L’Shanah Tovah, everyone! Happy 5784 on the Jewish calendar! I’m not big on the dogmatic and moralizing elements of my or anyone else’s religion, but I do enjoy the sense of optimism and renewal that has always come to me with this part of the Jewish (and school) year.

This week’s news is, of course, here for your perusal. The football team is (hopefully) still ascendant, Zingerman’s is (hopefully) forever, and a quick-thinking woman is justly honored for performing CPR that saved a drowning man’s life. On the other hand, the school board remains in tumult. So choose your news, I guess.

As I prepare to make amends by fasting on Yom Kippur on Monday, I wish you all a contemplative, soul-searching week ahead.

– Steve Friess

AAPS board member quits weeks after insisting she wouldn’t: Jacinda Townsend Gides, elected less than eleven months ago, resigned her seat this week and has taken her children out of Ann Arbor schools. In a statement shared with MLive and the Observer, she accused fellow board members of bullying her and her family.  Last month, Townsend Gides denied to the Observer’s Jim Leonard that the board’s surprise vote to remove superintendent Jeanice Swift was accelerated because she would soon be moving to Rhode Island, where she’s joined the faculty of Brown University. The board is accepting written applications to fill the vacancy through noon on Monday, Oct. 3; details are on the AAPS website.  

Controversial sand and gravel mine hit with environmental violations: The Vella Pit in Ann Arbor Twp., already under fire from residents who say it has been draining water from their wells, received a violation notice from the state last week alleging the mine is illegally discharging sediment into wetlands and a creek, MLive reports (paywall). The day before the violations notice, mine owner Mid Michigan Materials had withdrawn an application for a permit to double its groundwater allotment.

Council eases ban on new auto-related businesses in transit corridors: The city’s new TC1 zoning barred new car sales, rental, and repair businesses in the State-Eisenhower and W. Stadium-Maple areas. Now, MLive reports, council has voted to permit property owners to request exceptions. The 7-3 vote revealed disagreements about how quickly Ann Arborites can be weaned from their private vehicles.

Approval of “traffic calming” infrastructure made simpler: MLive reports that members voted unanimously to waive requirements for council approval, and to allow staff to include speed humps and other measures when streets are reconstructed. The city has a backlog of seventeen traffic-calming petitions awaiting approval, but until recently had been acting on only three a year.     

Scio Twp. gives nod to luxury car dealerships, EV park: Lithia Motors, which bought the Troy-based Suburban Collection in 2021, won approval for new BMW and Mercedes stores off Jackson Rd., MLive reports. Touted benefits of the planned unit development include all-electric buildings, renewable-energy purchases, and an EV park–a dozen fast chargers open to the public. The brands may be joined in the future by Jaguar-Land Rover; their current buildings in the nearby Ann Arbor Auto Mall are listed for sale. 

U-M football’s renaissance continues: Craig Ross recounts in this month’s Observer the swift turnaround that has seen the Wolverines beat Ohio State two years running and enter the season ranked No. 2 in the nation. With conference play beginning at noon Saturday against Rutgers, the big question now is whether returning-from-suspension Jim Harbaugh can use the pieces of this puzzle – Blake Corum, J.J. McCarthy, and Donovan Edwards among them – to get to the national championship game this time.

Feds to pay U-M Health $73.7M after reimbursement change reversal: The Supreme Court in July ruled that a 2018 decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to cut medication reimbursements was illegal, so Uncle Sam now must pay back some $9 billion to hospitals across the nation, Crain’s Detroit reports (paywall). In the April 2022 Observer, Ken Garber revealed how the “540B” drug discount program added nearly half a billion dollars a year to the health system’s bottom line.

Construction begins on new U-M Ypsilanti Health Center. DBusiness reports that it will include comprehensive primary care, specialty care, diagnostic, and treatment facilities when it opens next fall. It will be the largest tenant in MI-HQ East, the tech incubator in the former EMU College of Business on Michigan Ave. MI-HQ owner Mark Smith previously redeveloped the former Gelman Sciences complex in Scio Twp.

Juwan Howard doing well after heart surgery: The U-M basketball coach is expected to take six to twelve weeks to fully recover and should be on the sidelines when the new season begins, MGoBlue writes. The fifty-year-old went under the knife to remove an aortic aneurysm and to repair his aortic valve after problems were detected in a routine check up. In related basketball news, the Wolverines’ 2023-24 schedule came out this week.

Big House shows off new lights at season’s first night game: Players, journalists, and fans alike raved on social media about the way the state-of-the-art LED system heightened the atmosphere by turning the stadium maize and blue among other tricks. Check out some of the wild videos.

Zingerman’s founders move to protect their legacy: Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig have never done things the usual way, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they’ve come up with a novel approach to keeping their empire intact they’re gone, Trilby MacDonald writes in this month’s Observer. Earlier this year, the duo announced the Zingerman’s Perpetual Purpose Trust, a plan to eventually transfer majority ownership to employees with the stipulations that the company remains independent and in Ann Arbor.  Explaining the decision to MacDonald, Weinzweig quotes the late U-M sociologist Ron Lippett: “Let’s tell a story of the future where we all come out ahead.”

Feds sue owner of two downtown restaurants: Cascabel Ventures LLC, parent company of Mani Osteria & Bar and Isalita, is accused of failing to pay overtime wages to employees, according to a Labor Department filing. Owner Adam Baru tells MLive he’s fighting the claim, which seeks more than $364,000 in damages.

Dexter councilmember cites police, fire calls at affordable housing complex: Jamie Griffin told her colleagues that the 24-unit Hilltop View Apartments, which opened in 2022, are accounting for a disproportionate amount of attention from first-responder services, MLive reports. The complex generated 11 percent of fire calls through August and 14 percent of police calls through July, Griffin said, suggesting a public nuisance ordinance was needed to force Avalon Housing and Faith in Action to do a better job managing the place. Other councilmembers came to the project’s defense, and voted not to pursue an ordinance.

Robber in Amazon delivery vest hits Scio credit union: The incident occurred on Saturday morning at the DFCU on Jackson Rd. when the thief slid a note to a teller demanding money and then fled in a black SUV, according to a Facebook post from the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office. Anyone with information should call (734) 973-7711 or email Detective Raisanen here.

Intruder breaks into school, sleeps over: That’s what police say happened on Friday and Saturday at Washtenaw International High School in Ypsilanti Twp., MLive reports. The break-in wasn’t discovered until staff returned on Monday morning, but police say that security videos show that he stayed in the school until late Saturday, when he left on foot with some undisclosed stolen items. Anyone with information can email deputy Austin Pearson here. 

Man uses Find My iPhone to recover stolen laptop: The thirty-nine-year-old’s computer was taken when an intruder broke into his apartment on W. Washington St. last week, MLive reports. The victim used Apple’s geolocating feature to locate the damaged device in a nearby dumpster, police said. Anyone with information should call (734) 794-6939 or email here.

Woman honored for reviving drowned man: Margarita Howes of Dearborn Heights, twenty-two, administered CPR to Jamaine Atkins after he was pulled from the water at Bandemer Park in July, according to a Facebook post from the Ann Arbor Fire Department. AAFD gave her a plaque last week at a ceremony where she was reunited with Atkins, twenty-two, who has since made a full recovery. Howes is now a nursing student at EMU.

A trio of openings at Briarwood: 24th Cheesecakerie moved from the mall’s food pavilion to the former Sozo Japanese Grill near JC Penney, Dave Algase reports in this month’s Observer. Meanwhile, Texas de Brazil, a Dallas-based churrascaria/steakhouse chain, took over the parking-lot building previously occupied by Bravo! Cucina Italiana. Wiggle Waggle Barkery, a dog treats and supplies shop, also opened in August.

Carrigan Cafe to remain open: Owners Karen and Jason Carrigan announced in May they were selling their namesake business in Saline because they had moved to Georgia and decided they didn’t want to run it from a distance anymore. In a recent Facebook post, however, the couple announced they have “moved their home back into Michigan” and are hiring new staff.

BBQ spot in Dexter shuts down: Hotel Hickman Chuckwagon BBQ, which changed ownership in December, closed down this week as the new proprietor faced problems with staffing, food cost increases, and flagging sales, MLive reports.  The restaurant opened in 2012. 

Dinner, auctions benefit SOS Community Services on Wednesday: The nonprofit,, which provides assistance to families facing housing insecurity, holds its fourteenth annual Road to Home fundraiser at Zingerman’s Cornman Farms next week. The event includes a “strolling dinner,” a live and silent auction, and entertainment. Tickets are available here. 

Nonprofit that helps homeowners restore native plants expands: Adapt: Community Supported Ecology offers free virtual consultations and custom-made garden kits to folks looking to improve their properties, Concentrate reports. Started in 2020 in the Ann Arbor/Ypsi area, Adapt now has twelve chapters in three states. Adapt Landscapes, a for-profit company, designs and installs gardens and uses the profits to provide the kits.

Financial Empowerment Center offers free financial advice: Residents can now schedule appointments here to come to any of four locations in and around Ypsi, A2, and Dexter for one-on-one sit-downs with economic counselors who help find  ways to build savings and reduce debt. The program is operated by the county’s Office of Community and Economic Development and the national Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund.

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: See displays of alternative-fuel vehicles, renewable energy, green building materials, and other energy conservation products and practices at the A2Zero Green Fair. Also, hands-on kids activities, a 7 p.m. bike parade, and live music by the eclectic local  quartet Glen Leven Band. Preceded by a Tech Trek (1 to 5 p.m., Liberty between Division & S. 4th Ave.) featuring demos of new technology and EV test drives (2 to 6 p.m., Library Lot & Lane). 5–8 p.m., Main St., Downtown Ann Arbor. Free. 

Saturday: Hear Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra music director Earl Lee open the season with Dvořák’s New World Symphony (1893), a love song to Black and Indigenous musical traditions which Dvořák hoped would inspire his American peers to stop relying solely on European examples. Also, Joan Tower’s Made in America (2005) and a performance of Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto (1945) with acclaimed violinist Stefan Jackiw. Also, U-M professor Aaron P. Dworkin reads a new poem. 8 p.m., Hill Auditorium. Pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. Tickets $15–$90 in advance here and the AASO office (35 Research Dr., #100), and (if available) at the door. (734) 994–4801. 

Sunday: Rent kayaks and check out river-themed exhibits and education at the Ypsi Fall River Day, hosted by the Ypsilanti Parks & Recreation Commission & the Huron River Watershed Council. Catch the shuttle at the bottom of your run when you’re done paddling. Noon to 3 p.m., Frog Island Park, Ypsilanti. Free. Walk-up registration only.

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

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