Berkley City Council Member Tina Edgar Announces Resignation (City of Berkley, April 5, 2016) Berkley, MI – At the end of the April 4th meeting, Tina Edgar announced she will leave the Berkley City Council effective immediately. Elected in 2013, Edgar was the council liaison to the Planning Commission and the Tree Board. After living…
Student Creativity Shines at Ferndale’s Artist in You Reception (Crystal A. Proxmire, April 2, 2016) Ferndale, MI – When it comes to helping young artists find their inspiration, teacher Jerry Lemenu likes to “get out of their way and let them work.” The results of the right mix of support and freedom filled the walls…
Berkley Fourth Graders Honored Historical Figures with Wax Museum (Berkley Beat, March 27, 2016) Fourth graders at Pattengill researched, composed short essays, and shared many interesting facts and stories about their historical figure with parents, students, and staff during their Wax Museum on Thursday, March 17. At the Wax Museum, students stand still until a…
MML #3: Cities Want their Share, Tool Shows Funding Loss by Community (Crystal A. Proxmire, March 26, 2016) Lansing, MI – Only four states have reduced the amount of tax dollars going to municipal governments, and of those Michigan has decreased funding the most. Robert Kleine of Great Lakes Economic Consulting spoke about the subject…
Berkley Schools Contacting Alumni for Directory (Berkley Schools Press Release, March 16, 2016) Berkley, MI – Berkley School District is working on our alumni outreach. In order to do this, we partnered with Harris Connect to develop an alumni directory. We previously partnered with Harris Connect for the same reason in 2001. This alumni directory…
Berkley Offers Drop in Play Time (9 mo-4 years) (EVENT page) Berkley Parks & Recreation Drop-In Play Time Come out and play at the Berkley Community Center! A great social opportunity for parents and preschoolers to meet and play with others. There will be a variety of toys, balls, our Bounce House, mats and more…
Stuff to Know When it Snows (C. Proxmire, Feb. 2, 2015) Did you wake up to find your neighborhood covered over with a layer of sparkly white frozen precipitation and a Facebook feed full of various warnings, advisories, and complaints? Though it can be disconcerting, don’t worry. It’s called snow, and it’s something we’ve dealt…
Berkley Selects Matthew Baumgarten as Finalist for City Manager (City of Berkley Press Release, Feb. 23, 2016) Berkley, MI – The Berkley City Council reached a consensus to make a conditional employment offer to Matthew Baumgarten, City Administrator of Lathrup Village, to fill Berkley’s vacant city manager position.The search committee composed of Mayor Pro-Tem Steve…
High Winds, Scattered Power Outages Reported (Crystal A. Proxmire, Feb. 19, 2016) Waterford, MI – Wind storms with some lightning blew though Oakland County Friday night, sometimes reaching in the 30-40 mph range. Pockets of power outages happened through the area according to the DTE website. As of 11pm, Waterford, Clarkston and Ortonville had the…
Berkley: Norup Students Celebrate Chinese New Year (Berkley Schools, Feb. 13, 2016) Berkley, MI – On Monday, February 8, Norup students celebrated the Chinese New Year with a school-wide Spring Festival celebration. Led by the Chinese I class and teacher Erika Kwok, Norup students experienced different stations including calligraphy, paper cutting, lantern riddles, bean bag…
Berkley Down to Four City Manager Candidates, Meet them Feb. 19 (MML Press Release, Feb. 9, 2016) BERKLEY, Michigan —The search for the next Berkley City Manager is down to four. Thirty-five candidates applied for the Berkley City Manager’s position and four finalists have been selected for interviews later this month. The Michigan Municipal League’s…
Donor Gives $1,000 to Build Early Reader Collection at Berkley Library (Berkley Library Press Release, Feb. 5, 2016) Berkley, MI – The Friends of the Berkley Public Library partnered with an anonymous donor to purchase $1,000 worth of early reader books for the library’s collection. With the generous donation, over 100 new items were purchased…
Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash talks about Water Quality (video) (Crystal A. Proxmire, Jan. 13, 2016) Madison Heights, MI – Turning on the faucet and having clean water come out is something easily taken for granted. They wash their hands, take a shower, brush their teeth, cook, clean, and drink without stopping to think about…
How to Donate Water to Flint (Compiled, Jan. 10, 2016) Flint, MI – Residents of Flint are suffering from a lack of water due to contamination. Much has been written about the causes of the dangerous, lead-contaminated water, the question on many people’s minds is how to help. The Rachael Maddow Show compiled a list…
Questions About Ballot Issues? New Law Signed by Snyder Prevents Discussion (Crystal A. Proxmire, Jan. 6, 2016) Cities, school districts, libraries, police departments and other groups rely on tax funding that comes from millages, which must be voted on by the public. There are also ballot proposals that directly impact governing bodies, for example, the…
Local Government Leaders Ask Snyder to veto SB 571 (Michigan Municipal League Press Release, Jan. 5, 2016) Lansing, MI – Local government leaders from across the state today joined to ask Gov. Rick Snyder to veto Senate Bill 571, which would gag local officials seeking to provide constituents with factual information on election matters 60…
No More Straight Ticket Voting in Michigan as Governor Signs Bill into Law (Crystal A. Proxmire, Jan. 5, 2016) Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill into law that eliminates straight ticket voting in the State. Because the bill has a $5 million appropriation attached to it, voters can not reverse the law on referendum.…
Free Movie: Cinderella Jan. 16 at Berkley Library (EVENT page) Family Movie at the Library Cinderella (PG): Saturday, January 16 at 3:00 p.m. 2015 version staring Lily James and Cate Blanchett. Snacks provided! Berkley Public Library 3155 Coolidge Hwy. Berkley, MI 48072 http://www.berkley.lib.mi.us/index.shtml For more event listings go to https://oaklandcounty115.com/events/ Want to be on our email…
oc115.com – Best Stories of 2015 (Crystal A. Proxmire, Jan. 1, 2015) Ferndale, MI – 2015 was an amazing year for the Oakland County 115 News as we began growing in new communities, and as we tackled some challenging stories. We also got some nice recognition in other publications, including The Detroit News, Downtown Publications,…
Jury Unable to Agree in Trial Over Justin “Bully” Schalk’s Death (Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 31, 2015) Victorville, CA – The jury could not agree on a verdict. After hearing testimony about how Sean Briskey shot Justin Schalk in the back of the head and made efforts to cover up the death, the 12 member…