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

by Patricia Lesko About 50 people from neighborhoods all over Ann Arbor attended a "Nowruz Neighbor" potluck at the Burns Park Senior Center on Sat. March 18 and wished each other “Sal-e Naw Mubarak,” or “Happy New Year” in Farsi, the…

by Manal Elfakhani There are many reasons to think about eating better, but they do not all have to do with weight loss. Your food choices can help reduce stress in your body by reducing the number of free radicals in your cells. We…

by Kathy Hoekstra | Watchdog.com Driven by a sex scandal at the state Capitol and lead in the Flint water supply, the Michigan House of Representatives approved bills aimed at fixing the nation’s worst open records law. The 10-bill…

by Laura Entis The Ann Arbor Police Dept. this week launched a Twitter account: @A2Police. In two days, Ann Arbor's women and men in blue have Tweeted out three times. In the same time period, one of the seven Twitter accounts of the New…

by Rob C. Smith At the beginning of March, the White House proposed gutting Environmental Protection Agency funding that pays for Great Lakes pollution cleanup by 97 percent, according to a budget document obtained by the National…

by The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team Next Monday, the Ann Arbor Board of Review will hear appeals of city tax assessments. To schedule a review, taxpayers are required to call the assessor's office at 734-794-6530. Sessions are…

by Mindy Weisberger Cases of Lyme disease in Michigan have risen dramatically in recent years, and a new study links that trend to larger and more widespread tick populations. Researchers collected data from the Michigan Department of…

by Ari LeVaux The Pho If you've been living under a rock at the bottom of the ocean for the last decade, you might-might-have missed the ascendency of pho, Vietnam's internationally beloved comfort food. The steaming meal is both soup…

by Dave Alexander In recognition of Sunshine Week, a time that highlights the need for transparency and accountability in government, Progress Michigan is rolling out several major updates to the Sunshine Squad, an online tool that now…

by Patricia Lesko In a meeting held at lunch-time on Wednesday Mar. 1, over the objections of both the Main Street and State Street Area Association member business owners, the Downtown Development Authority Board approved the leasing of…