Boy do we have amazing readers! First, you came through for Friends In Deed, helping us help them to raise more than $70,000. Your reward, besides the satisfaction of supporting a great cause, is this video of Jenna Dawson finishing her eleven-story rappel at EMU as part of that fundraiser and my daughter, Claire, jumping up and down as her nanny approaches terra firma.

Then, we received so many great submissions of storm damage after the call for them that we didn’t – couldn’t! – pick just one as planned. The October issue of the Observer, now arriving in mailboxes across the county, has photos by three a2view subscribers: Marilyn Acheson, Vicky Henry, and Les High. You can see their pictures online here.

The news is busy, what with auto strikes and potential federal shutdowns, and a deadly oak fungus outbreak in an Ann Arbor natural area. Oh, and someone driving through the front window of the Honey Baked Ham shop.

This weekend, our daughter turns two, Miles and I celebrate our nineteenth anniversary, and the Knight-Wallace Fellowship journalism program that first brought us to Ann Arbor celebrates its fiftieth anniversary.

As I rest up for all of that excitement, I wish you, too, a celebratory week ahead.

– Steve Friess, editor

UAW strike expands to GM facility in Ypsilanti Twp.: More than 160 employees at the General Motors Care & Aftersales facility on Tyler Rd. walked out last weekend, halting work at the center that processes some 6.6 million parts each month, the Detroit News reports. The union threatens to add more striking facilities tomorrow if there isn’t sufficient contract negotiation progress, Reuters reports. Also this week, Joe Biden became the first sitting president to visit a picket line when he appeared Tuesday outside a GM distribution center in Belleville, CNN reports.

U-M prepares for federal shutdown: With the prospect that Congress may not pass a spending bill this week to keep the government open, the university has launched a website to answer questions about how it might impact research. New proposals won’t be fielded or funded during a shutdown and faculty “may not be able to contact their project officers or agency representatives” it advises, but already-funded research will continue.

Why is DTE’s electricity so unreliable?: It’s not our imagination; customers in southeast Michigan lose power far more often than CMS clients, with DTE accounting for 26 percent of the customers but 64 percent of the outages, James Leonard writes in October’s issue of the Observer. Leonard was supposed to go on a tour of DTE’s $20 million in local improvements in July but a wind storm blasted through and left 160,000 customers in the dark, so it had to be postponed to August. DTE tells him climate change is bringing fiercer weather that is difficult for their 31,000 miles of overhead lines to withstand, but they are replacing old systems with tougher new ones.

Three charged in robbery, attempted home invasion: The trio are accused of a crime spree that includes the alleged armed robbery of two women on S. Main St. at 2 a.m. on September 21 and an earlier alleged attempt to break into a home on Arbordale, according to a Facebook post from Ann Arbor police. Shawn Hastings, twenty, of Saline, Gabriel Escobar, eighteen, of Ann Arbor, and twenty-two-year-old Christian Benitez-Reyes of Ypsi, were arraigned on charges of armed robbery, attempted home invasion, fleeing and eluding, and resisting arrest. All three are being held on $2 million bond.

Semi rollover shuts down U.S. 23 for seventeen hours: The northbound lanes at the westbound M-14 interchange were off limits after the truck crashed at about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday,  according to Facebook posts from the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office. The driver and passenger, both in their thirties, were treated for minor injuries at U-M Hospital and released.

Seventeen cats abandoned in parking lot: The Humane Society of Huron Valley is caring for the felines, ranging from five months to five years old and beset with various medical problems, after they were found near Owl Creek Apartments on Nixon Rd., according to an HSHV press release. Anyone with information should call (734) 661-3512 or click here.

Driver smashes Honey Baked Ham front: The thirty-eight-year-old Ypsi resident had a medical emergency that caused her car to lurch over the sidewalk and through the front  windows on Sunday night, MLive reports. The store was closed, so nobody was inside. The woman was taken to the hospital. The shop remained closed as of Wednesday.

Car break-in at Swift Run Park: A thief smashed the rear driver-side window and took several personal items on Wednesday morning, according to an AAPD Facebook post. The incident was one of 345 vehicle thefts reported so far this year, which puts such break-ins on pace to exceed the 450 reports last year by the end of 2023. Police urge drivers to take valuable items with them or leave them in their trunks.

Valuable bonsai trees stolen from med student’s apartment: The three trees, worth $1,500, were taken from Kyle Peres’s home in the Beekman on Broadway complex late Saturday or early Sunday morning, MLive reports. Peres, a first-year Michigan Medicine student and volunteer at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, was preparing the trees for a national competition. Anyone with information should call (734) 794-6939 or email here.

51,000 county residents must “requalify” for Medicaid: During the pandemic, the federal government ordered states to automatically renew all recipients to prevent gaps in coverage, but with the end of the national emergency, all are now being reviewed, Trilby MacDonald reports in this month’s Observer. As many as 18,000 Washtenaw residents may lose their coverage because they no longer qualify, while others will lose it because they can’t navigate the state’s complex and inefficient renewal process.

Food Gatherers sees more people using food banks: The nonprofit says in a press release the number of households that have used its services nearly doubled between July 2021 and July 2023. Higher food prices and cuts in food stamps and pandemic-era assistance programs are among the causes. Food Gatherers expects to spend $4.23 million on food in the coming fiscal year, up by $1 million in the last one.

Applications open Monday for guaranteed monthly income: The experiment, run by U-M’s Poverty Solutions, will provide 100 households $528 per month with no strings attached for two years starting in 2024. It’s open to  entrepreneurs, self-employed people, and small-business owners who make less than $32,805 a year. Application must be submitted by Oct. 13. For more information, click here. 

Fungus to force removal of fifty-five red oak trees: The city is attempting  to contain an oak wilt outbreak in Bird Hills Nature Area, cutting down trees and  digging trenches to sever infected roots, ClickOnDetroit reports. The Observer’s James Leonard previously reported the devastation caused by the fatal fungus in the Waterloo Recreation Area; This is the first outbreak   in Ann Arbor.

Long-vacant Ypsilanti Twp. shopping center being demolished: The once-thriving Gault Village center along Ford Lake that had its own exit off I-94 when it was built in the 1960s is a few weeks away from being completely knocked down, MLive reports. It’s unclear what happens next to the space where the 145,000-square-foot shopping center has stood.

Parents make $20M gift for new U-M rec center: Philip and Nicole Hadley, whose daughter and son are U-M alums, committed the donation to help fund the $165 million, 200,000-square-foot fitness center due to be completed in 2025, the University Record writes. The facility will be named the Hadley Family Recreation and Well-Being Center in their honor. Philip Hadley is former chairman and CEO of Factset Research Systems.

Rezoning on AA-Saline Rd. angers residents: Council voted unanimously to change two properties from residential use to office to fit commercial activity already occurring there, MLive reports. The owners operate a janitorial company out of the properties because area traffic has made them unsuitable as rental housing. Two nearby residents urged council not to make the change.

Road closures coming for Liberty Rd. overpass fix: The trestle over I-94 was damaged in March when a semi-truck struck it, causing structural damage that couldn’t be fully repaired at the time, MDOT says in a press release. Starting today, drivers can expect shoulder closures and overnight lane closures on I-94 at Liberty Rd. and, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., detours from Liberty via Wagner, Jackson, and W. Stadium.

Ann Arbor Marathon prompts road and pathway closures Sunday: From 3 a.m. to 2 p.m., many streets in the downtown and the campus area  and pedestrian pathways along the river will be inaccessible; see the “special events” section of the city’s site for details.

Murals coming to two railroad overpasses: Mary Thiefels and Danijel Matanic will be painting trestles over Huron St. and N. Main St. with funding from philanthropists Larry and Lucie Nisson, Artrain, Destination Ann Arbor, the Towsley Foundation, and a Kickstarter campaign that raised $12,000, Chris Hippler writes in this month’s Observer. The couple’s  firm, TreeTown Murals, has been doing similar work around town for years. 

Beloved Syrian deli and bakery to close tomorrow: The owners of Exotic Cuisine & Bakeries posted the surprise news to Facebook on Tuesday with a vague reference to a complicated situation involving a new investor who sold off his share. In the post, Jinan and Monib El-Khatib also say they will launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to move to a new location and buy a food truck.

Sandy’s Boutique is inspired by owner’s “fierce” grandmother: U-M alum Jill Bean Greco’s new shop in part of Arbor Brewing Co.’s former location on E. Washington St. focuses on serving women of “youthful spirit,” Dave Algase writes in September’s Observer. Sandy’s is named for Greco’s grandmother Sandra Kane; a large portrait of Kane is a focal point of the shop. 

Liquidation deals on offer at new discount shop: Bin & Pallet Co., which has four locations in western Michigan, has arrived on Jackson Rd. under franchisee Sara Graham who promises “severely discounted prices,” Algase also writes in this month’s Observer. Graham, a former project manager for a Tier 1 auto supplier, says she receives liquidated merchandise from “at least fifteen” mass retailers, almost all of it brand new.

Local MSU grads help clean up park on Saturday: The Ann Arbor Spartans will be weeding a local playground and picking up litter at South Maple Park from 10 a.m. to noon as part of the Spartans Serve project. To sign up, email here or call (733) 546-4487. All tools and supplies will be provided.

Wine-tasting soiree to raise money for ALS group: Uncork a Cure for ALS is scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 5 at YORK Food and Drink to support Active Against ALS, which funds research into the degenerative neuromuscular disorder. The event celebrates the nonprofit’s fifteenth anniversary. Tickets are available for $100 online through today, then  go up to $120 per person both online and at the door.

Ypsi man launches nonprofit to save troubled youths: Deshawn Leeth started Underdawg Nation after he was released from prison in 2021 to offer mentorship and guidance to kids who, like him, were encountering brushes with police and incarceration at young ages, Concentrate reports. The organization now has twenty active mentees from ages twelve to twenty-three who, he says, are “entangled in a criminal lifestyle and not in school due to a lack of structure or poverty.”

Friday: Catch Preservation Hall legend Charlie Gabriel at Kerrytown Concert House. This clarinetist, saxophonist, & flutist is a fourth-generation New Orleans jazz musician known for his wide-ranging grasp of jazz idioms. A former Detroit resident, Gabriel returns to KCH, where he recorded his award-winning 1994 CD, Live at the Kerrytown Concert House, in an ensemble featuring Detroit woodwind multi-instrumentalist Kasan Belgrave (Marcus Belgrave’s son) and his former Ann Arbor rhythm section, bassist Paul Keller and drummer Pete Siers. 7 (almost sold out) and 9:15 p.m., KCH, 415 N. Fourth Ave. $40–$75 (students, $19) in advance online and at the door. (734) 769–2999.

Saturday: At Huron River Watershed Council’s annual River Roundup, learn about and help collect macroinvertebrates—including insect larvae and crayfish—from Huron River tributaries to measure the river’s health. Kids accompanied by an adult are welcome. Rain or shine; two shifts. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., meeting place TBA. Free. Preregistration required here. For more information, email here or call (734) 769–5123. 

Sunday: Drop in on the Annual Ann Arbor Antiquarian Book Fair, one of the country’s top regional antiquarian fairs, with up to forty dealers from twelve states offering manuscripts, vintage photos and prints, antique maps, children’s books, and a wide array of old, rare, curious, and fine books. Admission charge benefits the U-M Clements Library. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Michigan Union Ballroom. $5 donation. (734) 995–1891.

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

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