The local affiliate of the global affordable housing group began building single-family houses in 1989. Habitat sells the houses to qualified families: those with sufficient income to pay their bills, mortgage, taxes, insurance,...
Read MoreJesse Shepherd is an expert woodsman. In season he hunts wild turkey and deer, traps muskrats, and hunts small game. In summer he enjoys fishing the lakes in the Waterloo State Recreation Area between Jackson and Chelsea. And...
Read MoreThe last decade wasn’t kind to Saline. “Property tax revenues have gone down about 22 percent,” says mayor Gretchen Driskell. “And revenue sharing from the state has been going down since 2002, and it now...
Read MoreGovernor Rick Snyder is pushing Michigan municipalities and school districts to adopt what he calls “best practices.” For cities, villages, and townships, that means three things: accountability, consolidation, and...
Read MoreMark Ouimet looked as if he couldn’t lose in the election for state representative from the 52nd District in northwest Washtenaw County. Not only was he well known as a three-term county commissioner, but he’d also...
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Spring is fundraising season at local educational foundations: in March and April, volunteers will hold events to benefit the public schools in Chelsea, Dexter, and Saline (see list below). With sharper marketing and more...
Read MoreWhen it comes to making pizza, Rich Runles is into precision and balance. You might even call him obsessive about it. Runles opened Rich’s CountrySide Pizza in early January, taking over the space formerly occupied by My...
Read MoreThe new Super Wal-Mart in Saline hasn’t broken ground yet, but behind the site at State Road and Michigan Avenue the State Street Crossings strip mall has spaces to lease. Its first tenants include a hair salon, a nail...
Read MoreRobin Warner sits just inside the door of the Pittsfield Grange Hall, a simple white clapboard building on Ann Arbor–Saline Road, collecting admission. Gray-haired and dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans, he pauses to chat with...
Read MoreHannah Renken stands behind the counter at Saline’s newest cafe and gracefully demonstrates how to prepare the perfect cup of jasmine tea for her coworker, Kimberly Conn. “Mrs. Chang says to pour the water from high...
Read MoreSaline’s new Beanstalks Play Cafe combines a playground, a coffeehouse, and a bookstore. A refuge for families looking for something to do with their children, rain or shine, it’s in the sanctuary of the old...
Read MoreAs the lights came up after the opening dance at a show at the University of Michigan’s Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, my nine-year-old son—who was my date for the evening—saw tears rolling down my cheeks. “Mom, why are...
Read More“He’s always liked guns.”Seventeen-year-old Benjamin Lucas is sweating bullets. He’s on the witness stand at the 14A District Courthouse in Pittsfield Township, testifying for the prosecution at the...
Read MoreJamie Westcott grew up in a poor family in Chelsea. She remembers the day in high school that she discovered thrift shops. “My friends and I drove to Value World in Ypsi looking for stuff for Halloween,” says...
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