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Opinion
Letter to the Editor: Local Governments Must Face Upcoming Fiscal Crisis
by Donnelly Wright Hadden
Our State government is in a frenzy to spend money and cut taxes, because it has a temporary budget windfall. Michigan officials had better save some of that money to bail out local governments next year,…
A2Politico: County Residents Deserve Leadership, Not Gaslighting from Ann Arbor County Commissioners
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…
Confronting Antisemitism in Michigan in the Wake of Colleyville
To Claim Our Hero, We Must Also Own Our Hate
by Jay Saper
While we as Michiganders may take pride in Ann Arbor-educated Rabbi Cytron-Walker having heroically helped his fellow congregants held hostage at his Colleyville, Texas,…
Don’t Let Jokes about Mark Schlissel’s Firing Distract from U-M’s Problems
by Claire Hao
(This column originally appeared in Medium.com, an open-source blog site)
#BREAKING: Mark Schlissel is down horrendous. To quote one of the best jokes I’ve seen floating around, “it started out with a knish, how…
A2Politico: How Utterly Pedestrian– The DDA’s State Street “Redesign” is All About Cars
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…
County Administrator Greg Dill Gaslights & Misleads Community With His “Statement on SafeHouse”
Editor's note: On October 17, 2021, The Ann Arbor Independent published an editorial in which we called for the Washtenaw Board of Commissioners to fire Greg Dill for his role in putting domestic violence victims and their children in…
Hospitals are Overrun by the Unvaccinated. What Happens to the Rest of us?
by Susan J. Demas, Michigan Advance
I never fully transitioned back into a post-COVID world after getting vaxxed and even boosted, because I understood that reality didn’t exist for millions of immunocompromised people, seniors and…
Cancel All Student Debt
by Andre Perry
Renowned education reformer Horace Mann said in 1848, “Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is a great equalizer of conditions of men — the balance wheel of the social…
County Commissioners Must Force County Administrator Gregory Dill to Resign
Washtenaw County, because of Gregory Dill's professional negligence and ineptitude as administrator, has no domestic violence shelter. Women and children who seek shelter at SafeHouse, are being turned away at the door and over the phone,…
Why Working While in College Can be a Bad Investment for Students
We need to find better ways to support students while they study — here are a few
by Ruth Bauer White, The Hechinger Report
Every school year and summer during my time as a first-generation college student, I worked to put myself…