Whether you’re looking for a theater experience the whole family can enjoy or a special night out for adults only, this week’s got you covered. Two fun, musical, and educational shows are on at Performance Network and Wild Swan Theater: “The Fisherman and His Wife’ and “Charlotte’s Web.”

Meanwhile, two provocative shows about historical figures provide fare appropriate for ages 16 and up, with “The Mountaintop” in previews at Performance Network Theatre and “33 Variations” continuing its successful run at The Purple Rose.

Don’t forget, it’s never too early to introduce your child (or yourself!) to the magic of theater, and instill a love of live performance that will last a lifetime!

Show: “The Fisherman and His Wife” book by Paul Vanderoest, music and lyrics by Kerry Graves, one-time event, April 27, 1 p.m.
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Theater for Children and Families
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: All
Description: This musical, based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, incorporates lively songs and likable characters to teach that satisfaction with yourself is the most precious commodity of all. Arthur and Zelda have a simple, happy life. But when Mamie the Mermaid gets tangled in Arthur's fishing line, he must choose his wishes carefully!
Fun Fact: Günter Grass's The Flounder is also loosely based on the story.
For tickets and information: www.performancenetwork.org/, 734-663-0681

Show: “Charlotte's Web” by E.B. White, adapted for the stage by Wild Swan Theater, through April 28
Company: Wild Swan Theater
Type of Company: Theater for Children and Families
Venue/Location: Towsley Auditorium, Morris Lawrence Building, Washtenaw Community College, Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: K+
Description: Possibly the best loved of all American stories for children. Set in the rural Midwest, it tells the touching story of a rare friendship between a little pig, Wilbur, and Charlotte, a most uncommon spider. The magical words that Charlotte spins in her web not only earn Wilbur a county fair blue ribbon and save his life, but inspire all of us to value what we can share with each other.
More information
Fun fact: The book was generally well reviewed when it was released. Eudora Welty wrote in the New York Times, "As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done."
For tickets and information: 734-995-0530, www.wildswantheater.org

photo by Sean Carter Photography | courtesy of the Purple Rose Theatre Co.

Show: “The Mountaintop” by Katori Hall, through June 2
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity SPT
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+ (contains adult language and content)
Description: It's April 3, 1968 at Memphis' Lorraine Motel the night before Martin Luther King, Jr. would be assassinated there. In room 306 King prepares his speech for the coming day, as a thunderstorm rages outside. Chain-smoking Pall Malls and thundering to himself "America, you are too ARROGANT!" he is startled by the mysterious Camae, a motel maid who shows up dripping wet on his doorstep. As they strike up a conversation, sharing cigarettes and laughter, King begins to suspect that her purpose there may not be what it seems. This inspiring drama brings one of America's freshest dramatic voices to the Network stage.
Preview from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: The play premiered in London in 2009 to great critical acclaim. After a sell-out run at Theatre503, the play transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in the West End. The production won the Olivier Best New Play Award and was nominated for Whatsonstage Awards and Most Promising Playwright in the Evening Standard Awards.
For tickets and information: 734-663-0681, www.performancenetwork.org

Ypsilanti police arrested a 23-year-old man for window peeping early Tuesday morning after he was spotted by a witness, police said Wednesday.

Ypsilanti police reported responding at 12:11 a.m. Tuesday to the 300 block of North Washington Street for a report of a peeping Tom. Investigators arrived in the area and quickly located the man.

The 23-year-old man was placed under arrest for window peeping. According to police, he was not lodged at the Washtenaw County Jail after his arrest.

There was no further information available about the incident Wednesday morning.

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Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

University of Michigan Police are telling the campus community to look out for a man who has been approaching female students, asking them out on a date and trying to kiss them.

Courtesy of U-M Police

According to an alert posted on the department’s website Tuesday afternoon, there have been several reports of a man acting suspiciously in the North Campus area since Friday. The incidents were reported near the Bursley and Baits dormitories and the North Campus Recreation Building.

Police said the man typically approaches a woman, tells her she’s pretty and asks her out on a date. According to police, the man has attempted to kiss a woman on more than one occasion.

Police described the man as having a dark complexion or olive skin, possibly of Middle Eastern or Italian descent. He has a heavy accent, is in his 30s and has shoulder-length hair, according to police.

In the alert issued Tuesday, police left open the possibility that more than one man has been approaching women in a similar fashion.

Anyone with information on these incidents is encouraged to call the University of Michigan Police at 734-763-1131.

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Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

Students study in a common area at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

While that's a drop from recent rankings, Ross boasts a 93.8 percent internship rate, the third-best among the schools surveyed by Bloomberg, according to a recent Crain's Detroit Business report.

The Stephen M. Ross School of Business

File photo | AnnArbor.com

Ninety-one percent of graduates receive job offers within three months of graduating, with an average salary of $63,000, according to the Bloomberg rankings.

The school dropped from its 2012 seventh-place ranking and its 2011 sixth-place ranking. Over the past seven years it has ranked as high as 4 and as low as 8.

The University of Notre Dame maintained its No. 1 ranking on the list, a position it has now held for four years. The average graduate of Notre Dame's business school earns $58,100. University of Virginia's business school ranks second and is the only public university to outpace U-M in the rankings.

In fall 2012 Ross' undergraduate program was ranked No. 3 nationally by U.S. News and World Report. U.S. News ranks the school's graduate program 14th in the nation.

• Read the full Crain's article.

Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.

Wisconsin-based home improvement chain Menards is eyeing Metro Detroit as the company methodically grows its store count, the Detroit News reported.

Menards is growing its store count in Michigan by targeting the previously untapped Metro Detroit area.

Source: Facebook

The 50-year-old company opened its first Metro Detroit store in February in Chesterfield Township, and a store in Livonia is under construction. Menards is also in the process of trying to build a store on Jackson Road in Scio Township. Site plan approval is required before the company can move forward with construction.

"We wanted to provide more access and better shopping convenience for the good folks of the Metro Detroit area,” Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott told the Detroit News.

Many of the company’s new stores are being built in a super-sized model, at an estimated 240,000 square feet, the report says. The larger design positions Menards to compete against home improvement giants Lowe’s and Home Depot by offering more products in-store.

The proposed Ann Arbor area store, which is about one mile west of Lowe’s, would be about 162,000 square feet with a lumberyard.

Menards operates more than 270 stores in 14 states, including 23 stores in Michigan. A store in Three Rivers opened in April and a store in Port Huron is scheduled to open this summer.

• Read the Detroit News article.

Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.

Solar panels were installed off Plymouth Road this fall.

Joseph Tobianski | AnnArbor.com

The installation is set to begin this spring on North Campus. The array is planned for the north side of Fuller Road, between Murfin and Bonisteel roads and near U-M's architecture and engineering schools.

The installment is expected to be roughly the same size as the 2.4-acre Plymouth Road array, which was installed in the fall of 2012 without the consultation of nearby residents.

The Plymouth Road installation generated a lot of feedback, with many Ann Arbor residents praising U-M for supporting solar energy, while others criticized the university's approach to solar energy and the community and called the array an eyesore. Ward 2 Councilwoman Sally Petersen said the installation "took place without direct communication" with community members and led to "resentment and anger toward" the university.

The meeting will be held at the Boulevard Room in Pierpont Commons, at 2101 Bonisteel Boulevard in Ann Arbor.

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Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.

Now that spring is here (for now), it's the perfect time to start those home renovations. But if you're uncertain about whether or not your home needs to make a bold statement or make profound whispers in the details, then you could check out the Tour of Remodeled Homes by the National Association of the Remodeling Industry of SE Michigan.

Get information, a map and previews of the homes at www.narisemich.org/.

Saturday, April 27, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, April 28, noon - 6 p.m. $10 tickets.

Ann Arbor is undeniably a coffee town, with crowds of the faithful paying daily obeisance (and treasure) to experience the mystic alchemy of artisan roasted single-origin expert preparations at any number of establishments. For the tea lovers among us, the pickings are slim. Just one place makes an attempt to elevate the tea drinking experience (minus the irritating self-consciousness of the coffee shrines), and that one place is TeaHaus on Fourth Avenue in Kerrytown.

By "elevate" I mean carefully selecting quality tea and focusing attention on its preparation and service. TeaHaus' 179 varieties of tea come from "Europe’s most reputable and highest-quality tea company, located in Germany," which is "the only tea company that has their own testing facility, testing for both pesticides and heavy metals residues," according to TeaHaus owner Lisa McDonald. She notes that she was trained as a "tea sommelier" and that in her shop they are "first tea connoisseurs, who also happen to have really great food."

While the tea is excellent, the food stands on its own merit. With interesting choices influenced by France, Germany, Sweden, and Africa, McDonald says she's chosen her menu based on "where I've lived and what I liked."

The food at TeaHaus— including finger sandwiches, soup, salad, scones and other sweets, is all "Haus-made" as they punnily write on the menu, and it is well put together and delicious in an un-fussy way. No matching hat, handbag or gloves required.

I recently made a reservation for the "Full English Tea Service" with some of my lady friends. Although TeaHaus offers a "quickie tea service" option with no reservation required, a 1-2 day notice in advance is needed for the long-playing "full" version that comes with soup, savory finger sandwiches, scones (served with jam, lemon curd, and clotted cream), along with pastries and petit fours, and all the tea you can drink.

This full English tea is not the posh watered silk and hushed pinkie-curling experience of the iconic Fortnum and Mason in London. The vibe at TeaHaus reminds me more of Apartment Therapy, with a sort of organic, modern, euro slant. The space is painted a rich brown and has funky gold and crystal chandeliers suspended from the high ceiling. Bright euro-mod and Asian tea wares share space with antique leather tea caddies and a collection of white porcelain teapots in many shapes — my favorite is the elephant.

After a somewhat lengthy wait (10 or 15 minutes), our afternoon tea service started with a round of white porcelain mini-cocottes holding a richly flavored roasted red pepper soup, appealingly infused with coconut green tea. The soup, with its felicitous melding of warm tropical flavors and a hint of astringency from the tea, was just one example of many items that are made to include their teas.

After the soup and another significant wait (in which we wished for accompanying bread or crackers — and "Downton Abbey"-style attentiveness), my friends and I were thrilled with the triple-decker serving contraption that appeared, filled with layers of sandwiches, scones, and pastries.

Attempting to follow English tea etiquette in a manner that would have made Lady Grantham proud, we started with the petite open-faced and crustless sandwiches on the bottom layer and worked our way up to scones and finally to the tea sweets at the top.

It may not have been very traditional, but the spicy salami with black pepper served on an herb buttered baguette was particularly flavorful. The chicken salad — a scoop of finely chopped chicken with a sweet and sour poppy seed dressing and bits of dried strawberry and tarragon on a small toasted round of baguette — was also delicious. And I enjoyed a thick, melty slice of Brie topped with a confit of apricot stewed with their ginger rooibus on a sturdy slice of baguette. Both the egg salad on wheat and the triangles of cucumber and cream cheese on white were tasty — but in the way my grandmother likes: plain and very rich.

Lemon-blueberry and traditional scones were buttery with a tight, tender crumb. A bit on the dry side, they go well with the tea and also the "Haus-made" plate of delightful accompaniments — silky lemon curd, fresh clotted cream, a stewed berry jam, and an orange marmalade that our server told us they "doctor up with elderflower tea."

The ladylike portions meant that we still had room for a final layer of pastry sweets that included: chewy, buttercream-filled French-style macarons in Easter egg colors (also made with their teas); richly moist carrot cake balls covered in a white candy shell; and dark chocolate covered peanut butter petit fours with a triumvirate of dragees for decoration.

One friend exclaimed that our teatime was so delightful that she was adding it to her list of "top food experiences." Except for the lengthy waiting times, I was pleased with it too. The food was delicious, fresh, and abundant, the tea was excellent (if somewhat under brewed for my taste), and the company was excellent.

However, in my note to self for visiting on my own nickel, I could be just as satisfied with the "quickie," which comes with fewer sweets, no soup, and one pot of tea. Lots of tables seemed to be ordering it — and I would get it for the lemon curd alone.

On a follow-up visit to TeaHaus with other friends, we ordered from the regular menu, which McDonald says changes from week to week. I was curious about the North African "dukkah," a platter described as "nuts seasoned with coriander, fennel and other spices (including their Darjeeling or Assam tea). Served with bread, olive oil, dried fruit, olives and cheese," our server explained that you eat this dish by dipping the bread in the olive oil, then in the nuts, and choose a sweet or salty accompaniment with each bite.

Lisa McDonald explained that she offers this dish as a reminder that tea culture is worldwide, and that tea is second only to water as the most common beverage around the globe. She said dukkah is something that would often be on the tables at meetings in Europe, "a fun nosh that's filling yet healthy, and it's sustaining throughout the day." While I loved the crushed nuts with fennel and coriander, the cheese, olives and dried fruit may have been sustaining, but they weren't compelling.

We also tried the Swedish pannkakor, a large pancake folded in quarters like a crepe, but puffier. It was filled with frozen strawberries that had been stewed with their popular strawberry-mint-lavender tea. Topped with whipped cream, this would be phenomenal with the fresh berries that will be here in a few weeks.

What stood out for me on this visit were some of the sweets. In particular, a dark chocolate pot de creme was fantastically rich, thick, creamy and deeply chocolatey without being too sweet. The "oreo" macaron, two chocolate meringues sandwiching vanilla buttercream filling, was, according to my guest, "what an oreo should be like" and definitely on the order again list. But it was the delicately soft and buttery strawberry-mint-lavender infused house-made caramels that will keep me coming back again and again.

Tea Haus owner Lisa McDonald observes that tea culture in the world is ancient, with 1500 year old tea plants still under cultivation for teas that we drink today. "Tea is an agricultural product that should be revered just as much as a wine or scotch," she says, and at Tea Haus, "the food is just a pairing to our amazing tea." I agree that the tea is excellent, but the food is just as delicious — and you should go there for both.

Kim Bayer is a freelance writer and culinary researcher. Email her at kimbayer at gmail dot com.

The Ann Arbor school board will hear recommendations on the expenditures side of the 2013-14 fiscal year budget Wednesday night.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com file photo

• Related: Possibility of $1M cut in athletics has Ann Arbor Public Schools coaches worried

Wednesday night marks the dawn of difficult decision-making for the Ann Arbor Board of Education.

The district's administration will present its recommended expenditure budget for the 2013-14 academic year at a regular meeting that begins at 7 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library. It's a budget that will include painful cuts to some district programs.

The Ann Arbor school board started its budget process a little earlier than usual this year by requesting an initial list of possible budget cuts from central administrators in December.

Wednesday, the public will learn what items from that list remain on the chopping block.

Among the possibilities presented in December were reducing funding for high school theater, music and athletics; moving the Roberto Clemente alternative program to a wing of Pioneer High School and closing the existing Clemente building; reducing the number of teachers and counselors; moving Skyline High School from a trimester schedule to a semester schedule; and cuts to transportation.

But, the potential savings from cutting these items was figured when the district was projecting a much bigger hole to fill than it has now.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools went from facing a budget shortfall of more than $17 million, to now needing to cut $8.67 million to balance its budget for the 2013-14 academic year. The change was attributed to $3.4 million in concessions that the Ann Arbor teachers union agreed to, some additional revenue the district was able to bring in and additional special education reimbursement money from the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, which was driven by the county spending less on special education services last year than projected.

The new projection of an $8.67 million deficit will be reflected in the proposed reductions, said AAPS Communications Director Liz Margolis. She said the superintendent's cabinet will present the board with a number of different budget scenarios for consideration, so that trustees have options if they don't agree with the expenditure budget as recommended by the administration as a whole.

To prepare for Wednesday's budget meeting, Margolis said members of central administration have been going through the district's expenditures line by line and meeting with various groups of staff within the schools to brainstorm ways to save.

"Everything we're bringing to the table is bad. We don't want to be bringing any of this forward. The focus has been not to impact the classroom," Margolis said, adding there likely will not be many changes from the items on the list in December, but that the amounts being proposed for the cuts may have changed.

"It will be up to the board to decide what is the best of the worst," she said. "People hear these (recommendations from administration) and think it's a done deal. But no one knows how it will end up. The board could reject some or all of our proposals."

Superintendent Patricia Green said previously that across-the-board salary cuts would be needed to balance the budget. She has said contract negotiations are taking place. Details about these negotiations or what central administrators and the Ann Arbor principals union might give up are not known.

The board has conducted four community dialogues on the budget this year to gather suggestions from members of the public. Board President Deb Mexicotte said she and Treasurer Glenn Nelson were compiling the suggestions and have typed them up to give to administration.

School board Vice President Christine Stead said she has a few additional things she would like to ask the administration about and some thoughts for the board to weigh. She said she looks forward to having her questions on the possible impact of some of the cuts answered.

"I expect to see a description and a dollar amount much like we've seen in the past… but more about how this number came to us (as a recommendation)," Stead said. "The impacts to the services we offer I hope will be explained where it's not been clear."

She also said she is hoping for more detail on who was involved in coming up with the budget proposals and how the cuts might be executed if approved by the board at the end of May.

"We're assuming that buildings and teachers across our organization and principals across our organization had a role and … my thought is they better have offered up ideas about some of what is brought forward," Stead said. "I'll be looking to see our collective best thinking of what's doable and what's best for kids."

• Download the full list of preliminary budget reductions.

Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.

Former Ella Riot front woman Michelle Chamuel, center, advanced to the next round of "The Voice" on Tuesday night.

Tuesday's episode featured several "battles" between two team members singing the same song together (Chamuel is on Usher's team), thus weeding out several in anticipation next week's "knockout rounds."

Here's a video recap of Tuesday night's episode. Chamuel is among the first to appear.

Here's Chamuel talking in an interview (with Carmen M) about performing "Titanium."

Jenn McKee is an entertainment reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.

Related: Wife remembers husband killed in Dexter explosion

The funeral for the man killed Monday after an explosion at the Dexter Utilities Department’s wastewater treatment plant will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Michael Koch

Courtesy of Cole Funeral Chapel

According to an obituary posted on the Cole Funeral Chapel website, funeral services for Michael Koch will be held at the funeral home, 214 E. Middle St. in Chelsea.

Koch, 48, of Jackson County's Columbia Township, and David McBride, 23, from Howell, were working on a concrete lid of the wastewater treatment plant Monday afternoon. The flame from a welder’s torch ignited methane gas in the tank, which exploded and blew Koch from the tank.

The explosion was reported at 1:39 p.m. Monday at the plant, 8360 Huron St. Koch died later in the afternoon at University of Michigan Hospital from his injuries.

According to his obituary, Koch is a former Dexter resident who leaves behind a wife, three daughters and a son. The Dexter High School graduate worked for Platinum Mechanics, Inc.

The family will receive visitors and friends at Cole Funeral Chapel from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Friday.

• Read Koch’s obituary.

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

A 23-year-old man stole a tablet computer from its owner's hands and was arrested a short time later Tuesday, Ypsilanti police reported.

Investigators responded at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to the 400 block of Pearl Street for a report of a larceny from a person. According to a police news release, the 23-year-old man grabbed the tablet from the victim’s hands and ran from the area.

The man was arrested several blocks away by responding officers.

Police took the man to the Washtenaw County Jail, where he is awaiting possible larceny from a person charges.

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Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

Ragamala Dance publicity photo

photo by Hub Wilson

The dancers of Ragamala, directed by 2 of the 6, mother and daughter Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy, who also choreographed “Sacred Earth,” dance with every fiber of their bodies, from the top down and to the tips of their fingers. Eyes dart, teeth flash, bells jangle at their ankles, feet and hands are tinted red to read all the more vividly.

They are pictures of grace and balance, centered and upright, but also supple in their movement. And they dance in harmony with, well “Sacred Earth,” revealed here through Tamil poetry, tribal Indian art and live music.

Bharatanatyam is traditionally a solo art, but in “Sacred Earth” the Ramaswamys artfully employ an ensemble—not just to echo and amplify the movements of soloists (the two of them plus Ashwini Ramaswamy and Tamara Nadel), but to mesmerize through unison movement and accumulation of gestures.

In the opening, the ensemble circles Ranee Ramaswamy, rice powder streaming from their outstretched hands as she crouches at their center, making a rice-powder design on the floor, an offering to Mother Earth. It would have been nice to see that pattern projected on the backdrop, but what is there instead—projections of chalked wall paintings commissioned from a Warli artist from western India, Anil Chaitya Vangad —seems the very incarnation of the dance’s theme of harmony between the elements of nature and all who inhabit it, human and animal.

Stick-figure humans spiral across the space in expanding arcs at the dance’s beginning. Trees of life spring up, monkeys climb them; rivers flow, fish swim; horses graze and are groomed; birds nest among grasses and whole villages materialize against smoke and mauve skies.

The dancers bring these pictures—and those of the poems, with their metaphors of love and nature—to life in narrative sections of the dance; the excellent musicians (Lalit Subramanian, Suchitra Sairam, Rajna Swaminathan and Anjna Swaminathan) contribute their voices with expressive melismatic singing, and with violin, tabla and cymbals. They follow and lead and call out the rhythms in the animated pure-dance sections that showcase the dancers’ technical skills.

Aparna Ramaswamy made a particularly strong impression with her vivacity and precision and musicality, but all the dancers—as befits a dance about harmony—worked together with a sort of luminous sympathy that was itself a meditation.

Manchester players celebrate during a 2012 game.

Mlive Media Group file

Last spring, Washtenaw County had a rough go of it in the state softball tournament. Only one area team took home a district title -- Milan -- while the other 15 were sent home packing in the first three rounds of the tournament.

While it’s only late April, early results suggest that the results may be different in 2013.

Three area teams are unbeaten so far this season, and all three are ranked in this week’s AnnArbor.com spring sports rankings.

Chelsea, Saline and Manchester are all unbeaten on the year, with a combined 15-0 record. They come in at No. 1, 2, and 4 in this week’s rankings, respectively. Our No. 3 team, Lincoln, is 5-1 on the year.

It won’t be long before those teams start playing one another, so blemishes are coming soon. But for the time being, things are looking up on the area softball scene.

Softball

1. Chelsea: Still unbeaten at 5-0, the Bulldogs improved their record with a 9-2 win over Temperance Bedford on Tuesday.

2. Saline: Twenty-eight runs in two games against Ypsilanti Tuesday ran the Hornets’ record to 6-0.

3. Lincoln: A 14-strikeout game from Emily Eickhoff in Game 1 helped Lincoln sweep Huron and move to 5-1 this week.

4. Manchester: The Lady Dutch are perfect in the Cascades Conference at 4-0, and have big wins over Whitmore Lake and Vandercook Lake.

5. Dexter: The Dreadnaughts are 4-2 heading into a big matchup against Lincoln on Thursday.

Baseball

Skyline's Patrick Lewis runs during a game against Chelsea this week.

Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com

1. Saline: The Hornets continue to roll, they’re now 8-1 on the season.

2. Huron: A sweep of Lincoln this week moved the River Rats to 7-2 on the year.

3. Skyline: Our Team of the Week got two big wins at Chelsea Monday to run its record to 6-1 on the year and move into the No. 3 spot.

4. Father Gabriel Richard: The Irish are 4-4 in their last eight after moving into a tough Catholic League slate.

5. Chelsea: The Bulldogs have struggled early after a state quarterfinal appearance last year.

Boys Track

1. Saline: The Hornets had a strong second-place showing at Saturday’s April Showers relays and are now 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference.

2. Chelsea: Chelsea lost its home relays by just one point Saturday, but kept its unbeaten dual meet streak alive against Lincoln on Tuesday.

3. Pioneer: The Pioneers doubled up previously unbeaten Temperance Bedford Tuesday, and has turned in impressive 400- and 3,200-meter relay times.

4. Lincoln: Tyree Waller has already turned in an 11.37 100-meter dash and 22-foot, 9-inch long jump, and the Railsplitters gave Chelsea a close meet on Tuesday.

5. Ypsilanti: The Phoenix are solid up top, especially in sprints, but lack the depth to win many SEC dual meets.

Girls Track

1. Saline: The Hornets’ 400 relay team has turned in the fastest time in the state this year so far, according to Athletic.net.

2. Chelsea: The Chelsea girls won its home relay meet on Saturday and followed it up with a dual win over Lincoln on Tuesday.

3. Pioneer: The Pioneers move up a spot after back-to-back wins over Skyline and Temperance Bedford; they have top-10 hurdlers in both the 100 and 300 events.

4. Huron: Kennedy Beazley has put up strong 800 and 1,600 times for the River Rats, who beat Skyline by one point on Tuesday.

5. Dexter: The Dreadnaughts enter this week’s rankings after overtaking Lincoln in a dual meet and beating Temperance Bedford.

Girls Soccer

Dexter and Huron girls soccer players fight for the ball in a Tuesday game.

Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com

1. Dexter: The Dreadnaught aren’t winning of late, but they aren’t losing much, either. Dexer is 0-1-3 since a 4-0 start, and tied Huron on Tuesday night.

2. Skyline: The Eagles have won three straight, the last two of which have been by a combined 14 goals.

3. Saline: Saline continues to tread water: a close loss to Plymouth on Saturday followed by a big win over Ypsilanti.

4. Father Gabriel Richard: Back-to-back one-goal losses have made for a tough week.

5. Huron: The River Rats rallied late to tie Dexter on Tuesday and stay at .500 with a 3-3-1 record.

Kyle Austin covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kyleaustin@annarbor.com or 734-623-2535. Follow him on Twitter @KAustin_AA.

For those of us too old or unskilled to compete in the world of professional athletics, choosing favorites from among participating teams, then encouraging them to victory with our shouts and whistles, is a good second choice.

Rooting for our favorite teams as they do battle gives us the pleasures of competition without the embarrassment or exhaustion of participation and defeat. And during the game we can cheer or sneer according to our mood of the moment, without the remorse of having chosen badly. It is, after all, only a game and more than the identity of the winners or losers, it is the thrill of the chase that excites and satisfies us.

Just winning or losing - that is what it’s all about.

Now, fast approaching the magnetic appeal of professional sports is the drama of national political contests as the most interesting and spirited games in town. And as with athletic contests, it is the struggle itself that excites us more than the contestants or the consequences.

Unlike sporting events where there is a clear winner, politicians must not focus too heavily on the victory.

Unfortunately, although an aggressive pursuit of victory enlivens the world of competitive sports, using those standards to run our country is a much more dangerous game. Because the primary goal in professional sports is to glorify the players and enrich their sponsor, the difference between victory and defeat is of limited consequence, but the repercussions of victory or defeat in political games go far beyond the playing field.

The impact in the games of politics are infinitely more consequential and yields a much more significant and lasting impact on our world.

Those contests are an essential part of the process by which the democratic principles, as envisioned by our Founders, were to shape this new nation.

The standards they set, spelled out in the Preamble to our Constitution, foresaw “a more perfect Union” focused on “Justice [and] the Blessings of Liberty...“ Unfortunately, in our zeal we seem to have lost the primary point of the exercise, overlooking the sanctity of “the general welfare” and replacing its noble purpose with competitive contests to please a more limited and influential segment of the population, substituting their personal gain for our founding principles.

For a nation to serve the goals sought by our Founders and embraced by our earliest citizens, there must be an objective beyond victory for its own sake.

There should be a moral or philosophical basis for our candidates’ political preferences and legislative performances. Campaigns should include more than just tactics for success - they should reflect the goals of governance on behalf of the entire nation. Whether those solutions are shaped by conservative or liberal philosophies, the focus must be on the well-being of the people - not simply on re-election.

Several decades ago I had the privilege of serving on our City Council, a task to which we all devoted a vast number of hours each week - for no pay beyond the satisfaction of serving our community.

Election to the U.S. Congress is an event rare and wonderful in the life of a patriot, filled with the glory of serving their fellow citizens. But they get paid - as they should.

Unfortunately, they also get paid as they should not - much too often by lobbyists representing industries or businesses who will profit by their actions.

In his second Inaugural Address in 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt reminded us that, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little,” adding that, “Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees for the whole people.”

Not a bad principle by which to govern.

Robert Faber has been a resident of Ann Arbor since 1954. He previously owned a fabric store and later a travel agency. He served a couple of terms on the Ann Arbor City Council. He may be reached at rgfaber@comcast.net.

A two-vehicle crash on the exit ramp from westbound Interstate 94 to State Street in Ann Arbor was slowing traffic Thursday morning.

Washtenaw County dispatchers said the crash was not blocking any lanes as of 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. There was no information available on possible injuries.

Traffic was slow on westbound I-94 stretching all the way back to the Huron Street exit in Ypsilanti Thursday. If able, drivers are encouraged to avoid the area.

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Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

"On the internet, as far as the antique and classic bicycle hobby goes, the conversation is: 'What are you bringing to Ann Arbor?' 'I'll see you in Ann Arbor,'" says Paul Kleppert, who runs the Ann Arbor Classic Bicycle & Mini-Bike Show and Swap Meet with his wife, Anne Kleppert.

In its 33rd year, the enormous exhibition and swap meet will fill all 7 buildings at the Washtenaw County Farm Council Grounds on Sunday with about 250 vendors, according to Kleppert. More than 7,000 bicycles showed up last year. "We have grown to the largest show of its kind in the country," he says.

Kleppert has a lot of fun stories about rare classic or collectible bicycles that people have brought to the show to swap or signed up for the Poor Man's Auction. Sometimes people do not even know what they have and start a bidding war.

"There are many stories about people coming in with a bike their grandfather had, and no idea in the world what it was. You never know what might be hanging in the garage," he says. His favorite example: "There was a bicycle from the 1930's known as the 'Death Bike.' When it was manufactured, they developed a suspension system for the front wheel. It would break and send kids over the handle bars. The front wheel would fly off and you went straight over. They recalled it and thought they got them all. But sure enough, this guy comes to the show with one of these 'Death Bikes.' He had no idea how extremely rare it is."

Major highlights include this year's theme, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Schwinn Stringray. "We will have a significant display of Stringrays from 1963, their first year," Kleppert says. "Those bikes set the entire tone of bikes from kids from then on. It really went from Stringrays to Krates to BMX," he says of the model's historical significance.

Something new this year: There will be a special display featuring Rat Rod bicycles. "They are some of the neatest looking bikes that people have made out of junkers. It is like having a car with a Ford fender on one end and a GM fender on the other, and a hood off a Chrysler. They are put together in pieces and some of them end up being absolutely astounding," Kleppert says.

Another type of bicycle to look out for is the customized lowrider. "These are like works of art that people create. A lot of young kids are doing these customized bikes," Kleppert explains. You can also buy parts to customize your own.

And as in past years, Frank Mattison will hold an "Old-school Mini-bike Show & Swap Meet" at the event, which will feature gas-powered bikes and parts.

Adults who buy bikes at the show are usually just as excited as the kids, according to Kleppert. "As you get older, you start looking for things that made you happy as a child. Now you can get that bicycle that your parents never bought you, and you can ride it and feel like a kid," he says.

The first time he attended the bike show, he found a long-lost friend. "I found my 1959 Columbia Newsboy Special that I had when I was a kid. Mine got stolen. This one was brand new. It felt great to have my bicycle back again," he recalls.

The show's success is evidenced by how prime the real estate has become. "I'm astonished when I look through all the names of the vendors and see how many of them have been coming here for over 20 years. And it's almost like the vendor spaces are being passed down from one generation to the next. My son wants my spot now," Kleppert says.

The show runs 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 28, at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds, 5055 Ann Arbor-Saline Road. Admission: $4 (children under age 10, free). Free parking.

Event listings in the Thursday print edition of AnnArbor.com named an incorrect location for a demonstration Saturday by pastel artist Carolyn Weins sponsored by Ann Arbor Women Artists.

The correct location is the Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron St. in Ypsilanti. It takes place from 3-4:30 p.m.

You're going to need gardening supplies and plants, so why not help a great cause at the same time? When you purchase these materials from the Growing Hope's Spring Plant Sale, the money you spend support Growing Hope's work to increase healthy food access in Ypsilanti and surrounding communities.

Growing Hope is a community outreach program that strives to get people eating better by growing their own food or making that food available. They offer memberships, classes, workshops, a community garden and youth outreach programs.

Saturday, April 27, 2013. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. No admission charge; price of purchases. Growing Hope is located at 922 W. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti. 734-786-8401 Get more information at www.growinghope.net or 734-786-8401.

Suspended Eastern Michigan University basketball player Glenn Bryant faces two criminal charges after he was accused of choking his girlfriend during an argument Monday.

Glenn Bryant

Courtesy of the WCSO

Bryant, 22, was arrested after the 19-year-old woman reported the assault at 2 p.m. Monday in the 900 block of Railroad Street in the Peninsular Place apartments, Ypsilanti Police Detective Sgt. Tom Eberts said Thursday. Bryant was arraigned on a felony charge of assault by strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of aggravated domestic violence, Eberts said.

The 19-year-old woman called police and met investigators at the Peninsular Place manager’s office Monday afternoon after the alleged assault. Eberts said the woman told police the argument was about “nothing in particular” and the couple, who had been dating for one year, argues frequently.

“During the argument, the victim claims the suspect choked her,” Eberts said.

Bryant has bonded out of the Washtenaw County Jail, records show. There was no information in court records about what bond he received. He’s been suspended from the EMU basketball team “until the charges are dropped, dismissed or otherwise resolved,” university officials said.

The transfer from Arkansas played in the 2012-13 season for the Eagles, averaging 10.6 points per game. He started 30 of the team’s 34 games and averaged 27.4 minutes per game, good for second on the team.

Bryant sat out the 2011-12 season after coming to Eastern in the summer of 2011, per NCAA transfer policy.

Eberts said police met with the victim and got her statement before she was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

After the woman was taken to the hospital, officers met with Bryant and arrested him, Eberts said.

Bryant will return to court at 8:30 a.m. May 7 for a preliminary examination, court records show.

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.