1. $9.95M for ‘smart intersections’ across Ann Arbor

    Ann Arbor will soon be home to more than 20 “smart intersections”—capable of gathering and transmitting information in real time to connected cars—as part of a University of Michigan effort to demonstrate the safety potential of connected and automated vehicles.

  2. Episode 40: Ann Arbor’s ‘Music Man,’ featuring Ken Fischer, MA ’70/HDFA ’19

    Since taking the helm at the University Musical Society at U-M in 1987, this gregarious French horn player has hosted everyone from the Royal Shakespeare Company and Cecilia Bartoli to Leonard Bernstein and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Listen in, as Fischer chronicles his 30-year run at UMS in the book ‘Everybody In, Nobody Out.’

  3. Episode 38: Coffee, COVID, and a course correction, featuring Lisa Bee, BA ’90

    In the days before coronavirus canceled everything, we talked to Lisa Bee, BA ’90, co-founder of Ann Arbor-based Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea. Her favorite part of the gig? Socializing. We checked back in, post-shutdown. Things certainly have changed.

  4. Two weeks in 1918

    This bizarre business of social distancing is not new. When the ‘Spanish’ Flu stalked Americans, Ann Arbor all but shut down. Nurses, meanwhile, delivered supplies to victims.

  5. Step right up!

    Before and after the turn of the 20th century, spring in Ann Arbor brought parades, circuses, and attendant student mischief – including an elephant stampede set off by hooligans tossing firecrackers.

  6. Episode 28: Getting snazzy and jazzy on Main Street, featuring Dave Sharp

    Bassist Dave Sharp has found a new groove on Main Street as musical director of the elegant Blue LLama Jazz Club on Main Street. Listen in, as we visit the club, catch a groovy soundcheck, and hear Sharp’s plans for the venue.

  7. From trash talk to legislation

    In 1976, three student activists walked across the state, collecting rubbish and publicizing ‘Proposal A.’ They succeeded in passing a radical initiative to recycle aluminum cans and glass bottles, transforming Michigan’s landscape.

  8. Episode 22: Ecstatic Destinations, featuring Keith Taylor

    Poet and retired lecturer Keith Taylor delivers a new book that celebrates Ann Arbor and all its charms. In Taylor’s world, the skateboarder is angel, the hickory is holy woman, and the park bench? Nirvana.

  9. What's the buzz

    What defines a beloved tavern, dive, or watering hole? New York-based artist/author John Tebeau, BS ’86, has a pretty good idea. In fact, he left his heart at Dominick’s and the Del Rio.