The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team 2253 posts 224 comments

In May 2012 former Superintendent Dr. Patricia Green told parents to use the Freedom of Information Act to access public records and information. The new Superintendent urges transparency and minimal reliance FOIA for routine requests. …

by Owen Davis FOR PEOPLE LOOKING to “disrupt” public education, it’s become requisite to bemoan the “educational status quo” — a phrase meant to evoke images of poor kids striving against the impediments of failing schools and…

by Teresa Wiltz WHEN I WAS a little girl living in Staten Island, whenever my dad needed a new suit, we’d ferry it into Manhattan and head on over to Barneys. There, I’d spend many a happy hour playing in the racks while my dad tried on…

GROUNDWATER BENEATH  A swath of the city of Ann Arbor is currently contaminated by the suspected carcinogen 1,4 dioxane. The City of Ann Arbor website has a FAQ page dedicated to answering questions about the contamination. Likewise, the…

by P.D. Lesko THE LAST TIME Julie Grand ran for City Council, she told a room full of voters at a Democratic candidate forum: “And I don’t know that we can get every road paved in the neighborhood. I don’t know that we can fix all of the…

At one U of M campus 63 percent of students seeking teaching certification passed the examinations. At another U of M campus, only 8 percent of students tested passed.  by Ron French Bridge Magazine—Teacher prep programs at Michigan…

by Kate Sheppard JAMES HANSEN, NASA’s top climate expert, believes scientists have an obligation to speak out when their findings have important implications for the public. Hansen has been speaking publicly about the threats posed by…

by Jill Richardson ASK A BUNCH of food writers what food trends they observed in 2013, and you get a long list of sometimes surprising answers. “Octopus everything: grilled, carpaccio, salad, escabeche! It’s everywhere!” says Sandra A.…

by Sarah van Gelder IN 1986 CARLO Petrini and a group of friends threw a big pasta feed in Rome’s storied Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish Steps). The event was a protest against the opening of the first McDonald’s in Italy. Out of that…

Using a tax increment financing scheme, since 2006, over $5 million dollars have been diverted from the cash-strapped public schools and given to Ann Arbor SPARK officials. WHILE ANN ARBOR  Public Schools officials, parents and students…