News@noon: Clown attacks; phone snooping; local recall
Today is Thursday, October 6, 2016, and this clown nonsense needs to stop.
Clown incidents have been reported this week at schools around the United States, and Metro Detroit is not being left out.
On Tuesday night, an armed man in a clown mask robbed a Brownstown Township Walgreens outlet. About an hour later, a man in a clown mask robbed a BP gas station and Dominos Pizza store in Ann Arbor. Police believe the incidents were related. Also Tuesday, Sterling Heights police investigated reports that people dressed up as clowns attacked a 7-year-old boy and scared two women.
And this morning, an armed man wearing a clown and/or pumpkin mask struck two Livonia hotels, according to police. Officials aren't sure if witnesses have described the mask differently or if the suspect switched masks between incidents.
Where does it end? We'll keep you updated on any more sightings. Here's what else we are following today:
Godbee quits on air
- Talk radio host Ralph Godbee quit 15 minutes into his midday show on 910AM Superstation Wednesday morning. Station CEO Kevin Adell told us Godbee left because of a disagreement. In a Facebook post, Godbee said that was "unequivocally false."
Privacy vs safety
- Federal agents this week revealed they used a controversial cellphone snooping device to hunt for a low-level accused drug dealer in a case that illustrates the creeping use of a terror-fighting tool to solve everyday crimes.
How the wealthy get aid
- Albion College is one of the most expensive private schools in Michigan and many of its students come from families of means. But 63 percent of in-state students receive college aid funded almost entirely with federal anti-poverty money. This at a college in which the median family income of students receiving financial aid is nearly $76,000. But this is a practice that is quite widespread at private schools across the state. Here's how it happens.
College football show
Michigan tries to maintain its status as a Top 4 team as Michigan State works on turning its season around as Week 6 in the college football season kicks off. Join the College Football Show cast — Bob Wojnowski, John Niyo, Angelique S. Chengelis and Matt Charboneau — as they break down Saturday’s games at Rutgers and East Lansing, and the upcoming weekend in college football.
On the campaign trail
- U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is back in Michigan today campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in four cities including Dearborn. Sanders starts with a 10:30 a.m. rally at UAW Local 600 in Dearborn, followed by a 1 p.m. event at the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, a 3:45 p.m. rally at Adams Field in East Lansing and a 6:45 p.m. event at Central High School in Grand Rapids.
- Sanders urged hundreds of supporters at a union hall to focus not as much on the presidential battle between Clinton and Republican Donald Trump but on the survival of the American middle class.
- Clinton will make a personal push for boosting Michigan’s voter registration rolls on Monday with a campaign visit to Detroit. She'll hold a public event in Detroit, the day after she faces Republican rival Donald Trump in a second debate at Washington University in St. Louis.
- Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence on Thursday offered rare praise for Clinton, saying both the Democratic presidential nominee and Donald Trump have “many admirable qualities” for young people to look up to.
Where's grandma?
Police say a New York man kept his grandmother’s corpse wrapped in plastic bags for about five months because he was afraid of losing his housing. Thirty-year-old Christopher Fuhrer was arrested Thursday on improper burial and other charges.
A local recall
A Northville dairy has announced a voluntary recall of products that were not checked for proper pasteurization, according to the company. Guernsey Farms Dairy is recalling five products, including milk, egg nog and ice cream, “out of an abundance of caution” after the failure of a piece of equipment normally used to verify pasteurization, officials said. Here are the details.
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