Kalamazoo resident Joetta Carr says the Southwest Michigan chapter of the Extinction Rebellion wants candidates for mayor and city commission to develop a climate policy for Kalamazoo. She says they are also working at the state level, and planning to go to the debates in Detroit for candidates running for the Democratic nomination for President. 

Carr was interviewed for a story in Southwest Michigan’s Second Wave. It’s part of the On the Ground Series telling stories from Kalamazoo’s neighborhoods. The project is now focused on the Vine Neighborhood. On the Ground Kalamazoo Project Editor Theresa Coty O’Neil says political activism, including around global issues is one of the things that stands out about the Vine Neighborhood.

Southwest Michigan’s Second Wave On the Ground Kalamazoo Project Editor Theresa Coty O’Neil says the Vine neighborhood is different in many ways from the others featured so far. Over the next several weeks, O’Neil will report on the people, business, non-profit groups and more in the Vine Neighborhood.

The Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck continues this week with festival co-directors Jennifer Walvoord and Drew Le joining Grand Rapids Symphony musicians Leslie Van Becker and Alicia Eppinga in a program of Piazzolla, Mozart, and Schoenfield. In a conversation with Cara Lieurance, Le introduces his fellow musicians and shares his thoughts on Piazzolla's "Spring," from Four Seasons in Buenos Aires, Mozart's Piano Quartet No. 1, K. 478, and Paul Schoenfield's Café Music. He also shares the news that he and his family are moving to Ohio, where he will be an assistant professor of piano at Kent State University. They will return each summer to direct the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck.

This week, the Michigan Supreme Court will hear arguments on a debate that started during a contentious and busy lame duck session last year. Whether or not the state’s highest court will actually step in with a ruling remains to be seen.

Kalamazoo County has a plan for reducing domestic violence. It’s working toward launching a “Trauma Court” for repeat offenders that would seek to change their behavior, not just punish it.

The Kalamazoo Symphony and Kalamazoo Public Schools' after-school music program, Kalamazoo Kids in Tune continues beyond the school year, offering six weeks of summer programming. Artistic director Ben Gudbrandson says it's a time when the skills they built might otherwise get rusty, and just as importantly, kids benefit from the familiar routine of rehearsal and performing. Craig Freeman, a leading brass instructor for KKIT, added a jazz unit to the program this summer, and alongside the orchestra and its chamber ensembles, Kalamazoo Kids in Tune will give two public concerts this week.

On Tuesday, July 16, the orchestra will play at the Portage Public Library at 1 pm - 1:30 pm. On Thursday, July 18, they'll be downtown on the Kalamazoo Mall from 11:45 - 12:15 pm.