Neal Kelley and Jameson Tamblyn are co-chairs of Youth Council, one of the many programs of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. Tottering with these two Huron High School seniors gave me a little more insight into what it is the AAACF does – by focusing on Youth Council. [Full Story]
Kunselman kidding HD Hauling at corner of Liberty and Fourth: “Hauling is easier when you’re driving a van,” cuz he was driving a van, see.
The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports on the seventh annual Great Lakes Bioneers Conference held at Northwestern Michigan College. The article quotes Emily Hannewald of Ann Arbor, who plans to launch a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in Grass Lake. “I’m really organic and am super interested in biodynamic farming, incorporating a spiritual element to farming.” [Source]
The Erie Hiker writes: “Those who love the River Raisin cannot help but be heartened by the recent buying binge that Washtenaw County has embarked upon in the river’s upper reaches. Within just the past few years, over a thousand acres of land have been purchased by the county along the river’s course.” [Source]
Sign at the entrance to the Drop-Off Station on Ellsworth Road.
Shredded coconut and shredded paper might not be an obvious pair, but on Friday they went well together at Recycle Ann Arbor’s Drop-Off Station.
Anyone who dropped off paper to be shredded got offered cider and donuts from Washtenaw Dairy. They also got up to 100 pounds of paper shredded for free either by a special truck on site or at a remote location, transported there by a bonded and insured driver to ensure the documents’ security. By early afternoon, about 12,000 pounds of paper had been shredded. [Full Story]
The Conservative Media blog writes: “The Hamburg Township Board followed the shortsighted example of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners and turned down a request to kick in $1,000 last week for an environmental review of the proposed site of a train depot for the Washtenaw Livingston Line (WALLY) commuter rail line from Howell to Brighton.” [Source]
psychoPEDIA posts a Q&A with Jonathan Visger, lead singer of Mason Proper. “Assuming that your town’s name gets butchered often, what’s the funniest pronunciation you’ve heard? I’ve heard ‘Yip-soo-lan-tee’ more than once. As if a tiny, overexcited dog were saying the name.” [Source]
The Freep profiles Ann Arbor-based Boomdash, a search engine marketing firm. Says Cesar Nerys, the firm’s founder and chief marketing officer: “We are blessed to have a close-knit team which is unencumbered by the ego-driven start-up problems that frequently derail early-stage companies.” [Source]
Local students who attended Wednesday’s Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners meeting as a requirement for their civics class sat through three hours that was long on presentations, short on action (aside from a Road Commission appointment). Among the things they heard was an update from Treasurer Catherine McClary on the county’s financial stability, in light of the recent global credit crisis; a presentation of environmental awards; and an overview of the many youth programs supported by the county. It was a civics lesson in the real-world minutia of local government. [Full Story]
The Bangor News, in an article about Sarah Palin’s ties to Maine, notes that her great-great-great -grandfather, Cornelius Gower, was listed in the 1870 census as a lumberman working in Ann Arbor. The census also listed his son Arthur, Palin’s great-great-grandfather, as “at college.” [Source]
Popular Science magazine profiles UM researcher Melanie Sanford, who has “learned how to transform one of the most basic chemical connections – the carbon-hydrogen (CH) bond, a link so common and stable that chemists shorthand it with a single squiggly line – into ‘anything that you could imagine,’ she says.” The discovery holds promise for accelerating drug development. [Source]
At the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board meeting on Wednesday night, more support was heard from many different quarters for the formation of an authority that would run WALLY – the proposed north-south commuter rail line from Howell to Ann Arbor – and for AATA to take the lead in forming that authority. [Full Story]
The Ann Arbor Public Art Commission held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, with much of the group’s discussion focused on setting up a process for handling projects. That includes AAPAC’s first large project: public art for the new municipal center. [Full Story]
Sign on Obama campaign HQ building: “We are all out of Obama merchandise (signs, shirts & buttons). Try the Farmers Market Saturdays & Wednesdays.”
Guy with duct-taped shoes stands on the corner of State & Liberty shouting something about food fights to no one in particular.
If Elizabeth Parkinson’s Talk was sponsored by the letter “Q,” then it’s fair to say that Dawn Lovejoy’s Talk was sponsored by the letter “Y.” [Full Story]
Heritage Newspapers reported on a candidate forum for the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners in Districts 3, 4 and 7, held Tuesday. Those districts cover the southern and eastern parts of the county. [Source]
The Angelic Foodie’s Devilish Reviews blog opines on The Bomber, an Ypsilanti restaurant that’s “easily the best breakfast place in the area. Huge portions of fresh food, creative combinations and such a bargain for what you get! I ate breakfast here with my parents, needing an indulgent splurge of calories. Boy did I come to the right place.” [Source]
Bloomberg News reports that Citigroup Inc. is canceling loan programs to international students at UM, MIT and Harvard – a result of the global financial crisis. “MIT and Michigan have learned of Citigroup’s intention to end some offerings in November before students begin borrowing for the 2009-2010 school year, and a similar program at Harvard already has ended, officials at the schools said in interviews. As many as 1,000 foreign students may be affected at the three schools combined.” [Source]
In a report on the Sept. 18 UM Board of Regents meeting, we gave the incorrect date and location for the board’s October meeting. That meeting will be on Oct. 23 at the UM-Flint campus Harding Mott University Center, 303 E. Kearsley, Flint. We’ve noted the error here, and made the correction in the original article.
Susan Pollay, right, introduces Amanda Uhle of 826michigan at Wednesday's Morning Edition breakfast.
If you went to Wednesday’s Morning Edition breakfast, here’s what you’d know now: A shop on East Liberty sells bouncing eyeballs; there’s a chance you could get a cupcake named after you; wind turbines are expensive but not that noisy; it’s not too far-fetched to link Nepal with UM’s business outreach; and Washtenaw Community College doesn’t really want a football team.
The monthly event was emceed by Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, who revealed that she views cupcakes as diet food “because, of course, it’s portion control.” Here’s what other speakers had to say: [Full Story]
In a taping that was broadcast live from CTN studios Tuesday night, John Floyd and Carsten Hohnke, the two candidates for Ward 5 representative to city council in the November general election, answered questions posed by the League of Women Voters. In the pre-event visual checks, light banter between the candidates and the League raised the specter of more ominous signs than the one reading “Stop,” which indicated their speaking turn was over. [Full Story]
In a taping that was broadcast live from CTN studios on Tuesday night, John Hieftje and Eric Plourde, the two candidates for mayor of the city of Ann Arbor in November’s general election, answered questions posed by the League of Women Voters. In the studio audience were a colleague of Plourde’s, a Michigan Daily reporter, a photog, and The Chronicle. [Full Story]
In the Christian Science Monitor’s Patchwork Nation blog, Dante Chinni takes a closer look at Obama’s campaign strategy in Ann Arbor: ”There are probably very few Democrats who would ever admit to being fans of Karl Rove, the political strategist who successfully led George W. Bush through two presidential elections. But Sen. Barack Obama’s team seems to have studied the campaign efforts of Mr. Bush’s former adviser and is putting the lessons learned to work. For proof, simply take a look at the corner of Liberty and First Streets here in Ann Arbor. There sits an Obama ‘Campaign for Change’ office in all its Rove-ian glory.” [Source]
The Freep reports on a panel discussion that featured several Ann Arbor speakers, as part of the Creative Cities Summit 2.0 in Detroit this week. The panel looked at how universities can bolster local economies. Says Stephen Forrest, UM vice president for research: ”We have plenty of engineering talent. What we don’t have is what I call the CEO talent. We have to get a pool of these people.” [Source]
Josie Parker, executive director of the Ann Arbor District Library, writes in her director’s blog that AADL received the 2008 Voice of the People Award from the International City/County Management Association. “The award is a result of positive responses received from more than 1,000 City of Ann Arbor residents who shared their opinions of local services and amenities when the city conducted the National Research Center Inc. National Citizens Survey in 2007.” [Source]
Village Corner not currently selling any alcohol. Sign says “don’t ask.”
On Djembefola.com, get details about a “rare opportunity to move into a well-designed, successful, profitable Drum & Dance Organization” – Like Water Drumworks, a Chelsea business, is for sale. [Source]
CTN staffer Rob Cross worked the audio during Monday's League of Women Voters debates.
For local election junkies, one of the most reliable ways to get your candidate fix is from the League of Women Voters debates, held before every local election and televised on Community Television Network. This year, The Chronicle took a behind-the-scenes look at the debates, spending Monday evening at CTN’s studios on South Industrial to see exactly what happens off camera. Though the league’s motto is “Because Democracy Isn’t A Spectator Sport,” for The Chronicle that night, it kinda was. (The complete debate schedule, including frequent rebroadcasts, is here. You can find a list of all local candidates for the November election on Washtenaw County’s website.) [Full Story]
At 6 p.m. Monday evening, The Chronicle counted at least 12 residents in the sixth-floor conference room of the Larcom Building who were there to listen in on the discussion of the brownfield redevelopment proposals for three sites: 601 S. Forest, Michigan Inn, and Maple Shoppes.
[Full Story]
