Opinion

ON MAY 27, Ann Arbor Board of Education (BOE) approved four policies required by Michigan bills passed in 2011 and 2012 and signed into law by Gov. Snyder. The laws require that local Boards of Education take charge of teacher discipline,…

by Ryan Hunter “THOSE WHO KNOW me know I will have my say, when I need to have my say,” said an emotional Judge Simpson during a support rally held in his honor last February. After a week long hearing in March, Simpson finally had his…

FDD Disconnect Program Thank you for your continuing coverage of the FDD program. I wanted to write to you to provide a correction and some comment. 1. In your article you state, “Frank Burdick was appointed by Council to the…

ANN ARBOR IS one of 38 municipalities in Michigan whose locally-elected officials have passed non-discrimination ordinances. Republican Rep. Earl Poleski is peddling House Bill 4052, the “Local Government Employer Mandate Prohibition Act,”…

THERE IS NO ambiguity concerning the end date of the AAPS teachers’ contract: 2016. The Board of Education members and the Superintendent want the teachers to come to the bargaining table based on a June 20, 2014 agreement that called for…

ON NOV. 10, 2014 Aura Rosser, a local African American artist and mother of three, was shot and killed by AAPD. Her death, and the nation-wide pattern of state violence directed at Black Americans, continues to push our group, Ann Arbor to…

by Lin Sabones COMBATTING GLOBAL climate change requires a psychological approach. We must overcome functional fixedness which is a form of cognitive bias that limits one’s ability to see multiple uses to an object beyond its traditional…

A KNIFE COST both Baltimore resident Freddie Gray and Ann Arbor resident Aura Rosser their lives. In Gray’s case, Baltimore police officers alleged that the small, spring-assisted pocket knife Gray was carrying was illegal. The debate over…

SINCE 2009, ANN Arbor SPARK and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation have come under intense criticism for misleading the public concerning the number of new jobs created. From the Detroit Free Press to the Lansing State Journal,…

THIS PAPER ENDORSES neither political candidates nor millage/bond proposals. We ascribe to the belief that an educated readership doesn’t need to be told whom or what to vote for. The Ann Arbor Independent educates readers on the issues.…