The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team 2223 posts 224 comments

LANSING REPUBLICANS DODGED what their leaders believe was a bullet in raising the state’s minimum wage from the current $7.40 to $9.25 by 2018 and indexing it to inflation thereafter. The minimum wage for tipped employees rose from $2.65 to…

THE AMERICAN COLLEGE of Sports Medicine (ACSM) unveiled its seventh annual American Fitness Index™ (AFI) data report. The 2014 AFI data report, “Health and Community Fitness Status of the 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas,” reflects a composite…

Recycle Ann Arbor recently announced that during summer 2014, the Drop-Off Station (DOS) will expand its operation days to also be open on Mondays, 8:30am-1:30pm. The Drop-Off Station is regularly open Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30am – 6:30pm,…

IN THE JUNE 2014 issue of The Ann Arbor Observer, writer Jan Schlain reports, “So drivers will be hitting this year’s bumper crop of potholes for a while. They just shouldn’t expect any compensation from the city when they do so.” Ward 2…

by Donna Iadipaolo The Chronicle of Higher Education published information provided by a group of U-M tenured faculty that exposed millions in secret incentive and bonus pay given to top-level administrators. Faculty call for dialogue;…

Kodi Scheer is a talented storyteller with a gift for writing untraditionally about the fragile nature of life. The stories in her debut collection, Incendiary Girls, are shocking, heartbreaking, humorous, and delicate. None of them is…

IN THE CLASSIC marriage vow, couples promise to stay together in sickness and in health. But a new study finds that the risk of divorce among older married couples rises when the wife—but not the husband—becomes seriously ill. “Married…

By P.D. Lesko LOOKING FOR WHAT is called a reliable voter? Look for a white woman aged 70 and above (a Baby Boomer), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Looking for the least reliable voter on whom a candidate should think twice about…

WHEN WE’RE STROLLING down memory lane, our brains recall just as much information while walking as while standing still—findings that contradict the popular science notion that walking hinders one’s ability to think. University of…

THE CITY’S ROADS are a wreck despite an additional millage dedicated to street repair that generates between $8-11 million annually. Our city’s water and sewer infrastructures have been allowed to crumble, with large portions of those…