Cain Train

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was greeted with roaring cheers from a crowd of several dozen supporters today at the Big Sky Diner in Ypsilanti Township. Cain was all smiles and only briefly mentioned the sexual harassment allegations against him to assure the crowd he wasn't letting it get him down. "As you can tell, they're starting to come after me," he said. "They're starting to attack me any and every way they can. Since they can't kill the ideas, they're trying to attack my integrity and my character, but the American people are not buying that — they are sick of gutter politics." Read the story.

Ganesh Commands You

My friend brought back these statues for me from a trip to Thailand. They're rad.

Angry Birds

I feel like you can tell a lot about somebody by his or her keychain. Here's mine.

Lumm Wins

With all precincts reporting, Independent challenger Jane Lumm defeated Democratic incumbent Stephen Rapundalo in the 2nd Ward race for the Ann Arbor City Council on Tuesday. The vote count was 2,079 to 1,359, giving Lumm a solid edge over Rapundalo. Cheers erupted shortly before 8:30 p.m. at her election night party at Paesano on Washtenaw Avenue where Lumm later gave a victory speech to a crowd of several dozen supporters. Read the story.

Library Lot

Salvage This

It's been debated over the past few years whether the seven century-old houses that stand in the way of the City Place student apartments project are worth salvaging. Apparently at least pieces of them are. Crews from Ypsilanti-based Materials Unlimited are on site today, beginning the process of gutting the seven houses piece by piece. Meanwhile, crews from Michigan Pipe & Valve are continuing the installation of new underground water and sewer pipes along Fifth Avenue. Read the story.

Preparation

Construction equipment, including at least two excavators, a bulldozer, and a backhoe, has appeared on the proposed site of the controversial City Place apartments project in Ann Arbor. Read the story.

Road Closed

Several downtown business leaders gave the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority an earful Wednesday about proposed parking rate increases and a $50 million underground parking structure project that's partly driving them. Herb David Guitar Studio, at the corner of Liberty and Fifth Avenue, and Jerusalem Garden, next door on Fifth Avenue, are reporting declines in business from the construction, which has kept Fifth Avenue closed for some time now. Read the story.

Shaping Up

A $50 million underground parking structure being built by the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority on South Fifth Avenue, next to the downtown library branch on what's known as the Library Lot, continues to take shape.

Neptune T-10

Fancy gadgets hooked up to a fire hydrant from 1984. Rad.

Funeral For The Middle Class

In honor of U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's Halloween visit to the University of Michigan today, numerous groups joined together to hold a "Funeral for the Middle Class," an event outside of the Michigan League filled with mockery of Cantor and his stances on economic and social issues. U-M graduate student Joel Batterman impersonated Cantor during a faux funeral procession and eulogy. Batterman's long-winded speech about the death of the middle class drew laughs and applause from the pseudo-rich crowd, culminating with a ceremonial hammering of the final nail into a wooden coffin labeled "American Dream." Read the story.

Main Street Halloween