http://arborweb.com/ Ann Arbor online: news and reference community resource, with the area's best events calendar, Ann Arbor Observer City Guide, comprehensive information on housing, restaurants, government, education, and more, and free classified ads. en-us 2009 Ann Arbor Observer. All Rights Reserved. http://arborweb.com/articles/jim_bagian.html The next time you are a hospital patient, don't be afraid to ask your visitors to wash their hands before they sit down. And your nurse. Yes, and your doctor, too. That's the word from Dr. Jim Bagian (pronounced BAY-zhin), director of the VA National Center for Patient Safety, headquartered at Domi... Eve Silberman Community http://arborweb.com/articles/a_cultural_one-two_punch.html In late May, a Boston lawyer and his client, in town for a few days of litigating, were standing in front of Bella Ciao. "These three restaurants," he said, peering at a piece of paper in his hand. "Any one of the three," indicating the great Liberty Street triumvirate of West End Grill, Bell... Sally Mitani Marketplace http://arborweb.com/articles/misty_lyn__amp__the_big_beautiful.html "We're gonna get a little country on now," warns Misty Lyn from the Blind Pig stage to a modest but engaged crowd. "It happens." Country happens a lot with Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful. With Carol Gray's warm traditional fiddle, Ryan Gimpert's haunting pedal steel, and Misty Lyn's aw-shucks, h... Stephanie Kadel-Taras Culture http://arborweb.com/articles/bankruptcy_boom.html "I fear for my community and my state," says bankruptcy trustee Doug Ellmann. Ellmann sees Michigan's raw economic wounds in Ann Arbor's federal bankruptcy court. "I'm definitely seeing a lot of low-income people," says Ellmann, who has adjudicated local bankruptcies since 1989. "And since the econ... James Leonard News http://arborweb.com/articles/ron_olson_s_challenge.html It's not easy being Ron Olson these days. Olson, who headed Ann Arbor's parks system for twenty years, now runs the parks and recreation division of Michigan's Department of Natural Resources. And managing one of the nation's largest parks systems with no state tax revenues during a deep recession i... Chris Berggren News http://arborweb.com/articles/the_u-m_innocence_clinic.html On a Sunday afternoon in March 2000, Shannon Gholston was shot while driving down a street in Ecorse. At the hospital, he named Deshawn and Marvin Reed as his drive-by assailants. Attorneys for the Reeds, who are nephew and uncle, produced six witnesses to back up their alibis. Two others testified... Michael Betzold News http://arborweb.com/articles/discovering_endover.html "Well, this month's ‘I Spy' appears to be a very nice angle on the ‘Cube' near the [Michigan] Union," emailed Julie Sorenson of Ypsilanti. "I've spun it many a time over the years!" Kristen Schleik added its formal name-Endover-and Alice Ralph its sculptor, U-M alum Tony Rosenthal. "There is another... Sally Bjork Culture http://arborweb.com/articles/skinny_sidewalk__strange_sign.html Q: What's the deal with the narrow sidewalk outside of Hiller's at Arborland? Two people can't walk side by side there-how is a handicapped person going to manage? Isn't there an ordinance about width of sidewalks? A: The city does regulate sidewalks but only on public property. State... Tim Athan Community http://arborweb.com/articles/goodbye_to_golden_rose.html After twenty-seven years Carol Kliber has closed the Golden Rose flower shop on Green Road. At Avanti Hair Designers next door, Wanda and Ray Heinrich say that Kliber ended her tenure there with an auction of everything: "coolers, phone cords, right down to the pencils." The Heinrichs found i... Tony McReynolds & Sally Mitani Marketplace http://arborweb.com/articles/whose_live_anyway_.html Stand-up comedy is to improv what classical music is to jazz. Outstanding stand-up combines sidesplitting jokes with perfect timing, in the same way that a fabulous classical music performance is the blend of a great composer's work with a player's artful virtuosity. On the other hand, improv comedy... Sandor Slomovits Culture