Letter to the Editor: EV Rebates
The city’s plan to spend $500,000 to give qualified residents about $4,000 to $7,500 to buy a new or used EV shows poor judgement at the very least.
Read MoreNews
Meeting Points
We spoke with three painters, one from each fair, whose work engages with “intersections,” a concept that encompasses much of what the fairs are all about: exploring points of connection and embracing individuality and commonality at once.
This content is for subscribers only.
Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now
Already a member? Log in here
Running Into Trouble
“[A] 140-home enclave set on rolling hills between the Huron River and Whitmore Lake Road” and “a masterpiece of the landscaper’s art.” That’s how a June 2005 Observer piece, “The Buried History of Barton Hills,” described Barton Hills Village (BHV). Two decades later, there’s trouble in paradise.
This content is for subscribers only.
Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now
Already a member? Log in here
The Concordia Curveball
There were at least two reasons why U-M’s $60 million deal to buy Concordia University’s Geddes Rd. campus rankled city hall.
This content is for subscribers only.
Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now
Already a member? Log in here
The Hottest Seat on Campus
In April, the community was shaken when the regents’ choice for president, Kent Syverud, announced he would not take office due to a cancer diagnosis. He had been scheduled to assume the job on May 11. For now, interim president Domenico Grasso continues to lead U-M’s 68,000 students across the three campuses and about 50,000 faculty and staff at the university and hospital.
This content is for subscribers only.
Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now
Already a member? Log in here
Political Ambitions, Made in Ann Arbor
Ann Arborites Eli Savit and Abdul El-Sayed say their campaigns are steeped in what they have experienced here, whether as a schoolchild, like Savit, or in formative college years, as in El-Sayed’s case.
This content is for subscribers only.
Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now
Already a member? Log in here
Waiting for the Medicine to Kick In
In June 2025, Michigan Medicine opened the doors of the Ypsilanti Health Center at 300 W. Michigan Ave. with a mission that was twofold: to improve health outcomes and the social determinants of health in a city that has long trailed Ann Arbor in both.
This content is for subscribers only.
Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now
Already a member? Log in here
Does This Landfill Project Pass the Sniff Test?
Jenna and Jim Tenzillo moved to Northville Township from Ann Arbor to shorten their commutes, but the move came with a trade-off: the smell of the Arbor Hills landfill, located just across the county line in Salem Township.
This content is for subscribers only.
Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now
Already a member? Log in here
Beyond Roommates
Sarah Russman’s daughter will leave their home in Ann Arbor this fall to embark on her freshman year of college and the new experience of shared living in a dorm room. Meanwhile, Russman is themself getting ready for a new shared-living experience, under a program that aims to address housing affordability and the challenges for older adults living alone.
This content is for subscribers only.
Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now
Already a member? Log in here
Starry-Eyed
A group of local chefs and business owners hope to lure Michelin to Ann Arbor. In April, Michelin announced its first Great Lakes edition, rating restaurants in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis. (It has published a Chicago guide since 2010.) Michelin reviewers have begun visiting restaurants, and the guide is slated for publication in 2027.
Read More
College Cheer at Huron High
Four students were admitted to Yale—which Huron High college counselor Emily Mashal says may only take thirty students from the entire state—alongside acceptances to Columbia, Stanford, Northwestern, and Brown. More than ninety-five students were admitted to U-M, and several first-generation students earned spots at top institutions with full financial support.
Read More
Walkable, but Inaccessible
Does A2 Summer Streets shut out people with disabilities?
Read More
Who’s in the Running to Run Ann Arbor?
On the August primary ballot: Three mayoral candidates and many more seeking council seats
Read More
This Year’s Big Health Scare
The public fight between Michigan Medicine and Blue Cross Blue Shield is tormenting the patients and families who depend on them both.
Read More
Kratom Invasion
Kratom is a natural pain remedy and pick-me-up with a wide following. But a dangerous lab-made version is hitting the health care and recovery communities hard.
Read More
Educator and Human-Rights Champion
Kathy Kosobud, a longtime Ann Arbor resident and educator, received the David McMahon Human Rights Award from the Michigan Education Association in April. The award honors moral and ethical leadership in the fields of human and civil rights.
Read More
Sheriff’s Battles Stretch Into Second Year
In late February, when I started researching Alyshia Dyer (Washtenaw County’s first female sheriff) and her first year-plus on the job, there was already much to unpack and discuss.
Read More
Truce in Gaza, Conflicts in Ann Arbor
In May 2024, a week before police stormed and dismantled the Gaza solidarity encampment on the Diag, first-term Democrat U-M Regent Jordan Acker wrote on social media that he would never budge from his view that the university must not divest its endowment from companies that profit from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. “If these protesters do not like these answers, they are free to run for office and try to get the people of Michigan to elect them,” Acker posited.
Read More
Why the AAPS Contract “Agreement” Was Anything But
After a whopping 99.6 percent of the members of the Ann Arbor Education Association (AAEA) voted against a tentative teachers contract in April, two big questions remained: What now? And, also, why did the union make everyone vote on an agreement that was so universally loathed?
Read More
Dorro and Goliath
U-M alum Rachael Merritt and her team hope to offer an alternative to Amazon with Dorro.
Read More