Q & A: Italian Slow Food Pioneer Carlo Petrini
by Sarah van Gelder
IN 1986 CARLO Petrini and a group of friends threw a big pasta feed in Rome’s storied Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish Steps). The event was a protest against the opening of the first McDonald’s in Italy. Out of that…
$1.5M Diverted From Public Schools Used For Ann Arbor SPARK Salaries, Marketing & Legal Fees
Using a tax increment financing scheme, since 2006, over $5 million dollars have been diverted from the cash-strapped public schools and given to Ann Arbor SPARK officials.
WHILE ANN ARBOR Public Schools officials, parents and students…
Eastern Michigan University Hires Van Scoyoc Associates To Lobby In DC
SPENDING ON LOBBYING was down across the board in 2012, but the education industry led the way in tightening the purse strings. According to OpenSecrets.org, “In 2011, the industry, which includes both for-profit and nonprofit colleges and…
Op-Ed: Is There Anything We Can’t Buy In America? Should There Be?
by Lynn Parramore
IF YOU’VE GOT the money, there’s hardly anything you can’t buy in America. You can purchase a cushy upgrade to your prison cell, an internship at a famous magazine, or a fast-track through airport security. You can even…
Ward 2 Council Member Petersen Announces She’ll Run For Mayor: Move Mirrors Hieftje’s Path To The Gavel
ANN ARBOR CITY Council member Sally Hart Petersen announced in a press release sent to the media on January 14 that she plans to run for mayor. Petersen, elected to represent Ward 2 in 2012, unseated former state legislator Tony Derezinski…
Perchance To Dream: MLK’s Dream Took on Poverty and War Along with Racism
by Drew Dellinger
WHEN MARTIN Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, he did something extraordinary for a speaker mounting a challenge to the existing order: he positioned those in his movement not as outsiders and dissidents,…
The Science Behind The ‘Polar Vortex’ That Engulfed Ann Arbor
A REPORTER FOR The Weather Channel stood in a Minnesota snowstorm, talking about local efforts to move homeless children into heated shelters. “How cold is it supposed to get?” the anchor, back in the studio, asked. The reporter replied:…
ARTS & LEISURE: This Is The First Public Library Without Any Books
THE END IS near! Page-sniffers, mourn the loss of our dog-eared friends! I MEAN … HURRAH for a library that saves trees! (Sob.)
BiblioTech is an all-digital public library on the south side of San Antonio, Texas that offers 10,000 titles…
ARTS & LEISURE: Michael Pollan Says Gardening Made Him A Better Writer
THE ATLANTIC RECENTLY compiled a year’s worth of writing advice from authors like Amy Tan, Michael Pollan, and Stephen King, all condensed into one tidy article. Notably, Pollan credits digging around in the dirt with helping him solidify…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: City Officials Spend Heavily On Advertising In Monthly Tabloid & Rely Less On Advertising In Twice Weekly Newspapers
I think you need to check your math.
You say the AnnArborChronicle.com received for City advertising about $18,000 during a 30 month period (two and one half years). If the AnnArborChronicle.com has annual revenues of about $100,000,…
