The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team 2253 posts 224 comments

ANN ARBOR’S 18th District State Senator Rebekah Warren introduced 27 bills between January and December 2013. All of Representative’s bills were referred to committees. Senate Bill 674: Establish statutory right to breastfeed in public was…

AT THE DECEMBER 16th Ann Arbor City Council meeting, Council members Eaton, Lumm and Kunselman introduced a resolution to allocate $125,000 to Police Chief John Seto’s department. The money will fund enhanced traffic enforcement in order to…

THE CITY’S 2013 National Citizen Survey revealed that 92 percent of Ann Arbor residents rated the city as an “excellent” or “good” place to live based on overall quality of life. That figure is unchanged from the National Citizen Survey…

ANN ARBOR’S 53RD District Representative Jeff Irwin introduced 16 bills between January and December 2013. All of the Irwin’s bills were referred to committees, where they remain. Those bills included one to legalize marijuana, a bill to…

OVER THE LAST five or six years, I have noticed a trend among the “football cognoscenti.” During the lead up to the season, excitement and interest in examining schedules, prognosticating, evaluating rookie performances, and drafting…

by Dan Sirota FOR MONTHS A debate over Edward Snowden’s status has raged. In the back and forth, one question about this icon who disclosed NSA abuses has dominated: Is he or is he not a whistleblower with all the attendant protections…

by David Sheaffer ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE as defined by the EPA is the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people……with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and…

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 their opinions about…

THE ANN ARBOR Indepdendent accepts no advertising from local, county or state government, local universities or the Ann Arbor Public Schools. It is a policy that takes direct aim at bolstering the newspaper’s editorial independence. The…

WARD 2 COUNCIL  member Jane Lumm ran for re-election in 2013 on a a platform that included improving the transparency of city government. She was not only talking about the need for city government to do a better job of sharing information…