Elementary.

Former Bach principal files discrimination suit: Alison Epler says in the fifteen-page filing that the school district denied her jobs and reduced her pay after she took three months off at the start of the 2017-18 academic year to care for her debilitated husband. She was permitted the time off under the Family Medical Leave Act, but Epler says after she returned she was denied other principal positions and suffered a $10,000 pay cut before resigning earlier this year. Epler’s husband has transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord, and is paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Hospital bridge construction phase ends tomorrow: The three-month-long East Medical Center Dr. bridge rehabilitation and widening project from W. Medical Center Dr. to Fuller Rd. is expected to be done Friday, according to the project website. Elsewhere, the city says utility-related work will close E. University Ave. between Hill st. and Oakland until Sept. 24, Miller Ave. between N. First and N. Ashley streets until Oct. 18, and Prairie St. between Plymouth Rd. and Briarcliff St. until Sept. 13. 

A2 to install forty-eight public EV charging stations: The city landed a $2.8 million Federal Housing Administration grant to pay for it, according to a news release from congresswoman Debbie Dingell. The stations will target low-income areas, park-and-ride lots, multi-unit dwellings, and large retail spaces.

U-M inks deal with “new” MDen: With its longtime partner in bankruptcy and deeply in debt, the university moved on to a ten-year arrangement with New York-based Legends Global Merchandise to become the “Official Team Store,” according to a news release. Legends launched a new online merch store last weekend at mdenshop.com in time for the kickoff of the Wolverines’ football season; the old MDen site is offline except for a link to a return and exchange form. The original MDen company is now known as Heritage Collegiate Apparel and has closed three of its five brick-and-mortar locations. Its two downtown and campus stores in Ann Arbor are operating with their original MDen marquees covered up. Legends also partners with the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, Villanova, and Ohio State, among others. U-M says Michigan-branded Legends merch will be available online and “at all existing athletics facilities.” A brick-and-mortar shop is being considered.

ESPN, Fox Sports go live from A2 on Saturday: With the defending NCAA football champions set to take on third-ranked Texas at the Big House on Saturday in an unusually high-profile game for this early in the season, Ann Arbor becomes the momentary center of the sports media universe. ESPN’s “College GameDay” will beam from Ferry Field from 9 a.m. to noon with panelists including former Wolverine great Desmond Howard and recently retired Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” also airs from 9 a.m. to noon. Fox Sports is airing the game. Michigan, currently ranked tenth, hasn’t lost a home game since 2020.

Police seek tips in downtown shooting: A twenty-three-year-old Ypsi man is in critical condition following the incident near William and Maynard streets that occurred shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday, according to a Facebook post from the Ann Arbor Police Department. Police say the incident, in which the victim was shot once in the chest by a man who fled in a white sedan, was “not believed to be random.” Anyone with information can call (734) 794-6920 or email the tipline.

Local doctor dies in “freak” bicycle accident: Mark Oberdoerster, a sixty-eight-year-old Ann Arbor internist and avid cyclist, was declared dead on the scene Saturday along Whitmore Lake Rd. near Stein Rd. after bystanders called police, CBS Detroit reports. His wife and daughters said they were grateful to strangers who stopped to try to tend to his “bloody wounds” and prayed with him as he lay along the road. “These people stopped, and it’s good to know that there’s those people out there because my dad would have stopped too,” said Carley Oberdoerster, who took to Facebook to seek out the names of those who tried to help her father.

Explosions, fire destroy Superior Twp. home: The owner, a man in his eighties, was hospitalized for smoke inhalation after blasts rocked the large house near Frains Lake and Plymouth roads on Wednesday, Fox 2 reports. The resulting fires took more than six hours to extinguish. “This is a rural area so there’s no fire hydrants so we had a large tanker operation because this house was very large,” Superior Twp. fire chief Victor Chevrette said.

Signs of progress for leveled house at 701 S. Seventh St.: For months after the February explosion that jolted the neighborhood, the debris remained strewn about the property beyond an orange safety fence, Micheline Maynard writes in this month’s Observer. In July, it was moved into a tall pile and, in August, the city issued a permit to remove it. The owner, Thomas Piedmonte, suffered only minor injuries in the explosion that police say was caused by two twenty-pound propane tanks being used to heat the house. The debris removal permit was issued to KLA Development, which specializes in rebuilds.

Violence, turmoil rising at state’s only women’s prison: An investigation by the Detroit Free Press (paywall) finds the number of fights are up and more problematic prisoners are being given more opportunity to cause trouble for more peaceful inmates at the Huron Valley Correctional Facility near Ypsi. “They’re cutting our TV cords, they’re fighting us, they’re stealing all of our stuff, our units are getting locked down constantly,” one prisoner told the paper. One major cause is a lack of space for the more difficult prisoners in a separate unit set up for them. The Michigan Department of Corrections says it does not plan to expand that unit.

Four-acre pot-friendly music venue OK’d: Developer Michael Ludtke received conditional approval from the Ypsilanti Twp. planning commission for the Pipeline at 2525 S. State St. just south of a dispensary and growing facility he is building, Fox 2 Detroit reports. Pipeline would feature a 4,300-square-foot lounge and outdoor amphitheater which would hold concerts up to three days a week. Final approval is conditioned on satisfying township requirements for parking, security, lighting, and other issues. It would be the first pot consumption lounge tied to a music venue in Michigan.

Two Ypsi ballot initiatives killed after city clerk missed filing deadline: County clerk Larry Kestenbaum says Tracy Boudreau turned in the material too late and the ballot measure proponents did not sue promptly to correct the problem, MLive reports (paywall). Boudreau says the law governing the deadlines is confusing. The measures would have required a public vote to increase the police budget and switched to nonpartisan municipal elections.

Paul Whelan likely to resettle near Manchester: The Washtenaw County berg about 20 miles southwest of Ann Arbor is the home of the parents of the fifty-four-year-old ex-Marine released from prison in Russia after nearly six years in captivity this summer. Whelan’s attorney tells the Detroit News  (paywall) that he wants to be close to them as they are in their eighties. Whelan was part of a multinational prisoner exchange that also freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Whelan is “re-acclimating and doing his very best,” his lawyer says.

City unveils new flag design: The green and blue banner by Ann Arborite Dennis Scherdt features a bur oak tree and is intended, according to the artist’s statement, to highlight the city’s “many parks, trees, and the Huron River.” Scherdt is a senior designer at Studio 32, a local design and marketing firm. Council formally adopted the flag at its meeting Tuesday, according to city records.

Gym, play space for neurodivergent kids opens: We Rock The Spectrum, a national chain aimed at kids with autism and other neurological disorders, now has an Ann Arbor outpost at 4370 Varsity Dr. thanks to entrepreneur Robin Hall. Hall tells a2view she decided to invest in the business after struggling to find places for her son, Donovan, to play that could protect him from his tendency to try to run away. The gym offers a wide range of equipment appealing to kids with and without special needs, including suspended swings, zip sliders, a trampoline, and an arts and crafts area. The Ann Arbor location is the first in Michigan; there are more than 160 others in more than thirty states and eight countries.

Plant Based Coneys now serving in Ypsi: The vegan version of the classic Detroit hotdog, as well as a range of other popular Coney Island staples, is now available at 42 E. Cross St. in Depot Town, MLive reports. Owners Brad and Melanie Lemont of Brighton say the restaurant is an antidote to their own frustrations finding good vegan and gluten-free fare.

Hot pot spot gets top online reviews: Palace Tang, named for imperial China’s ruling dynasty of the seventh through ninth centuries, occupies a former Panera spot in the mini-mall on Plymouth Rd. that also includes Mochinut and Kimchi Box, Dave Algase writes in the Observer. Owner Eric Zhao imported thirty hot-pot tables where diners select between one and four different broths in which to cook an array of raw meats, seafood, vegetables, noodles, and dumplings. Zhao also owns the Möge Tee boba franchise just down the road at Traver Village.

Big Brothers Big Sisters’ benefit is Sunday: Tickets for the soiree at the home of Tara and Ethan Linkner in Ann Arbor Hills start at $175 and raise money for the Southeast Michigan regional chapter of the mentoring organization. The event, dubbed A Fall Evening, runs from 5 to 8 p.m. and features catering by The Moveable Feast and cocktails from The Last Word. 

U-M faculty, staff hold food drive: September is Hunger Action Month, so the Maize and Blue Cupboard has set out collection boxes “in university units and departments across campus through Oct. 1” according to a press release. The food pantry, which is focused on helping students in need, lists other ways to contribute including donating money and volunteering, on its site.

Tickets available for The Ark’s fall fundraiser: “An Evening with Vienna Teng” features an 8 p.m. concert by the singer-songwriter on Sept. 20 to support the venerable non-profit music venue. Tickets, available here, start at $50 for general admission to the show, with tiers of $125, $250, and $500 that entitle holders to a pre-show dessert reception and Q-and-A with Teng. 

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: Square dance to live bluegrass, country, and vintage pop by the local Picks & Sticks Stringband at the Salem Historical Society’s Annual Barn Dance. Cider and donuts available. Proceeds go to preserving the nearby Jarvis-Stone School and Dickerson Barn. 7 to 10 p.m., Three Cedars Farm, Six Mile Rd. just west of Curtis Rd. north off N. Territorial. $5 donation (SAHS members, $3) at the door only. (248) 437–6651. 

Saturday: Bring your dog for a swim in the pool at Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Commission’s “Doggy Dip.” Limit two dogs per human. Sat. and Sun. 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. (dogs under 60 lbs.) and 11:15 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. (dogs 60 lbs. and up), Rolling Hills County Park, 7660 Stony Creek Rd., Ypsi. $5 per dog; pre-registration required here (activity #RH712302) by 4 p.m. Friday. $6 (non-county residents, $10) vehicle entry fee. (734) 971–6337, ext. 319. 

Sunday: Watch or participate in the release of tagged monarch butterflies at Leslie Science and Nature Center’s “Monarch Migration Festival.” Also, games and other activities to learn about their life cycle and the center’s role as a way station for migrating monarchs. 1 to 4 p.m. Leslie Science & Nature Center, 1831 Traver Rd. $5 (babies under 2, free). Pre-registration required here or by calling (734) 997–1553.

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

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