Ann Arbor News - Monday, March 20

Morning Ann Arbor! We've got a lot to celebrate this morning:

1. It's Oberon Day

2. It's the first day of Spring

3. Michigan Hockey won the Big Ten Tournament

4. Bill's Beer Garden just opened for the season

Just don't think about basketball. We're a football/hockey town now.

Reader Count: 23 townies

Estimated Read Time: 3 minutes

ANN ARBORITES SHOULD KNOW

🛏  New Downtown Hotel: A Columbus developer plans to build an AC Hotel on the corner of Huron and 5th Ave. Despite being part of Marriott's design-led hotel collection, Ann Arbor's Design Review Board criticized the proposed hotel as being "very bland" and "lacking in character". Pending a city approved glow up, the AC Hotel is targeting a spring or fall 2025 opening.

🛑  No Turn On Red: After a 9-2 City Council vote in October, Ann Arbor has banned cars from turning on downtown red lights. Hoping to protect pedestrians, the city began putting up road signs last week. As more signs are posted, Ann Arbor police will spend one month "educating" drivers before they begin issuing tickets.

🎬  AA Film Festival: The 61st annual Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF) starts tomorrow. The nationally recognized indie film festival has selected 108 films to feature from the 2,743 submitted. The Michigan and State theatres will serve as central hubs for the festival. Tickets, a trippy trailer, and a full list of films can be found on the official AAFF website.

🏃‍♂️  Pothole Payouts: A local runner was awarded a $15,000 payout from the city after he claimed he injured his ankle by stepping in a pothole last fall. Running in the Water Hill neighborhood, the man claims he could not see the pothole as there were leaves in the street. Last August, the city also paid a woman $24,500 when she injured herself in a pothole.

MICHIGANDERS SHOULD KNOW

🐻  Rise and Shine, Black Bears: With Michigan experiencing a warmer March, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminded Michiganders that black bears (the only bears native to the state) may be coming out of hibernation early. While generally afraid of humans, brushing up on bear safety isn't a bad idea. The SparkNotes: never run, never climb a tree, just slowly back away.

🖥  Michigan Hospitals Using AI: From searching for potential blood clots in the brain to identifying patients at high risk for readmission, Michigan hospitals have begun embracing artificial intelligence (AI). In one pilot program, Corewell Health used artificial intelligence to analyze 555 patients who received CAT scans for cancer, chest wounds, or other conditions. An AI model then found 32% of those patients had undetected heart disease.

🔞  Minimum Marriage Age: Like 42 other states, Michigan currently has no minimum marriage age. With control of the House and Senate, Democratic lawmakers are working to pass a bill that would set the minimum marriage age to 18. According to the nonprofit Unchained at Last, 5,400 Michigan minors were married between 2000 and 2021; 90% were girls.

🍕  Free School Meals: Last week educators and nutritionists advocated for Michigan to reinstitute the Healthy School Meals for All program. In speaking to a House subcommittee, the group defended Governor Whitmer's proposal to allocate $160 million to provide free breakfast and lunch for all students in the state. Previously funded by the federal government during the pandemic, the program has been reinstituted in 4 states.

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3 Bed | 3 Bath | 3,316 Sqft | $699,000

That's all for now! See ya Thursday.

- Andrew

P. S. If you like what you read, refer a friend.

P. S. S. There's an Oberon Day pub crawl downtown today 🍻