It was a cold early spring Saturday morning, and I was following a lead I’d received in a call the day before about a unique piece of evidence on a farm near the Ohio border.When I got there, I contacted the owner and...
Read MoreJohn German didn’t expect to discover that Volkswagen had cheated deliberately and repeatedly on emission tests for its diesel-powered cars. “We expected to find good vehicles–we absolutely did,” he...
Read MoreKen Rogge vividly recalls his return from a tour of duty on a fighter-bomber base in Thailand. In 1970, an Air Force transport plane dropped him off at the San Francisco airport, where the staff sergeant was obliged to walk...
Read MoreIn deep-blue Ann Arbor, the biggest city council contest comes in August’s Democratic primary. This year, eight candidates chased four seats. The winners enter the November 3 election without ballot opposition, though in...
Read MoreQ. Are the Lamp Post Plaza and Lamp Post Inn named for a lamppost of some specific significance? Was there an amazing (or not so amazing) lamppost that once graced that area, or was this just a name that a developer thought up...
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So far, only one home in the world is close to meeting the Challenge, set by the International Living Future Institute in the Pacific Northwest. The Ann Arbor couple hopes the home they’re building on fifteen acres in Lodi...
Read MoreOn a hot but lovely cloudless Saturday at this year’s Detroit Jazz Festival I sat with a friend on the front steps of a stage listening to Diego Rivera’s quintet working its way though a set of jazz standards and...
Read MoreAfternoon Delight Cafe has closed for the day, but seventy-one-year-old busser Walter Roberson–who walks with a stoop and smiles frequently–is still hard at work in the back of the restaurant, folding cardboard...
Read MoreTom Brady (Detroiter, not Patriot) bought Vellum on Main St. last spring, saying he would open one of his Jim Brady’s Detroit restaurants in the space this year. He won’t make that deadline, because he put this one...
Read MoreDespite the eyebrow-raising merchandise sold at the Safe Sex Store, a lot of which can’t be named here, Beth Karmeisool’s store on South U has functioned mainly as a social services clinic and clearinghouse for...
Read MoreBusy Hands, in the arcade fronted by Lily Grace and WSG gallery, closed over the summer. Rebecca Konieczny’s store originally was stocked with high-end knitting supplies, but through the years she devoted more and more...
Read MoreDo you suffer from the frenetic pace of life in a perpetually imploding technocracy? You might consider seeking refuge in an intimate recital hall where chamber music can invoke the calming grace of a rising winter moon. On...
Read MoreIn September, $2.00 A Day, written by Shaefer and Johns Hopkins prof Kathryn Edin, was published to much acclaim–the New York Times Book Review compared it to Michael Harrington’s 1962 classic The Other America....
Read MoreThanks to Ann Arbor Rotary, the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System may get Michigan’s first Fisher House. With support from the Maryland-based Fisher Foundation, the house will provide free or low-cost housing for...
Read MoreWe’ve heard it said that a little friendly competition never hurt anyone, but what if that competition extended over decades and found you continually vying against the same person for a chance at fame and fulfillment?In...
Read More“It will be mobbed,” Charlie Munger predicted last spring as the $155 million Munger Graduate Residences neared completion. “The problem will be telling people they can’t get in.” Not for the first...
Read MoreIn September, Amy Sawulski of Redford Township pled guilty to two counts of human trafficking in Washtenaw County Trial Court. Sawulski was running a prostitution ring out of the Red Roof Inn on State in May 2013, when she was...
Read MoreYoon’s Bakery opened for business October 2 selling Korean baked goods–delicate white breads, cream- and red-bean-filled sweet rolls, small decorated layer cakes, and savory sausage-topped buns.The shy, young owner...
Read MoreArborland is populated with retailers that are recognized across the country, but it was about to get a locally owned independent store. The outside signs were even up at Arbor House Furniture & Interior Design in the old...
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