September 11, 2026

Can you guess what’s pictured above? Click the image to find out!

Thanks to so many of you for the deluge of emails detailing your 9/11 experiences. There were so many, in fact, that I can’t do them justice in a newsletter intro, so I’ve collected them in this nineteen-page Google Doc. The variety of experience was impressive – A flight attendant who never worked again! The making of a peace activist! The woman grateful for colonoscopy drugs that briefly dulled the trauma! – so please take some time to read the many recollections. As for me, twenty-five years ago today I was in a Beijing newsroom, one of a handful of young American “copy polishers” (as they called us) working for the English-language China Daily in exchange for a paid, rent-free year abroad. I also, unbeknownst to the government whose propaganda I was buffing up, used that perch to become USA Today’s primary stringer in mainland China. I kept waiting for someone in the foreign media office to see my many bylines, check my visa, discover me, and send me home, but it never happened. When the first plane hit, as many recall, we assumed it was a freak navigational accident. Then, of course, came the second plane and reports of at least two more off-course, and the scope of the attack became clear. It was night in Asia and we were close to putting the next day’s paper to bed, so I was at my desk editing while the chatter of CNN International wafted my way from a fussy cathode-ray TV in a nearby office. I was trying my best to focus despite the emotional havoc of being so far away as these puzzling, traumatic events unfolded so close to where I grew up, when, improbably, I heard a voice I knew. It was a close friend, Rose Arce, a CNN producer who almost never went on air, describing people jumping from the towers as they began to collapse. After my shift, I went to Tiananmen Square to spend hours interviewing tourists from all over the world as well as Chinese nationals. This being an age before ubiquitous wi-fi or smart phones, I dictated several files to my USA Today editors in Washington D.C. from my very first Nokia on a dicey and very expensive international connection. The perspective from abroad stuck with me. After I returned stateside in 2002, I wrote of the world’s shock that the “legacy of Sept. 11 is an enlarged American ego, not a chastened sense that we must try to co-exist better in the global community. They keep hearing how the United States has ‘changed forever’ and how Americans are now more cooperative and selfless. But in only five months — well short of ‘forever’ — that ‘patriotism’ has eroded what we claim are American principles and led to more, not less, isolationism and insolence.” Clearly, the seeds were there for where we’d be a quarter-century later. Your news is here. The end of that Wolverines game will live on in infamy, the Kline’s Lot was sold, the teachers approved a new contract, and beloved restauranteur Tommy York has died. This is last week’s most-clicked link.

– Steve Friess, editor

View of the Week

Tommy York, owner of the iconic and eponymous Packard St. café and wine shop, died at age sixty this weekend. Here are obituaries from MLive and the Detroit Free Press. The public is invited to a celebration of his life from 3–6 p.m. on Sunday at York Food + Drink. Credit: Doug Coombe

4 Big Things

1

One second, please: Like many, I turned off Saturday night’s U-M–Western Michigan football game when the clock ran out, assuming our No. 16–ranked team had dropped a stinker but feeling kind of happy for long-suffering Broncos fans. That, of course, wasn’t the end of it. The refs decided there was a fraction of a second left, gave U-M one more play, and a Hail Mary catch gave the Wolverines an improbable – many would say ridiculous – 13–12 victory. The Mid-American Conference appealed, with MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher writing on Tuesday in a statement, “After further study and investigation, it is now evident that replay protocol was not properly followed in determining whether time remained on the game clock.” On Wednesday, the NCAA responded that it would not overturn the results of the game but established a “standard timing protocol” going forward.

The reaction was wide-ranging. U-M fans were mercilessly derided for rushing on the field to celebrate a one-point win over a team they were expected to crush. This satirical take, musing about time travel, was the most entertaining I saw. Barstool founder, U-M alum, and all-around loudmouth Dave Portnoy labeled critics suggesting the fix was in as “jealous losers.” Michigan Daily’s Lyra Sharma wrote that “a 0–1 record would almost be better than this.” New head coach Kyle Whittingham probably doesn’t feel that way, but he’s turning up the heat on his expensive and underwhelming quarterback, Sports Illustrated reports. Let’s see if that makes a difference as U-M faces No. 10–ranked Oklahoma at home on Saturday.

Also, U-M fell out of the AP Top 25, becoming the highest-ranked team to drop out of the following week’s poll after a victory since the rankings expanded to 25 teams in 1989, CBS Sports reports.

2

Teacher contract passes: Ann Arbor Education Association members voted 524–377 to ratify a new two-year deal that gives them 1.5 percent raises each year plus an increase in the district’s contribution to health insurance premiums. The school board followed that Wednesday with an unanimous vote putting the new contract, retroactive to January 1 when the previous contract expired, into effect. It runs through the calendar year 2027; the union and district will reconvene in the spring to start negotiating the next contract, which will begin in 2028. Passage came months after the membership almost unanimously rejected a prior tentative agreement that would have increased class size and reduced paid teacher prep time. The AAEA held a rally outside the administration building before the meeting that featured speeches by National Education Association president Princess Moss and Ann Arbor congresswoman Debbie Dingell. AAEA president Fred Klein told a2view on Thursday the rally was meant to “provide people with that sense that this fight actually continues even though we’ve signed a [contract] and it’s gonna go into effect. This is really not the deal. It is the first step towards the deal.”

3

A2 rabbi leads petition aimed at El-Sayed: Temple Beth Emeth’s Josh Whinston is one of two coauthors, along with Rabbi Aaron Starr of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, to launch NonNegotiable.org, a missive that urges Democratic candidates to affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and to commit to fighting anti-Semitism in the U.S. Rabbi Nadav Caine of Ann Arbor’s Beth Israel Congregation is also a signator, as are two cantors and another rabbi at Beth Emeth and Jewish Federation of Ann Arbor president Joan Lowenstein. The site does not mention Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed by name, but Whinston and Starr both spoke at length during a Zoom press conference on Tuesday about the candidate, who has made controversial statements seen as anti-Jewish and who has said he does not support any “ethnostates,” including Israel. As I reported for the New York Times, El-Sayed apologized last month for the timing of a comment about the April attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Twp. but refused to explicitly disassociate from the controversial leftist streamer Hasan Piker, with whom he campaigned before winning the primary over congresswoman Haley Stevens. (Disclosure: I am a member of Temple Beth Emeth.)

Despite the site’s name, the rabbis said the petition is not an ultimatum and declined to say what would happen if El-Sayed declined to agree to the terms. But the launch of the petition is another indication that some Jewish voters, who have long been a reliable Democratic voting bloc, are torn about who to support in El-Sayed’s race against Republican Mike Rogers. Said Whinston: “I’m in Ann Arbor. This is a lefty town, right? I have had many congregants come to me and say, ‘Rabbi, I don’t know what I’m gonna do in November.’ We’re feeling politically homeless and we don’t want to be. We want to be at the table and we want [El-Sayed] to help get us to the table.”

4

City to sell Kline’s lot for at least $14.2M: In a unanimous vote, council approved a purchase agreement with Hines for 309 S. Ashley near where the Kline’s Department Store once stood. The land is expected to be developed into a mixed-use high-rise with at least 450 market-rate apartments; the final purchase price will depend on the ultimate number of units, as Hines is agreeing to pay $31,500 for each.

The vote came amid objections from some downtown residents and business owners concerned with a lack of transparency by the city, opposition to yet another new high-rise, and the loss of a parking lot used by patrons of the Ark. Initially, the sale was listed on the meeting’s consent agenda – the part that typically includes routine, uncontroversial items voted on without discussion – but councilmembers Dharma Akmon and Jen Eyer said before the meeting it would be pulled for discussion and public input. On its website, the Ark thanked the public for pressure put on council to ensure the music venue will be accessible during construction and to reduce the number of short-term rentals that will be permitted in the future tower.

From the Observer

Clear as mud: On August 4, voters turned out in big numbers (for a mid-term, mid-summer primary) to make a change in the mayor’s office – but the electorate also left in place a council dominated by supporters of outgoing mayor Christopher Taylor’s vision for high-density development. Where does that leave presumptive mayor-elect and Democratic Socialist Yousef Rabhi? Rabhi, who made fighting density a pillar of his campaign, tells me he won’t try to unwind the newly passed Comprehensive Land Use Plan, nor will he “be a rubber stamp for past decisions.”

Trump-induced angst grips federally funded researchers: There are quite a lot of them in Ann Arbor, of course, and the White House’s effort to put political appointees in charge of deciding who gets what is filling them with existential dread, Ken Garber writes. Under the new rule that could go into effect this fall, grants would be required to “advance the President’s policy priorities,” and forbidden from promoting “anti-American values,” “racial preferences,” or “illegal immigration,” or denying “the sex binary in humans.” U-M nursing school professor Janet Larson called the president’s anti-research efforts “the scariest things I’ve experienced in my forty-plus years.”

How Art Fair battles fraud: After a viral Instagram post from a Wisconsin art fair revealed a couple had bought a $60 print from Target for $250 from a vendor claiming it was their work, Ally Choi wanted to know if such phonies had tried to infiltrate Ann Arbor’s signature summer event. “Of course,” says Karen Bauer, executive director of the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair. “Can things like this slip by? Yes, they can. Do fairs address it as soon as they find out? They try to take care of it immediately.” Among ways to prevent it: A list of banned artists circulates among art fair operators.

Hit These Links

The first town hall hosted by U-M for Ypsilanti Twp. residents regarding the “high-performance computing center” it is building with Los Alamos National Laboratory went about as well as could be expected. Which is to say, not great.
Just when it seemed Michigan Athletics had weathered enough lurid scandal, along comes a blockbuster federal lawsuit by sixteen former men’s hockey players alleging a gruesome pattern of hazing. (Content warning: article contains graphic descriptions.) Former head coach Red Berensen, referenced in the filing but not a target of it, denied involvement or knowledge in an interview with MLive.
A watchdog group says ICE has detained 240 people in Washtenaw County since Trump’s second term began, mostly in Ypsi.
Meanwhile, the Graduate Employees’ Organization received a sweeping federal grand jury subpoena demanding a wide range of membership and financial records in what the union calls “the latest attempt within a broader effort to intimidate and repress GEO.”
Council approved a $438,000 contract to demolish the FDR-era West Park Bandshell where the Grateful Dead once played.
It wasn’t my imagination! Guess what theme was the most popular among player-generated lawn-sign codes for AADL’s Summer Game? Here’s a hint: Meow!
Starting this academic year, U-M dorms are providing “free” use of dorm laundry facilities. Heck, for the prices those kids pay to live there, the regents ought to throw in pickup and folding services, too.
The Ross business school now has a Los Angeles campus. That’s rich!
A $100,000 endowed gift from an especially successful Ross alum “will help ignite transformational research,” according to the very grateful school.
Of the eighty-six Washtenaw County students named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists this week, sixty-three attend school in Ann Arbor. That includes twenty-two Pioneer High students and thirteen each from Huron High and Greenhills.
DTE’s front group lost in court again. It must be so strange for them to be the ones to lose power.
The owner of Northside Grill is fighting the city’s claim that it owns part of the building.
It took two weeks for Donald Trump to slap back at Ann Arbor congresswoman Debbie Dingell’s perfect zinger over the renaming of Lake Ontario – hitting her with a silly nickname and mocking her for “crying uncontrollably” after her husband died. Clearly, he’s jealous because he knows his wife won’t have that sort of reaction when it’s his turn.
Detroit News columnist Chad Livengood notes that there is actually a Democratic constituency that loves data centers: the unions building them.
An Ypsi app developer is launching Courier Mates to help delivery drivers share intel on hard-to-navigate neighborhoods, safety concerns, and whether customers tip.
Victory Automotive Group has bought three Ann Arbor dealerships. Vroom vroom!
Superior Twp. is adding 162 acres to BirdSong Nature Preserve thanks to a $1.7 million acquisition by the Michigan Land Conservancy.

Marketplace

Credit: J. Adrian Wylie

Toledo-based pizza joint debuts: The Stubborn Brother Pizza Bar, which got big national attention when Barstool’s Dave Portnoy dubbed it “the best college campus pizza I’ve ever had,” opened a 6,000-square-foot berth on the ground floor of the Standard, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. Algase speaks to general manager Grace Mancy (above), a scion of a prominent Toledo restaurant family, who says this is the first of many the owners hope to launch in Big Ten cities.

Sweetwaters opens store thirty-seven on North Campus: The new café inside Pierpont Commons is a homecoming of sorts for founders Wei and Lisa Bee, both U-M alumni (as are their three sons) according to Algase. Sweetwaters has grown mostly through franchising, but the Bees own four of Ann Arbor’s seven locations, including the flagship café on W. Washington, which opened in 1993. They’re also in AADL Westgate and now in two University Unions spots.

Saigon Social House for sale for $300K: Less than a year after it opened, the Vietnamese restaurant next door to the Michigan Theater is on the block, according to a listing at Collier’s Ann Arbor. It is owned by Sonca Luu who, Algase reported in December’s issue of the Observer, also owns three local beauty-related establishments, another restaurant, and the Block & Brew Cafe which, notably, accepts Bitcoin. Saigon Social House is “a rare turnkey business opportunity in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor” with 1,864 square feet and an active liquor license. The new owner would take over a lease that expires in 2030.

Helpers

Tickets available for October 1 benefit at the Ark: Brain Plasticity Ukulele Collective will play a 7:30 p.m. show with a portion of the proceeds going to the Cancer Support Community of Greater Ann Arbor. The performers are part of an intergenerational Ann Arbor music group that combines ukuleles with many other instruments. Tickets, which start at $29, are on sale here.

5K to raise money for United Ostomy Associations of America: The Run for Resilience, which starts at 9 a.m. on October 3 at Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter, is being organized by ovarian cancer survivor Denise Miller of Chelsea who tells the Sun Times News about her health and activism journey. Registrants pay $40 to participate in the run; kids can run in a 50-meter fun run for $20.

Bridging the generation gap: Anita LeBlanc writes in this month’s Observer about Perfect Pair, a nonprofit that matches U-M students with senior citizens for weekly visits based on shared interests to help combat loneliness for both. Founded during the pandemic by then-U-M med student Emily Lerner, Perfect Pair initially fostered virtual visits; nowadays they meet in person.

Things To Do

Friday: Take in a free screening of the 2026 documentary 9/11: Reclaiming Ground Zero, which follows New Yorkers as they use a town hall process to decide what to do with the site of the towers. Preregistration required.

Saturday: Go on a docent-led tour that explores “Daily Life in Ancient Rome” at the U-M Kelsey Museum of Archaeology.

Sunday: Count chimney swifts gathering at dusk and as they enter their roosts in a spectacular swirling tornado of birds as part of Washtenaw Bird & Nature Alliance’s Swift Nights Out.

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