Lucky Ferndale Ducks and Unlucky Flint Dogs | Nasty, Stinking Stink Bugs | Ballistic Vests for Dogs | Major in Beer

Let’s catch up on your week in headlines across the Patch Michigan network.

Who's Sweeter: Ducks or Ferndale Workers Who Saved Them?

• Ferndale workers rescue orphaned ducks, and the city’s Facebook fans love that about them.

Flint Water Crisis Causes Lead Toxicity in Man's Best Friend, Too: Blood Tests

• State veterinarian says long-term exposure to lead-tainted water could cause brain, neurological changes in animals as well as humans.

Stink Bug Hordes Back, Ready for Courtship: What to Do

• A smell like week-old dirty socks is nothing compared with what stink bugs can do to your garden with their piercing-and-sucking mouthparts.

Pricey Ballistic Vests for K9 Officers a Memorial to Cop Dad

• As a memorial to their later police officer father, sisters Sharon Peters and Patricia Settimo fund ballistics vests for K9 officers.

Finally, You Really Can Major in Beer in College

• A Michigan college says it’s the first in the country to offer an associate’s degree in the brew industry.

Private Autopsy: Dearborn Police Shot Unarmed Man 5-6 Times

• Attorney says private autopsy requested by the family of Kevin Matthews shows shooting wasn’t an accident where “the gun goes off.”

Girl, 5, Finds Gun Under Pillow, Fatally Shoots Herself: Police

The loaded gun was hidden under a pillow in the girl’s grandparents' bedroom, police said.

Report: Lacrosse Team Killed Animal Before Game

• Grosse Ile Red Devils lacrosse season suspended pending completion of criminal and internal investigations.

Overnight I-696 Lane Closures: 5 Things to Know

• Overnight I-696 traffic will be reduced to one lane for two weeks in construction area. Two weekend shut-downs planned.

POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

Straits of Mackinac Line 5 Pipeline Reports Now Online

• Inspection reports of Enbridge Energy pipelines that — were they to burst — could foul 700 miles of Great Lakes shoreline available online.

Senate Votes to Stop Local Bans on Plastic Bags

• Two counties are considering fees and limits on plastic bags to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to deal with them.

Unwed Couples Living Together Could (But Won't) Go to Jail

• Michigan and Mississippi are the only two states in America that make it a crime punishable by jail for unmarried couples to live together.

$1.3M Brownfield Plan OK'd for Peabody's Redevelopment

• A Southfield development company plans to build a five-story mixed use building on the current site of Peabody’s Restaurant.

Rare, 'Quickest Pickup Ever' Among Oakland County Auction Items

• Only about 3,000 of the 1991 GMC Syclones — which accelerate at rate comparable to Corvettes and Ferraris — were ever manufactured.

POLICE & FIRE

Man Who Bound Elderly Woman with Duct Tape Caught in Arizona: Police

• Dequantell Jamerson, arraigned on felony home invasion and kidnapping charges, could spend 20 years in prison.

TV's 'Judge Mathis' to Attend No-Questions-Asked Gun Buyback

• A $50 gift card will be given for each gun surrendered; gun serial numbers used in jewelry that helps fund future buybacks.

Divers Recover Body That May Be Missing Dearborn Man

• Property belonging to Harry "Henry" Fishwick found along the banks of the Rouge River.

Michigan Trooper Injured When Struck By His Own Vehicle: Police

• Passenger standing near pulled over vehicle was seriously injured when another motorist allegedly rear-ended and rolled over a police car.

$6,100 Stolen from PTA Account: West Bloomfield Police

• The money disappeared from Pleasant Lake Elementary PTA account between Sept. 1, 2014, and April 26, 2016, police say.

Boy, 14, Said Man Tried to Lure Him to Car: Stranger Danger

• A white male around 60 tried to convince boy, 14, to come to his late-1990s Lexus, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.

Plymouth Man Faces Felony Sexual Assault Charges

• The man works works for a contracted school bus service, but alleged incidents in Northville Township unrelated to that job, police say.

Man With 9 License Suspensions Gets 6th OWI: Police

• When Bloomfield Township police asked Steven Wunsche how much he’d had to drink, he replied, “Too much,” police said.

National Police Week: Fallen Michigan Trooper, 2 Others to be Honored

• Name of Trooper Chad Wolf, who was dragged for several miles after his patrol motorcycle was struck, will be added to Police Memorial Wall.

Suspect Threatened to Burn Plymouth Gas Station, Kill Clerk: Police

• Cigarettes and a hair iron were stolen in an unarmed robbery; police quickly caught up with suspects.

Police Seek Help Identifying Bicycle Theft Suspect

• Police are asking residents to circulate the picture in hopes of identifying the suspect.

COURTS

Government Entities Sued for Floods of 2014 Sewage Backups

• Five separate complaints were filed to represent Royal Oak and Clawson residents whose homes were damaged in the flash floods.

3 Rolex Watch Armed Robbery Crew Members Sentenced

• Two people in the six-member Philadelphia robbery crew that held up West Bloomfield jewelry store still at large, authorities say.

Vendor in School $2.7M Corruption Case Pleads Guilty

• Norman Shy, who conspired with 13 administrators to bill Detroit schools for supplies that were never delivered, pleads guilty.

Firefighter Assaulted While Giving Emergency Care: Court

• Felony assault charge filed after man allegedly injured himself after arrest, kicked and tried to bite firefighter giving aid.

FEATURES

Sofi K Raises Money, Plans to Sing at Wish Upon a Teen Prom

• Every kid should have a prom, 14-year-old professional singer from Bloomfield Hills says.

Michigan's Top 50 Baby Names in 2015: Noah Rules, Apollo Flops

• Michigan is crawling with toddlers named Noah and Olivia, but good luck finding kids named Apollo Bowie and Summer Rain.

Rats! Royal Oak Students' Video Tells You How to Control Them

• Royal Oak High School students got some video production experience with rat control video.

2016 Ferndale Pride: Gay, Proud and Legally Married

• Much has changed in the past year for same-sex couples with the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.

SCHOOLS

Transgender School Bathrooms: Comply or Revolt? Patch Poll

• Michigan State Board of Education's proposed LGBTQ guidelines already under fire when White House sent letter seeking national compliance.

Destination Imagination Team Raising Money for Global Finals

• Seven students from Bingham Farms Elementary School have qualified for the Global Finals in Knoxville May 25-28.

BUSINESS

Rooftop Valet Service Part of Solution to Parking Shortage

• If the concept works, it may be extended beyond the North Old Woodward parking garage.

Recall: Listeria Warning Spreads To Frozen Vegetables With Meat

• The deadly Listeria recall of vegetables expands to 47 million pounds of frozen chicken and meat products that include veggies.

Farmington Hills Pizzeria Makes Best Pizza in Michigan: Food Network

• Tomatoes Apizza gets a huge national shout-out from Food Network Magazine for its Naples Sampler.

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