by John Ball THE ANN ARBOR Independent earned three “Excellence in Media” awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Detroit Chapter, for 2014 photography and reporting on such varied topics as investigative reporting, the 2014…

During a ceremony at which awards were given out to metro-Detroit media for reporting, headline writing, design, photography and blogging, among others, The Indy took home its first reporting award.  AFTER BEING NOMINATED by judges in…

WELCOME TO The Ann Arbor Independent. For the first time in over 110 years Ann Arbor once again has a locally-owned weekly newspaper. The last time our city had a locally owned weekly newspaper was 1902, when the Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat…

We begin with a fairytale: Once Upon A Time there were five Ann Arbor City Council members named Sandi Smith, Carsten Hohnke, Leigh Greden, Stephen Rapundalo and Tony Derezinski. They all unquestioningly supported Ann Arbor's Percent for…

by P.D. Lesko Librarians are all about the numbers—exact numbers: Dewey decimals, due dates, number of copies, and call numbers. The Executive Director of the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) is all about numbers, too. However, her…

by P.D. Lesko Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje doesn't have a good track record of getting other politicos to jump on board his transit schemes. The WALLY commuter train was supposed to run between Washtenaw and Livingston counties and be…

MICHAEL WOODYARD IS either Gandalf or Saruman, it just depends on whom you ask. He is challenging Judge Timothy Connors for his seat on the 22nd Circuit Court, a seat Connors has either warmed, or filled admirably, depending on whom you…

By P.D. Lesko In 2007, Ann Arbor City Council passed the Public Art Ordinance that sets aside one percent of funds from all public construction budgets for art projects — to a maximum of $250,000 per project. On the City of Ann Arbor web…

by P.D. Lesko Groupon was founded and is headed by graduates from the University of Michigan. In January 2012, former AnnArbor.con business reporter Nathan Bomey wrote a glowing piece about Groupon, its founders and their connection to the…

by P.D. Lesko When I taught college, one writing assignment I most enjoyed was having my students compose letters to their elected officials. One woman chose to write a letter to the President. A couple of weeks later, she found her…