Old Media Watch Section

Mark’s Carts, a new collection of food cart vendors in a plaza next to Downtown Home & Garden, is featured in a Detroit Free Press article. From the report: ”Think of Mark’s Carts in downtown Ann Arbor as a blend of international smorgasbord and American picnic – a place where you can taste everything from Asian steamed buns and breakfast burritos to vegan stew and Spanish paella. Opened last month by businessman Mark Hodesh, the paved, open-air lot on West Washington is southeast Michigan’s first food cart courtyard – home to seven independently owned carts serving hot food seven days a week. A cart center is ‘a fabulous incubator for small business,’ Hodesh said. ‘I think it would be a tremendous … [Full Story]

The Los Angeles Times reports on a University of Michigan study that found parents can improve their children’s memory through training exercises, but only for some children. In order for kids to benefit from memory training exercises, they must find the exercises “fun, not frustrating,” according to the study. The study’s lead author and UM psychology professor Susan M. Jaeggi says, “It’s like a parent pushing a child to do sports or learn a musical instrument: There’s always this delicate balance between too much or too little.” [Source]

Columnist Susan Tompor of the Detroit Free Press writes about Jeff DeGraff, a professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business who has created a TV series for PBS featuring his “Innovation You” concept. From the column: “If you want to re-create your life, you cannot simply hang around people who are not re-creating their lives. A diversity of ideas is essential to innovation. DeGraff’s Innovatrium, which has outlets in Ann Arbor and Atlanta, seeks to build a community of innovation practitioners. Business leaders, faculty members and students come together to collaborate to launch innovative projects. ‘The people who think like you are really not all that helpful,’ he said.” [Source]

USA Today reports on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to identify dangers from air pollution around schools. While most schools do not have dangerous levels of pollution, the EPA has flagged certain hot-spot areas where toxins have reached levels dangerous for long-term exposure. The report notes that another recent University of Michigan study links school absences and deficiency in English and math to higher pollution areas. Paul Mohai, a UM professor and one of the study’s authors, said: “These patterns appear strong enough that they need to be taken seriously.” [Source]

The Detroit News reports that New York-based Thomson Reuters plans to sell its health care business later this year, including an operation in Ann Arbor that employs about 800 people. From the report: “The announcement creates uncertainty about the future for Thomson Reuters’ Ann Arbor employees. Ann Arbor-based Borders Group Inc., which is in bankruptcy protection, already is scouting for an alternative headquarters site, including outside of the city. Ann Arbor could absorb a possible loss of workers better than other parts of the state because it has Michigan’s lowest unemployment rate at 6.2 percent in April.” [Source]

The Detroit News reports on Gov. Rick Snyder’s recent effort to entice foreign investors and entrepreneurs to improve Michigan’s economy. The initiative, termed Global Michigan, expands statewide a program Snyder had previously pushed at Ann Arbor SPARK, an economic development agency he co-founded and chaired. Ron Perry, who volunteered at the SPARK program, said: ”We need to be pushing on all cylinders in this state to improve, diversify and enhance the economy.” [Source]

The New York Times publishes a review of “Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All” by Oran B. Hesterman, founder and head of the Ann Arbor-based nonprofit Fair Food Network. From the review: ”The author displays a wide-ranging knowledge of production, consumption, natural resources and public policy. He also writes about reform efforts with contagious energy and palpable authority. (I spent part of Memorial Day setting in motion a small buying club to purchase humanely raised and slaughtered chickens directly from farmers west of Boston.) But the book leaves some supply issues largely unaddressed. Can America and other nations possibly produce enough food from smaller, environmentally sustainable sources to feed the world’s growing population?” [Source]

In the New York Times, Kristi Mailloux gives a first-person account of her path to becoming president of Ann Arbor-based Molly Maid, after growing up on her family farm: ”I demonstrated management skills early. At 13, I got a job detasseling corn on another farm. The next year, I became a team leader over six other teenagers, and at 15 I was appointed supervisor of a group of 40 other students.” [Source]

The byline on a June 2 Detroit News op-ed piece should be familiar to the online Ann Arbor community – Rob Goodspeed was one of the first stewards of the now defunct ArborUpdate, a news and discussion website. Goodspeed’s op-ed, which focuses on how to revitalize Detroit, concludes: “But as the difficult conversation about what can be done for a better future continues, it should draw from the important lessons from the city’s past.” The piece cites the study Goodspeed undertook about the demolition of Hastings Street, including a look at voices that opposed the urban renewal project. Goodspeed calls for Detroit mayor Dave Bing to make sure that citizens’ voices are heard this time around. [Source]

Eva Feldman, a University of Michigan neurologist and director of UM’s Taubman Medical Research Institute, has been named by the Detroit News as a Michiganian of the Year. She is recognized for her work in developing therapies – including treatments using stem cells – for ALS and other neurologic diseases. Says Feldman: ”I have diagnosed thousands of people with the [ALS] disorder … but all have succumbed to the illness. My patients give me the inspiration to come back to my laboratory and work as hard as I can to understand what causes this horrible disease as well as fast-track new therapies.” [Source]

The Detroit Free Press is among several media outlets to report on changes to the University of Michigan’s trespassing policy, which was announced on June 1. The article notes that the previous policy had been criticized after UM banned former assistant state attorney general Andrew Shirvell from campus. Shirvell was accused of stalking Chris Armstrong, who was student government president at the time. ”Because of the change, U-M police are in the process of reviewing the 1,800 adults and 200 juveniles currently on the [banned] list. Interim Police Chief Joe Piersante said he expects about 900 people to be notified by the end of the summer that they have been dropped from the list.” [Source]

The Detroit News reports on efforts by Ann Arbor-based Borders Group to seek more time for pulling out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The article quotes John Pottow, a University of Michigan professor specializing in bankruptcy law, who calls the relationship between Borders and its creditors “unusually antagonistic.” Creditors have objected to extending the time that Borders has to file a turnaround plan. “It sounds to me like they’re jockeying for control,” Pottow said. [Source]

The Detroit News reports on the dust-up from comments by Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who objected to adding Washtenaw County to a panel of southeast Michigan government leaders at this week’s Mackinac Policy Conference. Conan Smith, chair of the Washtenaw County board of commissioners, will be joining Patterson, Detroit mayor David Bing and leaders from Macomb and Wayne counties in a June 3 panel titled ”Strengthening Southeast Michigan Through Collaboration.” [Source] A Michigan Live post also looks at Patterson’s recent comments. [Source]

Time magazine reports on efforts by two Ann Arbor Girl Scouts – Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen – to eliminate palm oil from Girl Scout cookies. ”Last week Vorva and Tomtishen had a two-hour meeting at the organization’s national headquarters in New York City, and the group agreed to research palm oil to see if they can get more of the ingredient sustainably, or replace it. The entire campaign is a reminder that one of the most effective ways to achieve environmental change is to engage the major companies and organizations that source natural resources from around the world, and pressure them to change.” [Source]

The Detroit News talks to the family of Staff Sgt. Ahmed Altaie, an Army reservist from Ann Arbor who’s been missing in action in Iraq for five years and is now the last missing POW there. His wife, Israa Sultan, says she’s worried about what will happen when the military pulls out of Iraq later this year. A military spokesman says they’ll continue to search for Altaie. [Source]

Menlo Innovations, an Ann Arbor custom software firm, is featured in the June issue of Inc. magazine’s 2011 Top Small Company Workplaces. From the article: “If Menlo Innovations were a restaurant, extreme interviewing would be its signature dish. The practice distills the creators’ intent. One bite, and you know whether or not you want to eat there. The company prizes collaboration above all things, because that is what employees do all day, every day.” [Source]

The New York Times reports on the lack of economic diversity at the nation’s elite universities, including the University of Michigan: “For all of the other ways that top colleges had become diverse, their student bodies remained shockingly affluent. At the University of Michigan, more entering freshmen in 2003 came from families earning at least $200,000 a year than came from the entire bottom half of the income distribution.” [Source]

An editorial in the Detroit News argues that a recent decision by the University of Michigan board of regents – recognizing the rights of graduate student research assistants to unionize – will drive up costs at the university. The decision was approved on a 6-2 vote, with the board’s two Republican regents dissenting: “The Democratic regents were elected with labor money, and that they would serve labor’s interests can be expected. The Democratic argument that the researchers are employees is particularly flimsy, given that the Michigan Employment Relations Commission previously ruled their work as researchers is indistinguishable from their role as students, and therefore they shouldn’t be considered employees. But who cares about expert rulings when you’ve got labor … [Full Story]

The Detroit Free Press reports on efforts by Google’s Ann Arbor office to “go green.” Projects include installing solar panels on the roof of the building – owned by McKinley Inc. – where their office is located, putting in a greenhouse in the basement to grow food for the company’s café, and building an outdoor green space. [An effort observed recently by a Chronicle reader.] From the report: “Last year, when Google was in the midst of renewing its lease at 201 S. Division St., it decided to make its office as green as possible. Its landlord, Ann Arbor-based McKinley, embraced the idea, and the two companies are sharing the costs of the green building projects.” [Source]

The Detroit News reports on some recent economic forecasts for the state, noting that one of the more optimistic outlooks was provided by University of Michigan economist George Fulton: “Our view is that Michigan is in the early stages of a sustained recovery supported by improvements in the national economy and in the post-bankruptcy domestic auto industry. We see the addition of another 114,600 jobs over the following two calendar years. These would be the best three years for the state economy since 2000.” [Source]

Crain’s Detroit Business reports that Catherine Lord, director of the University of Michigan’s Autism and Communication Disorders Center, will be leaving to accept a position in New York. In light of her resignation, UM has decided to close the autism center. Colleen Allen, director of the Autism Alliance of Michigan, laments Lord’s leaving: “Michigan is already deplete of high-quality services for children with autism, and with this news, we are losing yet one more.” [Source]

The Detroit Free Press reports that the state is now expected to take in up to $690 million more in tax revenues next year than had been previously forecast. The article quotes state Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor), who says the additional revenues “give us the opportunity to do for the first time this year what we said we wanted to do – invest in jobs.” Irwin proposes increasing spending on alternative energy, transportation infrastructure and public schools. [Source]

The Detroit News reports on a University of Michigan study that examined the possible impact of pollution on minority children. According to the study, Hispanics and African-Americans in Michigan are more likely to go to school in a polluted area. The study’s lead author is Paul Mohai, a professor at UM’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. From the study: “Our findings underscore the need to expand the concept of environmental justice to include children as a vulnerable population. There is a need for proactive school policies that will protect children from exposure to unhealthy levels of air pollution and other environmental hazards.” [Source]

The Detroit News reports that Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan’s Center for Stem Cell Biology and a vocal advocate in the 2008 campaign to lift the state’s ban on embryonic stem cell research, has been recruited to lead a pediatric research initiative at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. From the report: “A faculty member since 1999, Morrison is among several high-profile stem cell researchers to leave U-M in recent years. … Morrison’s wife, Dr. Theodora Ross, a U-M cancer researcher and clinician, also landed a faculty appointment at UT Southwestern Medical School, and will be part of the university’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.” [Source]

 

The Detroit News reports that Sue Snyder, wife of Gov. Rick Snyder, has become the spokeswoman for Ele’s Place, a center for grieving children in Ann Arbor and Lansing. Says Snyder: “When my husband was elected governor of Michigan, suddenly I had people asking me, ‘What issues are you going to focus on as first lady?’ To be quite honest, my focus has always been on my family and my children, and I really didn’t see that changing very much. But (being first lady) is also a wonderful opportunity to combine my support for an organization like Ele’s Place, with a chance to raise awareness statewide on the important topic of grieving children.” [Source]

National Public Radio reports that many universities are critical of a National Council on Teacher Quality effort to evaluate more than 1,000 teacher prep programs, saying the council’s methods are flawed. Results from the analysis will be published in U.S. News and World Report next year. The article interviews Deborah Ball, dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Education: “For example, most of the indicators people are discussing have to do with inputs like the quality of the entrance requirements. That’s a very strange metric. If I was a person looking for a program, I’d want to know what I’m going to learn while I’m there, not how selective the program is.” [Source]

Alex Young – head chef and managing partner of Zingerman’s Roadhouse in Ann Arbor – received the prestigious James Beard Foundation award Monday night for top chef in the Great Lakes region, according to an Associated Press report published in the Wall Street Journal. He has been nominated for this award for the past four years. [Source]

The Detroit News is among several media outlets reporting on U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s announcement of $200 million for high-speed rail in Michigan, mostly to improve the rail corridor between Detroit and Chicago. From the report: “LaHood also is expected to announce the department is awarding $2.8 million, or 80 percent, of the costs of building a $3.5 million station in Ann Arbor. The intermodal station will be used by Amtrak, the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.” The reference is to the proposed Fuller Road Station near UM’s medical campus. [Source]

The Detroit News reports that a Washtenaw County jury has awarded almost $418,000 to Kay Ernsting, a former Ave Maria College administrator who sued the Ann Arbor-based school for firing her in retaliation for cooperating with federal investigators. From the report: “Ernsting filed her whistleblower lawsuit seven years ago after the conservative Catholic college created by Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan eliminated Ernsting’s position as director of financial aid, shortly after the U.S. Department of Education fined and ordered the college to make repayments of almost $250,000 for improperly issued financial aid. The trial was long-delayed by the college’s multiple appeals.” [Source]

 

Elisabeth R. Gerber, professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, is a co-author on a column published by the Detroit Free Press on the value of brownfield and historic tax credits, which Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed eliminating: “The programs pay for themselves and boast a return on investment unequaled in the public sector. Game-changing brownfield and historic tax credit projects have been completed all over the state, including: in Ann Arbor, where a $50 million mixed-use student housing project was recently financed due to the brownfield credit.” [Source]