May 4, 2011 | News |
When times are bad, conventional wisdom says, crime goes up. The idea is that desperate times can drive even law-abiding citizens to desperate crime.Not this time. During the worst economic downturn most people can remember, the...
Read MoreMay 3, 2011 | News |
“Hello, I’m the parent of a special ed student,” began a recent robocall, asking voters to say yes in today’s vote on a special education millage renewal. Special ed parents have the most obvious...
Read MoreApr 29, 2011 | News |
“It’s not easy. You have to have a thick hide to live with the criticism,” says Dale Newman. “I’ve never Googled myself.” If he did Google himself, he’d find such headlines as “DTE...
Read MoreApr 28, 2011 | News |
“We can have an intelligent discussion of a city income tax here,” asserts city council member Tony Derezinski. “Because it’s a legitimate question: what should be taxed–income or property or...
Read MoreApr 23, 2011 | News |
Just outside Chelsea, two whole neighborhoods are missing. One should be southwest of town off Pielemeier Dr., the other to the northwest off Sibley. With their comparatively small lots, the new subdivisions were designed to...
Read MoreApr 11, 2011 | News |
Hard times usually mean more crimes, as some law-abiding citizens are driven to desperate straits. Not this time–at least so far. Reflecting a national trend, most crimes in most places in Washtenaw County declined last...
Read MoreApr 11, 2011 | News |
After filing for bankruptcy in February, the Borders Group will meet with creditors this month to outline its plans to reorganize itself and reinvigorate its business. In an email, CEO Mike Edwards told customers that the...
Read MoreApr 3, 2011 | News |
At AnnArbor. com’s economic outlook luncheon on March 11, Governor Rick Snyder praised the website and newspaper as an example of the “reinvention” the state needs. Afterwards, photographer Lon Horwedel...
Read MoreMar 31, 2011 | News |
In 1965, Esther and Ben Rubin moved into a new four-bedroom townhouse off Platt south of Packard. What would eventually be the 427-unit Colonial Square Cooperative was still being built, but as a blended family with four...
Read MoreMar 26, 2011 | News |
“We’ve made great strides,” says John Petz.Last June 1, Petz became the first board chair of the combined Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti Regional Chamber. In recent years, the neighboring chambers of commerce had seen...
Read MoreMar 10, 2011 | News |
“I’m in full ‘punt’ mode,” U-M conductor Jerry Blackstone emailed in February. For more than five months, Blackstone had been rehearsing the Choral Union for a pair of March performances of...
Read MoreMar 2, 2011 | News |
When thieves broke into the rectory of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church on a Sunday morning in January, the priests who live there were just steps away–one working in the parish office, the other presiding at mass....
Read MoreFeb 28, 2011 | News |
Ask Washtenaw County Treasurer Catherine McClary about the perils inherent in underfunded retirement plans and she’ll tell you flat out: “It’s a time bomb for government at all levels. The assumption is that...
Read MoreFeb 1, 2011 | News |
For two days in January, the most-shared story on the Wall Street Journal’s website had nothing to do with business: it was a column by local writer John U. Bacon on the firing of Michigan football coach Rich...
Read MoreJan 31, 2011 | News |
With a rare “blizzard warning” in effect, the Midwest is bracing for heavy snows and high winds. At 4 a.m. on Tues. Feb. 1, the storm was expected to hit Ann Arbor at 7 p.m. To follow the storm, click here to see the...
Read MoreJan 29, 2011 | News |
How bad is the rise in homelessness in Washtenaw County? “We served 1,200 people last year, and we still have a waiting list of three people for every bed,” says Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter...
Read MoreJan 28, 2011 | News |
The 2009 merger of Chelsea Community Hospital with the Saint Joseph Mercy Health System brought an unexpected thank-you gift to area residents: a staggering $25 million was set aside in a perpetual fund to improve their health...
Read MoreJan 25, 2011 | News |
Jeff Masters, guru at Ann Arbor’s Weather Underground, thinks we’re in for another cold winter. But don’t count Masters among the global-warming skeptics–on the contrary, the U-M meteorology Ph.D. has...
Read MoreJan 13, 2011 | News |
This September, 2002 Ann Arbor Observer feature addresses some of the questions raised by the January 8, 2011 shootings in Arizona. For a more recent, and encouraging, account of the local response to mental illness, see this...
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