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Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and see the world’s longest lizard species! Witness Lawan, the deadly eighteen-foot reticulated python!Both are on display at the World of Discovery and Reptile Zoo on Jackson Rd. But...

In May, Hearst Magazines announced that Road & Track was moving to Ann Arbor–and that Larry Webster, a forty-two-year-old Ann Arborite, would be the magazine’s new editor. The promotion capped a swift rise....

Studying Ann Arborites’ relationship to their “urban forest” after the emerald ash borer outbreak, U-M natural resources prof MaryCarol Hunter became captivated by the gardens people planted in the easement...

One beautiful afternoon last summer I decided to ride my bike down a shady lane.In truth it’s just a street, but Shady Lane is also a remarkable neighborhood. The entrance off Packard is guarded by a towering, lush,...

“I started having trouble with my hips eighteen months ago,” says pastor and blues guitarist Mike Brooks. “First I walked with a limp, then with a cane, then with two canes, then I couldn’t walk at all....

Voluble crowds grip beer bottles and tasting glasses as they spill out from the dining room to the kitchen to the front porch at a recent Ann Arbor Brewers’ Guild meeting. But these drinkers aren’t sharing...

On a ninety-degree day in July, a party at Gallup Park honored Sasha, Sophia, Tucker, Dara, and Prima–all motherless kittens in need of new homes. The hosts, Shari Wilcox, Debbie Phillips, and local radio personality Dean...

John Churchville knew he was a drummer before he ever touched the instrument.Growing up in Marquette, in the Upper Peninsula, Churchville attended Northern Michigan University basketball games with his parents. But it...

A child of the fifties, I grew up on World War II movies like Twelve O’Clock High and Thirty Seconds over Tokyo. Before I wanted to be John Lennon and Keith Richards, I wanted to be Gregory Peck or Spencer Tracy. And I...

Perhaps it was the broad scope of the clue—”within city limits”—that stumped our audience in July. Or, the fact that the photo—cropped too far out of context—was of little help. Whatever the reason, for the first...

We received 81 correct entries from clever Fake Adders last month. And one from Dean McLaughlin.The ad, on page 57 of the July Observer, was for Great Haven Orchards, with the name of our June winner, Tom Jameson, hidden in the...