4:00 PM Oct 5, 2011
A 56-year-old northwestern Lower Peninsula man has been sentenced to 25-47 years in prison in the 2009 bludgeoning death of his girlfriend. The Traverse City Record-Eagle reported Robert Cheek told a judge in Benzie County Circuit Court in Beulah that he doesn't remember killing Valerie Smith in April 2009. The Frankfort man blamed an addiction to prescription drugs in the hammer attack. Cheek told the court Tuesday his remorse "cannot be described in words.'
10:17 AM Oct 5, 2011
A 13-year-old Spring Lake girl was injured Tuesday afternoon when she was struck by a car while riding her bike across Savidge Street, police said. "She was conscious and alert the whole time,' said Sgt. Curt Theune of the Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Police Department. "She had an abrasion on the right elbow and her chief complaint was hip pain.' The girl, who police declined to identify, was taken by ambulance to North Ottawa Community Hospital after the 3 p.m. accident. Her condition was unknown.
9:14 AM Oct 5, 2011
A 51-year-old Holland woman was hospitalized Tuesday after two vehicles collided at a Holland Township intersection. Sgt. Cal Keuning of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department said 18-year-old Zachary VanderHulst was driving east on James Street at 7:15 a.m. when he attempted to turn left onto 104th Avenue. As VanderHulst was making the turn, his vehicle was struck by a westbound vehicle driven by 51-year-old Debra VanTil, who was pinned inside the car, Keuning said.
2:58 PM Oct 5, 2011
UPDATE: Authorities have released the name of a Grand Valley State University student who died while playing basketball at an Allendale recreation center on Tuesday. They said Shane Anthony Peoples-Welch was a junior at GVSU and studying public administration. He was from the Saginaw area. The university's website said about 200 students gathered in the GVSU Kirkhof Center on Tuesday night for a memorial service.
11:14 AM Oct 4, 2011
Authorities in Grand Rapids said they're preparing to release audio and video recordings today from an ex-convict's shooting spree in which he killed seven people, then himself. On July 7, 34-year-old Rodrick Dantzler fatally shot two former girlfriends, his 12-year-old daughter and four others related to them. He also wounded two people before taking his own life. Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk said he, Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth and police investigations commander Capt. Jeffrey Hertel will answer questions after releasing the recordings.
4:00 PM Oct 4, 2011
A Fruitport woman was injured when she slowed her car down at the scene of a crash on the other side of Interstate 96 shortly before midnight Monday. Police said Tara Kolenic, 29, suffered life-threatening head injuries and was taken to Spectrum Health Hospital in Grand Rapids. However, a hospital spokeswoman said this morning that Kolenic was treated and released.
1:22 PM Oct 4, 2011
The Michigan State Police have begun closing posts as part of a plan to regionalize trooper coverage statewide. MSP Director Kriste Kibbey Etue said in a news release today that the number of posts open to the public statewide will drop from 62 to 29. Nineteen posts will remain open as work sites for officers. Fourteen posts will permanently close, including two shuttered last month.
10:40 AM Oct 4, 2011
The Muskegon County Sheriff's Department is investigating the death of a 20-year old Fruitport Township man following what detectives call an underage drinking party. The party was Friday night east of Muskegon, in the woods off Wolf Lake Road, near Evanston Avenue, police said. The investigation started Saturday morning when Travis Trowbridge was reported missing.
3:56 PM Oct 4, 2011
A 50-year-old Holton man will spend up to 25 years in prison for robbing a Ferrysburg convenience store at gunpoint on Aug. 1. Jon Lee DeJong, 8816 Holton Road, was sentenced Monday morning by Ottawa County Circuit Judge Jon Hulsing. DeJong was ordered to serve between 12 and 25 years on the armed robbery charge, and 2-5 years for fleeing and eluding a police officer. An habitual offender charge had been dropped in exchange for the guilty plea on Aug. 15.
4:05 PM Oct 3, 2011
A report of a possible missing boater on Sunday turned out to be unfounded, according to an official at Coast Guard Station Grand Haven. The Coast Guard was notified about 7:45 p.m. Sunday that there was a boat anchored in the Grand River in the area of 144th Avenue and Mercury Drive, near the Odawa boat launch in Grand Haven Township. The caller reported there was nobody around the boat, the official said.

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