Archive for April, 2009

Playbill publishes a photo gallery from a sold-out concert that celebrated the 25th anniversary of UM’s Musical Theatre Department. “Among the returning graduates were Nick Blaemire (Cry-Baby), Courtney Balan (Cry-Baby), Todd Buonopane (Grease, …Spelling Bee), David Burtka (Gypsy), Barrett Foa (Avenue Q), Alexander Gemignani (Les Misérables, Assassins, Road Show), Danny Gurwin (Little Women), Tony Award nominee Celia Keenan-Bolger (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Ian Knauer (By Jeeves, State Fair), Eric Millegan (Jesus Christ Superstar), Brynn O’Malley (Wicked, Sunday in the Park With George) and Daniel Reichard.” [Source]

All week, WEMU staff and volunteers have been working in the lobby of Michigan Theater for the public radio station's spring pledge drive. They'll be there Friday and Saturday, too – walk-ins are welcome.

If you happened to drop by Michigan Theater on Thursday morning, as The Chronicle did, you’d have found: 1) 60 mini cupcakes from the Cupcake Station, 2) Peter Madcat Ruth playing harmonica, and 3) Judy McGovern and other folks from The Ann Arbor News answering phones and taking pledges for WEMU.

This year, for the first time, the public radio station housed at Eastern Michigan University is holding part of its fundraising drive in the lobby of Michigan Theater, bringing in performers like Madcat Ruth, who was celebrating his 60th birthday on Thursday. The drive continues at the Liberty Street historic theater on Friday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Friday’s entertainment includes a live performance by Mr. B from 7-9 a.m., as well as other boogie-woogie pianists throughout the day. The event wraps up Saturday afternoon with Jeremy Baldwin of the Roots Music Project from noon until 2. [Full Story]

Mother Jones runs an essay by UM undergraduate Andy Kroll, looking at how the rising cost of higher education is creating an inequality of access: “The longer this crisis continues, the more our four-year public and private colleges are likely to be transformed into ‘gated communities of higher education’ (in the phrase of Richard Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity) and engines of inequality. Meanwhile, for those priced out of the four-year college market, the job of education will be left to public community colleges with fast growing student bodies, the least funding, and the fewest class offerings, as well as overcrowded classrooms and faculties stretched to the breaking point.” [Source]

Citing the Associated Press, CBS News reports that President Obama is expected to nominate the “potentially-polarizing” UM professor Robert M. Groves as census director. “Groves’ nomination, which must be confirmed by the Senate, could prompt opposition from Republicans: As the AP notes, ‘Groves recommended that the 1990 census be statistically adjusted to make up for an undercount of roughly 5 million people, many of them minorities in dense urban areas who tend to vote for Democrats.’” [Source]

Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners (April 1, 2009): A light agenda for the public part of Wednesday night’s board meeting was followed by nearly 90 minutes in executive session discussing labor relations related to budget talks. Before that, the meeting included the presentation of several awards for historic preservation and recognition of the University of Michigan chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, an African-American fraternity celebrating its 100th anniversary. [Full Story]

In our report on the most recent DDA board meeting, we erroneously combined the result of voting on an amendment to a resolution about  the A2D2 zoning proposal with the vote on the main resolution.  On the amendment, Hall and Smith voted for striking (6) from the resolution, meaning the amendment failed. But the vote on the main resolution was unanimously for it, with one abstention from Higgins. We note the error here and have corrected it in the [original piece].

The board met at its usual location in the DDA offices, but this time it was recorded by three new wall-mounted video cameras. There's no schedule yet for the airing of the video material on CTN.

Downtown Development Authority board meeting (April 1, 2009): The board of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday and passed  a resolution – with some dissent – recommending that city council eliminate the character districts from the A2D2 zoning proposal.

The board also authorized spending around $75,000 to help start a business district in the Main Street area – an idea mentioned in our report on the board’s December 2008 meeting.

Additional spending, totaling around $25,000, was authorized for bicycle parking – some of it on-street.

The board also heard a report from its ad hoc committee on the discussion of the parking agreement with the city of Ann Arbor. Initial indications are that there was clear (but not unanimous) sentiment on the committee against renegotiating the existing agreement, but for exploring other alternatives.

Accessibility was a theme that came up in the form of DDA meeting material as well as real-time parking data. [Full Story]

I used this canvas bag to deliver the morning paper in Columbus, Indiana, from 1974 to 1980. The circulation area for the Louisville Courier-Journal extended only as far north as Columbus. More people in Columbus subscribed to the Indianapolis Star, or else the local afternoon paper, The Republic. But some people subscribed to all three.

It’s my turn to write the monthly milestone – an update about The Chronicle. Here’s a nuts-and-bolts outline, with a longer version after the break.

• Events: List them yourself on The Chronicle by registering for an account on Upcoming and creating the event listings there. Let us know when you’ve done that, and we’ll add them to our “watch list,” which will make them appear on The Chronicle’s event listing. It’s free.
• Emailed updates: Shoot us an email saying you’d like to receive weekly story summaries, and we’ll send them to you – with links to the complete story.
• Advertising crew: As part of our ongoing effort to increase revenues to support expanded coverage in The Chronicle, there’ll be some folks out there in the community earning commissions by convincing advertisers to place ads in The Chronicle. If you think you’ve got what it takes to sell ads into The Chronicle, let us know.
• Print and thoughts on newspapers: Printing off a page from The Chronicle should look a bit better than it used to. Regarding the contrast between news on-screen versus printed on paper, Del Dunbar’s column that we ran back in September 2008, our first month of publication, is a better read than ever. [Link to Del Dunbar's column.]

[Full Story]

Mark Maynard posts another “Pencil Paparazzi” submission, this one of Hilary Swank as she filmed a scene shot in Ann Arbor. In addition to a pencil sketch, the author describes her Hilary encounter: “For this picture, I was on my way home and they had Hillary’s Suburban (a tan behemouth) running and backed up in front of the house – no white shuttle van for her. She walked out, got in the passenger seat (she has a driver). I was across the street, talking with my haircutter. She was holding her adorable, weeks-old husky puppy. Hillary pointed to the dog and broke into that Oscar-winning smile. She really did look lovely. Then they drove away.” [Source]

Ann Marie Sastry, director of UM’s energy systems engineering program, was interviewed for a CNN report on Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s push to retool the auto industry as a hub for electric cars. Says Sastry: ”Gov. Granholm is doing exactly what we all hope our elected officials will do – she is supporting partnerships and growth in critical economic areas. She’s enunciated a vision for clean vehicles that builds our regional economy and provides global, sustainable transportation solutions.” [Source]

In a piece that discussed alternate jobs for morning newspaper carriers whose routes have been shuffled around, we mentioned the idea of a job that did not cause “sleep depravation.”  We meant “deprivation.” We’d like to state here that we do not believe that loss of sleep causes depravity and thus note the error and have corrected it in the original piece.

Jim Bell, center, chief administrative officer for the UM Medical School, chats with Marvin Parnes, right, associate vice president for research and executive director of research administration, and John Ballew, director of UM Health System facilities planning. They were awaiting the start of Tuesday's forum on possible uses for the Pfizer research campus.

Jim Woolliscroft was Harlan Hatcher’s personal physician, and near the end of the former University of Michigan president’s life, Woolliscroft made house calls to check in on him. That gave them time to talk. And one of the things they talked about was UM’s purchase of the property that became North Campus.

Hatcher told Woolliscroft that when UM leaders decided to buy the 800 acres of farmland north of Ann Arbor, they didn’t know exactly how they’d use it – but they knew it would transform the university.

Woolliscroft, dean of the UM Medical School, told that anecdote Tuesday afternoon to the 100 or so people gathered at a forum on the future of the Pfizer research campus, which UM is in the process of acquiring. This purchase isn’t quite as bold as the one made in the early 1950s, Woolliscroft said, but its potential to transform in unimaginable ways is great: “That opportunity is phenomenal.”

The forum was one of three held this year for faculty to talk about how the university will use the former Pfizer facility. Tuesday’s hour-long session focused on process, with administrators outlining just how they’ll go about deciding what academic research or other activities are located at the site. [Full Story]

The Detroit News reports on a viewing of the Fox TV show “American Idol” held Tuesday night at Lincoln High School’s auditorium. Students were cheering one of the contestants, Matt Giraud, who attended the school. Principal John McGehee told the students: ”When someone at Lincoln is successful, we are all successful, which is why we’re here to root Matt Giraud on.” [Source]

Central Michigan Life, the student newspaper for Central Michigan University, reports that the university has settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with two former players on the women’s soccer team, including Sarah Burns of Ann Arbor. The players, who will receive $150,000 each, were represented by Jennifer Salvatore of Ann Arbor-based Nacht & Associates. Says Salvatore: “I don’t think any amount of money or any legal settlement takes away that emotional pain. But I think, overall, there has been some relief and closure … and I think they’re satisfied with the settlement.” [Source]