Village Council on Monday appointed a two-member advisory committee to sort through recently discovered contamination issues at Mill Point Park. Although exact figures won't be known for another week, engineers estimate it will cost between $25,000 and $80,000 to clean up the soil, depending on the method. Excavation for the Grand River Greenway and new restrooms at the park recently uncovered the contamination, according to Village Manager Ryan Cotton. On Monday, Cotton consulted with engineers and construction teams about potential options.

An on-again, off-again grant for land purchases is off again - apparently for good. In December 2010, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources approved a $330,000 Trust Fund Grant for Spring Lake Village to attempt to purchase eight parcels for the second phase of the Grand River Greenway bike path, as well as a parcel at the southeast corner of Exchange and School streets, which is used for overflow parking at Mill Point Park.

Four people were hospitalized after being shot late Monday in Muskegon Heights. Michigan State Police are assisting the Muskegon Heights Police Department in investigating the shooting that happened between 11 and 11:30 p.m. in the 2900 block of Ninth Street, between Columbia and Summit avenues. The Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office said three of the four injured are women and one is a man. All four are expected to survive.

Local school officials said they are pleased with how their schools rated, despite higher expectations causing more schools not to make Adequate Yearly Progress in 2011. The report, released Monday, said 79 percent of Michigan's public school buildings and 93 percent of the school districts made AYP for the 2010-11 school year. This is down from 86 percent of the schools and 95 percent of the districts making AYP the previous year.

In order to highlight job creation efforts by entrepreneurs in Michigan's 2nd Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga will conduct a tour of small West Michigan businesses to talk to the people that created them. "As we continue to work in the (U.S.) House to give job creators an atmosphere of growth and economic certainty, I want to hear from businesses in West Michigan who are starting or growing a business what they need - or do not need - from government,' the Zeeland Republican said Monday.

The Grand Haven Tribune is looking for people directly impacted by the terrorist strikes of Sept. 11, 2001, for stories to run prior to the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

Tougher standards have left more Michigan schools failing to meet requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law. Michigan education officials said today that 21 percent of the state's public school buildings failed to make adequate yearly progress as defined by the law in the 2010-11 academic year. That's up from about 14 percent in the previous academic year. The decline in the number of schools meeting standards comes even though state test scores have been on the rise. Higher proficiency targets are now required under the federal law.