YpsiNews.com started out as the personal journal of Ypsilanti resident Steve Pierce. He started YpsiNews after the Ann Arbor News ran a story in August 2002 accusing Pierce of securities fraud. The news had the wrong Steve Pierce. http://ypsinews.com/index.php/200208-hdl-article-in-the-ann-arbor-news-is-wrong/
In August 2006, Pierce re-launched YpsiNews as an online news journal focusing on Ypsilanti Politics, city government and downtown development. Since then, YpsiNews has recorded hundreds of hours of city council and public meetings and published them on-line.
While some recent videos can still be found online via google search, the site itself appears inactive: only two stories were printed in all of 2012, and none in 2011.
News coverage
YpsiNews has broken a number of important stories including the Housing Commission having failed hundreds of City rental inspections. The story broke less than a week after a fire killed three children at a Ypsilanti Housing Commission property.
YpsiNews was the first to report on the exodus of City Department managers over a 30 month period that saw every department manager leave except one. http://ypsinews.com/index.php/200612-ferndale-to-hire-bruner-away-from-city/
YpsiNews was the first to report on the fiascoes inside city hall surrounding the hiring of three different City Clerks. The culmination was the turmoil surrounding the City Clerk, hired less than two months earlier, who suddenly quit the day after YpsiNews reported she had used the "N" word to refer to a city resident. http://ypsinews.com/index.php/200703-city-clerk-resigns/
YpsiNews was the first to broadcast Ypsilanti public meetings on-line and make them available in an archive for no charge. YpsiNews was the first to broadcast Ypsilanti City and school election debates. YpsiNews was the first to broadcast Ypsilanti City Council meetings live on the Internet, the first to broadcast live music from Downtown Ypsilanti and broadcast live the Washtenaw County Sheriff and Ypsilanti Township debates held in August 2008. http://ypsinews.com/index.php/200807-ypsilanti-township-debate/
Ypsinews has even strayed outside of Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor to record Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) board meetings which are not recorded or broadcasted in Ann Arbor. http://ypsinews.com/index.php/200705-aata-board-meetings-on-line/
Website: http://www.YpsiNews.com
