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

25-TERM CONGRESSMAN John Conyers and would-be Ann Arbor City Council candidate Bob Dascola have a lot in common at the moment. Both men are fighting to have their respective names appear on the August 5 Democratic primary ballot. Dascola is…

ANN ARBOR CITY Administrator Steve Powers, hired in 2011, has sent an email to a City Council member claiming that high fees assessed for providing public records are justified because “...there is a direct benefit provided to the…

ANN ARBOR NATURAL Area Preservation (NAP) works to protect and restore Ann Arbor’s natural areas and to foster an environmental ethic among its citizens. This involves conducting plant and animal inventories, ecological monitoring, and…

Read part 1 of this series here. by Dave Alexander UNLIKE DISEASES SUCH as cancer, diabetes progresses slowly. Because of its slow-moving nature, getting answers as how to best treat and prevent the disease can be difficult.…

LISTENING TO THE radio, I caught part of a conversation between sportswriters Dan Le Batard and Bomani Jones. They were talking about the Donald Sterling incident and, for the most part, Jones was saying exactly what I feel about the whole…

by John DeFore James Moll interviews a half-dozen twentysomethings who’ve chosen the challenging life of a farmer. Attractive but none-to-deep celebration of hard-working heartlanders. SIX YOUNG AMERICANS share their experience of…

by Paula Marcoux DISASTER CAN STRIKE even the best-prepared home cooks. In David Copperfield, Mr. Micawber Wilkins saved young Copperfield from no small amount of embarrassment using quick thinking, graciousness—and a grill. Pity poor…

by Jill Richardson BELIEVE IT OR not, chickens are not the only farm animals turning up—legally—in cities. Goats are now legal (with some limitations) in Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, Pasadena, St. Louis, Oakland, Portland,…

SENATE MAJORITY leader Randy Richardville introduced a bill last week, about three weeks before the deadline for backers of the higher wage hike to file signatures to put their initiated law before the GOP-led Legislature. Assuming…

DURING THE RECENT Ann Arbor mayoral race there have already been questions about the part “temperament” plays in a candidate’s fitness to hold office. At a mayoral candidate forum held in April, one of the first questions asked of the four…