Handmade Hippie Jewelry

After years of being homeless and panhandling on the streets, 46-year-old Gwyddion Storm realized a while back he was tired of begging. Read the story.

Olivia Millerschin at A2SF 2015

Dave Boutette at A2SF 2015

Historic Decision

In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in favor of gay marriage on June 26, 2015, hundreds of gay rights supporters gathered at Braun Court in downtown Ann Arbor to celebrate a national victory for marriage equality. Many community members, activists and leaders, as well as members of the local, state and national press, were on hand as April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, a lesbian couple from Michigan whose case went to the nation's high court, gathered with supporters for a noon press conference in Ann Arbor. Read the story.

Jessica Hernandez And The Deltas

Jessica Hernandez and The Deltas brought their uptempo, soulful rock to Liberty Plaza in downtown Ann Arbor on Thursday for another high-energy installment of the Sonic Lunch concert series, or as Hernandez called it, Sonic Breakfast (noon is early for rock 'n' rollers). An undeniable vocal talent with all the stage presence and attitude to match anyone who's ever made it, the sky's the limit for the Detroit singer and her impressive band. Taylor Pierson deserves special mention for rocking the keys as hard as one can. Buy the album Secret Evil.

Amazing Makeover

Dan and Marianne Clauw still remember pulling into the driveway shortly after purchasing their future dream home four years ago and meeting the existing tenants for the first time on a stoop littered with cigarette butts. "You're going to live here?" one of the tenants asked, surprised. It was a derelict rental house on a street near downtown Ann Arbor dominated by young renters, many of them University of Michigan students. Two empty nesters — a medical school professor and a nonprofit manager — may have seemed like an unlikely fit. But the Clauws had big plans to fix up the old house on Lawrence Street in the Old Fourth Ward Historic District. Read the story.

Celebrating 50 Years

After arriving last Thursday and spending five days exploring and learning more about Ann Arbor, a delegation from Tübingen, Germany, is enjoying its final day here before flying back across the Atlantic on Wednesday. The delegates, nearly two dozen altogether, including community and business leaders and others, are in town to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Ann Arbor and Tübingen that started in 1965. Members of the delegation here this week, as well as members of their host families and other guests, met at the Washtenaw Dairy on Tuesday morning for a walking tour of the Old West Side led by local historian Grace Shackman. Winding up and down streets throughout the historic neighborhood west of downtown, Shackman relayed stories of Ann Arbor's early German settlers in the 1800s, including the houses they built, and the churches and businesses they started. Read the story.