No cash? No problem. Men and women ringing the bells outside now take plastic. The nostalgic scene will no longer have the sound of change falling into a tin can, but now more of a swipe and a printing receipt sound.

Excerpt:

The Salvation Army of Washtenaw County will kick off its annual Red Kettle Campaign with an event beginning at noon on Friday, Nov. 20 inside Briarwood Mall. A giant red kettle measuring 6 feet tall and 6 feet around will be set up in the Celebration Center next to the play area in the JCPenney court. 

The Red Kettle Campaign is going high tech this year with the addition of credit card machines at three kettles in Briarwood Mall and one kettle at Sam's Club in Ypsilanti. TSA-WC is the first corps in the state of Michigan, as well as The Salvation Army’s Central Territory, to use credit card machines at its kettles.

"People who don’t tend to carry cash now have a convenient and safe way to donate to our Red Kettle Campaign," said Washtenaw County Coordinator Major John Williams. "The machines don’t hold the credit card data – the data is transmitted through a secure cellular connection."

Read the entire story here.

IQ, schmIQ... according to a study that began in a preschool in Ypsilanti. Well, OK, so the study doesn't exactly say "IQ, schmIQ," but it discovered that IQ isn't the only factor when looking at achievement.

Forrest, "Stupid is as stupid does," was right.


Excerpt:

From the Perry Preschool, in Ypsilanti, Mich., comes one of the most influential demonstrations that factors other than intelligence play a large role in determining achievement.

In the 1960s, researchers began a study of 123 African-American children born into poverty. When the children were 3 years old, they were randomly assigned to either a treatment group, and given a high-quality preschool education, or to a control group, which received no preschool education at all.

The subjects were then tracked over the ensuing decades, with the most recent analysis comparing the groups at the age of 40. The differences, even decades after the intervention, were stark: adults assigned to the preschool program were 20 percent more likely to have graduated from high school and 19 percent less likely to have been arrested more than five times.

Read the entire article here.

So you've heard about this "greening" thing. You've done some research. You'd like to check it out, maybe apply some of it to your house. But, you don't know how or don't know what... Well, look no further than the Clean Energy Coalition. They've set up a boutique in the back of their non-profit offices to give you the knowledge and the opportunity to get what you need and what you want when it comes to greening your home.

Excerpt:

The Clean Energy Coalition has opened up a store and education outlet for homeowners interested in greening their houses.

The Ypsilanti-based nonprofit recently moved its offices to the back of the storefront and opened the "boutique" clean-energy store earlier this month.

Project manager Deb Heed said the goal is to showcase energy-efficiency products in a space that allows customer to ask questions of experts and make their purchase decisions that the same time. The Energy Outlet, located at 44 E. Cross St., has sections for lighting, insulation and sealing, water conservation, power use and more.

Read the entire article here.

No, it's not Hollywood. It's not Los Angeles. It's Ypsi. If you've seen someone who looks like Hillary Swank or Minnie Driver or Sam Rockwell hanging around Ypsi and the Ann Arbor area lately, you're not seeing stars (literally). They are shooting a new movie in and around town.

Excerpt:

Starring Hilary Swank, Minnie Driver and Sam Rockwell, "Betty Anne Waters" has already been filmed in Ann Arbor, Chelsea and Ypsilanti. It was announced in February that filming would begin Monday in the Freeman Bunting Insurance building on Michigan Avenue in Downtown Ypsilanti.

The movie is based on the true story of a working mother in Massachusetts who puts herself through law school to represent her brother after his murder conviction.

Read the entire article here.

After years of speculation and meetings, the Detroit to Ann Arbor light rail should begin in October. Some communities, like Dearborn, are hoping to get a jump on the process to expedite the ride.

Excerpt:

A three-year trial system of a proposed intermodal rail passenger station that would allow passengers to ride from Ann Arbor to Detroit is slated to begin next October.

Officials in the city of Dearborn are looking to get a jump on the process, as on March 2, the Dearborn City Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing Mayor Jack O'Reilly to execute an amendment to renew and extend a contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) through Sept. 30 for site selection, environmental assessment and preliminary engineering and design of an intermodal station in Dearborn.

Read the entire article here.

Telecommuters all over the land, or at least the Ypsi/Ann Arbor area, will have free wi-fi access in downtown parks, restaurants and those coffee shops that haven't entered the 21st Century. Ypsi Wireless, a community wireless system, though still very limited to business districts and high density areas, now offers its free service in Ann Arbor's downtown.

Excerpt:

"We want to see how big we can make the network ... with thousands of people using it every day and doing it cooperatively," said Steve Pierce, who co-founded Wireless Ypsi with Ypsilanti City Council member Brian Robb.

Pierce owns Internet consulting and Web services business HDL, which manages the Wireless Ypsi system.

Wireless Ypsi launched in January 2008 as a way to provide free wireless Internet access mainly around downtown Ypsilanti. The system uses San Francisco-based Meraki Network's hardware.

Read the entire article here.

A city without a downtown is like a book without its pages. So it's a good thing to know that Ann Arbor and Ypsi have prioritized the coming year by focusing on keeping their downtowns vibrant.

Excerpt:

Economic health will always affect and be affected by our downtown areas. It's good to see them among both councils' priorities. Each one is critical to each city's appeal, and both will need great care. Of course, this isn't a new concern. Ypsilanti administrators have already assembled an economic team and streamlined tax-abatement rules, while Ann Arbor's specific goal of zoning revisions is the result of a lengthy process. The plan is still being revised, and it will be important to ensure that the result makes it easier, not harder, to do business downtown.

Read the entire article here.

It's time to change it up a bit. The old ways aren't working as well as they used to. Time to push for more clean energy technologies, more alternative energies, and longer lasting, energy-efficient light bulbs. And this is what Clean Energy Coalition, an Yspi non-profit, plans to do with their new project "Rebuild Ypsi."

Excerpt:

The project is intended to reduce energy costs by assisting in energy efficiency improvements for commercial buildings such as offices, retail, restaurants and multifamily residential.

“We're extremely excited to work right here in the community towards energy efficiency practices that will benefit building owners and renters financially because of the continuous increase in energy prices," said CEC Executive Director Sean Reed.

Rebuild Ypsilanti is part of a larger effort in the State of Michigan, not surprisingly called, Rebuild Michigan. The Michigan Energy Office, headed under the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth, provided $102,213 to Ypsilanti’s CEC and four other communities as part of a start up assistance grant.

Read the entire article here.