A forecast full of rain has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flood watch for the Ann Arbor area for 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday morning.

The National Weather Service says flooding of urban areas is possible the next few day.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

The weather service advised residents to monitor forecasts and be alert for possible flood warnings. The watch area includes all of southeast Michigan.

Anyone venturing outside the next few days had better have the umbrella and galoshes at the ready. Rain is expected every day through Friday, when we could also get some snow. On Saturday, we’ll be treated to a bit of sunshine, but more showers are possible Sunday.

Besides getting numerous showers Wednesday, the Ann Arbor area might get a thunderstorm, the weather service said. Rainfall Wednesday will amount to between a half and three quarters of an inch. A high of 49 is expected.

More rain and possibly a thunderstorm is expected Wednesday night with a low around 39. New rainfall of up to an inch is expected. The chance for rain is 100 percent.

The rain and chance for a thunderstorm continues Thursday with a high near 44. Winds could gust to 44 mph. The chance for precipitation is 90 percent. Up to three-quarters of an inch of new rain could fall.

The soggy conditions will continue Thursday night with up to another half-inch of rain possible. On Friday, both rain and snow showers are possible with a high near 44.

We’ll get a glimpse of the sun on Saturday, when the forecast calls for partly sunny conditions and a high near 42.

Sunday, more showers are possible, but it will be warmer with a high near 52.

For updated forecasts and weather conditions any time, check AnnArbor.com's weather page.

Two Michigan State Police troopers helped save a woman’s life Tuesday afternoon in Ypsilanti Township after finding her in the midst of a heroin overdose.

Two troopers from the Michigan State Police Brighton Post helped save a woman's life Tuesday afternoon.

File photo

Troopers Nolan Przybylo and David Bluhm were on a traffic stop at 5:10 p.m. Tuesday in the 800 block of Dorset Avenue in Ypsilanti Township’s West Willow neighborhood. Michigan State Police Sgt. Mark Thompson said a person interrupted the traffic stop and directed them to a woman who needed help in a nearby home.

When they arrived at the home, Przybolo and Bluhm discovered a woman lying on the floor, not breathing. The resident told the troopers she overdosed on heroin and Przybolo and Bluhm sprang into action.

Thompson said the troopers cleared the woman’s airway and began rescue breathing and contacted emergency medical personnel. Using their first-aid training, the troopers helped the woman for 10 minutes before Huron Valley Ambulance paramedics and Ypsilanti Township firefighters arrived.

“We’re pretty proud of them right now,” Thompson said Wednesday.

The woman was taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital for treatment, and Thompson said she’s expected to recover.

Przybylo and Bluhm were not available for comment about the incident Wednesday morning.

While it’s unusual for a traffic stop to take such a dramatic turn, Thompson said troopers are familiar with helping citizens in need of emergency medical attention.

“It happens on occasion,” he said.

Thompson said the rescue might be especially special for Bluhm, who is one of the Michigan State Police Brighton Post’s newest troopers. Thompson said Bluhm recently graduated from the Michigan State Police Training Academy.

“It’s probably a special thing for him,” Thompson said.

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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.

I like homemade food not just because it's delicious — I also want to believe that when food is made with love, you can actually taste it. My favorite restaurants in town happen to be the few places where I think you can taste the care that went into the food, too.

At the new Juicy Kitchen at Maple and Miller in Ann Arbor, owner Susan Todoroff writes that her mission is "to nurture people with healthy, creative, flavorful food prepared with love." I don't know if love is what I'm tasting, but whatever it is, I want more of it.

The Juicy Kitchen business started up two years ago with healthy prepared meals for home delivery and catering. The success of that venture gave Todoroff the ability to set up her own dedicated production space in January, and the kitchen she found happened to have room for a bite-sized cafe. Open during the week starting at 7 a.m. (and 8 a.m. Saturdays), the Juicy Kitchen Cafe is in a part of town that is short on restaurant options, let alone healthy ones.

The Juicy Kitchen cafe menu is filled with fresh, whole-grain, and minimally sweetened options that leave you feeling virtuous and ready to go conquer something — rather than with that defeated and needing a nap reaction I usually get from the overly greasy, salty and sweet food of most restaurant meals.

Much of the menu at Juicy Kitchen is vegetarian (although they do have bacon from AppleSchram Organic Orchard in Charlotte), and there are many vegan and gluten-free options as well. Todoroff, also a fitness instructor, says, "My goal is to show people that healthy food can be creative, nutritious, delicious, gourmet, and beautiful, and really elevate the reputation that healthy food has."

Breakfast includes things like: scrambled egg "breakfast sliders," hot breakfast cereal bowls of steel-cut oats or quinoa with milk and a little maple syrup, chai-spiced granola, a daily quiche, omelets filled with vegetables, baked whole wheat french toast, and, on Fridays and Saturdays, Scottish oat cakes and baked eggs.

Lunch brings daily homemade (and almost all gluten-free) soups, a multitude of inventive salads, and sandwiches including a daily vegan option. And there are also choices for both decadent and healthy desserts, fresh-squeezed juices, and coffee drinks. Susan Todoroff says, "It's really a selfish menu. It's what I like to eat."

Juicy Kitchen is serious about the health aspect of its food, including whole grains, like quinoa, oats, millet, spelt, and even chia seeds, cooked in lots of delicious ways, on both the savory and the sweet side of the menu. Todoroff says they use only a little raw, vegan sugar as sweetener, preferring bananas, apples and maple syrup in their baked goods.

Fresh greens from the Senna Prairie Farm only a couple of miles away, and beautiful fresh fruit with beautiful raspberries, blueberries, even blackberries, and juicy cara cara oranges garnish almost every plate. Todoroff credits Chef Dan Vernia, whom she hired to help her open the restaurant, with the local sourcing that they do, saying, "Dan knows every farmer in town."

The first couple of times at Juicy Kitchen, I only ordered their roasted apple muffin — but it was such a great muffin! Hearty and filled with fruit and whole grains, and not too sweet.

On another visit, I enjoyed a fluffy omelet filled with fresh greens and goat cheese, with a generous garnish of fresh fruit that was as beautiful to look at as it was delicious to eat. A friend was happy with her breakfast slider, a simple sandwich with scrambled eggs and a spicy sauce on focaccia. The spinach quiche is packed with greens and potatoes, and comes in a whole wheat crust. The french toast, stuffed with light cream cheese, comes on whole wheat bread and real maple syrup. They make their own chai-spiced granola and have a healthy banana bread with the crunch of millet for breakfast too.

The warm quinoa breakfast bowl, Todoroff says, is among their least-ordered items. While her husband really loves the warm cereal served with milk and maple syrup, not many people seem to know about this protein-rich grain with the nutty flavor. Donuts, I heard, fly off the shelf at Juicy Kitchen. The one that can't keep up with customer demand is a vanilla-scented baked donut made with spelt flour. It is deliciously light and perfect with coffee.

The Juicy Kitchen lunch offers a variety of soups made fresh daily — usually gluten-free and often vegan. The French onion soup with stout was filled with caramelized onions in a deeply savory, and not too salty, broth. I loved that the toasted croutons on top were covered with a reasonable amount of melty cheese — not the huge glop that most restaurants serve. I also enjoyed the split pea soup with fennel and coriander — a very successful taste combination with just a hint of the anise flavor from the fennel.

Also for lunch, the salads and sandwiches are exemplary. The tarragon chicken salad in particular was fantastic. It's served open-face on toasted Avalon bread with big chunks of white-meat chicken, shredded romaine, dried cranberries, and just a hint of tarragon in the light dressing that's a combination of yogurt and mayo. I also enjoyed the enormous quinoa salad with fresh greens, slices of fennel and cucumber, crunchy walnuts, creamy goat cheese, and lots of berries in a light sweet and sour white balsamic dressing.

Seekers of desserts at Juicy Kitchen can find both healthy and decadent choices, but all are delicious. The chewy and satisfying oatmeal and chocolate chip "smart" cookies use only ripe banana as a sweetener. The quinoa cookies use a little maple syrup. The chia-chai pudding is like tapioca, but made with the new super-food of moment (chia seeds) flavored with the warm spices of chai.

When the dessert is decadent, like the almond butter cup, made with a Ghirardelli chocolate shell enclosing a vanilla-almond filling, it's on the small side and surrounded with a rainbow of gorgeous berries and fruit. The friend who helped me eat this said "I'm never going to look at another Reese's again. Why bother?"

When I asked Susan Todoroff about her focus on healthy food and whole grains, she talked about the contradiction that exists between what we know we should eat (fruits and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains) and what is out there in the restaurant world. She said, "I hated when I went out to eat and nothing seemed healthy to me. I love to indulge, but I wanted to provide a place where you could go and know you could get some healthy options. It makes me feel better to eat this way."

Not only is the food at Juicy Kitchen healthy and delicious, the experience of being there is also warm and inviting. I observed special requests, dietary restrictions, and children all being catered to with ease and grace. Todoroff chats with everyone, refills glasses and checks in at each table to make sure her guests have what they need.

There aren't many places in town where I want to go again and again, but I'm adding Juicy Kitchen to my list. Todoroff may be offering what she likes to eat, but I think it is what a lot of people would like to be eating as well.

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

Rainy weather Wednesday has caused the Michigan Department of Transportation to cancel an overnight lane closure planned for 9 p.m. Wednesday to 5 a.m. Thursday on eastbound Interstate 94 in southeast Ann Arbor.

The closure was scheduled for the right lane and right shoulder of the road just east of the U.S. 23 interchange and east of the Carpenter Road overpass near mile marker 180.

Lane closures in the same location scheduled for 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Thursday and Friday nights this week will go as planned, but are also dependent on cooperative weather conditions, said Kari Arend, MDOT spokeswoman.

The lane closures are a part of MDOT's ongoing project to replace freeway signs with signs with bigger fonts and higher reflectivity so they can be seen better at night. MDOT expects to complete its sign replacement work on Washtenaw County freeways this month.

View Overnight lane closures on eastbound I-94 in a larger map

Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.

The Ann Arbor Board of Education’s regular meeting may have stretched from Wednesday night in to the wee hours of Thursday morning for the last time.

The board voted unanimously to cap its meetings at five hours duration at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday, effective immediately.

Deb Mexicotte

AnnArbor.com file photo

The board meets at 7 p.m. and the first several hours of the meeting can contain student performances, public comment and staff presentations, which causes the board to discuss and vote on policy late at night.

The new five-hour limit means the meeting must be over by midnight.

Additional time restrictions will be placed on each agenda item for trustees and presenters to follow. Trustees will be able to vote to extend the discussion by 15 minutes.

Those time limits will be set by Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent Pat Green, Mexicotte and two trustees.

Trustee Simone Lightfoot said she felt Mexicotte’s policy changes was too constrictive.

“I feel this is a lot of constraining going on, in a time when we’ve got budget cuts all over the place,” Lightfoot said. “I fear we’re stifling ourselves.”

Simone Lightfoot

Trustee Andy Thomas added that under the new subcommittee structure introduced and later passed by the Board of Education Wednesday night, items coming to the full board will likely have already been vetted, so less discussion would be needed.

The board voted 6-1 to create three subcommittees: Planning, performance and a governance committee that will meet quarterly to provide oversight. Trustee Susan Baskett was the opposing vote.

Subcommittees will be made up of three trustees, and will all be in compliance with the Open Meetings Act, Mexicotte said, meaning the meetings will be announced, open to the public and minutes will be recorded.

Trustees are not required to serve on them, but they can serve on more than one.

Subcommittees were eliminated from the Board of Education in fall 2011. Mexicotte has said she wanted to bring them back to make full board meetings more efficient, and potentially less lengthy.

The move was among a number of other policy changes brought forward by Mexicotte, all of which were passed by the board after much discussion and some dissent.

• Read Mexicotte's policy changes

Mexicotte had worded the policy to only allow another trustee to sit in on a subcommittee meeting as a guest if one member of the subcommittee was absent to keep a sub-quorum and avoid a functional quorum.

Lightfoot asked if the wording to Mexicotte’s proposed policy could be changed to allow a trustee to sit in on a different subcommittee meeting from the one on which they serve if they have a vested interest in the topic on the agenda -- a move that Trustee Glenn Nelson supported.

“The real question here is do we as trustees trust the committee structure, or do we not?” Thomas said. “Experience has shown that when that person attends, the visitor does not sit there like a potted plant. … Inevitably, they become engaged in the conversation.”

Lightfoot introduced a friendly amendment to Mexicotte’s drafted language that would allow a trustee to sit in on a three-member subcommittee meeting but not participate.

Trustee Christine Stead said she believed that the action would violate the Open Meetings Act and so she would not be supporting it.

“My feeling is that it does not pass legal muster; that we can’t do this,” Mexicotte said.

The measure quickly died in a 3-4 vote, with trustees Baskett and Glenn Nelson supporting Lightfoot.

Time limits to subcommittee meetings were set at two hours, after trustees Nelson and Irene Patalan voiced objections to Mexicott’s proposed three-hour cap.

Measures passed Wednesday night also removed “Committee of the Whole” language from the organization’s bylaws.

Mexicotte will be working throughout the next two weeks to develop the subcommittees.

Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.

Saline's Andrew White throws a pitch during a quarterfinal game last season.

AnnArbor.com file

It may be early in the season, but it’s never too early to start ranking teams.

This week marks the first week of the AnnArbor.com/MLive.com spring sports rankings.

Some teams didn’t open their season until this week. Some haven’t played at all yet. So we’ll draw on preseason outlooks as we put together some rankings that are sure to evolve radically throughout the course of the season.

We’ll rank five area sports each week, and spotlight one of them. This week, we’re focusing on baseball.

And the team at the top is the one that’s been there for the past five years: Saline. The Hornets are ranked No. 8 in Division 1 in the preseason Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association rankings, and started the season Saturday by winning a tournament in Blissfield, sweeping all three teams.

“This year is going to be a big year,” pitcher Michael Hendrickson said before the season. I’m expecting big things. I’ve definitely been well prepared by the people before me and by my coaches.”

Hendrickson is one of two new starters the Hornets will be breaking in. Hendrickson went four hitless innings in Saline’s opening tournament, and Eric Berki pitched all seven innings, giving up two runs against Monroe Jefferson.

At the plate, Trent Theisen led the way with six hits in the three games, and AJ Korzuck had five.

Baseball

1. Saline: No surprise here, the program that has been to Battle Creek four of the past five years sets the standard for area high school baseball.

2. Chelsea: The Bulldogs went to the state quarterfinals last year, the furthest of any team besides Saline.

3. Huron: The River Rats boast the area’s best player in Demetrius Sims, and started the season with a split with Allen Park.

4. Dexter: The reigning district champs fell twice to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s before topping Pinckney Tuesday.

5. Milan: The Big Reds are 4-0 after sweeping Dundee Saturday and Ypsilanti before that.

Softball

1. Milan: The Big Reds were the only district champions from Washtenaw County last year, but have had all their games postponed so far this year.

2. Chelsea: The Bulldogs went 30-2 during the regular season last year to win their first SEC title in eight years.

3. Saline: The Hornets don’t open their season until Saturday, but when they do they’ll be looking for another league title.

4. Manchester: Manchester started its year with a 13-0 win over Whitmore Lake, after reaching a district final last year.

Milan's softball team has a tough act to follow after making the state quarterfinals last year.

Boys Track

1. Saline: The area power finished 3rd at last year’s state meet and should be having another big year.

2. Chelsea: While Saline finished 3rd in Division 2, Chelsea finished 3rd in Division 2 following an SEC White title and have Berkley Edwards back.

3. Pioneer: The Pioneers finished third last year in the SEC Red, second among county teams, but have lost state champion Drake Johnson.

4. Ypsilanti: The Phoenix finished ninth in the state last year, but were pummeled 111-23 to Chelsea Wednesday night in its season opener. The loss of 100-meter dash champion Austin Sanders hurts the Phoenix.

5. Lincoln: Central Michigan football commit Tyree Waller returns to the Railsplitters after a runner-up finish in the long jump.

Girls Track

1. Saline: The Hornets finished fifth in the state last year and started the year of with a 101-36 win over Pioneer Tuesday.

2. Chelsea: The Bulldogs took their dual meet win streak to 25 with a Tuesday night win over Ypsilanti.

3. Huron: The River Rats were state runners up last year, but will have to deal with the departures of state champions Maya Long and Cindy Ofili.

4. Pioneer: The Pioneers were eighth-place finishers at last year’s state meet, and 300 hurdles runner-up Chinonye Uche returns this year.

5. Lincoln: Chelsea may have the dual meet streak, but Lincoln was last year’s SEC White champion.

Girls Soccer

Jenny Fichera

Jeffrey Smith | AnnArbor.com file photo

2. Saline: The Hornets went 15-6-3 last year and reached a regional final, topping Skyline and Huron in the district tournament.

3. Father Gabriel Richard: The Irish were 14-3-1 last year and are 2-1 on this season.

4. Huron: The River Rats topped Pioneer and lost a close game to Saline in last year’s district tournament.

5. Pioneer: Jenny Fichera is back for the Pioneers, who tied Trenton to open their season Wednesday.

Kyle Austin covers sports for AnnArbor.com.

Editor's note: This article has been edited to clarify that the new budget projects include staff salary cuts. Updated revenue projections and staff salary cuts for the Ann Arbor Public Schools in the 2013-14 school year indicate the district will need to cut nearly $9 million less than it anticipated about six months ago, district officials said Wednesday.

Initial projections left the Board of Education and district administrators grappling with a $17 million budget hole that would need to be cut from its operations. New revenue estimates now indicate the deficit is $12 million, which has been partially offset by $3.4 million in salary cuts agreed to by district staff in March.

The Ann Arbor Board of Education

Courtesy AAPS

The information was a part of a revenue report from Hoover Wednesday night at the Ann Arbor Board of Education’s regular meeting.

It’s the first of two reports on the 2013-14 budget outlook, as the next will be April 24 on expenditures.

“It is still nearly $9 million in cuts … I don’t think we quite even know how we’re going to get to $9 million,” said school board President Deb Mexicotte, noting, “This is a much-improved outlook.”

• Read the 2013-14 revenue report

Budget proposals are being floated at the state level by Gov. Rick Snyder, the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate that each contain different levels of funding for schools in the state, adding a certain degree of uncertainty to Hoover’s revenue projections.

Per-pupil state funding, or foundation allowance, is projected to remain the same as it has for the past three years at $9,020 per student. There are about 16,269 students in the district.

The district’s $180.59 million projected revenue for its general fund in 2013-14 is comprised as follows:

• $145.9 million in foundation allowance
• $2.84 million from local sources, including $800,000 from pay-to-play and athletics, $1 million from the parking project and $500,000 in tower rentals at school facilities
• $13.53 million in state sources, most of which comes from special education reimbursements and retirement funds
• $18.32 million in inter-district and financing sources, most of which comes from special education reimbursements

Spending for 2013-14 projected to be $192.66 million. Of that figure, the district will save $3.4 million in concessions made by three unions, resulting in total net spending of $189.26 million.

Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent Pat Green thanked the union members Wednesday for taking salary cuts.

Green told AnnArbor.com in a March interview that she would accept a cut to her $245,00 salary to help balance the budget.

The principal's union has called for a $50,000 reduction to her salary.

In November, initial budget projections showed a $17 million deficit that would have to be cut from the district’s operations.

The board had asked for an early budget projection at that time as it was concerned that the district would be facing a large impending deficit in the 2013-14 budget cycle and wanted to prepare accordingly.

“At that time we were told by our administrative staff, appropriately, that the revenue projections included a lot of unknowns. … We were following our due diligence in asking for a budget early in the year,” said Trustee Andy Thomas, noting that even cutting $8.67 million instead of $17 million will still be tough.

Fluctuating state reimbursement rates for certain programs have accounted for the majority of the positive change in the revenue outlook for the school district.

AAPS administrators have yet to present a budget proposal and have not made decisions regarding programs or schools that would be up for elimination or reduction.

A number of music, theater and athletic programs, as well as school operations, have been scrutinized in the mean ime.

As operations at Roberto Clemente Student Development Center in Pittsfield Township are again under the magnifying glass during the budget development process for the district, school board members voted late Wednesday night to place an item on a future board agenda to discuss the school. The motion was made by Trustee Susan Baskett.

The revenue outlook could change once again for the AAPS as various state budget proposals have been floated.

Per-student allocations through the Best Practices Incentive Funds would be reduced from $52 to $16 under Gov. Snyder’s proposed budget, which would also add more requirements for schools to meet in order to receive the money.

“We have had to jump through hoops to get the Best Practice Incentive Funds … and now they want to cut it down to $16 per student?” said Trustee Simone Lightfoot.

Lightfoot said she was concerned that meeting the additional requirements would cost the district more than it would receive through the program in 2013-14.

The reimbursement rate in the previous 2011-12 school year was $100 and had fewer stipulations than the number required now for receiving the funding.

The school district has been hosting a series of community dialogs on the budget to engage the public in the process. The final two are:

• 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 — Fourth Floor of the Ann Arbor Public Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave. Board members expected to attend: Irene Patalan, Glenn Nelson and Deb Mexicotte.
• 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, April 20 — Scarlett Middle School Media Center, 3300 Lorraine St. Board members expected to attend: Susan Baskett, Nelson and Mexicotte.

Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.

The 618 South Main apartments project in Ann Arbor is planned for the site of the former Fox Tent & Awning building, north of Mosley between Main and Ashley. The existing structures on the site are to be demolished to make way for a 156-unit apartment building. This is the site as it looked on Monday, viewed from Ashley Street.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

"I'm going to have an apartment on the top floor," said Ketelaar of Ann Arbor-based Urban Group Development, 225 S. Ashley St.

"I've reserved an apartment for myself and I'm going to fix it up," he said. "I think it's a great spot. I think it's a great neighborhood."

Ketelaar said he'll be moving out of his house on Ann Arbor's east side, and his significant other will be joining him in their new near-downtown abode.

"It's going to be a good product, so why wouldn't I be proud enough to move in there?" he said. "I think it's going to be a nice community."

Dan Ketelaar

Ketelaar, using himself as an example, says he's expecting the apartments also will have some appeal among empty nesters who want to downsize and move closer to downtown.

"While we're focused on young professionals, we think this is a real opportunity for people my age," he said.

Ketelaar had hoped to break ground in May, but he said the timeline's been pushed back — he's been lining up financing, revising the plans, and reducing the scope of the project.

He plans to eliminate an entire floor, reducing the building from seven to six stories, while the number of apartments drops from 182 to 156.

He hopes to have construction underway sometime in July, and he expects to be able to welcome the first tenants by summer of 2014.

"We're moving forward with it," he said. "We've gotten all our approvals and financing in place and we're in the process of getting our guaranteed maximum price from our contractor, so we're finishing all our architectural drawings and taking it through that process."

Ketelaar said his decision to reduce the building height was driven by concerns expressed by some members of the community who thought seven stories was too high. He said it also happens to work out for him financially, so he'll be asking the city's planning department to approve the revisions.

"We became more efficient with the building," he said. "There's less wasted space."

Wendy Rampson, the city's planning manager, said representatives for 618 South Main have told the city they want to make some administrative changes to the site plan, but those changes haven't been filed yet. Administrative changes typically are minor and don't require council approval.

Changes mentioned thus far, Rampson said, include raising the finished floor elevation, removing upper-floor units and connecting the pool house to the club house.

Ketelaar said the revised plans still include two floors of underground parking and amenities such as a 1,400-square-foot indoor lounge, fitness center, pool, outdoor areas with fire pits, and a rooftop terrace on the north side on the sixth floor.

"The benefit of this is you can go downstairs to a 1,400-square-foot living room," he said, envisioning the lounge will be a gathering place for tenants and foster a sense of community.

Ketelaar said more than a third of the units will be studio apartments, roughly 30 will be two-bedroom units, and the rest will be one-bedroom units.

Project architect Mike Siegel, left, and developer Dan Ketelaar hold up a rendering of 618 South Main at an Ann Arbor City Council meeting last June when the project was approved.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

Ketelaar said he's partnering with U.S. Equities Realty, a full-service commercial real estate firm headquartered in Chicago, to make the project happen.

U.S. Equities Realty has been responsible for a number of major projects in Chicago. It managed the design and engineering phases of the Jay Pritzker Music Pavilion (designed by Frank Gehry) in Chicago's Millennium Park, as well as Gehry's B.P. Pedestrian Bridge.

The company also oversaw the engineering and fabrication of Anish Kapoor's famous Cloud Gate sculpture, as well as the design and production of Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain.

Chicago-based Clayco has been chosen to oversee the construction. Ketelaar said they'll be hiring many Southeast Michigan subcontractors and it'll be a union job.

Washtenaw Engineering is handling civil engineering, Ann Arbor-based Robert Darvas Associates PC is the structural engineer, and Shannan Gibb-Randall of Ann Arbor-based InSite Design Studio is the landscape architect. The building architect is Mike Siegel of Chicago-based VOA Associates.

The Habitat Co., a Chicago-based property manager, will handle leasing for 618 South Main. The company already manages two other apartment complexes in Ann Arbor: Lake Village on the city's south side and Windemere Park on the city's northeast side.

Ketelaar said it's still about a $37.5 million project. He's getting more than $6.5 million in public incentives to undertake the project, including a $3 million Community Revitalization Program loan from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., tax-increment financing assistance valued at $2.9 million, and a $650,000 grant from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority.

According to the MEDC, $2.2 million in school taxes resulting from the project will be captured and reinvested into the project, along with $679,793 in local taxes. The money the DDA is chipping in will pay for streetscape improvements along South Main.

Mayor John Hieftje noted the project has support from the Old West Side Association, which told city officials last year the developer did a great job of working with neighbors to refine the design. Hieftje, who grew up in the neighborhood on Princeton Avenue, said he welcomes the project.

With the 618 South Main project coming, Affordable Vet Services of Ann Arbor vacated its space on Ashley Street next to the Fox Tent & Awning and moved across town to 2117 W. Stadium Blvd.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

The project is at the site of the former Fox Tent & Awning building, north of Mosley between Main and Ashley. Existing structures on the site still need to be demolished.

The fact that none of that work has been visible yet has led some to question whether Ketelaar was struggling to line up financing for the project.

"It's more procedural," he explained. "It's a brownfield project, so we had to go through that whole process with the state, finalize that, and move forward. It just takes time."

Ketelaar said financing a $37.5 million apartment project that isn't student housing takes a lot of work, especially when "people still look askew at Michigan, even though Ann Arbor is a strong community."

"Things have changed in the last year and a half to two years," he added. "It was more of a concern two years ago than it is now. The economy is changing."

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.

Avantis Parker and Willie Wimberly

The delayed hearing for the men accused of killing an Ypsilanti Township man is scheduled to held in the 14A-1 District Court Thursday.

AnnArbor.com reporter Kyle Feldscher will be following the scheduled hearing including testimony from Avantis Parker and Willie Wimberly starting at 8:30 a.m.

The men are accused in the death of Brandon Charles, who was shot dead hours before he was scheduled to testify against Wimberly in a road-rage case in Detroit.

Wimberly, of Trenton, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree premeditated murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon.

Parker, of Northville, faces charges of open murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and carrying a concealed weapon.

Wimberly and Parker are both facing life sentences if convicted on murder charges stemming from Charles’ Jan. 29 death. Charles was shot and killed in a vehicle parked in front of a house in the 600 block of Calder Avenue in Ypsilanti Township’s West Willow neighborhood, just hours before he was scheduled to testify against Wimberly.

According to police, Wimberly shot Charles and his girlfriend in a road rage incident on Jan. 1.

Both men are being held in jail without bond.

The first of four “Community Dialogues” was held at Clague Middle School on March 28, and it drew a sizeable crowd. Hosted by alternating AAPS school board members, these meetings are an invitation to the community to share creative ideas on how the district might generate more funds to stave off or reduce further cuts.

In some cases proposed cuts are based on an expectation that programs can attract more private or corporate funds, or that staff can consolidate functions. Rather than pitting proponents of specific programs (or opponents to their cuts) against each other, perhaps the conversation should be framed as a discussion of principles and data that should guide the decision making process.

Several of the night’s speakers eloquently addressed the values intrinsic in a school system that maintains its arts, music and theater programs - that gives students with those interests and gifts an environment that appreciates and supports their creativity. Few would deny the importance of establishing a guiding value that states our community wants schools that support the success of a diverse student population.

Much to my surprise two very drastic cuts with far-reaching consequences went unmentioned during that first Community Dialogue (at least until — with two minutes to go — I raised them):

1. Eliminating high school transportation ($466,000 savings), and
2. Eliminating middle school transportation ($1.2 million savings)

Both measures would create at best an inconvenience and at worst incredible hardship to many AAPS families. Hardest hit will be families who live furthest from their home schools, particularly those without cars and/or with inflexible work schedules. Families with low incomes will be disproportionally affected, of course, and for some it might be nearly impossible to get their children to school. Consider for example high school students living at Carrot Way, a supportive housing complex off Dhu Varren Road. Mapquest estimates it would take them over 2 hours to walk to SkylineHigh School. Currently the high school graduation rate for economically disadvantaged AAPS students hovers around 67 percent — meaning one in three AAPS students from families with low incomes does not graduate high school. This number will likely worsen if transportation to middle or high schools is eliminated. And, since African American students are disproportionally represented in the economically disadvantaged category, the much-lamented achievement gap will no doubt grow wider.

As the discussion of AAPS budget cuts continues, perhaps the examination of the values intrinsic in these decisions should be clearly illuminated. While Ann Arbor values diversity, families with low incomes often don’t make it on the radar of decision makers. Without a doubt, cutting middle and high school transportation will hurt many students from economically disadvantaged families disproportionally. A community that makes those cuts sends a clear message about how much importance it places on the investment in their success.

Will AAPS cut transportation to middle and high schools? Certainly if no or few objections are raised during these Community Dialogues trustees will be justified in concluding that is not important to parents. There are two more Community Dialogues opportunities to express your opinions: April 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the downtown library, and April 20, from 9 to 11 a.m. at Scarlett Middle School. Emails to the Board of Education can be sent to: boe@aaps.k12.mi.us.

Joan M. Doughty is the executive director for the Community Action Network.

A crash was slowing traffic on Interstate 94 east of Ann Arbor Thursday morning.

The crash, on westbound I-94 near Michigan Avenue, was not believed to be blocking the roadway, but a Google map showed a significant backup on the freeway.

Further information, including how many cars were involved, was not immediately available. Michigan State Police had not yet reached the crash, a dispatcher with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office said just before 8 a.m.

View Crash 0411 in a larger map

• Update: Police: Missing U-M medical school employee found dead from fall

The University of Michigan Police are releasing no new information Thursday morning about the employee from the medical school who went missing on Tuesday.

Heping Zhao

Courtesy of U-M Police

DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown said she expected to be able to release further information about the investigation later Thursday.

Heping Zhao left a lab at the Medical Science II building to go for a walk at 11 a.m. Tuesday, and didn't return.

Zhao is a 63-year-old Asian man from Pittsfield Township. He was last seen wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt and brown or khaki pants. He is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs about 150 pounds.

Zhao works as a pathologist assistant in the Division of Anatomical Sciences, according to the Department of Medical Education website. The university police ask that anyone with information about Zhao's whereabouts call at 734-763-1131.

Kody Klein is an intern for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at kklein@mlive.com

Revolution. Our country was built on it. The French tamed the nobility. Russia, China and Cuba became socialist nations. Revolutions can also inspire some epic songs.

Who knows, perhaps the Pops will have you ready to start your own revolution.

Or just maybe clean the house. Viva la revolution!

Sunday, April 14, 2013. 7 p.m. $5-$8. Buy tickets at Ticketmaster.com or at the door. The Michigan Theater is located at 603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor. 734-668-8397. Get more information at umuac.org/mpo/.

Great Big Sea

The foursome will play plenty of old favorites as well as some new tunes at an Ark-sponsored concert at the Michigan Theater. Anyone who has seen Great Big Sea live knows to expect a high-energy performance and an equally fired-up crowd that’s on its feet for most of the show. And—trust me—they know every word of every song, even the new ones.

“We’ve prided ourselves from day one on giving people a great night out,” frontman Alan Doyle explained recently. “That’s what music started for me as a little kid—music was a great night out at home, it was a great night out in the pubs. That’s never left me. The first and foremost function of a concert is to give people a great night out. That’s what I want to do and I want to have one myself.”

According to Doyle, the secret of the band’s longevity is simple: “We wanted to do it really badly,” he said. “There’s a big pile of reasons to stop you along the way. You have to have a real honest to God desire to do it the next day. We’ve always wanted to do this for a living, not just for a weekend.”

Although they can act a little goofy on stage, all the members of Great Big Sea are talented multi-instrumentalists, fluent in everything from guitar, fiddle and drums to the accordion, mandolin, Irish whistles, concertina, fiddle and bodhran. They fuse traditional music of Newfoundland with modern pop and rock, playing both Newfoundland standards and original tunes.

To mark the band's anniversary, Great Big Sea has compiled “XX,” a two-disc album that features career highlights (such as “Paddy Murphy,” “Old Black Rum,” “Consequence Free” and “Ordinary Day”) as well as six new songs. For hardcore fans, there’s also a second, three-disc, 60-track deluxe box set available.

“It was tougher than we thought,” Doyle said of the song selection process. “There were 14-15 obvious choices for each CD, but the last five or six were a bit of a hassle. We kind of had to vote.”

None of the songs have been reworked for the CDs, although there a couple of new tunes included, such as “Heart of Hearts,” “Born to Believe,” “Live This Life” and a cover of the Pete Townshend tune “Let My Love Open the Door,” which they have been including in their live sets recently.

“We wanted to give people a bit more than expected, so there’s a couple of new folky things and a couple of new original things,” said Doyle.

At heart, Doyle added, Great Big Sea is still a rowdy pub band, flying under mainstream radar but attracting crowds to their live shows nonetheless.

“We’re kind of punching above our weight all the time,” he said. “We’re this folk band that’s headlining the biggest theaters or club in just about every major city in the U.S. and we’re doing ice hockey rinks in Canada. We always felt like we were getting away with something.”

Doyle said he and his mates are delighted to be charting a course to Ann Arbor again, and admitted he’s lost track of the number of times he’s played here, first at The Ark and then the Michigan Theater.

“We’ve played there a ton. Ann Arbor is one of those places you hope exist—a perfect town, a perfect gig, a perfect audience. Thank God for Ann Arbor,” he said.

Fans welcome the Michigan basketball team as it returns to Crisler Center April 9.

Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com

Crain's Detroit Business reports that the university received up to $55 million in free media exposure over the course of six tournament games.

The figure is an approximation from the Ann Arbor-based Joyce Julius & Associates Inc., which measures the impact of sponsorships across all forms of media. The firm calculated the worth of the vast, national publicity Michigan received by comparing the free exposure to the going rate for paid, national ads.

The firm told Crain's that U-M likely received between $10 million to $15 million in exposure during tournament events, through uniforms, announcer mentions and television graphics, as well as $40 million worth of exposure in print articles, television programs and ads.

• Read the full story in Crain's.

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

During the show, one revealed clue read, "An Ann Arbor cafe that's big on lunch shares its name with this song that had "Skyrockets in Flight" - leading, of course, to the question, "What is Afternoon Delight?"

We can now all claim one degree of Alex Trebek.

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.

Heping Zhao

Courtesy of U-M Police

The body of Heping Zhao, the 63-year-old University of Michigan medical school employee reported missing Wednesday, was found by a university staff member at 9 a.m. Thursday, police said.

Zhao was found on the ground in a secluded area between a parking structure and a building in the complex where he worked, at 1170 West Medical Center Drive, said U-M police spokeswoman Diane Brown

The body was found "in a little bit of space between the side of the parking structure and the side of the building" underneath an elevated walkway that connects the structure with the building, Brown said. The walkway is not enclosed.

“It is likely that his cause of death was from a fall,” Brown said, adding that police are still investigating where exactly Zhao fell from and also what caused the fall. Police said foul play is not suspected.

Zhao's wife, who reported her husband's disappearance Wednesday, has been notified, Brown said. An autopsy will be performed.

The University of Michigan Health System released a statement Thursday afternoon soon after the discovery of Zhao's body.

"The U-M Medical School community is saddened by the death of Heping Zhao, who had been a valuable staff member in our Department of Medical Education for more than a decade, and played a key role in the education of thousands of health professionals," Kara Gavin, a spokeswoman for UMHS, wrote in the statement. "We extend our deepest condolences to his wife, who has been a volunteer in Medical Education, and to his family, friends and colleagues in the Division of Anatomical Sciences."

The statement goes on to say that Zhao's worked at educating and training medical students. He was an anatomist and was central to the preparation of anatomical specimens for U-M's Plastination Lab. They will continue to be used to teach anatomical concepts at U-M and other institutions, according to the statement.

"In (his) role, and in our anatomy courses for first-year medical students, he worked closely with many future physicians as they learned the intricacies of the human body," Gavin stated. "He created a legacy of learning, and will be greatly missed."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

This story has been updated with comments from UMHS.

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John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

Ann Arbor-based book publisher Ben Mondloch has been fighting trends since he started Cherry Lake Publishing four years ago. While the rise of e-books and the economy have made life difficult for traditional publishers, Mondloch saw sales jump 25 percent in 2012, according to a story in the Detroit Free Press.

Local and regionally focused children's books have sold well for Sleeping Bear Press.

Mondloch credits his success to a focus on data and creating demand for the titles his companies publish.

• Read the full story from the Detroit Free Press.

Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Reach out to Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2

Stephen Leith

Courtesy of MDOC

The science teacher who gunned down the superintendent of Chelsea schools and injured two other officials back in 1993 spoke to Bridge Magazine recently about his faith and gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings.

Stephen Leith, who will be 59 in May, shot and killed Superintendent Joseph Piasecki and wounded Principal Ron Mead and teacher Phil Jones at Chelsea High School in December 1993 after an argument about inappropriate remarks Leith made about a female student, Bridge reports.

Almost 20 years later, Leith spoke with the online magazine from the prison in Carson City, where he is currently serving a life sentence.

Leith talks about how the issue of gun control is essentially out of mankind's hands.

“It’s a hard question to answer,” he tells Bridge. “My point of view is you can go ahead and control anything, and it’s not going to stop this stuff from happening. These are man-made efforts to try to correct what can’t be corrected.”

Read the Bridge article.

John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

John Hiatt performs at the Michigan Theater in 2011.

Jeff Sainlar | AnnArbor.com file photo

The acclaimed singer-songwriter guitarist typically plays more Michigan Theater-sized venues.

John Hiatt and the Combo are set to play The Ark Sunday, Aug. 4. For this show, The Ark will have a larger-than-usual section for reserved seating, with "Gold Circle" seating available at the center front of the club.

Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 13, in person at the Michigan Union Ticket Office or by phone at 734-763-8587. Online orders start at 10 a.m. Saturday through the Michigan Union Ticket Office.

Tickets are priced at $50, $65 and $75.

Hiatt's better-known songs include "Have a Little Faith in Me"; "Cry Love"; and "Thing Called Love," which was a major hit for Bonnie Raitt. His latest album is "Mystic Pinball."

Bob Needham is director of entertainment content for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at bobneedham@annarbor.com or 734-623-2541, and follow him on Twitter @bobneedham.