State Roundup

 Ann Arbor

Lake Michigan ice cover breaks 37-year-old record 
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Lake Michigan’s ice cover has set a record.
The federal government’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor reports that ice spread across 93.29 percent of the lake’s surface area on Saturday. That eclipsed the previous high of 93.1 percent in 1977.
The 37-year-old record was broken just before moderating temperatures began shrinking Great Lakes ice. At one point last week, the ice cover reached 92.2 percent for the entire five-lake system, second only to the 94.7 percent high reached in February 1979. On Monday night, it had dropped to 83.9 percent.
Lake Michigan fell to 77.1 percent Monday.

Grand Rapids
City considers  taking ban on spitting off books 
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A ban on spitting in public in Grand Rapids could soon be off the books.
The Grand Rapids Press reports the City Commission on Tuesday plans to consider deleting the word “expectorate” from a list of prohibited public acts that includes urination and defecation.
City Attorney Catherine Mish wrote in a memo that language was added to the code in an era when the use of chewing tobacco was prevalent and spittoons were common. She says the code’s language “did not disappear as quickly as the spittoon.”
Mish says she contacted local health officials, who told her spitting doesn’t pose as much of a threat as it might have in the past.
Mish has been scouring city code to find archaic rules, including one recently on being willfully annoying.
 
Detroit 
Man, 82, uses hammer to fend off home intruder  
DETROIT (AP) — When an 82-year-old Detroit man figured out that an intruder was in his home, he grabbed a hammer from a kitchen drawer and swiftly took action — striking the man in the head to protect his family.
George Bradford described what happened to TV stations WJBK and WXYZ, saying he was awakened Sunday morning by the screams of his daughter and granddaughter. A man had entered the family’s duplex through a basement window.
“I could hear him walking up the stairs,” Bradford said. “I had my choice to get ready.”
Bradford said he confronted the man and hit him after he refused to leave.
“He didn’t fall,’ Bradford said. “He wobbled a little bit.”
Detroit police arrived to find a 33-year-old man with blood dripping from his head. He was treated at the scene and taken into custody.
The suspect’s name wasn’t immediately released by police, but he’s expected to be charged in the break-in. Deputy Chief Rodney Johnson told the Detroit Free Press that the 82-year-old man was defending himself and isn’t expected to face charges.
Bradford’s actions were praised by his daughter.
“I have a good dad. A very good dad,” she said.
 
Bay City
Hearing set for  suspect in fatal house crash 
AUBURN, Mich. (AP) — Authorities in Bay County filed charges against a 21-year-old man they say was drunk when he crashed his SUV into a house, killing a male resident and injuring his wife.
The crash happened early Sunday in Auburn, about 10 miles west of Bay City, and killed Vaughn Lietzke, 41. Sandra Lietzke, 42, was flown to a Saginaw hospital, which had no information on her condition Monday.
According to sheriff’s deputies, Hunter Motko failed to stop at a stop sign, and his vehicle ran over a curb, became airborne and struck a corner of the house. After the crash, he resisted deputies and was shocked with a stun gun, said sheriff’s Lt. James Chlebowski.
Motko was arraigned Monday on charges of drunken driving causing death and serious injury.