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

by K. Frank I line up with about twenty others in the waiting room. Each one of us is holding a white envelope containing information and forms to fill out to apply for food stamps. We’re escorted by a uniformed police officer through the…

by P.D. Lesko Congressman John D. Dingell, Jr. is 17 months away from breaking the late Congressman Robert Byrd’s record for total combined congressional service in the House and Senate. Dingell has been in the U.S. House since 1955, when…

by P.D. Lesko The (mostly) boys over at Daily Kos are sticking their wooden spoons into the political pot that is Michigan once again and trying to stir up trouble for a Republican. First, it was Governor Rick Snyder. Although many people…

by P.D. Lesko Judging from the number of bills Michigan GOP members pushed through the state Senate today, one could be led to believe that voter fraud in Michigan is a problem of epidemic proportions. However, nothing could be further…

by P.D. Lesko The University of Michigan picked up its marbles and is going home. Officials there are now looking to build the U.'s next parking garage anywhere but on a 10 acre parcel of riverside parkland on Fuller Road. While the U…

by Leslie Basden I got a job interview yesterday and was offered a position. It’s the first interview I’ve had in about a year. I can blanket my field with resumes and not receive a single call. My job consists of counseling others to help…

by P.D. Lesko In Ann Arbor, it's the achievement gap that gets the starring role in the ongoing drama enacted on a regular basis by both members of the Board of Education, as well as the District's paid professionals. This is a drama that…

BRANDON JESSUP IS young, black and lives in Detroit. Newspapers and magazines all around the country that trumpet bad news generated by statistical analyses and studies about the city will tell you that Brandon Jessup should be unemployed,…

by P.D. Lesko It's February, and in another 60 days or so those in the mood to run for mayor and City Council as Democrats or Republicans will have gone to the City Clerk's office and taken out petitions. Those running as Independents have…

by P.D. Lesko Michigan's Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (APAAC) and a state diversity group have been pressuring Michigan Republican Senatorial candidate Pete Hoekstra (below, right) to pull his controversial Super Bowl…