Rachel Ufer has looked forward to Halloween on Granger Ave. ever since she moved there in 2017. “You can’t really believe it until you see it,” Ufer says of the spooky decorations that drew roughly 1,400 trick-or-treaters to her block in Burns Park last year. But a few days before Halloween, a large inflatable skeleton was stolen from her house—and the next night, an inflatable spider.Â
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The historic contest between Democratic vice president Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump at the top of the November 5 ballot is expected to draw huge numbers of voters on Election Day. But with no city council seats contested, the most impactful items locally are proposals near the end of the packed ballot—particularly Ann Arbor proposals A, to create a city-owned “sustainable energy utility,” and C and D, which would make city elections nonpartisan and provide public funding for council and mayoral candidates.
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Just before kick-off at the AFC Ann Arbor women’s May 19 soccer match against Kalamazoo FC at Pioneer High School’s Hollway Field, fifteen-year-old Izzy Sutton and two U-M students received formal recognition as female leaders and role models. Sutton, tall and athletic, was a 2023 Washtenaw County Young Citizen of the Year, and has won state and national service awards for her work, which has included raising money for bird and turtle rescue by selling her own line of notecards. Sutton has long called for eliminating single-use plastic water bottles at the Ann Arbor Public Schools, petitioning the school board and administration since fifth grade. Most end up in landfills and as trash in the environment.
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A new U-M dorm is rising on the Michigan Marching Band’s longtime home at Elbel Field, but director John Pasquale is over-the-moon happy with the new Elbel Field a block away.
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Sherrone Moore, promoted to the top job, is in some ways starting over. He’s got a new staff, a new quarterback, and an entirely new offensive line.
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A week after school let out in June, the Ann Arbor Board of Education voted to release a devastating report on the mistakes leading to a multimillion-dollar hole in the district’s budget.
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What follows is an imaginary itinerary across the continents, all within greater Ann Arbor. Whether in search of the familiar favorites that constitute our own version of soul food, or an adventure into ever-widening horizons, it can be found here, and without the jet lag.
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Many Washtenaw County towns were founded during a land rush following the defeat of the Midwest’s Indigenous inhabitants and construction of the Erie Canal.Â
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They sat me down in a room with a table and a bunch of chairs and actually tilted a desk lamp so it shone directly into my eyes. One man did the questioning while other officers rotated in and out of the room. My interrogator was precise and seemingly emotionless. The other officers had lips drawn tight and glared. He asked who I was, where I’d come from, what route I had followed, whether I had seen anyone, had stopped, and had anything happened along the way.Â
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Ron Warhurst was a U-M coach for thirty-six years—cross-country and track. He was Big Ten coach of the year four times, won nine conference championships, and coached 129 All-Americans, multiple Olympians, and a winner of the Boston Marathon.Â
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We asked four artists in this year’s Ann Arbor Art Fair why they do it, and what brought them here.
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Washtenaw County sheriff Jerry Clayton is retiring after four terms. Three candidates are vying to take his place in the August 6 Democratic primary.
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Eric Parker was a self-described “earth traveler” who lived by his wits and took great pride in his independence as a schizophrenic, unhoused man. He was highly intelligent, a lover of birds and animals, and a solo explorer of Ann Arbor and southern California. His last year of life was spent under the care of the author, his aunt, who deeply misses her firstborn nephew, a complicated, remarkable human.
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Jeff Hauptman’s office on the seventh floor of the 777 Building at Eisenhower and State has stunning views north to the U-M campus and downtown. But when he toured the building seven years ago, what really stayed with him was what he saw when he looked down—and saw how much space was used for nothing but parking cars.
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Residences designed by renowned Detroit architect Albert Kahn are rare—there are just six in Ann Arbor. But, Barbara Copi confides, she really wanted Noah and Lizzie Hurwitz and their three boys, to bring new life to its ornate spaces.
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With great wealth come great opportunities for financial exploitation. According to a 2023 report from the Justice Department’s Office of Victims of Crime, senior-service agencies that the office funds report that 14 percent of the people seeking their help are victims of financial crimes.
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At the end of February, the city’s Parks Advisory Commission heard an unusual pitch: The local...
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Rosanita Ratcliff is a born traveler. She left Ann Arbor to go to college in Arizona, studied...
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The Ann Arbor area is blessed with great, public collections of local historical artifacts, such...
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“It’s really happening,” laughs Matt Grocoff, his face flushed in the wind. “I can’t tell you the...
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