The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team 2257 posts 224 comments

LISTENING TO THE radio, I caught part of a conversation between sportswriters Dan Le Batard and Bomani Jones. They were talking about the Donald Sterling incident and, for the most part, Jones was saying exactly what I feel about the whole…

by John DeFore James Moll interviews a half-dozen twentysomethings who’ve chosen the challenging life of a farmer. Attractive but none-to-deep celebration of hard-working heartlanders. SIX YOUNG AMERICANS share their experience of…

by Paula Marcoux DISASTER CAN STRIKE even the best-prepared home cooks. In David Copperfield, Mr. Micawber Wilkins saved young Copperfield from no small amount of embarrassment using quick thinking, graciousness—and a grill. Pity poor…

by Jill Richardson BELIEVE IT OR not, chickens are not the only farm animals turning up—legally—in cities. Goats are now legal (with some limitations) in Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, Pasadena, St. Louis, Oakland, Portland,…

SENATE MAJORITY leader Randy Richardville introduced a bill last week, about three weeks before the deadline for backers of the higher wage hike to file signatures to put their initiated law before the GOP-led Legislature. Assuming…

DURING THE RECENT Ann Arbor mayoral race there have already been questions about the part “temperament” plays in a candidate’s fitness to hold office. At a mayoral candidate forum held in April, one of the first questions asked of the four…

THE AAATA MILLAGE vote was costly. Ted Annis, former treasurer of the AAATA Board of Directors placed the amount spent on the special election, staff time, surveys, consultants, marketing and materials by AAATA at around $1.5 million.…

by Cliff Weathers MICHIGANDERS WHO raise chickens, goats and honey bees on their residential property have had their right to keep livestock stripped away by the state’s Agriculture and Rural Development Commission, which says they are…

by P.D. Lesko IT’S USUALLY DEATH and taxes that define the inevitable. However, in the city’s 2013 National Citizen Survey, comments about roads and taxes dominated the open-ended question responses. Respondents were asked to record…

ANN ARBOR NATURAL Area Preservation (NAP) works to protect and restore Ann Arbor’s natural areas and to foster an environmental ethic among its citizens. This involves conducting plant and animal inventories, ecological monitoring, and…