ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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‘Rotten To The Core’: Construction workers UMich Regents discuss gender-affirming care, protest Core Spaces Yousef Rabhi and Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters raise ICE presence and new concerns about working conditions following October site visit health care pavillion “What is the best way to explain to your child that they no longer have access to the care that saved their life?”
KARINE TAN
Daily Staff Reporter
In December 2023, the Ann Arbor City Planning Commission permitted Core Spaces to begin developing Hub William, a 16-story high-rise apartment building at 333 E. William St. between South Fifth Avenue and South Division Street. Since construction began in January 2024, the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters has accused Core of exploiting construction workers and failing to provide a safe environment. Washtenaw County Commissioner Yousef Rabhi, D-District 8, visited the site Oct. 13, 2025 after MRCC raised concerns about an unsafe job site and labor practices. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Rabhi said he immediately noticed a lack of security upon entering the site. “Most union job sites would have a lot of restrictions in terms of who could access it, but it was pretty much free flow who could go in and out,” Rabhi said. “The safety signs were hidden at the front gate. The door was just wide open. There wasn’t even fencing on the back side of that site.” After speaking with workers on-site, the MRCC and Rabhi said they noticed labor brokers were paying many workers with under-the-table cash. They interviewed a floor layer from Michigan who, despite operating under the direction of his employer, was paid as an independent contractor on Form 1099, a tax return usually used for freelance work.
MARISSA CORSI
Daily News Contributor
Construction of Hub William apartments underway at 333 East William St. Wednesday evening.
In an interview with The Daily, MRCC Communications Director Steve Purchase said cash pay and 1099 misclassifications can also act as a loophole allowing employers to deny employees minimum wage, overtime pay, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance. “We’ve seen workers on sites where labor brokers will string workers along,” Purchase said. “They’ll give them a little bit of cash, they’ll work them for weeks and then they’ll just stop paying them.” Following an initial visit, MRCC began raising awareness about the site’s conditions and encouraged community members to get involved. Efforts included
protesting outside the site with the catchphrase “Rotten To The Core” and asking community members to contact Core using its whistleblower policy. Carpentry apprentice Troy Ellsworth, a MRCC member, petitions for signatures against Core outside the Ann Arbor District Library’s downtown branch, on the same block as the new development. In an interview with The Daily, Ellsworth said the community has supported the petition for CORE to reconsider their treatment of workers. “You wouldn’t believe the enthusiasm some of these people have for what we’re standing for,” Ellsworth said. “I really don’t even have to get into it half
PUBLIC SAFET Y
Washtenaw County Jail resumes in-person visits after more than a decade
“When you prioritize family bonds, you create a calmer and more hopeful environment for everyone involved.” KAYLA LUGO
Daily Staff Reporter
The Washtenaw County Jail began allowing in-person visitation after more than a decade, replacing a digital-only system. In an email to The Michigan Daily, Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer said officials realized the importance of human connections through in-person visit trial studies, making the decision to move away from a screen-based model to one recognizing the importance of in-person interaction. “The process began with a dedicated team that looked at how to bring people back together safely, starting with small pilot groups in specific housing areas,” Dyer wrote. “This careful rollout allowed the community to see that when you prioritize family bonds, you create a calmer and more hopeful environment for everyone involved.” Dyer explained how the jail ensures fairness and accessibility for families through a structured scheduling system. She wrote that inmates in good standing with the facility can submit a list of up to five people they would like to see in person, and they can meet in 30-minute blocks. “Video visits allow for up to three guests per session, while our thirty-minute in-person visits are reserved for smaller groups, either two adults or one adult and a child,” Dyer wrote. “While there are some common-sense boundaries —
such as ensuring visitors aren’t currently on parole or subject to court orders — the goal is to make the path to connection as clear and supportive as possible for every family.” In an interview with The Daily, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit said maintaining strong family and community ties supports rehabilitation and enhances public safety. “When you are incarcerated, you are frequently isolated from your support network, from your family, from your friends and those are the very people that you ultimately are going to need to lean on in order to get back on track,” Savit said. “Strong support systems are the biggest predictor of whether somebody who was previously accused or convicted of a crime is going to reoffend, so allowing those connections to remain strong is really important for public safety.” In addition to improving public safety, the decision could improve the overall safety of incarcerated people. In an email to The Daily, LSA junior Chelsea Coon, who has written on prison conditions, wrote that in-person visitations can promote accountability for humane jail conditions and protect incarcerated people from misconduct by officers. “Family members and friends with a vested interest in the wellbeing of their incarcerated loved one are likely to strictly judge the quality of a facility and want to ensure it is held to the standard it is supposed to be,” Coon wrote.
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“Those on the governmental payroll looking to inspect and/or upkeep the facilities do not always share these motivations and are willing to let issues slide that ultimately violate human rights.” In an interview with The Daily, sociology lecturer Rebecca Christensen, director of Project Community, emphasized the financial burden of virtual communication for families and the inmates. She said in 2022 it costed $3.15 to make a 15-minute phone call from Washtenaw County Jail. “Families can end up in debt trying to keep in touch — whether it’s children trying to keep in touch with their parents or brother, sister, son, daughter,” Christensen said. “I think it’s a big issue when we’re using technology instead of direct contact.” In an interview with The Daily, Marsha Chamberlin, president of Staying in Closer Touch — a nonprofit organization dedicated to linking incarcerated parents with their children through reading books — said in-person visits will be popular because most inmates are from the local community. “I think most of the people in the county jail are probably relatively local,” Chamberlin said. “If they’re not within the county, they’re fairly close by, so they could get here by car, or have someone drive over, take a bus. So then the primary barrier might be just the availability of transportation, or the hours that are available to get together.”
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the time. I tell them half of the speech, and they’re like, ‘Give me the pen.’ They’re ready to sign because they know what’s right and wrong.” Core did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment. Since their initial visit in October, Core has not welcomed MRCC back inside the site. However, MRCC has noticed new external site safety with increased barriers, fencing and cones. Construction is set to wrap up by fall 2026, but Core will still manage the construction of multiple Ann Arbor high-rises including Hub Packard and Hub on Campus Church.
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The University of Michigan’s Board of Regents met in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building Thursday afternoon to discuss the ongoing evaluations of potential sites for the data center proposed in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s presence in Southfield and the newly constructed D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion. Julie Ishak, Michigan Medicine chief nurse and operations executive, presented the regents with information on the pavilion, which opened Nov. 23 of last year. Ishak said the safe transfer of 186 patients into the pavilion on the first day was the result of Michigan Medicine’s committed and caring health care professionals. “It is truly hard to capture into words the energy and excitement that was in the air that day, not only for our teams, but for our patients and their families,” Ishak said. “Teamwork and caring are two of our core values at Michigan Medicine, and I’m telling you, they were on full display that day with hundreds of team members who volunteered to work and to come in to ensure a smooth
transition for our patients and their loved ones.” From its opening in November 2025 to Jan. 31 of this year, the pavilion has taken care of an average of 194 patients per day, performed 1,250 surgeries and addressed 164 interventional radiology cases. Following the presentation and committee updates, Regent Jordan Acker (D) addressed ICE’s decision to lease office space at Oakland Towne Square, a private commercial property located near the Southfield branch of Acker’s law firm. Acker discussed the antiICE public demonstration he attended alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and state Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, and said unmarked officers sparked fear amongst the University’s immigrant students, faculty, staff and patients. “When masked officers operate without visible identification, when enforcement occurs in private space without clarity and when body cameras are absent, trust erodes and fear fills the gap,” Acker said. “This is not who we are at the University of Michigan. … No one on this campus should have to ask the question, ‘Who are these people? Do they have authority? Am I safe?’”
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ANN ARBOR
Treeline trail inches closer to construction following decades of planning
The proposed three-mile urban trail is gaining political and financial support
Lune Mathis/DAILY
The construction site for the new Treeline trail.
NIKO WILSON & NATHAN ZHANG Daily Staff Reporters
The Treeline, a proposed three-mile urban trail, has seen significant progress after the Ann Arbor City Council reaffirmed support and authorized new engineering work for it last fall. The trail would tentatively follow the historic Allen Creek beginning at the Border to Border (B2B) trail and Broadway Park West, trace through downtown Ann Arbor along the Watco train tracks and conclude at the new Wolverine Village housing development constructed by the University of Michigan. Mentioned in city documents going back to 1981, the Treeline was first proposed to City Council as the Allen Creek Gateway in 2005. However, it was quickly
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rejected, leading to the creation of the Allen Creek Greenway Task Force, which incorporated the trail into its 2009 Downtown Plan. In 2017, the city adopted a Treeline master plan, looking into potential routes and formally outlining the project’s goals, which City Council and the Treeline Conservancy have worked toward implementing following a 2019 agreement. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Cynthia VanRenterghem, Treeline Conservancy executive director for development, said the trail could become an essential part of the city’s identity. “We always say you can’t imagine Ann Arbor without the Arboretum, or Gallup Park — those really important parts of the character of Ann Arbor — and we feel like the Treeline can be the same,” VanRenterghem said.
INDEX Vol. CXXXVII No. 7 ©2026 The Michigan Daily
“All of those efforts took a lot of investment and some community leaders to really have that vision, when maybe others can’t always see it immediately.” Norman Herbert, Treeline Conservancy director and co-chair, told The Daily the project has gained broader political support in recent years. “We’ve had conversations with all our City Council representatives, with our state representatives and at the federal level as well, and all are supportive of this project,” Herbert said. “Depending upon which of the federal officials we’re talking about, it’s either a grant that would be provided to the city, or it’s a grant that could be provided directly to the Treeline. In either case, we’ve got everybody’s support.”
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