Michigan Medicine layoffs; Ypsilanti Mayor resigns; Gyms will remain closed

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It’s almost the weekend -- happy Friday!

It has been a very busy week in Ann Arbor. First, Michigan Medicine announced layoffs. Then, we learned that a presidential debate will no longer be hosted by the University of Michigan. That was followed by the resignation of Ypsilanti’s mayor after public outcry over a comment she made during a council meeting.

And last but not least:

🎉 Congratulations to A4′s very own Meredith Bruckner on the birth of her second daughter! 🎉

Typically, I would be behind the scenes here at A4 but as Meredith takes some much-deserved time off to bond with her new baby, I’ll be steering the ship.

Have a great weekend.

- Sarah (@allaboutannarbor)

What’s been happening:

📣 Last Friday, hundreds of people gathered in the Diag to march for change. Speakers, like Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, spoke about unity and reform before the crowd marched to the Ann Arbor Municipal Center. (A4)

💵 Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation has been giving local projects $1,000 no-string-attached micro-grants, which is pretty awesome. (A4)

🐵 Baby Zane, a baby chimpanzee at the Detroit Zoo, finally has an adoptive mother. Seriously, who wouldn’t love that face? (ClickOnDetroit)

🥕 A local boy scout troop has donated enough money to Food Gatherers to provide 127,000 meals in honor of a former member. (A4)

🎷 Blue LLama Jazz Club will be hosting a Pride Month benefit concert on Sunday for the Jim Toy Community Center. (A4)

🏋️ Gyms will stay closed after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granted Gov. Whitmer’s appeal. Gyms were originally scheduled to open on Thursday. (ClickOnDetroit)

Good to know:

🎨 Feeling inspired? The Ann Arbor Art Center will have various workshops for kids, teens and adults throughout July. (A4)

🚴 Until July 10, cyclists can tell the city which bike routes they prefer -- and which ones it should get rid of. (A4)

🎶 Faculty at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance have been making mixtapes that are available through Spotify. Each mixtape has comments from the faculty member who assembled it. (Pulp)

💬 Six Washtenaw County activists and organizers discussed what the county can do to address racial inequality and what changes they would like to see happen. (Concentrate)

👕 We spoke with Ann Arbor T-shirt Company co-owner Jerry Kozak about the 25,000 face shields a volunteer team of employees put together for frontline workers and community members. (A4)

💈 Our A4 website got a little bit of a facelift. Now you can find an entire section dedicated to our Small Biz Saturday features.

Feature interview of the week:

“I just have to give our staff so much credit for being super creative and super flexible. I think our proudest thing is that we’ve never sacrificed our customer service this whole time.”

- Alana Haley, marketing coordinator for Schuler Books, on the hard-working staff at Nicola’s Books.

✉️ Have something to share? Write me anytime at sparlette@wdiv.com.

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