In Michigan, Lyme Disease is an Emerging Summer Health Danger
AS THE WEATHER warms, it is important to take precautions against mosquito and tick bites. The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) recommends that people, especially those spending time outdoors and children at camps, take…
City Administrator Once Again Refuses to Turn Over Records to a Council Member
CITY ADMINISTRATOR Steve Powers answers directly to City Council. The city’s Charter requires the 11-member group to annually review the City Administrator’s performance. Council sets his pay and has the ultimate authority to fire him. …
EDITORIAL: Michigan’s Minimum Wage Hike is Penny Wise & Pound Foolish
LANSING REPUBLICANS DODGED what their leaders believe was a bullet in raising the state’s minimum wage from the current $7.40 to $9.25 by 2018 and indexing it to inflation thereafter. The minimum wage for tipped employees rose from $2.65 to…
New Report: Healthiest Cities in the U.S. Budget Higher Per Capita Spending on Parks—DC Budgets $400/Resident, Ann Arbor Allocates $47/Resident in 2015
THE AMERICAN COLLEGE of Sports Medicine (ACSM) unveiled its seventh annual American Fitness Index™ (AFI) data report. The 2014 AFI data report, “Health and Community Fitness Status of the 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas,” reflects a composite…
Recycling Drop-Off Station Provides Five Additional Summer Hours Through August
Recycle Ann Arbor recently announced that during summer 2014, the Drop-Off Station (DOS) will expand its operation days to also be open on Mondays, 8:30am-1:30pm. The Drop-Off Station is regularly open Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30am – 6:30pm,…
Over 1,000 Potholes Reported to City—Residents Can Seek Reimbursement for Damage to Vehicles
IN THE JUNE 2014 issue of The Ann Arbor Observer, writer Jan Schlain reports, “So drivers will be hitting this year’s bumper crop of potholes for a while. They just shouldn’t expect any compensation from the city when they do so.” Ward 2…
CULTURE VULTURE: An Interview With Kodi Scheer—The Fragile Nature of Life
Kodi Scheer is a talented storyteller with a gift for writing untraditionally about the fragile nature of life. The stories in her debut collection, Incendiary Girls, are shocking, heartbreaking, humorous, and delicate. None of them is…
U-M President Stonewalls Public & Faculty Whistle Blowers About Secret Administrative Pay Doled Out
by Donna Iadipaolo
The Chronicle of Higher Education published information provided by a group of U-M tenured faculty that exposed millions in secret incentive and bonus pay given to top-level administrators. Faculty call for dialogue;…
Researchers Find That Risk of Divorce Among Older Couples Rises When Wife Becomes Seriously Ill
IN THE CLASSIC marriage vow, couples promise to stay together in sickness and in health. But a new study finds that the risk of divorce among older married couples rises when the wife—but not the husband—becomes seriously ill.
“Married…
OP-ED: Why All The Political Hand-Wringing and Fuss Over Gen Y?
By P.D. Lesko
LOOKING FOR WHAT is called a reliable voter? Look for a white woman aged 70 and above (a Baby Boomer), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Looking for the least reliable voter on whom a candidate should think twice about…
