At the center of the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus, where the Diag’s two largest paths cross, lies a bronze block ‘M’ set in granite in the ground. The monument was donated by the University’s class of 1953 as a gift to then University President Harlan Hatcher. During the fall and winter semesters, thousands upon thousands of students, staff and visitors pass the block ‘M’ every day, but few dare to tread on it directly.

In early June, the Humane Society of Huron Valley noticed “strange” behavior starting to occur frequently among the raccoons and skunks of Washtenaw County. The group said they received numerous calls from concerned residents and documented a 45 percent increase in sick wildlife being treated by their facilities since the beginning of the year.

Ann Arbor City Council gathered Monday evening in Larcom City Hall. The meeting, which marked the start of a new fiscal year, was met with conversations regarding nonpartisan voting practices, housing development plans and approval of a new Ann Arbor Chief of Police.

Jane Lumm, I-Ward 2, introduced a resolution for the November ballot to add the option to convert local Ann Arbor elections to a nonpartisan system in which all candidates would run for two general election nominations regardless of party affiliation.

On Sunday night, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Ann Arbor and Washtenaw Climate Reality hosted an event titled “Climate Change Negotiation and Policy at Home and Abroad” with University of Michigan alum Tim Arvan at the Ann Arbor District Library’s Westgate branch. Arvan attended the United Nations COP24 Climate Change Convention in Katowice, Poland as a Climate Blue student delegate.