Amy Sumerton

Aug 26, 2024 | annarborobserver.com | Ken Garber |Amy Sumerton

Just before kick-off at the AFC Ann Arbor women’s May 19 soccer match against Kalamazoo FC at Pioneer High School’s Hollway Field, fifteen-year-old Izzy Sutton and two U-M students received formal recognition as female leaders and role models. Sutton, tall and athletic, was a 2023 Washtenaw County Young Citizen of the Year, and has won state and national service awards for her work, which has included raising money for bird and turtle rescue by selling her own line of notecards.

Aug 26, 2024 | annarborobserver.com | Jan Schlain |Amy Sumerton

A new U-M dorm is rising on the Michigan Marching Band’s longtime home at Elbel Field, but director John Pasquale is over-the-moon happy with the new Elbel Field a block away. American Campus Communities, which the U-M hired to build the dorm on the old field, is also “acting as the developer and owner’s representative” emails Colleen Mastony, U-M’s assistant vice president of public affairs.

Aug 26, 2024 | annarborobserver.com | Craig P Ross |Amy Sumerton

In the first five years of his tenure, Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines were 47–18. There was grumbling that he was 0–5 against Ohio State and 1–4 in bowl games, but his record was still much better than predecessors Brady Hoke and Rich Rodriguez and about the same as in the Lloyd Carr years. But the pandemic hit Michigan harder than most schools, and the team rarely practiced together in 2020. Barely able to field a team, they pulled the plug and canceled the OSU game, finishing the season at 2–4.

Aug 26, 2024 | annarborobserver.com | James Leonard |Amy Sumerton

A week after school let out in June, the Ann Arbor Board of Education voted to release a devastating report on the mistakes leading to a multimillion-dollar hole in the district’s budget: “The former Superintendent confirmed to us that discussions were held with the Board [in spring 2023] that there would need to be reductions in the cost structure of approximately $12 million in the next fiscal year,” consultants Plante Moran wrote. By the time the report came out, it was more than $20 million.

Aug 24, 2024 | annarborobserver.com | Dave Algase |Amy Sumerton

In June 2023, Briarwood Mall announced the forthcoming M Den Annex, “its third store and largest Briarwood Mall location yet.” It never opened, and now The M Den and its neighboring The Victors Collection are out of the mall entirely. The brand had been operated by the U-M athletic department’s longtime official sports merchandise retailer, which has filed for bankruptcy, closed other locations, and hopes to sell to a new owner.