Columns

by Patricia Lesko I recently received a long email with the Subject line: City of Ann Arbor Action - MONDAY NIGHT!! from someone named Doug Selby. In his email, Mr. Selby urges me to attend the next City Council meeting to pressure Council…

by Patricia Lesko NextDoor is a city-wide listserv where neighbors can post everything from requests for babysitters to football tickets for sale. Neighbors have also taken to posting information about local city government. In Feb.…

by P.D. Lesko KIRK WESTPHAL CAUSED the political firmament to tremble (convulse, really) when he was just rumored to be prepared to pitch the idea of changing the length of City Council members’ terms from two to four years. The…

by Bryan Kelly I AM ATTEMPTING every conservative’s dream: starting my own small business. However, unlike other businesses that are imagined, pitched, incubated, funded and realized by “young professionals” of my breed and disposition,…

by Ari LeVaux ACCORDING TO A new report, many scientific studies about nutrition, as well as the trusted experts who disseminate this information to the public, are being funded by the very entities that should be scrutinized. The…

by Ari LeVaux ANYONE FOLLOWING California’s deepening water crisis has heard about the state’s thirsty agriculture industry, which uses 80 percent of the state’s water. And they’ve probably had a crash course in almond farming, which…

by Ari LeVaux A RECENT MOVE by the World Trade Organization (WTO) threatens to put more mystery in your meat, while undermining our national sovereignty. On May 18 the WTO ruled that American meat labels violate Canadian and Mexican…

by Ari LeVaux AMERICANS SPEND ABOUT $33 billion a year on dietary supplements, many of which promise things like weight-loss, enhanced cognitive function, and increased muscle mass. According to Dr. Pieter Cohen, a practicing MD and…

by Bryan Kelly IT IS OPEN season on the public purse. Budget negotiations for the 2016-2017 fiscal year are nigh. The City Administrator’s plan has been submitted to City Council. In the current forecast, a $1.7 million deficit in the…

by Ari LeVaux THE QUESTION OF how far food should travel between where it is produced and where it is consumed has become a frequent matter of passionate debate. The popular rule of thumb is that the more local the food, the better it…