ANN ARBOR, MI — A coffee shop with Austin, Texas, “vibes” has arrived in Ann Arbor.

Hazel Coffee Co, 2111 Packard St., unveiled its offerings in a soft opening Wednesday, Nov. 5, co-owner Bryan Caragay said.

“The community around here has been the most supportive,” Caragay, 29, said. “We have had dozens of people yesterday and today just say how happy they are for us that we got through it and congratulating us.”

Caragay co-owns the shop with his wife, Hailey Polidori Caragay. The two hope to make their coffee shop unique by adding a “coffee-and-community tagline.”

“We really wanted to bring that Southern hospitality to the Midwest and just have a really collaborative, creative environment,” Hailey Polidori Caragay, 29, said. “We want it to be a place people gather from all aspects of creativity.”

Hazel Coffee Co. comes after years of doorstop drop-offs and event-catering, Bryan Caragay said.

The couple, originally from the Plymouth-Canton area and both 2018 Central Michigan University graduates, started a coffee catering company in 2020 when they resided in Austin.

Bryan said his wife dropped off coffee orders door-to-door and used one espresso machine to prepare drinks at the start.

The couple moved to Ann Arbor in 2022 and transitioned their coffee business to catering carts. Bryan said they opened the coffee shop as “a home base” for patrons.

“We get a lot of people saying that they loved our coffee at our catering events but there was nowhere they could actually come and enjoy the coffee themselves,” Bryan said.

The couple “blindly moved” to Ann Arbor because the city has “similar vibes to Austin.”

They began seriously touring potential sites about two years ago, but the locations were either too expensive or “the landlords weren’t great.”

Construction of Hazel Coffee Co., named from an early memory of Hailey’s mother drinking hazelnut coffee, began in May in a vacant lot, close to YORK Food and Drink and Core Collective.

Bryan credits the coffee shop’s landlords, whom he calls “the most amazing landlords you could ever imagine,” for helping him and Hailey with the shop’s initial financial struggles.

Hailey said many local business owners have already stopped by the coffee shop and are excited to collaborate.

“We took a lot of inspiration from coffee shops down in Austin, Texas where everything is super welcoming,” Bryan said. “Our whole thing is you should be able to walk in and get a very well-dialed espresso like a specialty coffee shop would offer. But also, if you’re somebody who’s not into that and you want a chai or a matcha, we’ll be able to provide that for you as well.”

Bryan said the couple does not want customers to be judged for their drink orders.

Menu items include a cinnamon sugar latte, maple sea salt latte and other house-made drinks.

“(Customers) should expect to feel welcomed immediately when they walk in the door,” Bryan said. “They should always feel like someone has made a connection to them and that when they come in, we’re going to make sure that they leave with something they were happy with.”

Hazel Coffee Co is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.

The couple is also passionate about technology. In their sophomore years at CMU, they came up with Guarded Safety, a smartphone safety app that alerts users’ contacts if they feel like they’re in a dangerous situation.

The couple’s product won the October 5×5 Night pitch competition at Fenn Valley Vineyards in Fennville in 2017.

Read more: CMU students’ app to improve college safety wins 5×5 Night contest

Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page.

AUSTIN (KXAN) – A slew of authors have dropped out of the lineup for this weekend’s Texas Book Festival (TBF).

“Goosebumps” author R.L. Stine, along with 17 others, won’t appear at the festival due to “unforeseen circumstances,” according to a news release Friday:

• Brian Goldstone
• David A. Graham
• Peter Guralnick
• Alejandro Heredia
• Nathalia Holt
• Julia Ioffe
• Basia Irland
• Graci Kim
• Patricia Lockwood
• Cappy McGarr
• David Nasaw
• Mayra Olivares-Urueta
• Lyla Sage
• Crystal Silva-McCormick
• Peter Swanson
• Jennie Erin Smith
• Bryan Washington

The release came after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued repeated ground delays and limited flights at airports across the country due to the ongoing government shutdown. 

Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began Oct. 1. The staffing shortages have put pressure on the FAA to take precautions, with the agency announcing Wednesday it would make cuts in “high-volume markets.”

While Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) is not among the 40 airports experiencing these cuts, 35 of those airports have direct flights arriving from AUS. 

Festival organizers did not specify if writers pulled out as a result of delayed or cancelled flights, only writing that one reason they pulled out was “ongoing flight challenges.”

The 2025 Texas Book Festival is Nov. 8-9 in downtown Austin. Admission is free, but there are ticketed sessions for select authors. Those currently scheduled to to appear include Chelsea Handler and Matthew McConaughey. 

TBF is a non-profit that brings authors to K-12 schools and awards grants to Texas public libraries to encourage literacy, according to the organization’s website.

POLK COUNTY, Texas — Nearly three years after a deadly crash that claimed the lives of two Texas college students, Texas Rangers have made two arrests in connection with the case, bringing long-awaited movement for the families who’ve been demanding justice.

The crash happened in January 2023, killing 19-year-old Graylan Spring, a former Vandergrift High School athlete, and 18-year-old Micah McAfoose of Houston. Both were Stephen F. Austin State University students. Investigators say their vehicle collided with an 18-wheeler that was turning left onto a highway from a side road in Polk County.

Spring’s mother, Krista, says her family hasn’t been able to properly grieve since that day. “Honestly, we haven’t even given our time to mourn the death of our son because we went from the death to the injustice immediately,” she said.

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On Wednesday, Texas Rangers arrested Marlin Kendall Hughes, the owner of the trucking company, and Antonio Sandoval Jr., the truck’s driver, on charges of tampering with evidence.

According to an affidavit signed by Ranger Joshua Benson, Hughes called Sandoval after the crash and asked if the truck had a dash camera system. When Sandoval confirmed it did, Hughes told him to bring it to him. By the time the camera was turned over to authorities, Spring says, the footage had been erased. “Someone didn’t want us to see what was on that video,” she said.

Spring said the family is grateful for the progress made this week, but still wants full accountability. “We’re thankful for the arrests made; that’s just one step in the right direction. Praise the Texas Rangers for their investigation,” she said.

Polk County District Attorney Shelly Bush Sitton confirmed her office is reviewing the case with the Rangers. “I don’t have any information on the case yet,” she said. “I’ve talked to the Rangers. They’re bringing it in. We’ll be sitting down and going through it with them and making a determination of how to proceed,” Sitton said.

Both Hughes and Sandoval were released on bond Thursday morning.

Graylan Spring’s legacy lives on through organ donation and the Graylan Spring Foundation, which supports student athletes.

“I don’t know if we’ll get the results that we truly want in the end, but that’s what we’re seeking,” his mother said. “True justice is indictments.”