Today is the busiest prep sports day of the year, with district tournaments and state finals taking place at various sites across the state. Local teams will vie for district championships in baseball, softball and soccer, while area athletes will compete for all-state recognition at track and field state meets as well.

Aspiring Lumberjacks won't just be vying for a spot on Muskegon's United States Hockey League team during the team's tryout camp June 13-19; they also could be taking a step toward the next level. During last year's camp - the Jacks' first - several players not only made the team's roster, but they also paved the road to a college commitment.

Michigan needs a statewide attitude adjustment that includes harnessing the power of positive thinking while it undergoes a sometimes painful economic revival, Gov. Rick Snyder told business and government leaders today. The Republican governor said in a speech wrapping up the Detroit Regional Chamber's three-day Mackinac policy conference that Michigan has long been held down by negativity, infighting and looking backward. He said many people must now accomplish more with fewer resources.

During her time spent at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, eight year-old Greta Goszkowicz of North Muskegon has collected thousands of colorful beads, signifying any achievement - big or small - in her battle against lymphoblastic leukemia. The beads, in many cases, signify courage after Goszkowicz has successfully gone through medical procedures such as chemotherapy, a spinal tap or blood transfusion. Or they may reflect special people that have visited her in the hospital or new friends she has made.

Jack Kevorkian, the retired pathologist who captured the world's attention as he helped dozens of ailing people commit suicide, igniting intense debate and ending up in prison for murder, has died in a Detroit area hospital after a short illness. He was 83. Kevorkian, who said he helped some 130 people end their lives from 1990 to 1999, died about 2:30 a.m. today at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, close friend and prominent attorney Mayer Morganroth said. He had been hospitalized since last month with pneumonia and kidney problems, Morganroth said.

For years, Whitey White's Water Ski and Thrill Show wowed audiences across the state of Michigan with its groundbreaking antics behind a power boat. Grand Haven's Lyle "Whitey' White was the show's main attraction, orchestrating everything from skiing atop a 20-foot ladder to defying gravity by soaring over spectators' heads while attached to a giant kite.