The Big Ask
The bond will be the only issue on the ballot November 5. If approved, it would cost a typical homeowner $220 a year.Why so much? “Our buildings are deteriorating,” says superintendent Jeanice Swift. “Our...
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Meltdown Averted
“This has been a true crisis,” says Jason Morgan, chair of the Washtenaw County Board...
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Turning Back the Clock
October was a bad month for Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel’s campaign against sexual...
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EPA Adapting
Union steward Keith Fusinski was worried. A toxicologist and head of the Environmental Protection...
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Fixing the Damn Roads
As the Observer went to press, Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer was locked in a stare-down...
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Snuff Stories from East Quad
Free speech has limits, as a famous Supreme Court example illustrates. “Falsely shouting...
Read MoreLawsuit Settled
Smith is speaking about Lurie Terrace, the senior high-rise on Huron just west of downtown. Last year, the foundation joined Legal Services of South Central Michigan and the U-M clinical law program in accusing the nonprofit of...
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Project Mow
Dawn Farm runs detox, transition, and outpatient services in Ann Arbor, but none can match the...
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Train Delays
A legacy of the Great Recession is still inching toward Ann Arbor. The Obama stimulus package...
Read MorePetition Paradox
Proponents of nonpartisan local elections are pondering a possible petition drive to bypass Mayor Taylor’s veto of a June City Council resolution. They would need about 5,100 valid voter signatures to put a city charter...
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The Online Courthouse
Bob Ciolek’s career has been spent in the courts, first in Taylor and then as administrator...
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Sweetwaters Grows
Harrah is opening a franchise of the Ann Arbor-based coffee and tea shop in a suburb of Charlotte....
Read MoreRighteous Indignation
For nearly twenty years, city councils routinely approved mayors’ picks for advisory boards and commissions–mostly because the mayors’ allies controlled council. But that ended when mayor Christopher Taylor...
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Trenches to Trees
Three projects are tearing up Huron St. this summer. Most disruptively, DTE is replacing a gas...
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Losing Lawsuit
The 32-acre project–improbably named the Cottages at Barton Green–will be on Pontiac...
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Deputies Wanted
The biggest problem we have is staffing,” exclaims sheriff Jerry Clayton. “We have to...
Read MoreCosmic Trip
Gerdes is one of numerous scientists from countries including Spain, Brazil, and Switzerland working on the multi-year Dark Energy Survey (DES). Using a special camera mounted on a thirteen-foot Chilean telescope, they’ve...
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Printers Combine
John Edwards calls Sheridan MI of Chelsea “the melting pot of the Michigan book...
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School News
Eight months after winning seats on the school board, two critics of the district’s...
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