The Ann Arbor Independent - A locally owned newspaper in Ann Arbor

The Vineyard Church’s Homeless Ministry serves over 12,000 meals a year through its justice and compassion ministries, many to the homeless and underfed. Since 2006, the church’s Friday Night Homeless Ministry has gone to Liberty Plaza Park…

by Brian Cook COLLEGE HOCKEY IS a lovely little sport with grandiose ideas that have harmed its growth for the past 20 years. For every jam-packed Yost regional with fans going bonkers—some of the best sporting events of my life—there…

by Martin Ackley DETROIT’S WORLD WAR II role as the “arsenal of democracy,” fishing the Au Sable River and Kalamazoo favorite son Derek Jeter’s dream-come-true children’s book about playing shortstop for the New York Yankees are among…

THE BOARD MEMBERS appointed by former mayor John Hieftje to oversee the AATA (and then AAATA) were, ostensibly, blind-sided by an article published in The Ann Arbor News on Mar. 20. That paper reported that between 2010-2015 AATA/AAATA…

by John Ball THE 2015 ITALIAN Film Festival USA Metro Detroit recently announced the complete schedule of its 11th edition, which takes place April 1-26 at various locations across the metro area, including Ann Arbor. A trio of the…

by Joe Mooney SHAKESPEARE IN THE Arb turns 15 this summer, and Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum are celebrating with the upcoming exhibition, “Shakespeare’s Garden.” The week-long celebration kicks off March 27 and…

by Donna Iadipaolo “Our paper puts forth the idea that changing the law to give townships/counties local zoning control over surface location of oil and gas wells allows them the right to choose what’s best for their own unique…

by Cristina Glakas IS TORTURE RIGHT? People think torture is morally wrong. However, when the question is whether torture is acceptable to protect national security, there is a much larger debate. A current example of the debate on…

WHILE STATE LAW permits open carry of firearms, including onto public school property, the members of the Board of Education, as well as Superintendent Jeanice Kerr Swift, intend to embrace a “no weapons” policy for those on school…

by Ari LeVaux THE HUMBLE LENTIL is found in the earthiest of foods. Not the kind of fancy dishes that tap dance around the table atop a frozen cloud of nitrogen, but simple, nourishing foods like Indian dal or hippy mush, foods that feed…