Man Walks State On Stilts For Cerebral Palsy

The Associated Press

A 24-year-old man has completed an 830-mile trek on aluminum stilts across Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas to make people aware of cerebral palsy.

United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan reports that Neil Sauter ended his eight-week journey Friday in Ironwood, Mich., on the Upper Peninsula border with Wisconsin. He began walking in early May from southeast Michigan.

Lost Ring Returned After 54 Years

Ludington Daily News

Jan (Pedersen) Zacharda had completely forgotten about her first class ring before she got a call recently.

“I looked at my husband and said, ‘You have got to be kidding me,’” said Zacharda, a 1955 Ludington High School graduate, when she learned someone had found the class ring she lost in 1954.

She remembers getting the ring at the end of her junior year in high school and losing it soon after in Lake Michigan at Ludington State Park.

Springtime With Buford

Here's the latest from my buddy Todd, a Michigander transplant now living in Alaska -

Buford T. Porcupine's Wild and Wacky Adventures

While most of you down in the lower 48 might have the experience of a whitetail deer coming into your yard, here it's the moose we get so excitied about. A male moose with posts protruding from his head. We named him...Bob. That's because his brother, in close resemblence...Bill, wasn't to far behind him in the woods as well. So over the next few days in early May when we had the last snow falling , I was able to spend time with these two big guys. Following them around the ole homestead. I found if I just talked to them in a low calm voice and told them my intentions, they allowed me to get some pictures of them. Worked out well I thought. Call me crazy, I have no problems of standing, watching and observing the moose. As always check for your nearest tree for a safe retreat if need be.

Bottle Bill To Expand To Water & Juice

The Flint Journal Online News

Michigan's 10-cent deposit on pop cans and beer bottles works so well that its creators want to add water and juice containers to the recycling program passed by voters in 1976.

But the newly revived effort faces potentially insurmountable odds in the Legislature, especially in the face of intense lobbying from grocers.

Because it took a ballot initiative to enact the bottle law, the measure can be amended only if three-fourths of lawmakers agree.

Southfield Considers Privatizing Jail

Chicagotribune.com

The city of Southfield is looking into whether a private company could run its prisoner lockup for less money than the Oakland County Sheriff's Department wants to charge.

The department has operated the Detroit suburb's lockup for nearly three decades, booking an average of 3,300 prisoners a year. It also manages five cell blocks that hold up to 68 prisoners serving sentences of up to one year.

FDA Clears Michigan-grown Tomatoes

eMax Health

The Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) announced that Michigan-grown tomatoes are not associated with the current Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak and have been declared safe to eat by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Michigan has been added to the FDAs safe to consume list available online.

While Michigan grown tomatoes are deemed safe to eat, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to investigate an ongoing multi-state outbreak of human Salmonella linked to consumption of raw red plum, red Roma, and round red tomatoes, and products containing these raw tomatoes.

Kwame's Scandal Impacts Mother's Political Pursuits

The Associated Press

For a dozen years, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick has routinely defeated all opponents in the Detroit-area congressional district she represents.

But a text-messaging scandal involving her son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, could help her two challengers link the congresswoman to turmoil at city hall — and serve as a referendum on the mayor's conduct.

"She continues to defend her son, enabling him to fail," said former state Rep. Mary Waters, one of the challengers. "How can you continue to justify that behavior?"

The three-way primary in August will all but determine the winner in the heavily Democratic district. Kilpatrick, leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, has faced only token opposition during the past decade.