"It's been a bumpy road and it's created a lot of bad blood amongst a lot of us on both sides, and unnecessarily. We're on the same side and we have the same mission to serve the people of Washtenaw County and I think we lost sight of that for a while." - Washtenaw County Board Chairman Conan Smith, on the county’s settlement of a $1 million, long-running legal fight with Ypsilanti and Augusta townships over police services.

---

“The more they rely on the tests, the more you’ll see teaching to the test. Really, what you’re doing is taking a generation of kids and instead of teaching them how to think, you’re making them dot collectors instead of dot connectors.” - Ann Arbor teachers union President Brit Satchwell, saying tenure reform bills passed by the Legislature could turn educators into “Teachertrons.”

---

"I don't like to point fingers. It's difficult to point fingers because you could also point at the information that was provided by RecycleBank. I think it's better at this point just to move forward and deal with the situation." - city solid waste coordinator Tom McMurtrie, on a large shortfall in collections under Ann Arbor's new single-stream recycling program.