11:22 AM Oct 6, 2011
An autopsy has found that a 21-year-old Grand Valley State University student from Saginaw who collapsed while playing basketball with friends on campus had a chronic heart condition. The school said police were called to the Allendale Campus Recreation Center about 6 p.m. Tuesday after Shane Peoples-Welch fainted. Fieldhouse staff performed CPR and a defibrillator that's kept on site was used by officers, but he couldn't be revived.
2:00 PM Oct 5, 2011
Students at Forest Grove Elementary School were kept inside Tuesday morning after a mysterious odor was detected around the school by students and faculty. Sgt. Valerie Weiss of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department said deputies were called to the school, 1645 32nd Ave. in Hudsonville, at about 9:15 a.m. on reports of the odor. The Sheriff's Department worked with school officials and Ottawa County Emergency Management to determine the origin of the smell, Weiss said.
10:30 AM Oct 5, 2011
An ex-convict who killed seven people in July before taking his own life in a Grand Rapids shooting spree had pledged in a suicide note to take his mother-in-law "with me.' Grand Rapids police released new information about the case Tuesday, including video and audio recordings. Officials probably won't ever know with certainty why Rodrick Dantzler fatally shot a former girlfriend, his estranged wife, his 12-year-old daughter and four others related to them, including his mother-in law, Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk said.
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.

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