by Dr. Ellen Amatea Many parents and educators view homework as an important indicator of classroom rigor. The Back-to-Basic movement, which emphasizes the need for schools to teach basic academic skills in particular, has…

by Patricia Lesko County Commissioner Ricky Jefferson. Photo | Washtenaw County Let me preface this by saying that in 2013, when our son was diagnosed with whooping cough, we received excellent support and supervision from the…

by Ari LeVaux It’s a noun. It’s a verb. It’s a way of life. “Creamy,” said my friend Luci Brieger, when I asked how her summer was going. Creamy has many meanings at her farm, Lifeline Produce in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, all of them…

by Patricia Lesko Ann Arbor and the environment need expanded non-motorized transportation infrastructure. The need is particularly acute on Main St., State St., and Liberty. When the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (DDA) came…

by Ari LeVaux “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?” asked then-Senator Barack Obama, during an Iowa campaign rally in 2007. There was no Whole Foods in Iowa at the time, and his gaffe, and the…

Here are the top 10 stories in 2021 for The Ann Arbor Independent, based on page views. No. 1 Date: Jul. 31, 2021 SafeHouse Center Executive Director Barbara Niess-May Headline: “Staff and Clients Allege SafeHouse Center is…

by Jeffrey Miller Nothing says Christmas quite like a fruitcake – or, at the very least, a fruitcake joke. A quip attributed to former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson has it that “There is only one fruitcake in the entire…

by Dr. Celine-Marie Pascale Michael Chase works two jobs in southeast Ohio: one as a hotel night clerk and one as retail support – sorting through donations, setting new merchandise out, cleaning – at a nonprofit. His schedule is not…

by Ari LeVaux When I go to the coffee shop, it’s usually not for the coffee. Only one or two spots in town can brew a better cup than I. They have expensive, well-maintained espresso machines, carefully roasted beans and baristas who…

by Susan Demas, Michigan Advance If there’s one enduring myth in America, it’s that there’s nothing we can really do to end poverty. Most policy prescriptions during the last few decades — from setting up Byzantine barriers to…