After the Wolverines’ national championship in 2023, Jim Harbaugh returned to the NFL and took much of his staff with him. The league’s draft then selected thirteen Michigan players, including quarterback J.J. McCarthy and eight other starters on offense. Michigan did return three defensive All-Americans, but the weakened offense left a lot on the defense last season. Too much.
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The August 5 special-election ballot consisted solely of two city charter amendments: Proposal A authorized the city to sell the air rights above the underground Library Lane parking structure to the Ann Arbor District Library for $1 for a “mixed-use development that includes additional library services, housing, retail and programmable open public space.” Proposal B repealed a 2018 amendment that had reserved the structure’s ground-level roof for “an urban park and civic-center commons.” Both got about 58 percent of the more than 23,000 votes cast.
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For months, a giant cleat has hung over Michigan Football, in the form of the NCAA’s lengthy sign-stealing investigation. In mid-August, it slammed to the ground, causing financial and reputational pain, but not completely knocking out the program.
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Q. The road construction on Pauline involves putting in new fire hydrants. Each new hydrant has an electrical connection. What is it for?
I spy “the ‘Tree of Life’ statue on the corner of State St. and North University,” writes Catrin Koselka.
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Thomas Lavender passed away peacefully at Duke Hock Family Pavilion on July 19, 2025. He was 82.
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Pamela Janice White passed away at home on July 23, 2025 at age 70. Pam was born in Detroit in 1954 to Edward Kwiet and Myrna (Bunia) Kwiet. She graduated from Oxford (Michigan) High School in 1972, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Grand Valley in 1978. She is survived by Chris (73), her husband of 40 years, and her daughter, Betsy White (39) who resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Richard’s kindness, selflessness, exceptional sense of humor, and abiding love will be greatly missed.
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Simone Mola, age 96, of Saline, Michigan, passed away peacefully on July 31, 2025. Simone was born in Mola di Bari, Italy.
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Since 2008, Liberty St. has been home to what may be Ann Arbor’s ultimate “if you know, you know” secret: Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair.
Read MoreFor roughly a decade last century, the neighborhoods around Packard and Platt were their own city. East Ann Arbor separated from Pittsfield Twp. in 1947, only to accept annexation to Ann Arbor in 1956 in exchange for completing a water and sewage system. Ever since, its modest neighborhoods have provided much of the city’s most affordable housing—but as this month’s map shows, even “affordable” is now more than $300,000.
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In the alleys behind Ann Arbor restaurants, workers dump the used oil into large metal containers. Most belong to three collection companies: Evergreen Grease, G.A. Wintzer & Son Co., and Buffalo Biodiesel. They sign restaurants to lengthy contracts that create a near-territorial system.
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Pioneer High at 3:01 p.m. has the feel of a busy commuter airport. Students pour out of classrooms shouldering backpacks, swinging musical instrument cases, laughing and chatting. Many are holding cell phones.
Those phones are a point of contention at all levels of the education system: from individual classrooms to the school district, and all the way up to the Michigan legislature.
As move-in began this August, Vic Village South’s website advertised, “Leasing Now Open for 2025–26!” Social media ads announced, “We have 1, 2, 3, and 4-Bedroom apartments available!”
Kobylarz, thirty-six, has loved rodents since childhood. Chipmunks ate from her hand at her family’s cabin up north in Gaylord. At home in Westland, her parents gave her gerbils as a gift. In college at Central Michigan she bought “feeder mice,” which pet stores sell as food for reptiles, to keep as pets
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Thressa Nichols, a people operations professional who works remotely, decided to open the business she wanted to patronize. She and her husband, Zac Hodgkin, are launching Recess Cafe, where young children can play while their adults work or socialize while enjoying coffee, elevated snacks, and even wine and beer.
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For many years, when I go back to my roots in Ann Arbor, I have been invited to play with a great group of golf enthusiasts. If the weather is good, they are trying to make it to the golf course.
Tom Mast, second-generation owner of Mast Shoes, an Ann Arbor business that he helped shape into a local institution, passed away in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, July 15, 2025.
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