10:56 AM Aug 24, 2011
The second Crockery Township home in less than a week was struck by lightning when storms rumbled through the area Tuesday night. Firefighters were called to 17804 120th Ave. at 9:42 p.m. when the homeowners saw smoke in the laundry room after a lightning strike shook the area. Crockery Township Fire Chief Gary Dreyer said the lightning hit the house and followed a vent to the dryer, starting it on fire. The chief said the fire was contained to the dryer and was extinguished by firefighters.
12:00 PM Aug 24, 2011
A big-game hunter who legally killed a 7-foot polar bear more than a decade ago in Canada ran afoul of U.S. authorities after using a boat to ferry the trophy to Michigan. Rodger DeVries of Ottawa County's Georgetown Township faces sentencing Sept. 8 on a misdemeanor of knowingly and unlawfully using a U.S. port or harbor to import polar bear parts without obtaining a permit. Court records show he pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.
10:58 AM Aug 25, 2011
A 17-year-old Grand Haven boy was rescued from Lake Michigan near Grand Haven's south pier just as Tuesday evening's storm started rumbling through the area. His name was not available. "Witnesses said, if it wasn't for the surfers, the kid probably wouldn't have been rescued,' said Lt. Renee Freeman of the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety.
8:30 AM Aug 24, 2011
Federal prosecutors have accused a northern Michigan man of killing his 3-month-old daughter while he was sexually assaulting her. Steven Deuman, 26, is charged with murdering his infant daughter while sexually assaulting her. He has a hearing scheduled for today in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. The case is federal because the Aug. 12 death happened on a reservation of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Leelanau County, northwest of Traverse City. Records say Deuman, his wife and children live on the reservation.
7:34 AM Aug 24, 2011
An autopsy has been completed on the body of a man pulled out of the Grand River Saturday evening, but the cause of his death is still undetermined, Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Police Chief Roger DeYoung said late this morning. Michael Kirby, 51, of Coopersville, died sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning when he fell into the water behind his boat docked at the Village Cove Marina, 900 W. Savidge St. in Spring Lake. Kirby was last seen by friends after 10:30 p.m. Friday at the Holiday Inn, police reported. He was discovered missing Saturday morning.
12:00 PM Aug 23, 2011
The investigation into a fire that destroyed a Crockery Township home on Saturday helped officials determine that lightning was the cause, Fire Chief Gary Dreyer said this morning. Dreyer returned to the scene on Monday with insurance investigators. All of the witness statements and weather reports added to that confirmation, he said. The fire appeared to start in the roof area of the house at 9878 Taft Road, Dreyer said. "We did not see any signs of an electrical issue in our examination,' he said. The house is owned by Bob and Theresa Kary.
11:30 AM Aug 23, 2011
Authorities in southwestern Michigan said they're getting more reports of cornfields being trashed by drivers - apparently for kicks. The Kalamazoo Gazette reported that last week neighbors chased down a sport utility vehicle full of teens and cornered them with their own vehicles until deputies could arrest them. Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Pali Matyas said there's been a "rash of this' recently. In another case, an off-road vehicle was driven through a corn field.
10:25 AM Aug 23, 2011
A 17-year-old charged in the stabbing of his 55-year-old grandmother at her southwest Michigan home said he was high on meth when he attacked her, and that he hopes she can forgive him. Michael Loerch told WWMT-TV from the St. Joseph County Jail on Monday that he smoked methamphetamine the day before the Aug. 18 attack and that he lost control after arguing with Georgeanna Sparks at her Burr Oak Township home.
5:23 PM Aug 22, 2011
A lightning strike may have started a fire which destroyed a Crockery Township home early Saturday afternoon. "It is appearing, with the weather data, highly likely it is lightning,' Crockery Township Fire Chief Gary Dreyer said. Firefighters from eight area departments responded to a rural home at 9878 Taft Road at 1:45 p.m. when neighbors saw smoke in the area after the storm passed through. Dreyer said a meteorologist told him there were between 20 and 30 lightning strikes in the area when the storm went through between 1:15 and 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
12:30 PM Aug 22, 2011
Authorities said the annual Port Huron Float Down on the U.S. side of the St. Clair River led to rescues and dozens of cases of hypothermia. The Times Herald in Port Huron reported that strong winds caused some problems at Sunday's event, which drew about 2,000 to 3,000 people. They floated on inflatable rafts from Lighthouse Beach in Port Huron to Chrysler Beach in Marysville.

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