News

ESCANABA, MI--   A 51-year-old Green Bay man has been extradited to Michigan for robbing two Escanaba Subway restaurants.  

Brook Grzelak was arrested in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin in December on a probation violation.  A search of his car uncovered evidence linking him to the robberies between December 11 and 12 in Escanaba.  An undisclosed amount of money was taken from restaurant safes. 

ISHPEMING, MI--   Ishpeming’s city manager is headed to greener pastures.  

Jered Ottenwess has accepted position of city manager in Traverse City, saying the Ishpeming City Council has accepted his resignation.  

Ottenwess moved from Grand Rapids to the Upper Peninsula three years ago.  He started as Ishpeming city manager in March of 2010. 

He says an employment agreement has been finalized with Traverse City, and he’ll likely start at the end of July. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP)--   Republican Governor Rick Snyder says he is hopeful he can still broker an agreement with the GOP-led Legislature to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income Michiganians.

Snyder said in an interview with The Associated Press in Washington on Wednesday that he won't delay progress on the budget if it doesn't include Medicaid expansion.

Snyder and the Republican-controlled Legislature reached a tentative budget agreement Tuesday without the expansion.

LANSING, MI (AP)--   There are nearly 4,000 missing people in Michigan that the FBI counts on a statewide list it has been maintaining for nearly 40 years.  

John Broad, president of Crime Stoppers of Michigan, tells The Detroit News that the cases often leave relatives frantic and they don't know what to do to help find their loved ones. His organization offers rewards for information on missing person cases.

National Missing Children's Day is Saturday, and the newspaper on Thursday highlighted a number of open cases around the state.

LANSING, MI (MPRN)--   Voters will decide the fate of a state law that allows wildlife officials to set wolf hunting seasons in the Upper Peninsula.

As Michigan Public Radio’s Rick Pluta reports the referendum has been approved for the November 2014 ballot: 

A state elections board agreed the "Keep Michigan Wolves Protected" campaign gathered more than enough petition signatures to get the challenge on the ballot. That also suspends the law until voters decide.

IRON RIVER -

LANSING, MI (AP)--   Michigan's election board has approved a petition form for a proposal to ban Michigan health insurance plans from covering elective abortions unless individuals or businesses buy a supplemental policy.   

The Board of State Canvassers agreed on Wednesday that the petition form started by a group called No Taxes for Abortion Insurance complies with state law.  The group now has to collect more than 250,000 valid signatures by next spring. The Legislature could then approve or reject the proposal within 40 days or it goes on the ballot.

MADISON, WI (AP)--   A new report says the sand mining and natural gas industries have given Wisconsin candidates nearly $758,000 since 2007, with contributions spiking last year as sand mining took off in the state.   

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign study found the gas and sand mining industries gave candidates a total of $18,762 in 2007 when only five sand mines were operating in the state. Last year the industries gave candidates $413,642.

About 100 mines and processing plants were running in Wisconsin that year.

LANSING, MI (AP)--   Judges in Michigan can impose tougher sentences on criminals who embezzle money from senior citizens and the mentally ill under a new state law. 

Governor Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed the Vulnerable Adult Embezzlement Statute which allows consecutive sentences for multiple offense convictions.  The measure brings the statute up to date with the state's general embezzlement statutes.

Snyder also has signed a bill that leaves revocation of fines for driving without properly securing a child in a safety seat to a judge's discretion.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP)--   Groups of scientists are urging federal officials not to remove protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states. 

In letters to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week, carnivore specialists say the wolf population has only begun to recover and is absent from most of its historical territory after being driven to near-extinction in the past century.  They say there's enough habitat and prey to support wolves in other parts of the country.