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

By P.D. Lesko IF A PLATITUDE falls from the lips of a political candidate and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound? The local media are breathlessly reprinting the platitudes offered up at the many mayoral forums sponsored by…

Using Public Money to Run a For Profit Venture Capital Fund? Council members, elected officials and media: SPARK, a NON-PROFIT, is taking taxpayer money and they are managing a FOR-PROFIT fund. Tax-payer money is being…

THE ANN ARBOR Independent conducted a reader survey between July 1 and July 15. We received a total of 260 completed surveys in both electronic and written formats. What follow are the final results of the survey. Not every respondent…

THE MLCV CLAIMS to be a nonpartisan group. However, the group’s staff and Board of Directors are populated by former Democratic elected officials and individuals who have endorsed, and donated to Democratic candidates in Ann Arbor. We have…

by P.D. Lesko THE HISTORIC LOWER Town district is home to several  of Ann Arbor’s oldest standing residences and buildings. The last standing home built by a city founder, Anson Brown, is located at 1029 Pontiac Trail and built around…

ANN ARBOR STATE representatives Sen. Rebekah Warren, Rep. Jeff Irwin and Rep. Adam Zemke left Lansing for their break with crucial work undone, including a solution to funding road repairs in Michigan. Republicans are primarily to blame for…

THIS NEWSPAPER DOESN’T endorse candidates or issues. In January 2012, the Chicago Sun-Times stopped endorsing in political races. The editor of that paper explained the decision: “We have come to doubt the value of candidate endorsements by…

Domestic Violence When we think of domestic violence it is easy to think, “This doesn’t happen in my neighborhood. Domestic violence is a problem that affects only other people.”  However, the reality is very different.  Domestic…

IN MAY 2014, Dexter officials  determined, using a road survey, that streets in that village were rated an average of 5.2 out of a possible ten. The Village Council then issued a ten-year road construction bond for $800,000, to be paid for…

by P.D. Lesko PAT CONLIN HAS pink eye. It couldn’t have come at a more inopportune moment. A candidate running for office naturally wants to shake hands. He can’t. Pink eye is devilishly contagious and he wants to make sure he doesn’t…