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In 2012, Council Decimated the Forestry Dept., Officials Now Ask for “Patience” as Branches Remain Uncleared
The City of Ann Arbor has contracted Davey Tree Expert Company to augment city staff efforts to pick up branches from the recent ice and snow storms. Streets, sidewalks, trash collection, trees in the right-of-way, water and sewers are all…
Michigan Senate Passes Historic LGBTQ+ Civil Rights Protections
by Laina Stebbens, Michigan Advance
A key civil rights bill on Wednesday cleared the Michigan Senate, marking a key step toward solidifying protections for LGBTQ+ Michiganders that advocates have been waiting for decades to see adopted.…
Seven Days After Ice Storm 11K DTE Customers in County Still Without Power –Who’s to Blame?
by P.D. Lesko
As of Feb. 28, DTE's outage map showed that 5.24 percent of its customers in Washtenaw County--some 8,836 customers--are still without power as a result of a record-breaking Feb. 22 ice storm that knocked out power to over…
Outages in Washtenaw County Still impacting Almost 40 Percent of all DTE Customers
Note: Updated on Feb. 24 with a statement from City Administrator Milton Dohoney.
by P.D. Lesko
According to an email Ann Arbor Council member Lisa Disch (D-Ward 1) sent Feb. 23, two-third of Ann Arbor residents were without power…
Citizen Requested Info. About County Employee, Chief Asst. Prosecutor Threatened “Criminal Charges”
Note: This article has been updated to include the email sent by Victoria Burton-Harris.
by P.D. Lesko
Emails shared with The Ann Arbor Independent showed that on Jan. 31, 2022, an Ann Arbor man phoned and then sent an email to the…
Updated: County Clerk Refers Sheriff Candidate’s Campaign Committee to Michigan AG for Prosecution
Update: Derrick Jackson's campaign submitted the required statement Feb. 17, 2023. The Clerk's office posted the amended statement Feb. 22. There will be no fine assessed for the amended campaign finance report. The article is updated to…
Michigan Dems Next Moves: $180 “Inflation Relief” Checks, Raising EITC, Scrapping Retirement Tax
by Anna Gustafson, Michigan Advance
After weeks of negotiations, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Democratic legislative leaders announced Monday morning that Michigan taxpayers would receive $180 “inflation relief” checks as part of a…
County Administrator Implicates Himself and Commissioners in Misappropriation of Federal Funds
by P.D. Lesko
Long-time Detroit News crime reporter George Hunter picked up the Ann Arbor Independent's reporting on the fraudulent grant application submitted to Washtenaw County by local non-profit Supreme Felons, Inc. for $1.2…
Who Were the Most Reliable Voters in the ’22 Midterms? The Answer May Surprise You
by Audrey Clayton
Though the 2022 midterm elections are long over and the new congressional session has begun, it’s not time to move on from what happened in November quite yet. Analyzing the results of the midterm elections gives…
Non-Profit Supreme Felons, Inc. Owed Thousands in Fines to IRS When County Commissioners Awarded $1.2M Grant
by P.D. Lesko
Supreme Felons, Inc., a local non-profit that was awarded $1.2 million in federal funding by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners in July 2022, has never filed state or federal tax returns, public records show.…