Lansing: 400 runners selected for Mackinac Bridge crossing
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Four hundred runners recently received some good news: They’ve been randomly selected to run across the Mackinac Bridge on Monday.
The annual Labor Day crossing draws tens of thousands of walkers.
But a select 400 who entered an online lottery have been tapped to jog across the span that connects Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas.
Michigan’s governor has led the walk since 1958, a precedent set by G. Mennen “Soapy” Williams shortly after the bridge opened.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm turned the holiday tradition on its head early in her tenure, adding the running element.
Marshall: Congressmen want probe in Michigan oil spill
MARSHALL, Mich. (AP) — A congressional committee wants the U.S. attorney general to determine whether a pipeline company forced residents to sign forms preventing them from suing in exchange for air conditioners and hotel expenses in the wake of this summer’s oil spill in Michigan.
The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is asking Eric Holder to investigate the use of the releases by Enbridge Energy Partners.
Enbridge spokeswoman Terri Larson tells The Detroit News for a story Wednesday that the forms don’t bar residents from suing the company in the future on another matter.
An Enbridge pipeline ruptured on July 26, releasing more than 800,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River and other southern Michigan waterways.
Detroit: Church volunteers donate time at charter school
DETROIT (AP) — Members of a suburban church are helping a Detroit charter school prepare for the upcoming academic year by making improvements to the building’s library.
Volunteers from Renaissance Unity Church in Warren will help shelve donated books Wednesday and set up the newly refurbished library. It’s happening during an open house at Timbuktu Academy of Science and Technology on Detroit’s east side.
The church is just north of Detroit’s city limits.
Back packs filled with supplies also will be donated to the African-centered school.
The effort is part of an ongoing project between the church and school in which volunteers support students through tutoring, mentoring and other initiatives.
Detroit: Project aimed at beautifying northwest neighborhood
DETROIT (AP) — A neighborhood in northwest Detroit will be part of a revitalization and beautification project spurred by Sinai-Grace Hospital and a $50,000 grant from Meijer.
The hospital says flowers will be planted Wednesday morning in several medians near Sinai-Grace and the surrounding neighborhood. Staff from the hospital, Meijer and the community will do the planting and landscaping.
Sinai-Grace Vice President Katie Spillane-Knight says the hospital has worked to develop and maintain a proactive relationship with its neighbors in the community. She says the beautification project is part of that effort.
Warren: Ringing lets police catch cell phone thief
WARREN, Mich. (AP) — Police in a Detroit suburb say a ringing cell phone gave them the evidence they needed to arrest the man who stole it.
Warren police officers confronted 18-year-old Loyd J. Thomas at a CVS pharmacy after a resident reported someone trying to enter his home before dawn Tuesday.
Police tell The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens that a suspect entered three parked cars and took a cell phone.
Police say a dispatcher dialed the number of the missing phone, and it rang in Thomas’s pocket.
The Warren resident was arraigned Tuesday on theft and car break-in charges before 37th District Judge Jennifer Faunce, who set his bond at $7,500. Thomas was in the Macomb County jail Tuesday night, and there was no information on whether he has a lawyer.
Grand Rapids: U.S. sues west Michigan farm for antibiotics in cows
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. is seeking a permanent injunction against a western Michigan dairy operation it says sold cows with illegal traces of antibiotics in their bodies.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that Scenic View Dairy of Hamilton sold the cows for human consumption. A complaint was filed Tuesday in Grand Rapids federal court.
Authorities say the company had “numerous warnings” and still sold the cows for slaughter from three farms. The complaint names the company’s president and the farm managers.
The Associated Press left a message after business hours Tuesday seeking company comment.
The complaint says authorities found the cows had illegal residues of the antibiotics neomycin, peznicillin and sulfadimethoxine (SUL’-fah-dy-meth-OK’-seen).?
