By P.D. Lesko IF A PLATITUDE falls from the lips of a political candidate and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound? The local media are breathlessly reprinting the platitudes offered up at the many mayoral forums sponsored by…

THE ANN ARBOR Independent conducted a reader survey between July 1 and July 15. We received a total of 260 completed surveys in both electronic and written formats. What follow are the final results of the survey. Not every respondent…

EVEN THOUGH THE event ticket said the party was set to begin at 6 p.m., curious, excited party-goers began showing up early. By 6 p.m., there was a line to enter the Top of the Park North Tent and by 6:45 p.m. the venue was packed.…

THE ANN ARBOR INDEPENDENT is in the midst of conducting its first reader survey. Thus far 170 individuals have elected to take the survey online. “This is a community newspaper,” said Patricia Lesko, whose decades old local publishing…

by P.D. Lesko AT A RECENT mayoral candidate forum, unabashed supporters of “crony capitalism”—what President Obama’s former economic expert Dr. Lawrence Summers called the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s programs—defended Ann…

FORMER ANNARBOR.COM reporter Lisa Allmendinger announced on June 2 that she was shuttering her online news site DexterUpdate.com. Modeled on Allmendinger’s popular ChelseaUpdate.com news site, DexterUpdate.com wasn’t able to get the…

STORIES ABOUT THE misuse of taxpayer money to fund private schools, life-threatening delays in blood testing of newborns and the plight of political asylum seekers won the Livingston Awards today. The $10,000 prizes for journalists under…

by P.D. Lesko YOU PROBABLY DON’T know it, but sitting through a candidate forum in Ann Arbor is like watching paint dry. The same 50-60 people (many of whom are candidates in other races, office holders, political appointees or people…

A walk down the refrigerator aisle today looks a lot different than it would have 50 years ago.  by Lauren Rothman REMEMBER THE DAYS when the standard accompaniment to a moist chocolate chip cookie was a cold, tall glass of milk? That…

by P.D. Lesko TRUSTEES GLENN NELSON and Irene Patalan have said they intend to step down from the Ann Arbor Board of Education. In 2003, they ran as a part of a slate of candidates and have, for a decade, served. In that time, they have…