WATZ Today's Country

Wednesday News Summary 09-21-22
Wed, 21 Sep 2022 12:16:42 EDT

(Stories Courtesy of Michigan News Radio)

FLAGS HALF STAFF
Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered U.S. and Michigan flags within the State Capitol Complex to be lowered to half-staff today to honor and remember former state Representative Sharon Gire. The flag lowering will coincide with a memorial resolution from the Michigan House of Representatives in her honor. Gires career in public service began with leadership roles in the YWCA, Big Brothers Big Sisters and other community organizations. She went on to serve on the Mount Clemens City Commission, on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners, in the Michigan House of Representatives, and on the Michigan State Board of Education. Gire was also the director of Michigan's Office of Services to the Aging under Governor Jennifer Granholm.

OTTAWA COUNTY SUICIDES
In recognition of National Suicide Prevention Month , the Ottawa County Department of Public Health is announcing its partnership with mantherapy.org, an online resource which uses humor to reduce stigma around mental health and suicide in men, and which connects men to mental health resources. Man Therapy Michigan is a statewide initiative that is working to reshape the conversation about suicide prevention and the broader issues surrounding men's mental health. Using stories of hope, resilience and recovery, coupled with humor, Man Therapy aims to cut through stigma and tackle issues like depression, divorce and even suicidal thoughts through free, confidential online assessments and resources. Although suicides in Ottawa County did not increase in 2021, 33 Ottawa County residents died by suicide last year. Of those who died by suicide, 30 were men and 8 were veterans.

TURKEY HUNTING LICENSES
Licenses are still available for fall turkey hunting season. If you're going afield to hunt for small game or scout for deer season, make sure to pick up a fall turkey license to have a shot at harvesting a wild bird for Thanksgiving. Remaining fall turkey licenses are on sale now for everyone. Download the new Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app to buy licenses, look up regulations, get notifications from DNR, and much more.

KINGSLEY SUPERINTENDENT
Kingsley Area Schools is looking to move forward after its superintendent, Dr. Keith Smith, resigned. It was a resignation that brought about mixed emotions. Some believe Smith brought a toxic attitude to the district. Because the board renewed Smith's contract in April, they had to buy out the remainder of his five-year contract. That adds up to nearly $700-thousand dollars. Many feel it was a high price to pay in order move forward.

SUPERINTENDENT CANDIDATES
Two candidates have been selected for second-round interviews to become the superintendent of the Grand Traverse Academy. The two candidates are Michelle Floering, M.Ed., and Rachel Roberts, Ph.D. Floering is the interim superintendent and principal of the Grand Traverse Academy and Roberts is the director of elementary leading & learning and choice at Brevard Public Schools in Brevard County, Florida.

GOVERNOR POLL
A new survey shows Governor Gretchen Whitmer is holding an 11% lead over GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon. The survey was conducted by the Lansing-based polling firm EPIC/MRA. Whitmers favorability number, at 51%, mirrors the vote she gets against Tudor Dixon at 51% to 40%. The poll found Whitmer had the strongest base of support among the top three statewide elected officeholders. In head to heads with their GOP rivals, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Nessel maintain an 8 point lead over their GOP opponents.

GVSU ENROLLMENT
Grand Valley State University reports an across the board increase in students new to the university. Nearly 4,000 first-year students enrolled, a 3 percent increase over last year. The university reported an 8 percent increase in transfer students and a 2 percent increase in graduate students. There is also a 9 percent increase in first-year students from Southeast Michigan. GVSU is also seeing dramatic increases in first-generation college students and students of color, welcoming the most diverse first-year class in the universitys 62-year history with a 23 percent increase in students of color. For students who are just entering college, Grand Valley reported a 28.4 percent increase in students who are the first in their families to attend college.

BENTON HARBOR SERVICE LINES
The City of Benton Harbor this week announced that its campaign to accelerate the replacement of aging lead water service lines is nearing completion with more than 90% of the lines in the city having now been inspected and replaced with copper lines, or verified non-lead. Crews have excavated 171 service lines over the past 30 days and replaced any lead or galvanized services lines with new copper pipe. To date, more than 4,000 water service lines have been replaced.

CASCADE TOWNSHIP JOBS
Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announce that Tecnoform, an Italian manufacturer of high-end furnishings and fixtures for luxury recreational vehicles and boats, is establishing a manufacturing facility that will serve as its North American headquarters in Cascade Township. The project is expected to generate a total capital investment of $7.3 million and create up to 130 jobs, supported by a $750-thousand dollar Michigan Business Development Program grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund. Tecnoform chose Michigan for the project over competing sites in Indiana and Iowa.

MACOMB COUNTY DISPATCHER
A Macomb County Sheriff's Department dispatcher is on leave after allegedly using a police computer system to get personal information about her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriends. The Macomb County Prosecutor's office charged 41-year old Rachael Collins of Roseville with a felony charge related to false use of personal information. The investigation started after a man who had been dating Collins told authorities his new girlfriends were receiving harrassing calls from a spoofed number. It was determined Collins used the Law Enforcement Information Network to get personal information on both women.

MACOMB COUNTY CORRUPTION
A longtime public works official has pleaded guilty to threatening to hold up permits for a developer unless he purchased tickets for a political fundraiser. Anthony Marrocco's conviction for attempted extortion is being considered a big catch for federal prosecutors. He was the powerful head of the Macomb County public works department until voters chose Candice Miller in 2016. Marrocco had broad authority over sewer lines, water, and infrastructure in the county.Roughly two dozen officials and businessmen have been convicted in the government's Macomb County corruption investigation, from elected township leaders to an elected prosecutor.

STUDENT LOANS
The White House is counting up the number of student loan borrowers who are eligible for the forgiveness program. Plenty of them live right here in Michigan. Its believed there are 1.3 million student loan borrowers in Michigan eligible for the $10,000 in forgiveness. Nearly 850,000 pell grant recipients in Michigan are eligible for $20,000 in forgiveness - pell grants are for families with incomes of under $60,000. Those who will be approved for the forgiveness program are individuals with earnings of $125,000 a year or less and households earning $250,000 a year or less. It appears applications will start being accepted in October.

SBA AWARD
Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced that Michigan has received the top award in the nation from the U.S. Small Business Administration State Trade Expansion Program for the upcoming fiscal year. Michigan received $1.4 million in federal grant funds the maximum amount awarded by the SBA to help Michigan small businesses grow in the state through increased access to global markets. This year marks the 10th year of STEP funding, which has awarded more than $13 million to the state of Michigan since its inception.

TWO YEAR OLD KILLED-BATTLE CREEK
In Battle Creek, police are asking the public to help find the person who fired shots early Tuesday killing a two-year-old boy in a drive-by shooting. Deputy police chief Shannon Bagley says they would hope that they would get someone to call and give them some information that would shed some more light on this so they can bring justice to his young child and his family. Police say it happened at about 2:20 Tuesday morning when someone fired shots into a home on Cliff Street and the child was shot and died at the hospital yesterday afternoon. Police say multiple families live in the house in separate apartments and they don't believe the boy's family was the intended target.

SCHOOL THREATS-METRO DETROIT
There have been some threats of violence at some schools in Metro Detroit. A former student at New Haven high School faces two felonies after threatening to blow up the school this week. 26-year-old Rico Cook posted the bomb threat on social media Monday morning. When police responded to the threat, they found Cook in a black Ford Fusion near the school's baseball diamonds. He's been charged with a false report of terrorism. A gun scare at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills also prompted a lockdown yesterday. The school's principal locked down the building when a student reported that they saw another student armed with a gun, and another student said they heard a gunshot. Police found no active threats.

SCHOOL HACKED -METRO DETROIT
Classes are canceled for the second consecutive day in the South Redford School District in Metro Detroit. The district is recovering from a cyber attack that may have possibly leaked personal information about students, teachers, and their families. There are over three thousand students in the district -- which is working with cyber forensics teams to restore systems to normal operations. South Redford says the restoration is a time intensive process and one they're continuing to take seriously. At this time, the district is asking all students and teachers to NOT use school-issued electronic devices.

OFFICER ATTEMPTED MURDER- SOUTHWEST MI
A southwest Michigan man has been charged with attempted murder of a police officer following a standoff at his home in Mendon, east of St. Joseph, Saturday night. Terrell Reese was charged with three counts of attempted murder of a police officer after he reportedly fired shots from his home after there were reports of a domestic assault. No one was hurt. Deputies eventually used tear gas and Reese was arrested.

SPILLED MILK-WEST MI
They're not crying over it - but crews near Grand Rapids had their work cut out for them yesterday - cleaning up a whole lot of spilled milk. A semi hauling 45-thousand gallons of milk containers overturned along US 131 in the town of Wyoming. They managed to reopen the road shortly after 5pm - after cleaning up the sour mess.

MSU PRESIDENT UPDATE
Support continues to grow for Michigan State University President Samuel Stanley after multiple board of trustee members attempted to force him to resign earlier this month. On Monday, nearly 100 highly-ranked Michigan State professors released a letter voicing their support for Stanley -- who also has backing from the university's faculty senate. Attempts to force Stanley from his position are reportedly connected to concerns with his handling of Title IX complaints and the Title IX-related departure of former Business Dean Sanjay Gupta.

OXFORD SCHOOL BOARD
Parent questions are growing following the news that a second Oxford school board member has resigned in less than a week. Board treasurer Korey Bailey has announced his resignation -- effective immediately. Tom Donnelly -- the board president -- resigned last week. According to The Detroit News, Bailey was not happy with the direction the board was going during a recent closed session to discuss pending litigation about the shooting that killed four students. Donnelly was sharply criticized after initially announcing that an independent review of the state's deadliest school shooting would not be conducted until after criminal and civil litigation was over.

BLUE BRIDGE-GRAND RAPIDS
Because of an increase in crime and large gatherings, the Blue Bridge in downtown Grand Rapids will now be closed overnight on the weekends. This comes after a shooting earlier this month in which four people were injured. Grand Rapids Police Chief Erin Winstrom says there have been illegal parties on the bridge, raising safety concerns. He says the bridge will be closed overnights on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the forseeable future.

CHILD WELL BEING-MARQUETTE
A couple of groups marched for more spending for child care and child wellbeing in Marquette last night. W-L-U-C reports Great Stare Parent Coalition and We the People Michigan held the march after only 100-thousand dollars of American Rescue Plan money went to childcare out of 13 million received in Marquette County. The group marched to the Marquette county commission meeting and board chair Gerry Corkin told them it's not Marquette County's main duty to provide child care for all of the county.

MENTAL HEALTH -TRAVERSE CITY
In Traverse City today, Grand Traverse County commissioners will consider approving a memorandum of understanding signaling their willingness to work with the five other counties in the Northern Lakes Community Health Authority to improve mental health services , a move that could avoid dissolving the health authority. Commissioners will also consider hiring a firm to draft a facilities master plan with the goal of consolidating county offices on two campuses.

POLICE FUNERAL -DETROIT
A funeral is happening today for a former Detroit Police Officer who died due to injuries sustained in 1998 -- when he suffered gunshot wounds in the line of duty. Lloyd Michael Todd will be laid to rest this morning at Saint Augustine and Saint Monica Roman Catholic Church in Detroit. Todd was assigned to the 9th precinct -- spending five years with Detroit Police. He was also a member of the United States Coast Guard. Chief James White will be in attendance for Todd's funeral.