׉?ׁB!בCטFFu׉׉ 7cassandra://rrqc9g03MbNXpMUALkvE_C46A-oq7Bq35n8pnOkaZcQ`׉ 7cassandra://1rzs9ItPojjMgoiv15DQqiE4X3ZOiZaSGPkEqiMefUY~z`h׉ 7cassandra://E5tTnwUX15-6eWPLcHV5KQgp2Mj7cC1o0eDPlH4QAiE+y`jbIH3%>טFu׈s׈EjbIH3%)׉E2 $ JULY 24, 2026 | VOLUME 17 | ISSUE 16 YOUR PURCHASE BENEFITS THE VENDORS. PLEASE BUY ONLY FROM BADGED VENDORS. U-M nurses reach tentative contract agreement. page 9 MEET YOUR VENDOR: JOE WOODS PAGE 3 GROUNDCOVER NEWS AND SOLUTIONS FROM THE GROUND UP | WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICH. HUD tries, again, to move federal homelessness funding away from permanent housing. page 8 Washtenaw Continuun of Care grapples with federal changes. page 9 THIS PAPER WAS BOUGHT FROM • Proposal: Housing-development accelerator Washington DC. Photo by Andy Feliciotti • Charbonneau: Open your eyes to housing inequity. PAGE 4 @groundcovernews, include vendor name and vendor # ׉ 7cassandra://E5tTnwUX15-6eWPLcHV5KQgp2Mj7cC1o0eDPlH4QAiE+y`jbIH3%*jbIH3%) בCט u׉׉ 7cassandra://YGtjIEeiG4DIaQZ1xcRGY585nhOQf1am-YYc1zpl7zgJ`I׉ 7cassandra://A8CSKulaacnKeBjqt5d1mobM1lchOgM8actEGGqsrNI&*`׉ 7cassandra://eHfCPqBIMbEIDFVIzrtmzpUgYgOuDVOvk5h3wGRfGEoU`jbIH3%BנjbIH3%A؁9׉Hhttp://www.groundcovernews.orgGׁ ׁ rנjbIH3%G܁9ׁHhttp://www.groundcovernews.orgׁ ׁ ЈנjbIH3%F 9ׁH"mailto:contact@groundcovernews.comׁ ׁ ЈנjbIH3%Ew!9ׁH&mailto:submissions@groundcovernews.comׁ ׁ Ј׉E +2 GROUNDCOVER NEWS GROUNDCOVER JULY 24, 2026 PROVIDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR SELFDETERMINED INDIVIDUALS IMPACTED BY POVERTY, PRODUCING A STREET NEWSPAPER THAT GIVES A PLATFORM TO UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES IN WASHTENAW COUNTY, PROMOTING AN ACTION TO BUILD A JUST, CARING AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETY. Groundcover News, a 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in April 2010 as a means to empower lowincome persons to make the transitions from homeless to housed, and from jobless to employed. Vendors purchase each copy of our regular editions of Groundcover News at our office for 50 cents. This money goes towards production costs. Vendors work selling the paper on the street for $2, keeping all income and tips from each sale. Vendors are the main contributors to the paper, and are compensated to write and report. Street papers like Groundcover News exist in cities all over the United States, as well as in more than 40 other countries, in an effort to raise awareness of the plight of homeless people and combat the increase in poverty. Our paper is a proud member of the International Network of Street Papers. STAFF Lindsay Calka — publisher Cynthia Price — editor PROOFREADERS Susan Beckett June Miller Anabel Sicko ISSUE CONTRIBUTORS Elizabeth Bauman Pedro Campos Roberto Isla Caballero The Confused Cloud David Crane Hannah Howell Mike Jones Aenea Kanaan Yarden Azoulay Katz Alexandra Lalli James Manning Khalil Muhammad Joseph Schreiber Will Shakespeare Denise Shearer Tommy Spaghetti Stephen Ward Felicia Wilbert VOLUNTEERS Jane Atkins Jessi Averill Libby Chambers Stephanie Dong Jacob Fallman Ben Foster Glenn Gates Robert Klingler Aklesia Maereg Margaret Patston Mary Wisgerhof Max Wisgerhof BOARD of DIRECTORS Anna Gersh Greg Hoffman Jessi Averill Jacob Fallman Jack Edelstein Glenn Gates Mike Jones Hailu Shitaye Shelley DeNeve Steve Borgsdorf CONTACT US Story and photo submissions: submissions@groundcovernews.com Advertising and partnerships: contact@groundcovernews.com Office: 423 S. 4th Ave., Ann Arbor Mon-Sat, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Phone: 734-263-2098 @groundcover @groundcovernews DONATE, LISTEN TO OLD ISSUES + LEARN MORE www.groundcovernews.org WAYS TO SUPPORT 1. Buy the paper, read the paper. 2. Get the word out — We rely on grassroots marketing. Talk to people about Groundcover and share us with your network. 3. Volunteer — You'll learn a lot about our vendors, the newspaper and your community. Interested in volunteering regularly? Fill out the form on our website. 4. Advertise your company, organization, event or resource — see rates below. 5. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram — promote our posts and share your favorite articles and vendor interactions. 6. Donate items — A seasonally appropriate list of items most needed at our office and on the street is available on our website. Drop off anytime we're open. ׉ 7cassandra://eHfCPqBIMbEIDFVIzrtmzpUgYgOuDVOvk5h3wGRfGEoU`jbIH3%,׉EJULY 24, 2026 ON MY CORNER MEET YOUR VENDOR I love public television I love watching public television like Detroit PBS. It is very relaxing and soothing to watch. Sometimes I take a break from watching and just listen to what is on. Public TV has interesting and educational shows. I like children and adult shows, some cartoons, the news and cooking shows. Public TV has my favorite children’s shows like “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.” It is a favorite cartoon of mine Joe Woods, Groundcover vendor No. 103 In one sentence, who are you? I'm a chameleon; I can adapt to any situation. When and why did you start selling Groundcover? I started selling Groundcover in 2011 because I needed to make some money! Where do you sell? Fourth Ave. and Washington St., outside Literati Bookstore. What is your favorite place in Ann Arbor? Liberty and Main Streets and the Michigan Theater in the evening. What is something about you that someone on the street wouldn’t know? I like to go to the Comedy Showcase. What motivates you to work hard selling Groundcover News? I thrive to be number one. What's the best/worst thing about selling Groundcover? The best thing about selling Groundcover is meeting new and interesting people. And the worst thing is dealing with the elements. If you had to eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese and cornbread. If you had a warning label, what would yours say? Proceed with caution: I go with 1 to 100 in 0.1 second. What words do you live by? Progress has no ending just the beginning. What is the most impressive thing you know how to do? Adapt. because it is about the work of Mr. Rogers. I enjoyed “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” when it was on. I also enjoy watching “Molly of Denali.” The show reminds me of my friend, and vendor at Groundcover, Panda. I like to watch shows about Native American people. Another children’s show I love to watch is "Carl the Collector." It is about a raccoon with autism who likes to collect things. It is a new show, but it has been on for a little while. It is fun and interesting. It is about friendship and sharing. I think the show is great for kids and adults. I like to watch the news DENISE SHEARER Groundcover vendor No. 485 programs on public TV. I like to know what is happening in the whole world. I turn the news on about twice a day, mornings and evenings, just to see what is happening. When I watch the news I feel different types of feelings. Sometimes I feel sad or scared, but when I hear good things happening in the world it makes me feel good. I watch both local and international news on PBS. I like some of the travel shows. They show beautiful scenery. I like watching travel shows because I can see beautiful places without traveling far. I would love to travel up north some day in the summertime right here in Michigan. I like to watch cooking shows about Julia Child or BBQ or diners. In the past I have tried to cook one of Julia Child’s soup recipes. I took her idea of taking lots of onions and putting them into a chicken soup I was making. It came out tasting good! I appreciate learning new cooking skills and how to flavor food. When PBS used to play music from the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s I liked that a lot. I liked hearing the different doowop music because I think it is soothing. This type of music would help put me to sleep when I had trouble falling asleep at night. Christian music does the same thing for me. Finally, I like to watch certain documentaries on PBS. enjoyed watching Ken Burns’ I “Country Music" documentary. I just learned that Ken Burns grew up in Ann Arbor! It makes liking this documentary more special because it was made by someone from where I live. I love public television and I hope it stays forever! Editor's note: Public television and other public broadcasting was federally defunded by $1B in July 2025. Of Water and the Spirit Recent escalations in a now-prolonged military conflict between The United States of America and Iran have sparked a number of theological dialogue-style debates, of late, between practitioners of Judeo-Christian and Islamic faiths. These seem quite productive until foundational matters such as, oh, the very nature of God are evoked. On this matter, it is affirmative that the two sides do not see eye-to-eye about the fundamental nature of a Supreme Being to which both sides ascribe the title God. In the Judeo-Christian view, God has a TRIUNE nature. Known in Christian parlance as The Trinity, it encompasses a mystery that allows for Three parts (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) to make up the One personage of the God (head) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — YAHWEH. Islam, on the other hand, believes in monotheism. One KAHLIL MUHAMMAD Groundcover vendor No. 691 Supreme Being — ALLAH — whose name in Arabic means ‘The God.’ Though both religions are of the lineage of Abraham, adherents to the Islamic faith believe themselves to have been established more directly in the line of Ishmael — Abraham’s first-born son — whereas Christianity would fall in line with Isaac. Without regard to genealogy and even theology, the seemingly unresolvable contradiction is, upon further meditation, quite subject to clarification. The chemical formula for WATER is H2O. That is, the water molecule is composed of two hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to one oxygen atom. Two hydrogen and one oxygen gives us THREE parts that make up ONE water molecule. Thusly, if those of us in my ‘neck of the woods’ are accustomed to referring to an essence as Water, with those ‘across the tracks’ preferring to refer to that selfsame essence as H2O, it could be noted the manner in which the views are nearing to one another. The tragic irony of it all ... humankind has spent centuries, millennia even, disputing, conflicting, fighting and warring over religious semantics. The next time you hear one person say "Water" and then another person say "H20," feel free to remind the both of them that they are indeed talking about the same thing. GROUNDCOVER NEWS 3 jbIH3%-jbIH3%, בCט u׉׉ 7cassandra://xoLjSoBZrSWv1PjeOMe1VdPsQ8G19HjEfBvkueYr0VA`I׉ 7cassandra://c06C2W5Do-ilbhrQNgpYa1KTIxAUNDeGrSDS5SirHTU`׉ 7cassandra://7UzMjbvVNAKhAJP3oXACZ4NVhelvsziKQ9sG3ZJYxC8N`jbIH3%H׉E4 GROUNDCOVER NEWS SUMMER FUN A summer special at CupsnChai FELICIA WILBERT Groundcover vendor No. 234 One of Ann Arbor’s finest family cafes is CupsnChai, a South Asian Cafe located at 214 S. 4th Ave. between Liberty and Washington Streets. Did you know CupsnChai offers a $2 dollar savings for Groundcover readers on their refreshing one-of-a-kind lemonade this summer? CupsnChai was born in 2023 in Canton and arrived in 2024 in Ann Arbor. I was honored to be invited to a taste of chai with Noman Husain, the founder. He said, "CHAI HO JAYE!” which means "let’s have tea." I asked him what inspired him to create a flavorful healthy chai tea. Noman’s story begins in the early 90s when he arrived in the United States, holding onto a small handwritten recipe book from his mother. Noman, a U.S. citizen, said he held tight to an embedded family lineage of cooking. Noman stated that “Chai should always be made from scratch.” With the help of family and close friends, during the solitude of the Covid19 pandemic, they discovered a unique opportunity to introduce authentic South Asian chai and street food to North Americans. He took a hobby, transformed it into a celebrated talent and realized it in a family cafe. I asked Noman, "What is chai?" He explained it was originally a traditional herbal spiced drink used for healing as far back as 3000 BCE, and how the British introduced the tea as a social drink throughout the Indian subcontinent in the 1830s. During the 1900s Masala chai became popular with milk, spices and sugar. Now in the 2000s, chai has become a global standard as a healthy drink in winter or summer. He stated, “This is a family tradition that must be passed onto all generations to come.” I was served samples of several drinks — hot chai, cold chai and mango lemonade. Experiencing chai for the first time was great! Cold or hot, chai is a flavor only your palate can enjoy experiencing. They can prepare it with almond milk or oat milk for those who are lactose intolerant. The lemonade was an experience of surprise and pleasure. It is the tastiest, most refreshing lemonade that I have ever had in all my travels. It cools the body naturally from the basil bubbles, while pleasing the palate. What an ingenious creation that tastes incredible! The food I sampled was the Dynamite Chicken, BBQ Chicken and the Lahari Chicken — they are all Melts (sandwiches) made with different sauces. They are all tasty, featuring vegetables such community EVENTS RALLY AGAINST DATA CENTERS Saturday, July 25, 2:30 p.m. Almendinger Park, 655 Pauline Blvd., Ann Arbor. Parks are for the people! (A data center is proposed to be at South Hydro Park in Ypsi Township.) Come raise your voice. Childcare provided. Food at 2:30 p.m. Rally at 3 p.m. FULL MOON CAMPFIRE Saturday, July 25, 8-11 p.m. LeFurge Woods, 2452 N Prospect, Superior Township. All invited to enjoy a family-oriented campfire (the final one of the season) in one of the largest conservancy-owned nature preserves in Southeast Michigan. Bring blankets, chair, and campfire refreshments; locally cut firewood appreciated. No pets. STAYING POWER BOOK RELEASE Sunday, July 26, 2-4 p.m. Dzanc House, 402 S. Huron St. Ypsilanti. Celebrate a long awaited book project from the Ypsilanti teens and staff of Staying Power. "Spoke from the Soil: When Love is a Thing Called Home." Entry: free. Book: $15. JOHN E. LAWRENCE SUMMER JAZZ SERIES Fridays, July 31-August 28, 7-9 p.m. Ford Lake Park, 9075 S. Huron River Drive, Ypsilanti. Free smooth jazz concerts; bring your own lawn chairs, blankets and coolers and head on down. Free entry, $20 parking fee. July 31: Ben Tankard. August 7: Pieces Of A Dream. CLUSTER FILM SERIES: HAPTIC VISIONS (SHORTS) Friday, July 31, 7:30-9 p.m. Dzanc House, 402 S. Huron St. Curated by Jon Moodie. Experimental in nature, the films are all stop motion animation based in unusual materials: textiles, paper (cut-outs and folding), letterpress and hand printing, and simple freehand line drawings. Notable animators include Jodie Mack, Isolda Milenkovic, Yanqi Liang and Lysander Wong, among others. All ages welcome, suggested donation as tomatoes, JULY 24, 2026 Left to right: Noman Husain, founder of CupsnChai, Felicia Wilbert and Ikram Nawabi at the 4th Avenue location of CupsnChai. cucumber, cilantro and purple onions with provolone cheese. The sauce varies from a green pesto to a special BBQ sauce. You can have it your way, with or without sauce or vegetables. They also offer Kati Wraps, flatbreads and snacks like sweets and pastries. The drink options include espresso, matcha latte and chai latte. They are all delicious. However, I recommend you try the cold chai with a melt for a light lunch or dinner, or the incredible one of a kind mango, peach or strawberry lemonade. A hot chai with the inviting $5-10. Free popcorn! ANN ARBOR PRIDE Saturday, August 1, 12-9p.m. Main Street, downtown Ann Arbor. Weekend festival in Ann Arbor, celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer identities, community, and allyship hosted by the Jim Toy Community Center. Ann Arbor Pride brings entertainment, community, vendors, fun and most importantly, Pride. FIRST FRIDAYS YPSI Friday, August 7, 5-11p.m. Downtown, Depot Town, and in the West Cross Street districts of Ypsilanti. A self guided art and culture walk around the city of Ypsilanti! Art, shopping, food, music and fun! August theme: Food Fest. SUMMER WELLNESS IN MOTION Ann Arbor's free summer wellness series of pilates and yoga designed to introduce the community to the park through accessible, outdoor wellness experiences in Broadway Park West. coffee cake or even with Ras Maia Cake will infuse with their “savory and delicious flavors.” Today, CupsnChai offers a cultural hub, realizing their dream of creating a welcoming space and the spirit of chai culture. Each visit offers a connection, fostering a sense of community and cultural fusion — one cup at a time! They welcome all, “CHAI HO JAYE!” Next time you go to CupsnChai, save $2 on lemonade with the coupon on the back page of this edition! Pilates in the Park Presented by Core Collective Saturdays | 8–9 a.m. June 13–August 29 Open Air Yoga Presented by Eclipse Yoga Select Sundays | 9–10 a.m. June 14–August 16 Classes are free and open to all experience levels. Participants are encouraged to bring a yoga mat, water, sunscreen and anything needed to enjoy a morning outdoors. Broadway Park West is currently accessible by foot and bicycle only while surrounding construction continues. The park can be accessed through the tunnel off Depot Street or via the new Broadway Bridge, which connects to the Border to Border (B2B) Trail. Visitors are encouraged to use public parking spaces surrounding the development and enter the park through one of these entry points. Submit an event to be featured in the next edition: submissions@groundcovernews. com ׉ 7cassandra://7UzMjbvVNAKhAJP3oXACZ4NVhelvsziKQ9sG3ZJYxC8N`jbIH3%.׉E hJULY 24, 2026 COMMUNITY letter to the EDITOR The Groundcover News issue June 26, 2026, Volume 17, Issue 14 is superb, a “keeper” — topics, writing, editing, interviews, information, photographs, essays, format, printing, publishing — all! Carry on. — Regards, Max Wisgerhof meet your PUBLISHER Lindsay Calka, Managing Director + Publisher Interview by Pedro Campos How did you become a Michigander? I moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan from Tampa, Florida to attend college at the University of Michigan. Both my parents are from Michigan; most of my family lives between Ypsilanti and Port Huron. Growing up, Michigan was the place we came any time we could. It was always home. I have been keen on moving up here since I was young. What is your favorite place in Washtenaw County? Back porch of the Catholic worker house that I live at in downtown Ypsilanti. I do really love Lan City Hand Pulled Noodles on Washtenaw Avenue, too. You're so young, what do you want to be when you grow up? I have no career aspirations after Groundcover. I am who I want to be, but ever more patient, more kindly, more tolerant, more sympathetic, helpful and encouraging. Bonus points if you know why. Tell us what music makes you dance by yourself. The entire Little Dragon discography. When you are getting low, what brings you back up? Depending on the cause of the low-ness, a delicious cup of coffee, a cold cup of water, a run with a dear friend, or a nap. What is the article you never finished writing? I’ve been meaning to finish an article about the dynamic and random uses of faith spaces. Working in the Groundcover office (which is located in a church basement), and participating in various volunteer efforts around shelter and homelessness has piqued this curiosity. One time a Chinese restaurant operated out of the kitchen of Bethlehem United Church of Christ. What is your favorite book ever? “Animal” by Lisa Taddeo. Close second, “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead,” by Olga Tokarczuk. Where in the world would you like to live for a year? I think it would be hard for me to move somewhere for just a year. I would like to visit Beirut, Key West, Vietnam, Poland and see the Mediterranean Sea. And I’m always down to go to Cuba. What is the most rewarding aspect of your work? Seeing our news coverage and storytelling make an impact — on individual understandings, local policies, and even pride in oneself. I really, really believe in the mission of Groundcover; I love this group of people even more. So to do my job everyday, even at its most difficult moments, is rewarding. How does your job affect you emotionally? I was tempted to answer this question simply … "A lot.” Intervening in homelessness and poverty sometimes challenges my own stability. Our organization seeks out injustice, and works for justice. Still, it is joyful and exciting and fun and hopeful. GROUNDCOVER NEWS 5 Boss you’re the worst PEDRO CAMPOS Groundcover vendor No. 652 Yess, Boss Boss, you’re the worst feedback provider ever. Maybe on the story of journalism, you don’t answer. Never gossip, never brag, don’t spill the beans. No tips, no taps, no clues, no calls, no smoke signals, no Morse and no remorse. You’re such a riddle. Well, you can keep a secret. That much I respect. You’re reliable, efficient, fast, and very clever. Actually, you’re the best. Just reply to my request. Ppppppplease. jbIH3%/jbIH3%. בCט u׉׉ 7cassandra://-1OF3O_BTQppIYztPyM_W5ku3FFriigbBvFfx-iCH-E %`I׉ 7cassandra://Pq0UzlOD7eyHu4HvlHc796_d8N0SRNgU4B3r0w5knKI>`׉ 7cassandra://Pr43Yn1KNn60S2AZidfyH2MAQIkgiyeA7IWppmyLxaIS`jbII3%K׉Eb6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS HISTORY 250 Years: July 4 celebration, reflections of the American revolution and democracy Preamble to Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” On July 4, 2026, America celebrated the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain. There were 13 original colonies spread across the east coast of the present day United States. They were all subjects of King George and the British empire. All key decisions on shipping, trade, representation and taxation had to be cleared by the British government. Before the 1776 revolution, the British parliament engaged in major political conflicts with their colonies. The issues centered on representation and WILL SHAKESPEARE Groundcover vendor No. 258 political power. Obviously, the British parliament believed it had absolute power over the colonies, and the colonies showed some resistance. The Library of Congress provides a detailed account of the resistance in a report titled, “British Reforms and Colonial Resistance, 1763-1776.” It has a timeline showing resistance by colonies, not only in North America but also in India. Our readers would benefit from following the timeline. There were serious tensions between the British Parliament and the American colonies’ Continental Congress. A prominent writer of the time, Thomas Paine, who was an immigrant born in England, came to Philadelphia from London in 1774. He got a job editing some journals. He wrote many articles on American resistance which were published in local newspapers. When he learned about what the Massachusetts Bay Colony did by dumping cargo loads of tea in Boston Harbor, and how the colonial leaders voiced out loud “No taxation without representation,” he decided to write a pamphlet entitled, “Common Sense.” At that time, the Founding Fathers had not fully decided on independence from Britain. “Common Sense” made a case for a declaration of independence. Thousands of the pamphlets were printed and distributed in 1775 and JULY 24, 2026 Members who drafted the Declaration of Independence, one week before July 4, 1776. The committee included Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Linngston and Thomas Jefferson. Painting by John Trumbull. 1776, especially after the bloody battles between the British army and local Boston area militia in Lexington and Bunker Hill. The United States Office of the Historian — located in the State Department — presents a story of the American Revolution from the lens of American diplomacy and foreign affairs. It notes that the American colonial leaders, before and after the Declaration of Independence, were able to informally gain financial assistance from, and a military alliance with, the French government. The three major superpowers in the 1770s were France, Spain and Britain. Having the French as an ally was a major breakthrough. About political independence, the U.S. Historian said, “...tensions continued to escalate until, in 1775, armed conflicts erupted.” Who could forget the story of the patriot Paul Revere and others jumping on their horses and racing through Boston, Concord, Lexington and nearby small farm communities screaming, “The British are coming! The British are coming!!” A painting which depicted “The Boston Massacre," etched and printed by Paul Revere, subsequently was published in newspapers all over New England and in many of the 13 original colonies. It fanned the flames of resistance. Another patriot and revolutionary war hero, Patrick Henry, shouted, “Give me liberty or give me death!” Nathaniel Hale, a brave and courageous Patriot from the colony of Virginia, declared, “I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country!” The colonists, who were economiMembers of the Constitution Drafting Committee, including Ben Franklin, George Washington, Roger Sherman, George Mason, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay — authors of the Bill of Rights. Painting by Howard Chandler Christy. cally dependent on Europe, recognized that European nations were unlikely to conclude trade agreements with the Americans unless they declared their independence. The U.S. Continental Congress endorsed Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and with the endorsement of this document, the conflict with Great Britain became a full-fledged War of Independence. The French formally took the position of an ally in 1778. The new nation subsequently received foreign assistance from France. It was said that John Adams approached the French with the ‘Model Treaty’ which protected neutral trade and shipping rights in the event of war. The Constitution, Bill of Rights and Amendments The National Archive Museum has noted that the nation’s founding documents are: the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. We have just shared a bird’s-eye-view of the Declaration of Independence. Now, let us present a perspective of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Amendments. First, let us view the preamble to the constitution. It started with the statement: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” In the spring of 1787, the Continental Congress of the new United States called a meeting of their government representatives at Annapolis, Maryland, “The Annapolis Convention.” Because they did not have a quorum, the meeting was called off and rescheduled in Philadelphia in June. The constitution-drafting convention in see 250 YEARS page 10  ׉ 7cassandra://Pr43Yn1KNn60S2AZidfyH2MAQIkgiyeA7IWppmyLxaIS`jbIH3%0׉E&JULY 24, 2026 REPRESSION GROUNDCOVER NEWS Inside the case against the ‘Michigan 8’: Palestine activism recast as antisemitic terror YARDEN AZOULAY KATZ and STEPHEN M. WARD Groundcover contributors In the early morning hours of June 10, 2026, the FBI conducted raids against individuals involved in Palestine solidarity activism at the University of Michigan. With help from local and state police departments, including the U-M police, the raids unfolded simultaneously in Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. In Ypsilanti, agents in military gear rolled into a neighborhood in an armored vehicle, with guns drawn, terrorizing families and neighbors. A similar home raid took place in Chicago. In total, seven of the eight accused individuals were arrested (one was out of the country). The case is now known as the Michigan Eight. The Justice Department indicted the eight defendants — five of whom are current or former students at the U-M, and one of whom was a University employee — on multiple counts of severe charges, including “Conspiracy to Transmit Threats in Interstate and Foreign Commerce.” The defendants, all in their twenties, now potentially face decades in prison. The main actions described in the indictment boil down to property damage, directed against the offices or homes of U-M officials, the facilities of Rolls-Royce (which makes parts for Israeli army tanks) and Maersk (which ships military equipment to Israel), and the building of the Jewish Federation of Detroit (a major pro-Israel organization, as we will see). No person has been physically harmed by these actions. Yet the indictment paints these actions as a form of antisemitic terrorism, drawing on the FBI’s extensive digital surveillance of the defendants. This narrative was crafted by the masters of deception — Trump’s Justice Department — and it does not stand up to scrutiny. While we do not know who was behind the actions (the defendants have pleaded not guilty), it is clear the actions have nothing to do with anti-Jewish racism or terrorism. The goal of the wildly exaggerated indictment is to repress Palestine solidarity activism. The U.S. government plans to make an example of the Michigan Eight in order to deter attempts to disrupt institutions complicit in the genocide. It is part of a wider push to severely punish property damage and reframe the Palestine solidarity movement as “terrorism.” We must resist this criminalization and stand with the Michigan Eight. Spinning a tale of antisemitic terrorism The Justice Department presents the defendants as a terrorist group with an antisemitic agenda. Both characterizations are unfounded. Indeed, the defendants were not formally charged with terrorism, since the evidence for that is nonexistent. The Justice Department instead tried to create the appearance of terrorism by linking the defendants to Hamas (which the U.S. government considers a “terrorist organization,” not a legitimate resistance movement). Likewise, the DOJ’s narrative performs a slight of hand in labelling as antisemitic alleged acts and words which in fact reflect opposition to the policies and violence of the state of Israel. In the brief arguing why the defendants should be detained, the Justice Department states that “the defendants are ardent supporters of Hamas and utilize Hamas’ messaging to threaten their victims.” Using data allegedly obtained from defendants’ devices, the brief claims the defendants “traded and possessed various Hamas killing videos.” The brief also presents a photo of one of the defendants with red paint on her hands, apparently taken in the defendant’s garage, and makes the absurd claim that it was just like “the infamous photo from the Ramallah Lynching of 2000, where two Israeli reserve soldiers were murdered and mutilated during the Second Intifada.” In a June 12 bond hearing in Detroit, U.S. Attorney Maggie Smith stated that the defendants share “an extreme violent view directly tied to terrorism.” She spent much time in the hearing trying to argue that Hamas is an antisemitic terrorist group and that, by association, so are the defendants. Smith repeatedly stated that Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023 was an attack not only against Israel or Israelis but on “Jews” generally. Smith ended her opening arguments by reading a “victim statement” from the Jewish Federation of Detroit, meant to prove the “antisemitism” of the alleged actions. Phrases such as “Free Palestine” had been painted on the Jewish Federation’s building, along with an inverted red triangle. The Jewish Federation claimed that the action against its building was an attack on “Jewish communal life” and that such actions constitute “acts of hatred toward Jews.” The Federation added that the use of the inverted red triangle was a reminder of “Hamas and its targeting of Jews” on October 7. The fabrication of antisemitism appeared to work. Addressing one of the defendants in the June 12 hearing, Michigan District Judge Anthony Patti said he was appalled by the “antisemitic” nature of the alleged actions. He said he is “not immune” to the issue because he “grew up in a Jewish neighborhood” and “has Jewish friends,” adding that the Jews have been persecuted enough and that six million were murdered in WWII. Corporate media also boosted the narrative of antisemitism. The Detroit Free Press incorrectly reported that Jewish Federation’s building in Detroit “was targeted with antisemitic graffiti” and that the actions included the spreading of “antisemitic messages,” while the Detroit News ran a story about the U-M “terror suspects” (even though no terrorism charge had been made). Yet there is nothing “antisemitic” about the actions described in the indictment. For example, the graffiti on the Jewish Federation of Detroit’s building was in protest of Israel’s genocide, which is enabled by support from U.S. institutions — including the Jewish Federation. The indictment, the statements made during the hearing, and media accounts erroneously conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. The Jewish Federation’s website offers “talking points” for defending Israel and discussing October 7. It repeats the widely debunked claims that Palestinian fighters beheaded babies, “killed babies in ovens,” and “raped women so violently that they broke the pelvic bones of their victims” — fabrications which have been used as justification for genocide and to deflect from and justify the documented violence carried out by Israel in its war on Gaza. The Jewish Federation also materially supports Israel’s army. It boasted that since October 7, 2023, it worked with other Jewish Federations to raise $295,855 for Israeli soldiers, which “includes the purchase and delivery of protective eyewear, boots, sleeping bags and other supplies.” The Jewish Federation also donates tens of millions each year to other Zionist nonprofit organizations. In 2023, it gave $16,150 to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a nonprofit that sponsors Israeli soldiers and defends their actions. It also donated $10,000 to the Jewish National Fund, which for over a century has played a central role in dispossessing Palestinians of land. That year, the Jewish Federation also gave $334,260 to the Birthright Israel Foundation, which organizes propaganda trips designed to make young American Jews into fierce Zionists. Depicting the defendants as foreign agents and criminalizing their beliefs The Justice Department also advanced the narrative of terrorism by presenting the Michigan Eight defendants as brainwashed foreign agents, utilizing racist tropes. Defendants who had travelled internationally were deemed by U.S. attorneys as suspicious. Their travel history was taken as evidence of “extensive international ties;” if the defendants had family in China or India, even worse. In the June 12 court hearing, U.S. Attorney Maggie Smith said that while one Chinese American defendant doesn’t have a Chinese passport, he was able to live in China for many years, and concluded that “even if he doesn’t have dual citizenship, he certainly is welcome to be in that country.” This was somehow supposed to justify denying him bail. In the brief, the government also made the absurd assertion that because the defendant had allegedly subscribed to digital media channels of Palestinian resistance groups, he was “receiving almost a constant flow of American and Jewish hate.” The Justice Department also argued that the defendants’ beliefs are enough to make them a “danger to the community.” Regarding one defendant, the government’s brief claims that “defendant’s steadfast belief that she is supporting a righteous cause and has not done anything wrong is exactly what makes her dangerous.” The brief argues that she should be detained because “no condition or combination of conditions will assure her presence in a court she believes is corrupt, and no condition or combination of conditions will assure the safety of the community that she believes is ‘fascist,’ ‘imperialist,’ and ‘colonialist.’” In other words, having anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, and anti-colonial views is, for the Justice Department, already grounds for being thrown in jail. So far, the Justice Department’s rhetoric has only partially worked. Judges in Michigan and Illinois have agreed to release the defendants on $10,000 unsecured bond, meaning the courts probably did not accept the state’s assertion that these are dangerous “terrorists” who pose a risk to the community. But the defendants were released on unjust and highly restrictive conditions. The defendants are now subjected to continuous GPS see MICHIGAN 8 page 15  7 jbIH3%1jbIH3%0 בCט u׉׉ 7cassandra://vFpE7aea-Z6zTG0-C5EIJXWqmjN2xtsrxwarTsiJXs4 !`I׉ 7cassandra://UTmU5JH2R0gihBBBWMyHnPcUetYGWsb6ULxzRj-ufGc,`׉ 7cassandra://Z9uhfBeImI59uOlLiMS9-7errOW2B6YdGI4r6ndd5toQ`jbII3%PנjbII3%NV19׉H.http://www.washtenaw.org/continuum-of-care-cocGׁ ׁ rנjbII3%Okz9׉H.http://www.washtenaw.org/continuum-of-care-cocGׁ ׁ rנjbII3%T:Y̾9ׁHhttp://enaw.org/continuׁ ׁ Ј׉E8 GROUNDCOVER NEWS WASHINGTON D.C HUD tries, again, to move federal homelessness funding away from permanent housing ALEXANDRA LALLI Street Sense Media Street Sense Media is an INSP street paper located in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its new guidelines for the largest pool of federal homelessness funding, the Continuum of Care (CoC) grant, on June 1. The agency had attempted to implement a different set of guidelines last year but was temporarily blocked following a lawsuit. Despite rolling back some of its more stringent restrictions in this most recent set of rules, HUD remains skeptical of Housing First programs. The guidelines could put some programs applying for grants in a difficult position and potentially change the nation’s homelessness services landscape. Last November, when HUD released its updated fiscal year 2025 funding application for the CoC, a federal program that provides funding for nonprofits working to end homelessness, programs found themselves facing an unprecedented level of funding constraints. HUD planned to cap the amount of funding that localities could receive for Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) to just 30% of their total funding, effectively moving a large portion of the program’s $3.9 billion budget towards transitional housing and programs prioritizing work requirements and mandatory treatment. This shift would have potentially forced 1,500 people out of housing [in DC] and cost DC housing programs approximately $22 million, according to advocacy group the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH). Those guidelines were blocked by the courts. Now, HUD’s new guidelines remove the cap on PSH, but instill other limitations that would shift money away from permanent housing, setting aside $1.3 billion solely for temporary and supportive programs. What’s the debate? Both sets of funding guidelines reflect the Trump administration's dislike of Housing First programs, long considered a bipartisan, mainstream response to homelessness. Housing First is an approach to the homelessness crisis that prioritizes providing people with permanent, stable housing before other means of progress, such as treatment programs or employment. Most experts agree the method has proven many times over to benefit individuals and families. Per Sam Tsemberis, the founder of Pathways to Housing DC and an architect of Housing First, 85% of people in Housing First programs are successful within their first year in maintaining housing, as well as achieving other progress milestones, such as recovering from drinking or drug use. However, the Trump Administration has shown vehement resistance to Housing First, arguing that it has not worked to reduce homelessness. In 2025, Trump filed an Executive Order ending “... support for ‘housing first’ policies that deprioritize accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency — and holding grantees to higher standards of effectiveness in reducing homelessness and increasing public safety.” What happened to the initial funding guidelines? Following the release of the first set of guidelines in late 2025, a group of states and the NAEH filed lawsuits challenging the restrictions. In April, a federal appeals court upheld an injunction blocking HUD’s funding plan. According to the Justia Opinion Summary, the court reasoned HUD’s actions were “... arbitrary and capricious, and would cause irreparable harm by creating funding gaps and service disruptions to vulnerable populations,” essentially accusing HUD of throwing a wrench by revising the guidelines in the middle of the grant cycle. What are the new guidelines? In the June Notice of Funding Opportunity, HUD clearly states its opposition to Housing First, calling it a “profound failure by any measure,” and claims to be “restoring the CoC program to its original goals of reducing homelessness and optimizing self-sufficiency by focusing on meaningful outcomes, expanding competition, prioritizing treatment, economic independence, and emphasizing law and order,” a description that points to the goals of temporary housing and supportive services. HUD has taken back the initial restrictions imposed on how Washington DC. Photo by Andy Feliciotti much funding can go towards permanent housing, but seems poised to give favorable funding to projects focusing on job training, education and healthcare. Perhaps the most significant update to the guidelines is the removal of the 30% cap on funding for permanent housing. Though there is no strict cap, in a quest for “balancing” between permanent housing and temporary housing and supportive services, HUD is making it likely that money is awarded to programs that reallocate funding to the latter projects. HUD, in another policy change, also dropped the annual renewal demand for Tier 1 programs, which are nearly guaranteed to receive funding, from 95% to 60%. This leaves many existing programs in Tier 2 limbo, where they may not be funded. Within Tier 2, new transitional housing and supportive services programs will be prioritized. So, if a program were to be ranked as Tier 2, its transition into temporary housing and services could earn it an edge in the competition, effectively encouraging programs in this tier away from long-term housing and a Housing First model. HUD has also outlined a variety of prescribed criteria that will factor into its funding decisions. These criteria, less prominent in NOFOs from the Biden-era, which focused more on Housing First, include meeting service requirements (20 hours of voluntary work for public benefit), and whether participants are achieving employment or returning to their housing programs. How will programs move forward? In a recent meeting of homelessness service providers, leaders said that DC will continue to prioritize permanent housing projects, but some programs may transition to transitional housing or supportive services. The NAEH filed another lawsuit on June 22 challenging the new guidelines, citing the more than “97,000 formerly homeless people, including families with children, those with disabilities, older adults and veterans at risk of losing their permanent housing.” The lawsuit aims to block the guidelines before they can take effect in the grant application process. Representatives from the National Homelessness Law Center emphasized the stakes of these new guidelines in their press release on the new lawsuit: “Make no mistake, these changes mean more people will enter homelessness,” they wrote. Antonia Fasanelli, the executive director of the National Homelessness Law Center, demanded the administration’s cooperation while voicing her support of the lawsuit. “The Trump administration should focus on ensuring that everybody has the housing and support they need and want,” she wrote. Applications for funding are due to HUD by August 24, and award announcements are expected to be released by the end of December. Courtesy of Street Sense Media / INSP.ngo JULY 24, 2026 ׉ 7cassandra://Z9uhfBeImI59uOlLiMS9-7errOW2B6YdGI4r6ndd5toQ`jbIH3%4׉E_JULY 24, 2026 WASHTENAW COUNTY Washtenaw Continuum of Care grapples with federal changes LINDSAY CALKA Publisher First, “Beyond the Bridge” screenings. Then “The Road Home” documentary production. Washtenaw County is fighting a local narrative battle in support of Housing First, and some might say winning. Now, as the Washtenaw County Continuum of Care approaches its first CoC grant competition shaped by the Trump administration’s priorities (see HUD on opposite page), it is preparing to fight a different battle. And it doesn’t matter as much to the success of the grant if the community supports Housing First and other best practices. Permanent Supportive Housing keeps people housed. That is why it is the housing resource we have most of locally. Investment in and maintenance of PSH comes at a cost — a cost that, for years, has been largely supplemented by federal funding. Funding for homeless assistance resources at the federal level has long been a competition, but typically 90-95% of the budget was guaranteed as “Tier 1” renewal projects. A much smaller “Tier 2” funded new programs competitively, and functions as the administration’s chance to offer policy shifts. This year, only 60% of Tier 1 funding is guaranteed for each CoC. Since HUD’s grant announcement on June 1, Washtenaw County Continuum of Care bodies have been crunching the numbers and assessing programs to “Maximize our potential for funding while making sure no one loses housing, maximizing PSH,” shared Andrew Kraemer, the County’s Data and Evaluation Specialist. They also have hired a consultant from Housing Innovations, Matt White, to support the grant process. The Washtenaw CoC Board provides coordinated oversight to HUD’s annual Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and CoC grant competition, both of which fund homelessness services and housing programs in Washtenaw County. Washtenaw’s local grant is finalized by a review team composed of people from the community who have knowledge of our system. In this grant cycle, Washtenaw will only seek $4,545,329 in Tier 1 to “preserve the most essential elements in our system,” said Kraemer — $150,000 for the Homeless Management Information System and the rest for permanent supportive housing projects through Avalon Housing and Michigan Ability Partners. SOS Community Services and Ozone House are turning their PSH into transitional housing for families and youth, respectively, and will be ranked at the top of Washtenaw’s Tier 2 application which is seeking $5,681,661 for those and many other projects. One new policy that influences the potential to receive this grant funding prohibits the purchase or distribution of drug paraphernalia. There is a clause in this policy that states “The CoC must not restrict or prohibit CoC-funded housing projects (PSH or TH) from requiring program participants to be sober or to participate in treatment as a condition of assistance.” Another policy is that CoC agencies must maintain formal and operational partnerships with local law enforcement agencies. Functionally, this means that street outreach teams will coordinate closer with police. On July 8, the Washtenaw CoC Board approved these policies to contribute to a better score. Andrew Kraemer explained, “We’re being asked to do things that go against our values … go against evidence. If we lose funds, we have to evict people.” Avalon and Michigan Ability Partners are collectively cutting $660,000. Still, this more-than-10% cut should not result in anyone being evicted, Kraemer assured. “They are rising to the challenge to become even leaner and maintain housing for everyone in our system. There’s a hope we can find local funding sources.” This is where the narrative battle really matters. Programs will be looking to make up the shortfall and plug newly-created gaps with a focus on state, county and city budgets, private foundations and individual funders. Sign up online for the CoC listserv to be informed about public meetings at www.washt enaw.org/continuum-of-care-coc. The application will be finalized and submitted Aug. 24. GROUNDCOVER NEWS U-M nurses reach tentative contract agreement Michigan Medicine serves over five million patients every year across its network of hospitals and 125 clinics. The academic medical center averages over 2.4 million outpatient and emergency visits, 48,000 hospital stays and 54,000 surgeries annually at its primary MIKE JONES Groundcover vendor No. 113 campus in Ann Arbor. Roughly 1-of-4 Michigan residents served by the system. There are 7,500 registered nurses at Michigan Medicine that were in highly contested contract negotiations following the expiration of their previous agreement on March 31, 2026. The nurses of Michigan Medicine, represented by the Professional Nurse Council (PNC) union (an affiliate of the Michigan Nurses Association or MNA), were demanding better staffing ratios, fair pay and protections against mandatory overtime. In the previous 2022 contract, nurses successfully negotiated a fouryear, 22.5% pay bump, bonus incentives and limits on mandatory overtime. The current dispute was largely centered on maintaining those safe workplace protections. The union stated during negotiations that management was offering annual raises of just 2% — which would not keep up with inflation — while allegedly attempting to increase patient-to-nurse ratios and force mandatory overtime. The union also filed unfair labor practice charges with the state over alleged union-busting tactics. Nurses planned a crucial strike authorization vote from July 13 through July 18. This vote would have allowed union leaders to call a strike if negotiations did not improve, but they reached a three-year tentative contract agreement with Michigan Medicine on July 9, 2026. In the agreement, nurses received: a wage increase of 13.25% over the three years (4% in year one, 4.5% in year two, and 4.75% in year three), plus a ratification bonus, stronger workplace violence protections and guaranteed better nurse-to-patient ratios, among other benefits. In the press release, UMPNC President Kara Ayotte wrote that the agreement represents a significant victory for the union’s 7,500 nurses. “This agreement delivers on members’ priorities, including competitive wage increases to recruit and retain excellent nurses, better staffing ratios, and stronger workplace violence protections,” Ayotte wrote. “Our success is a testament to not only countless days at the bargaining table, but also to the collective solidarity by MNA-UMPNC members.” Contract ratification occured July 19-24 at on-campus and off-site locations. Vote count will be July 24, 7 p.m. at Ford Auditorium. U-M nurses on "Wear Red Wednesday" July 1. Photo credit: University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council. 9 206 N. Washington St is an Avalon Housing PSH complex opening in Oct. 2026. Roughly 2,000 people applied for 14 available units. jbIH3%5jbIH3%4 בCט u׉׉ 7cassandra://SbUwhk0Lr-LWYj97CB1j_RqSOAyEEqLZvV8NnkAPVtU`I׉ 7cassandra://HW4j358vWmKJd5EClJkrhPag6XPfqqzYzQW9sMV2XPUc`׉ 7cassandra://A1z5DgODao5D_svLUpoedfZ5RbPnLcr0tJC51tRs_aUJ`jbII3%UנjbIJ3%W1\̚9ׁHhttp://Michigan.gov/Vote.ׁ ׁ Ј׉E!p10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS DETROIT 99 Problems & Dr. Bob ain't one! TOMMY SPAGHETTI Groundcover vendor No. 669 Once again the City of Detroit in its infinite ignorance decided to raid Dr. Bob's property and seize seven goats (two were pregnant) from his urban farm on Goldengate near John R and 7 mile. At 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, Detroit's Animal Control, with a posse of 20 utilizing 13 motor vehicles, took into custody Dr. Bob's goats Smokey, Angel and Perfect. and detained them at an undisclosed location. Not to diminish the burden of U.S. citizens who are being rounded up like animals, it reminded me of an ICE raid!! With all the problems Detroit has, such as 40,000 abandoned homes, 20,000 abandoned businesses, misappropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars, high crime rates, rampant drug proliferation (crystal meth), lowest high school completion rates, how can Detroit justify the cost of utilizing all these city employees to destroy Dr. Bob's goats? I realize I’m begging the question here in Groundcover and not focusing on the legality of “goats in the city.” I feel compelled to remind folks that Detroit suffered the largest demonstrable exodus in human history; over two million people left Detroit from 1967 to 2001. You may not have noticed the economic vacuum because it transpired over 30 years. Detroit has been struggling to lure people (and tax base) back ever since. Robert Pizzimenti, aka Dr. Bob, bought a mixed-use building at 18700 Woodward Ave in 2001 and gradually transformed the decaying location into beautiful flower gardens with two water treatments. He called it The Psychedelic Healing Shack, affectionately The Shack or Dr. Bob’s. Despite being sandwiched between Palmer Park and the extreme Robinwood ghetto, Dr Bob’s stayed a successful commercial establishment offering chiropractic and healing services as well as a vegetarian cafe. For 25 years, The Shack has been a pioneering force in the revitalization of Detroit, particularly the integration of city/farm life, but also in Black/White relations. Yes, race relations. The Shack is a place where folks go to commingle in a unique atmosphere of love and hope. I have known Dr. Bob since 1989 and have been fortunate enough to witness the positive influence he has been in our amazing city. A chiropractor by profession, Dr. Bob is also a master gardener/farmer, herbalist, animal lover, vegan chef (the BEST vegan lasagna), antique collector, community center provider, free food distributor (as well as emergency shelter provider for artists during the freezing months) and patron of the arts. Last but not least, he is a mentor to many young people missing fathers. The noblest endeavor in all of humanity might be "being a father to the fatherless." I don’t agree with everything Dr. Bob says or does, but I do believe his net value is extremely high. There have been many notable people who have found The Shack charming and newsworthy as recently as three months ago. Stephen Colbert's national TV show provided Smokey the Goat his 15 minutes of fame by reporting Smokey's escape and misperceived havoc in the sparsely populated neighborhood of Goldengate. The hilarity of the Stephen Colbert episode has been countered by the severity of Detroit's punishment. Detroit leads the nation in urban farming with the highest number of community farms per-capita. The urban farm renewal projects are essential for Detroit's recovery. Flooding the land with food rather than motor oil, Dr. Bob has been quietly amending the soil by acquiring goats and chickens to remediate it organically. Laws against farm animals need amending. Laws are always slow to accommodate the changing needs of the citizens. The persecution of Dr. Bob is ultimately the result of a personal grudge city attorneys have against him. Here's the story … a young woman named Mahri plus her pet cat moved into The Shack. The problem began when “she refused to clean up her cat’s pissing problem.” Dr. Bob asked Mahri to leave, which she refused to do. Her subsequent forced removal prompted her to say, "I'm going to report you to my parents. They are city attorneys and they will shut you down." That was not the beginning of Dr. Bob's conflict with Detroit; it only exacerbated it. Yes, the city has so much vacant land. Yes, the city benefits immeasurably from being seen as an urban farming city. Maybe, it seems wrong to have petting zoo animals present in the city but IT SHOULD NOT BE A CRIME. Hopefully this is part of the effort to make Detroit farm friendly. Hopefully Dr. Bob’s situation contributes to the struggle to make Detroit farm friendly. JULY 24, 2026 Smokey, Perfect and Angel shortly before their incarceration.  250 YEARS from page 6 The Connecticut compromise is Philadelphia was completed and signed in September 1787. Representatives at the Philadelphia convention debated several issues and made many recommendations to the Continental Congress. Among the recommendations were “The New Jersey Plan” and “The Connecticut Compromise.” The key debate was about fair representation. The New Jersey Plan proposed a “Unicameral legislature,” meaning that Congress would be one House of Representatives, without the Senate. It also proposed that every state would get one vote and that Congress should have new powers to levy taxes and to regulate interstate commerce and foreign trade. Another controversial plan during the Philadelphia convention was “The Virginia Plan” which proposed a bicameral legislature with both the House and Senate being determined by population sizes. This proposal favored large states during the 18th century. described as the proposal which saved the 1787 Constitutional convention from being a huge failure. It helped to resolve the acrimonious debate between small states and large states. The compromise proposed bicameral congressional representation — the House of Representatives apportioned by population, and the Senate with equal representation for all states regardless of size or population. A major feature of the 1878 Constitutional Convention was “The Separation of Powers.” There would be three branches of government and they were expected to be co-equal. Article 1 established Congress. Article 2 established the presidency (Executive Branch). Article 3 established the Judiciary (the federal court systems, including the Supreme Court). The drafters of the Constitution anticipated that in the future, amendments to the Constitution might be needed. The constitution is supposed to be “A Living Constitution” which requires the votes of two-thirds of the states in order to change or amend it. (The first ten amendments are the Bill of Rights.) The Civil War amendments freed slaves with the 13th Amendment, and the 14th Amendment gave birthright citizenship to former slaves and their children. The 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, gave Black men the right to vote. It is noteworthy that in the Dred Scott case of 1857, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Tanney of Tennessee and his SCOTUS majority allies ruled that Black people were not considered citizens of America; that they were brought to the nation as slaves and there was no intention by the government to accord them the right of citizenship. The 15th amendment was necessary to nullify the effects of this decision. The 19th Amendment gave the right and freedom to vote to American women who prior had been denied full participation in the political process. The rights which conferred the privileges and immunity of citizenship were extended to children of - immigrants in subsequent Supreme Court decisions. This year, we urge our readers to celebrate and reflect on America’s 250year anniversary of constitutional democracy. It is also a time to have conversations with your family, friends and neighbors. There seem to be many levels of contradiction and paradoxes in the American democracy experiment. However, America is still a beacon of hope for many people around the world. Recently, there was a huge gathering in an old theater in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania's governor, Josh Shapiro, retold a story about how one of the founding fathers, Ben Franklin, left the Independence Hall and was walking down a cobblestone street. He ran into a woman who was not at the Independence Hall, but knew that they were drafting the Constitution. She asked Franklin, “What do we have after the delegates signed, a monarchy or a republic?” Ben Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” ׉ 7cassandra://A1z5DgODao5D_svLUpoedfZ5RbPnLcr0tJC51tRs_aUJ`jbIH3%6׉E (JULY 24, 2026 POETRY A love poem because why not? Author’s Note: I wrote this for someone I fell in love with. They don't know or maybe they do but I felt it was appropriate to say it in a poem since I don't know if I can tell them. (I'd probably faint if I did.) I like you and I love the thought too When I think of you, and all the goofy things you do, it makes me smile like an idiot You make me laugh just because it's who you are It's mind blowing, how you find ways to reach my heart You got to me so fast in ways I didn't expect you to Then you vanished, took the heart right out of my chest and now you're living in it I wonder where you are but know this, wherever you go, I have given you residence in my heart HANNAH HOWELL Groundcover contributor Whatever you do, please never stop being goofy imperfect lovable you because I really like and love you too Blue is my weakness Eyes sparkle with brilliant shades of indigo To abyss, periwinkle and slate blue Blue is my weakness Trees exploded in raw blues Powder blue ice blue maya blue baby blue Aquamarine engulfing the branches and leaves Blue is my weakness Can I ask you a question? Will you be part of our royalty? Our royal blue royalty! Blue is my weakness Twilight blue melts into midnight blue Modern electric blue fades into ancient zaffre blue Untitled DAVID CRANE Groundcover contributor We don't recover—we evolve. We don't heal—we adapt. We don't chase peace—we understand it. We don't fix ourselves—we become ourselves. The only thing we owe the world is our understanding of it. Proof DAVID CRANE I don't talk about it much, Not the nights I didn't relapse. Not the urges I outlasted. Not the battles nobody saw. But that's the proof. Not perfection, Just all the times I could've gone back and didn't. Crushed into perfection from obscurity To be the king From everlasting to everlasting Tyrian Purple Royal blood spilled from my overflowing cup Dripping into Tyrian Purple From everlasting to everlasting Tyrian purple Sin stained dark Deeply drenched From everlasting to everlasting Tyrian purple Swelling bleaching the sky Brilliantly dyed bright purple From everlasting to everlasting voting INFORMATION WHO CAN VOTE? Voters must be U.S. citizens, at least 18 years old, and must have lived in the city/ township in which they registered for 30 days. Voters cannot be serving a sentence in jail or prison at the time of registering or voting. REGISTRATION If you have a Michigan driver's license or state ID, you can regsiter to vote online. Start the process at Michigan.gov/Vote. You can register any time up through Election Day by going to your city or township clerk's office; bring your proof of residency. Ann Arbor: 301 E. Huron St Pittsfield Township: 6201 W Michigan Ave, Ann Arbor Ypsilanti: 1 S. Huron St. Ypsilanti Township: 7200 S. Huron River Drive, Ypsilanti VOTING WHILE HOMELESS In addition to an ID, you need to provide a mailing address so the state of Michigan can send you important voting information by mail. The mailing address does not have to be a fixed home address. Consider using a nearby shelter, even if you do not currently live there, a nearby religious center or a home address of a friend or family member who lives nearby. Tyrian Purple JOSEPH SCHREIBER GROUNDCOVER NEWS Blue is my weakness JOSEPH SCHREIBER Groundcover vendor No. 705 11 jbIH3%7jbIH3%6 בCט u׉׉ 7cassandra://eg2zlOeevsDmxRwiXmURS8C4CWAxJsDDq42lvuvhvLU `I׉ 7cassandra://tAOmBiX-JMBwGxUjdnnunDXqNOHF6t40jpHPcrFp9GY0``׉ 7cassandra://WBr4cReDztSVueUZcHpEYuMvJh4_jW3e3sZ6Bhm68v4P2`jbIJ3%X׉E'12 GROUNDCOVER NEWS MENTAL HEALTH My experience with antipsychotic medication THE CONFUSED CLOUD Groundcover contributor I went through a traumatic experience which occurred over two years, from 1992-1994. When it ended I was broke and mad at the world. In 1996, I was still really struggling. I had moved in with my dad because I was facing homelessness. My dad is a great man but he’ll be the first to tell you he doesn’t know how to help mentally ill people. At the time I had a few paranoid intrusive thoughts, but my main issues were PTSD and not wanting to move on with my life. I was about to move out on my dad. I really just didn’t care about much. My dad decided to pay for me to get mental health treatment. He paid out of pocket. Neither of us knew about the regional Community Mental Health (CMH) system at the time. I had a couple of counseling sessions and an appointment with a psychiatrist. I didn’t know it at the time, but really all psychiatrists do is prescribe medications. I had never been on any psychiatric drug at this point in my life and was very skeptical. I expected either no effect or a placebo effect. My appointment with the doctor was scheduled for fifteen minutes. I talked to him for maybe five minutes. He just kept bombarding me with questions and then gave me a trial pack of Risperidone. Risperidone is a very powerful antipsychotic but the doctor gave no warning of what to expect. Antipsychotics, in my experience, have a very unique effect. They aren’t like benzodiazepines, which are calming, similar to alcohol. They also aren’t like antidepressants such as Prozac, which work over time. Risperidone had a bit of a stimulant effect on me, but it was weird. I didn’t know what was happening but I felt I had to keep moving. I had a feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my skin which, of course, is impossible. I stayed on Risperidone for over a week, and things got worse. Risperidone, like all antipsychotics, organizes thinking. I would get stuck on thoughts. I remember two thoughts in particular. One was, “What if I choke while eating?” I became terrified to eat. It would take all my courage just to eat one hamburger for a day's worth of food. I lost ten pounds in a week. I was calling my doctor daily and I told him about the weight loss and he said the weight looks good off me, which I thought was insensitive and missing the point. I also became terrified I was going to Hell, which came from the religious trauma I had experienced two years earlier. I was being re-traumatized. Whenever I got stuck on either of these thoughts I couldn’t just daydream or let them pass. I was miserable. I kept going to the emergency room even though I had no insurance until a nurse told me to stop. So I went to a different hospital, was admitted and put on Stelazine, another strong antipsychotic. I was also given huge doses of Ativan, which is a calming benzodiazepine, so I slept a lot both during my stay and after I was sent home. Luckily I went to the emergency room again, and this time I was admitted to a mental hospital for poor and uninsured people. There they put me on my third antispsychotic, Loxatane, and after me pacing, shaking and complaining for two weeks they took me off Loxatane and gave me Paxil, an antidepressant. In less than three days I became calm and finally felt okay. So this ended my first experience with antipsychotic drugs. Eventually I learned that the feeling that I couldn’t stop moving is called akathisia. I learned about CMH and took Paxil for about four months after all this. I was mainly fine except I was still mad at the world. I decided to just get on with my life and went off Paxil. I kept trying to work and had some success holding jobs, mostly in restaurants, a gas station and temporary work in factories. I thought I had made peace with my trauma but, as I later learned, mental illness is progressive and gets worse if not treated. I thought I was done with my trauma, but my trauma wasn’t done with me. I kept getting paranoid and also had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). My hands were constantly red and chapped from washing them all the time. I’d fixate on guilty thoughts over things from my past or worries over germs. It got harder and harder to function. Finally, the rent was due and I had no way to pay it so I disappeared on my landlord (I had moved out of my dad’s years earlier and at the time was moving about five times a year). The intrusive guilty thoughts were the worst — I hope to write in the future about forgiving myself. I had a lot of “what if” thoughts about what had happened in past situations. I moved into the men’s shelter in Ann Arbor and left a week later. I lied and said a friend would let me sleep on his couch, because I didn’t think I could follow the rules of the shelter. At the time clients needed to be looking for work (or income, but I didn’t think I was qualified for disability payments) and housing to stay there. This was in 2000, a few years before the Delonis Center opened and many years before barriers to help were lowered (which I support). I wandered around for a couple of weeks and moved back into the shelter. The thing is, whether I was in the shelter or wandering around, I was constantly tormented by intrusive thoughts. I became suicidal and called the crisis line over and over on a payphone. They convinced me to go to the emergency room and I was admitted to St. Joseph’s psych ward (now Trinity Health). The nurse asked if I was allergic to any medications. At first I said no but after telling her about the effects of Risperidone, Stelazine and Loxatane she told me I was allergic to those medications. The doctor at St. Joes prescribed me Zyprexa. Like I said: mental illness is progressive and I was much worse in 2000 than I was in 1996. I was in kind of a fog at St. Joe’s and they asked if I wanted to go to ASH House (now called CAS). At ASH I was relieved from house restriction which meant I could go anywhere and get a soda. I was (and still am) very addicted to caffeine. I had been on Zyprexa for about a week when, after having caffeine, I felt something kick in. It felt like my first experience back in 1996 that had scared me. But I was able to channel the energy towards my intrusive thoughts. For me Zyprexa is a much better antipsychotic than the three I was on in 1996. Because my mind responded better to Zyprexa and also because of what I learned during my first experience I managed 24 years of relative success on Zyprexa. For the last year and a half I’ve been on Seroquel (also an antipsychotic) and I like it much more than Zyprexa. Both in 1996 and in 2000 I was given almost no warnings on how powerful antipsychotics are. There’s no concrete data, but Google says most psychiatrists have never been on an antipsychotic. There are two reasons I feel my experiences with Zyprexa and Seroquel over the last 26 years have been so much more successful than what I went through in 1996. First, in 1996 my paranoid intrusive thoughts were infrequent and hadn’t progressed to what I was going through in 2000. So worrying about choking while eating and going to Hell felt extremely uncomfortable and the choking fear was brand new. By 2000, before I went on Zyprexa, I was fixating on paranoid thoughts all day every day. Since 2000 I’ve learned other techniques to cope with paranoid thoughts, such as keeping a pen and paper to write them down and get them out of my head. I hope to write more about those in the future. The other big reason my second experience was so much better is that both Zyprexa and Seroquel don't give me akathisia. Akathisia, the feeling that I couldn’t stop moving, was a nightmare in 1996. Most people have never heard of akathisia. Several people who experienced it have not survived. Stewart Dolin was a lawyer who in 2010 was prescribed generic Paxil for anxiety. He most likely experienced akathisia. I want to point out here that akathisia can be caused by many drugs including antipsychotics, antidepressants, antiemetics and several others. Also, everyone's body/brain chemistry is different. I was fine on Paxil but not on the first three antipsychotics I was prescribed. Anyway, after six days on generic Paxil, Stuart threw himself in front of a commuter train. His wife Wendy Dolin said there was almost no evidence he was suicidal. His main change was experiencing akathisia. She said he had become extremely restless over those six days. A trauma nurse who witnessed the suicide said he had been pacing the platform. Wendy Dolin sued Glaxo Smith Kline, the manufacturer of Paxil, over her husband's wrongful death. She was awarded three million dollars in 2017 but this decision was overturned by an appeals court in 2018 and her case was dismissed on the basis that Stewart was taking generic Paxil — not the name brand Paxil. Wendy also founded The Medication-Induced Suicide Prevention and Education Foundation In Memory of Stewart Dolin (referred to as MISSD). She’s not anti-medications; she just wants to bring awareness about akathisia. According to Google most people and many health care professionals have never heard of akathisia. People who commit suicide because of akathisia, according to Wendy, really just want the horrible feeling to end. It’s not because life is terrible. Stewart had a good job, no debt, a happy marriage and family. His friends and family said there was no real sign he desired to end his life except for the akathisia. Wendy wants people to be careful and aware when starting a new medication or changing it. She suggests having a “buddy” to be in contact with while adjusting. She compares it to crossing the street. People don’t (hopefully) just cross the street, they look both ways. Both times I was prescribed antipsychotics I wish I had some warning about what to expect. Drugs are powerful and we need to be careful. I can relate to wanting the discomfort of akathisia to stop so bad. I also considered suicide, which is why see MEDICATION page 13  JULY 24, 2026 ׉ 7cassandra://WBr4cReDztSVueUZcHpEYuMvJh4_jW3e3sZ6Bhm68v4P2`jbIH3%8׉EJULY 24, 2026 VENDOR VOICES GROUNDCOVER NEWS The stranger we despise and a mirror most people want to break It is no exaggeration that the past several years have been pretty exceptional in a lot of ways, and not what people would consider to be good. Along with the declining state of the world — the stagnation of people’s situations, the extreme continuation of “the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer” — it is also getting stranger. Perhaps you could say it is growing unrecognizable. The comfort and familiarity that allowed us to still exist in it to some degree, despite its flaws and challenges, are now dissolving. The life we knew seems to be fading and being replaced with something else. And it is not a change for the better. The air is thick with apprehension these days. What is also apparent is the lack of any action being taken to address whatever the hell is going on. And if anything is being done at all it often feels like the most unhealthy option possible for society’s stability. Stability is a pretty inaccurate word and they often react by finding ways to lash out and impose the pressures they are feeling onto others. So as expected with all the insanity going on, everybody is pretty much at each other's throats. It also bothers me how most JAMES MANNING Groundcover vendor No. 16 when applied to American society. At most times the atmosphere seems more chaotic and unpredictable than anything else. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m absolutely correct to assume that, like myself, everybody in recent years has been going about their lives in a state of perpetual frustration, along with the cost of forfeiting everything this country was intended to stand for. Being in a constant state of unknowing and discontent wears people down Hit and run accident on Main Street ROBERTO ISLA CABALLERO Groundcover contributor On April 14, 2026, Main and Washington Streets were closed. I was crossing at that intersection and was hit by someone riding an electric scooter. The person on the scooter did not stop after hitting me and I was on the ground. Someone near me must have called 911 to help because shortly after the accident an ambulance showed up. The medics lifted me into the ambulance and took me to the hospital. At the hospital I found out my leg was broken in three parts. I had surgery where doctors put in steel rods. I was on medication to help with the pain. I stayed in the hospital for 10 days then was sent to a rehabilitation home for one month to recover. Since rehab I have been staying in different hotels thanks to the coordination by Washtenaw County Community Mental Health’s PATH Street Outreach team and Shelter Association of Washtenaw County Recouperative Care staff. I have worked many years selling Groundcover News. I quit and lost my job. I do not know what I am going to do next. In the past year when police received a complaint about me sleeping outside on my street corner in downtown Ann Arbor, I was sent to the county jail twice. I was outside because I have been trespassed from the shelter before and I do not always want to stay at the shelter. Last year I was talking with a lawyer and I told her to call ICE to pick me up because I no longer wanted to stay here and continue living outside. I have been sleeping outside for a long time. Somebody hit and hurt me and now I am using an electric wheelchair to get around. Is this the American Dream? Anyone who knows or has any information about what happened that day, please keep in mind that a miserable person almost executed a 67-year-old human being who uses a walker — and now an electric wheelchair. Images pictured above and to the right. Left: Caballero sits in his walker on Main and Washingon St. after surgery. Right: X-ray of Caballero's injured leg with three steel rods.  MEDICATION from page 12 I kept going to the emergency room in 1996. Wendy Dolin is still alive and actively leading the MISSD Foundation. She’s a clinical social worker and family therapist based out of the Chicago area. She has a podcast called Akathisia Stories available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Sound Cloud. There is also a MISSD website. I’ve often heard it said, “Why don’t mentally ill people just take their medication?” I hope this article makes you realize the answer isn’t always simple. Psychiatric meds have both very powerful effects and side effects. I see a nurse practitioner at CMH to go over these and sometimes adjust doses of my meds. Plus I can text her at any time and she gets back to me the next business day. Like I said, Wendy Dolin and I are not anti-medication. Quite the opposite. I’m extremely grateful for CMH and my medication. What I’m advocating for is for people to be careful, especially when starting a new drug or changing their dose, and for the medical profession to inform people more fully about the drugs they are prescribing. people will attack any available and convenient target instead of the ones truly responsible for the situation. Therefore the less fortunate, who face the harshest repercussions of the times, are also heavily targeted. And, despite having nothing to do with people's problems, they are scapegoated and that is good enough justification to persecute them. Stereotyping is a very common tool that nearly everybody applies to the individuals around them. This is likely due to our innate need for order, for categorization. However what we do or how we act in our perceptions is a critical gradient that permits coexistence or, ironically, produces chaos. Unfortunately many people choose to act out negatively regardless of how destructive it could potentially be. I have often felt this is driven by pride, or more precisely, a threat to their pride. Think about it — you feel someone is inferior but if you take time to meet them and get to know them, there is the chance that reality will contradict your assessment. That can definitely be taken as a threat and when threatened we go on the offensive and attack. And not because you were threatened by a lesser person, but instead by a mirror. Mirrors show us our incorrectness and perhaps other shortcomings. And we want to break them. All this doesn’t provide much help with the conflicted society we live in. However, it is something to be aware of, and understanding of what is taking place helps us to see how the situation will unfold. That could be enough to permit our survival, if not the critical factor in it. And for the time being it is going to have to be enough. 13 jbIH3%9jbIH3%8 בCט u׉׉ 7cassandra://MK8OzX5f2R-I3I0OViIfSt6sfGKm0fs6kYqMX5hLEY0`I׉ 7cassandra://t8wi-jOxghpabOCkcj-LBNRO8U1afpbk4cAvEBV0WPg`׉ 7cassandra://1KizH2a93Ln-LFzaQXxWZs2LNzQPclswkoG2NHAe-UQL`jbIJ3%Z׉E14 GROUNDCOVER NEWS PUZZLES LET'S RIDE! Peter Collins JULY 24, 2026 ACROSS 1. CIA operative 6. ___ pump 10. Bamboozle 14. Peach or lavender 15. Health-care grps. 16. Everything, in Germany 17. * Arts and crafts chain 19. Snitched 20. Olympic blade 21. What you and I share 22. Short strokes 23. "Whole ___ Love" (Led Zeppelin song) 25. Catchy tune, maybe 26. 106 to Caesar 29. Ailment that's sometimes treated with cranberry juice: Abbr. 30. Uncooked 31. The Eagles (formerly Hurons) of the MAC 32. Like the orientation of this answer 35. Textbook category 36. Prefix with -clast 37. Diamond, for one 38. Jobs creation? 39. Aaron in the Hall of Fame 40. Impromptu jazz performance 42. Albert Einstein's birthplace 43. Quarterback's bark 44. Some printers: Abbr. 45. Prov. whose capital is Yellowknife 46. Former PLO leader Yasir 48. Rotini or rigatoni 50. Like a yak 51. Baylor University's home 52. Furtive attention-getter 56. Edit menu option 57. * Mysterious Cosmic stuff 59. Long stretch 60. Wicked 61. Deciare 62. Mailed 63. Big Board inits. 64. Word that can follow the first word of the answers to the starred clues performance DOWN 1. Post-workout woe 2. Icky stuff 3. German river to the North Sea 4. Dynamite inventor Alfred 5. Take a taste of 6. Chastising, in a way 7. Blackest part of a shadow 8. Swarms 9. "Gangnam Style" rapper 10. Stopped lying? 11. *Line item? 12. Coldest ever 13. Future Doc 18. Gambling game 22. Comic-strip sound 24. Greek liqueur 25. Bud 26. Diminutive dogs 27. Singer's limits 28. * British heavy metal band 30. Tumble-down 33. Body art, slangily 34. Pro ___ 35. Good times 38. Admin. aide 40. Stick (out) 41. ___ salt 43. Part of a stable diet? 47. "Fire and Ice" poet 48. Helen of Troy's abductor 49. Is ____ (probably will) 51. Like some potato chips 53. Night light? 54. They come before spikes 55. See 58-Down 57. Animal house? 58. With 55-Down, shade provider Originally published in the October 2019 edition of Groundcover News. PUZZLE SOLUTIONS July 10, 2026 edition ׉ 7cassandra://1KizH2a93Ln-LFzaQXxWZs2LNzQPclswkoG2NHAe-UQL`jbIH3%:׉EJULY 24, 2026 REPRESSION  MICHIGAN 8 from page 7 monitoring (for which they have to cover the costs) and confined to the state district in which they live. Some defendants were also given “home detention,” meaning they cannot leave their place of residence except for court-approved purposes, or to attend school or work, and are under a curfew of 8 a.m.–8 p.m. Defendants also had to consent to have their DNA samples collected if asked by the court. A distraction from the real sources of violence The presentation of the Michigan Eight as terrorists is intended to distract from the great violence U-M and state agencies have used against the Palestine solidarity movement. U-M police have beaten, pepper sprayed, and groped Palestine solidarity protesters on campus. When U-M police violently disbanded the Gaza solidarity encampment in May 2024, at least two protesters had to be hospitalized due to pepper spray exposure. U-M has infamously hired private undercover investigators to surveil and harass student activists (and is now facing a lawsuit as a result). There were several instances of U-M police investigators making home visits to student activists in order to intimidate them and get information about other individuals in the movement. Public spaces on campus have also been increasingly surveilled and restricted, monitored by police and private security firms. The University also brought in heavier state power to try to criminalize the campus movement. U-M Board of Regents members Jordan Acker and Mark Bernstein — both major supporters of Israel — recruited their close ally, Michigan State Attorney General Dana Nessel, to pursue felony charges against some encampment participants. Nessel eventually had to drop the charges because they could not be substantiated, at which point U-M used internal disciplinary procedures to punish the students. U-M police also issued campus bans to tens of individuals who had attended protests. The case against the Michigan Eight is an escalation of this longstanding program of repression. The case against the Michigan Eight is ultimately about crushing solidarity in all its forms. The U.S. government seeks to criminalize any speech that is supportive of the Palestinian resistance, while trying to break the bonds of solidarity that people in the movement here have created with each other. The Justice Department also wants to send a message: if you damage property to disrupt genocide, you may face decades in prison. This crackdown is not limited to the U.S. On the day of the hearing for the Michigan Eight, June 12, 2026, a London judge sentenced Palestine Action activists to several years in prison under “terrorism” charges for destroying equipment in a factory that services Elbit, Israel’s largest weapons developer. We must resist this growing wave of criminalization and keep our solidarities strong. Ways to Support the Michigan Eight Donate to the Michigan Eight legal fund. For University of Michigan affiliates, sign the open letter of solidarity. Originally published June 19, 2026 by Mondoweiss. GROUNDCOVER NEWS We won’t go quietly AENEA KANAAN Groundcover contributor silly for the occupier to believe the occupied would ever get used to their oppression that we’d lay down and die, defanged and docile, obedient dogs at your feet instead we laugh, while you scream and cry the fools always underestimate love oh so delusional thinking we’d settle for lies because our liberation is unavoidable, inevitable is our rise We have justice on our side. we teach resistance in the space we occupy, through the love we embody, and the truth we carry with us like a lit torch the memory of those we hold dear will never die, ancestors our trusty guides love lives on until the end of time, it will always survive. 15 jbIH3%;jbIH3%: בCטFu׉׉ 7cassandra://Fc20vjU6kvHCHvOYbAMELvedYKb3FFWNuG5zvZuTQPgs`׉ 7cassandra://Rpulhy26WuwHkx3vmaXE6uDeRUPlvbxSDJ7Qsm-vCFA͏U`h׉ 7cassandra://OhoNJ6rJb9FWAdqAEOL1_VvRrruylt94j29GtJQEDsk+R`jbIJ3%\נjbIJ3%_Sd 9ׁHhttp://PEOPLESFOOD.COOPׁ ׁ ЈנjbIJ3%^n9ׁHhttp://ernews.comׁ ׁ Ј׉EY16 GROUNDCOVER NEWS FOOD Chicken Shawarma ELIZABETH BAUMAN Groundcover contributor Ingredients 1 1/2 T. ground cumin 1 1/2 T. turmeric powder 1 1/2 T. ground coriander 1 1/2 T. garlic powder 1 1/2 T. paprika 1 t. ground cloves 1 1/4 t. cayenne pepper Salt 16 boneless/skinless chicken thighs 2 large onions, sliced Juice of 2 lemons 2/3 cup olive oil 12 pitas Directions Mix all the spices in a small bowl. Wash the chicken, pat dry, and season with salt. Cut the chicken into thinly sliced, bite-sized pieces. Place it in a large bowl, add the spices, and toss to coat. Add the onions, lemon juice and olive oil, and toss to coat again. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. While Groundcover is a nonprofit, and paper vendors are selfemployed contractors, we still have expectations of how vendors should conduct themselves while selling and representing the paper. The following is our Vendor Remove the chicken from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature while the oven preheats to 425 degrees. Spread the chicken and onions in a single layer on an oiled baking sheet. Roast for approximately 30 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked (you can broil for the last minute for a crispier texture). Serve in a pita pocket with Tzatziki sauce. Many of the spices can be purchased from a bulk grocery store such as People's Food Co-op or By the Pound. Makes 12 servings. Code of Conduct, which every vendor reads and signs before receiving a badge and papers. We request that if you discover a vendor violating any tenets of the Code, please contact us and provide as many details as possible. Our paper and our vendors should be positively impacting our County. • Groundcover will be distributed for a voluntary donation. 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If you would like to report a violation of the Vendor Code or leave positive review of a Vendor experience please email contact@groundcovernews.com or fill out the contact form on our website. PHONE (734) 994 - 9174 • PEOPLESFOOD.COOP NATURAL FOODS MARKET & DELI 216 N. FOURTH AVENUE ANN ARBOR, MI MAKE MEALS YOU LOVE! Fresh ingredients to $5 OFF ANY PURCHASE OF $30 OR MORE One coupon per transaction. Must present coupon at the time of purchase. Coupon good for in-store only. No other discounts or coop cards apply. Not valid for gift cards, case purchases, beer or wine. 08/21/2026 OFFER EXPIRES 5/30/2026 ׉ 7cassandra://OhoNJ6rJb9FWAdqAEOL1_VvRrruylt94j29GtJQEDsk+R`jbIH3%<׈EjbIH3%=jbIH3%< ,July 24, 2026jbIEs~2