Where to Get Cash, Food and Internet During the Covid Crisis
Even after modest business grants from the Washtenaw United Way dried up after just two weeks, local businesses are scrambling for PPP loans from the SBA and a few have even managed to land the elusive funding. Individuals and…
Ward 4 Council Member Writes About “Reality Politics”
Facts and truth should matter to all of us. It has to be the starting point for every decision.
by Elizabeth Nelson
I’m relieved to be living in Ann Arbor during this pandemic. Your local leaders and city staff are serious about…
The Foodist: Spuds in the time of Covid-19
by Ari LeVaux
The Spanish state of emergency was to go into effect at midnight. At the only restaurant in the Toba valley, Comidas Caseras Carmen, some folks had gathered for a birthday party. The television was blasting scenes of…
City Council Members Vote to Require a Funding Plan for the $1 Billion A2 Zero Carbon Neutrality Plan
by P.D. Lesko
"There is no funding plan." Ward 2 Council member Jane Lumm (I) repeated this phrase during the discussion on April 20 of a resolution co-sponsored by Mayor Taylor, Ward 3 Council members Grand and Ackerman, and Ward 5…
MLive Owner Advance Furloughs Employees and Cuts Pay
by Rick Edmonds
Advance Local followed other newspaper companies Wednesday in announcing a series of pay cuts and furloughs to bring expenses down and ride out the deep advertising recession.
MLive reporter Emily Lawler Tweeted out…
Washtenaw County Spring 2020 Tree & Shrub Distribution Cancelled
by Megan DeLeeuw
The Washtenaw County Conservation District (WCCD) Spring Tree & Shrub Distribution originally scheduled for April 17th & 18th is cancelled. The Board of Directors made this difficult decision in order to reduce…
Doctors And Nurses on the Coronavirus Front Line Are Getting Sick And Dying — And Michigan Is Not Keeping Track
by P.D. Lesko
Despite threats from employers of disciplinary action and even firing, nurses and doctors say that health care workers fighting the coronavirus outbreak across the country are getting sick and dying. And despite the fact…
Opinion: Michigan’s Coronavirus Response Must Confront Poverty and Racism
by Amy J. Schulz, PhD, MPH, Barbara A. Israel, DrPH, MPH, Linda Chatters, PhD, MSW, Roshanak Mehdipanah, PhD, Enrique Neblett, PhD
Emerging evidence indicates communities in southeast Michigan are hard hit by the COVID-19…
Money Runs Out Less Than Two Weeks After Washtenaw United Way Announces Small Biz Emergency Grants
With $1.29 million in funding, $1 million of which was donated by the Song Foundation, the Washtenaw United Way's Washtenaw Small Business Emergency Relief Fund ran dry just two weeks after the modest grants were announced. The United…
Ann Arbor GoFundMe Campaigns Meet With Varying Success
by P.D. Lesko
On March 23, 2020, Mike and Hilary Gustafson, the owners of the Literati bookstore in downtown Ann Arbor, launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $100,000 in order to save their seven-year-old bookshop. The campaign raised…
