Mark Ouimet looked as if he couldn’t lose in the election for state representative from the 52nd District in northwest Washtenaw County. Not only was he well known as a three-term county commissioner, but he’d also...
Read MoreSpring is fundraising season at local educational foundations: in March and April, volunteers will hold events to benefit the public schools in Chelsea, Dexter, and Saline (see list below). With sharper marketing and more...
Read MoreDespite the trend toward books becoming cold, hard screens, Kevin Spall and Jon Buller passionately believe that readers will always treasure real books—especially those bound lovingly and beautifully. Which is why...
Read MoreIn late September, a historic Ann Arbor building went up for sale. The listing highlighted the Alonzo Palmer House’s “beautiful details,” including original woodwork from the 1860s. What it didn’t mention...
Read More“I’ll pay you back tomorrow.”She was standing on Detroit St. one evening after work, trying to get someone to stop to talk to her. “I’m locked out of my car,” she told me....
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A recent afternoon snowstorm led to a very quiet day at the Lowe’s home improvement store on Jackson Road. So quiet that two women running checkouts were able to spend a few minutes chatting. As a lone customer approached,...
Read More“I have a pretty good sense of outrage,” says attorney Jean Ledwith King.King was one of just ten women to graduate from the U-M Law School in 1968 and, at forty-five, probably the oldest in her class. Just two years...
Read MoreOn a cold February evening at the Michigan Theater, Rip Esselstyn wore a college jersey that said “KALE” (in the “YALE” font) across his chest. The former Austin, Texas, firefighter was in town to promote...
Read MoreWhat with Valentine’s Day, post-holiday recovery, and the first hints of a spring thaw, love is truly in the air in February. No surprise, then, that 231 Fake Adders loved last month’s Fake Ad for the American Board...
Read More“The board is trying to bring us out of the mid-twentieth century,” says Marta Manildi.Last March, the city of Ann Arbor demolished its housing commission, terminating three of five board members. Manildi, one of the...
Read More“Only one place in Ann Arbor has such a wonderful display of keys,” writes Angad Singh. “It’s Vogel’s Lock and Safe (of course!)” exclaims Ingrid Ault. “In business since 1913!”...
Read MoreThe call came to the Depot Street apartment about 9 a.m. on Monday, January 10. Erin Stead heard the news, but couldn’t believe it. “Relax for the next few hours,” the woman from the American Library...
Read MoreThe Waterloo Area Farm Museum, ten miles northwest of Chelsea, is a living monument to a memorable immigrant family.Johannes and Frederica Seybold, together with her two children from a previous marriage, arrived in 1844. With...
Read MoreDuring the early hours of February 11, 1931, male students living in five fraternity houses on the U-M campus received unexpected guests–police officers who searched every room for alcohol.Coming just before the annual...
Read MoreThe pair of peregrine falcons in Burton Tower get the press, but the real raptor story in Ann Arbor is the growing number of hawks in town. In December, a Cooper’s hawk was seen flapping down Alhambra, a full-sized...
Read MoreIt was a great story. Ron Koenig, a friend of mine who works in architectural restoration, was on the second floor of a building in downtown Saline. The first floor was being rehabbed into a new restaurant, Mangiamo Italian...
Read MoreWhen an Ann Arbor District Library patron apologized profusely while paying her $8 fine for overdue materials, the clerk reassured her: “That’s nothing. We have several people who owe more than a thousand dollars in...
Read MoreA U-M spin-off named after a radical sixties group is an unlikely capitalist success story.When Jeff Masters helped launch the Weather Underground as a private company in 1995, he never dreamed it would become the second-biggest...
Read MoreThe Pepsi Refresh Challenge left the Ann Arbor Skatepark Action Committee worn out and still thirsty–for funds. The soft drink giant has shifted some of its advertising budget to charitable donations, giving out grants...
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