This week, a man was arrested after allegedly assaulting a car owner, part of E. Washington closed for utility lead installation, and city council approved the purchase of a vacant lot for stormwater improvements. Ulrich’s bookstore closed after nearly ninety years in business, and the Wolverines’ triumph over MSU last weekend was soured by a post-game incident.

The new Observer looks at the ambitions and limitations of Ann Arbor’s growing network of bicycle lanes. In Ypsilanti, leaders are looking into ways to slow down the growth of the marijuana industry, and near Chelsea, a new section of the B2B trail opened.

—Dayton Hare, editor

The county’s Covid-19 snapshot reports 852 cases in the two weeks ending yesterday, virtually unchanged from last week’s 851. There are 106.6 cases per 100,000 residents, down slightly from last week, and the test positivity rate is 9.3 percent, down slightly from 10.1. The CDC community level continues to be “medium,” and will update at 8 p.m. tonight.

A week before Election Day, the county had issued 93,135 Absent Voter Ballots and 55,548 had been returned, county clerk Larry Kestenbaum and elections director Ed Golembiewski announced on Wednesday. They’re urging everyone who hasn’t yet mailed their ballot to hand-deliver to a dropbox in their city or township, “or directly to the city/township Clerk’s office … Voters can find their ballot delivery locations at Michigan.gov/Vote.” All clerks’ offices will be open for at least 8 hours this weekend to register voters and to issue and accept absentee ballots.

For those voting in person Tuesday, the Michigan Daily has put together a guide to the Ann Arbor ballot. As Jim Leonard noted in the October Observer, Mayor Taylor and his allies are poised to take full control of city council, but there are consequential contests for judge, school board, and the proposed Climate Action Millage.

The Wolverines beat MSU 29-7 last weekend, in a victory marred by a post-game fight in the stadium tunnel, the Detroit Free Press reports. Videos of the incident circulating online apparently show MSU players assaulting a Michigan team member; as of this week, eight MSU players have been suspended, and U-M coach Jim Harbaugh says he expects criminal charges. This weekend U-M plays Rutgers in an away game.

A man who allegedly attacked restaurateur Sava Farah was arrested last week, radio host Lucy Ann Lance reports. Farah’s husband, William Farah, told Lance the knife-wielding attacker fled only when a nearby construction worker jumped a fence to intervene. Javon Trevail Williams was wearing body armor when police took him in, and is charged with assault, malicious destruction of property, and several other crimes.

An Ypsi man was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for attempting to produce child pornography, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. According to court documents, Andrew Joseph Vinyard offered underage girls money and gifts to have sex with him and take explicit photos. He was arrested following an undercover police operation.

E. Washington closed Monday between S. Division and S. State for utility lead installation at what will become Ann Arbor’s tallest new high-rise in recent memory, MLive reports. The 19-story building behind the Michigan Theater will contain roughly 240 apartments. The street is expected to be closed until November 19.

City council approved the purchase of a vacant, flood-prone parcel, MLive reports. The city will pay approximately $100,000 to acquire the Mulholland Ave. property, and city staff are looking at building stormwater controls such as underground storage.

Ann Arbor may be investing in bike infrastructure, but not everyone’s getting with the program, Brooke Marshall reports in the November Observer. Old habits die hard, and even though the shoulder often now belongs to cyclists, delivery drivers and other motorists park there anyway, as MLive’s Ryan Stanton reported last week.

A new section of the B2B Trail near Chelsea opened to visitors last Wednesday, MLive reports. The one-mile stretch runs from Veteran’s and Timbertown parks north to Werkner Rd., connecting six uninterrupted miles of trail in the fast-growing B2B, which will eventually connect the entire county and beyond.

A data breach at Michigan Medicine in August may have exposed 34,000 patients’ info, MLive reports. Four employees fell for a phishing scam, possibly exposing names, medical record numbers, addresses, dates of birth, diagnostic and treatment information, and health insurance information, but not credit card, debit card, or bank account numbers. Affected patients are being notified by mail.

More U-M pediatricians will see patients at Trinity Oakland Hospital in Pontiac, Crain’s Detroit Business reports (subscriber exclusive). Higher labor costs are hitting health providers hard – Trinity’s 92-hospital system lost $1.4 billion in the fiscal year ending in June – increasing pressure to share services. U-M will open two new clinics at the hospital this month, followed by a surgery clinic in January.

Washtenaw Community College’s campus closed last Wednesday after a sewage spill, MLive reports. More than 3,000 gallons of untreated sewage from a sanitary sewage line leaked before the line was shut off, with some spilling into the stormwater retention system. The campus reopened Friday.

On Sunday, a separate sewage spill was reported near Cloverly Court, the city announced. After sealing material from a private construction project blocked a pipe, about 200 gallons spilled from a manhole before the overflow was spotted and corrected.

DTE’s former CEO was protested as he spoke at the Ross School last week, the Michigan Daily reports. As Gerry Anderson discussed his career and the importance of renewable energy, a group of protesters took to the stage, claiming that DTE didn’t walk Anderson’s talk on renewable energy.

Domino’s Pizza has been hit hard by declining delivery sales and inflation, Bridge reports. The Ann Arbor-based company, the country’s largest pizza chain, has lost about 40 percent of its stock value this year.

Ann Arbor’s entrepreneurial success story Dug Song is looking for his next thing, Crain’s Detroit Business News reports. The Duo Security cofounder sold his company to Cisco for $2.35 billion in 2018, and after a stint as the Cisco security division’s chief strategy officer, he’s taken a leave to focus on philanthropy, investment, his family, and skateboarding.

Ypsilanti officials are concerned about the rapid rise of the local marijuana industry, MLive reports. Officials recently put a 180-day moratorium on new marijuana permits, and are discussing the possibility of implementing a 1,000 foot buffer between weed microbusinesses. Ann Arbor has a 600-foot buffer rule.

Ypsilanti is getting $250,000 to expand its recycling program, ClickOnDetroit reports. The investment from the American Beverage Association will double the number of homes that currently have access to curbside recycling service. The association previously invested $800,000 in an Ann Arbor recycling facility.

Pickleball is really taking off in Washtenaw, Cynthia Furlong Reynolds reports in the October Observer. During the pandemic, Wolverine Pickleball cofounders Christy Howden and Leslie White “DIY’ed” a former food-storage warehouse on Jackson Industrial Dr. into a eight-court facility for America’s fastest-growing sport. Now they’re planning a twelve-court facility on Metty Dr. that will be one of the largest in the Midwest.

The yard outside Peggy Sindlinger’s house near downtown is filled with a cornucopia of concrete statues, Anita LeBlanc reports in the October Observer. The eighty-five-year-old has been filling the house, where she’s lived since she was two, with collectibles for years, transforming it into a charming island of local character.

Unusually warm temperatures have delayed the opening of the Buhr Park outdoor ice arena until Nov. 19, ClickOnDetroit reports. The rink was originally scheduled to open this Saturday.

Michigan Folk School has a new home on a historic farm, MLive reports. Washtenaw County’s Parks and Recreation Commission voted last month to acquire the school, which teaches “the people’s knowledge,” functional handcrafts that have been disappearing in the modern era.

The iconic bookstore Ulrich’s closed Monday, MLive reports. For nearly nine decades the store provided U-M students with textbooks for classes. “Go Blue Forever!” read a farewell note on the storefront.

Ypsilanti’s Gentle Vibes Vintage closed its doors as well, MLive reports, but will live on through an online presence. Owner Michelle Birawer said online sales were outpacing in-person ones.

Food Gatherers and Michigan Medicine are partnering again to raise 1 million meals before the 14th, ClickOnDetroit reports. Community members can donate money online or non-perishables and toiletries in person at Dock 90 of University of Michigan’s North Campus Research Complex. As of Monday, they’ve raised enough for 332,250 meals.

A donor is matching up to $100,000 in donations to the Community Action Network until the end of the year. Funds raised will go toward initiatives such as CAN’s After School Program, Educational Summer Program, and combating inequity.

Ann Arbor Parks and Rec are looking for volunteers to cut back invasive vegetation this Saturday and next, ClickOnDetroit reports. Tools to remove non-native plants from the previously “goat-scaped” area of Burr Oak Park will be provided.

By Jennifer Taylor

4 Friday: Hear four Michigan poets, with many awards and books among them, read work on the theme of journeys at Booksweet Bookshop’s “Journeys Poetry Night:”  Detroit natives Diane DeCillis and Cal Freeman, Ann Arbor poet Zilka Joseph, and Oakland University English professor Peter Markus, who communes with his dead father in his latest collection. 7:30–9 p.m., Booksweet, Courtyard Shops, 1729 Plymouth Rd. Free. Preregistration requested at ShopBooksweet.com. 929–4112.

5 Saturday: Pitch in at Rotary Club Ann Arbor’s “Send Hunger Packing” service project, an assembly-line process that produces packets of “one-pot” meals to be distributed to people in need both locally and overseas. The goal is to pack 30,000 meals in fewer than 2 hours using 150 volunteers, and families are welcome. Monetary donations are also accepted. 9–11 a.m., Pioneer High School cafeteria, 601 West Stadium. Enter via the main entrance and register upon arrival. Masks encouraged. A2rotary.org.

6 Sunday: Catch one (or both) of two performances Sunday in Ann Arbor of works by French composer Maurice Duruflé. Duruflé’s glorious 1947 Requiem can be heard at the First Presybterian Church (3 p.m.), along with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five Variants on “Dives and Lazarus,” with music director David VanderMeer directing the church’s Chancel Choir and Chamber Orchestra. Then St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (7 p.m.) presents “An Evening of Duruflé,” with music director Deborah Friauff playing Duruflé’s 1942 solo organ work Prelude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain, which includes a stunning example of contrapuntal composition. Also, the 1947 Requiem is performed by St. Andrew’s Adult Choir, members of the Vocal Arts Ensemble, organist Naki Sung Kripfgans, and the U-M Student Chamber Orchestra. 3 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 1432 Washtenaw Ave., firstpresbyterian.org. Also, 7 p.m., St. Andrew’s, 306 N. Division, standrewsaa.org. Both performances free; donations accepted.

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

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