Woman and Child Kidnapped, Held for Ransom from Ferndale

Woman and Child Kidnapped, Held for Ransom from Ferndale (Lt. William Wilson, Ferndale Police Dept., Dec. 13,2013) Coordinated efforts between the Ferndale Police Department, Michigan State Police, and Detroit Police Department resulted in the rescue of a woman and her 12 year old daughter after they were carjacked and kidnapped by gunman and terrorized for…

Deadlines For CDL Drivers… Fast Approaching

Deadlines For CDL Drivers And Their Medical Providers Fast Approaching (Michigan Secretary of State Press Release, Dec. 12, 2013) Secretary of State Ruth Johnson strongly encourages Michigan residents with a Commercial Driver License (CDL) to self-certify to which type of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operation they perform to avoid losing CDL privileges after Jan. 30.…

How Michigan Funds Schools

How Michigan Funds Schools (Kevin Deegan-Krause, orig. Ferndale Friends/ KevinDeeganKrauseForFerndaleSchools.com, Dec. 10, 2013) Please put away your notes and let’s begin our discussion of school funding with a high-stakes multiple choice test: 1. Does Michigan fund schools from:                         A. Local sources         B. Federal sources C. State sources 2. Does the revenue come from:                                  …

Girls Share Whiskey at Ferndale Sleepover, Sending One to Hospital

Girls Share Whiskey at Ferndale Sleepover, Sending One to Hospital (Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 10, 2013) Three fourteen-year-old girls are in trouble after sharing a fifth of Canadian Club Whiskey at a sleepover on E. Breckenridge in Ferndale Friday night.  According to The Daily Tribune, police were called to the home at about 11:45 pm…

Finnegan’s Monsters are Invading Ferndale!

Finnegan’s Monsters are Invading Ferndale! (Jacki Smith, owner of Candle Wick Shop, Dec. 7, 2013) Home by home, room by room, child by child, monsters are invading!   Finnegan’s Monsters!   Don’t worry, these adorable, handmade plush monsters by Finnegan Mueller are the kind of monster Ferndale, MI likes.   He is making a special, friendly batch that…

SEMCOG Approves I-94, I-75, US-23 Amendment to Expand

SEMCOG Approves I-94, I-75, US-23 Amendment to Expand (David Sands, SEMCOG, Dec.7, 2013, orig. http://wearemodeshift.org/node/1055) Although plans to widen the I-94 and I-75 expressways have been generating a bit of a buzz this week, dissenting voices seemed to have little sway over the bulk of the Southeast Michigan Council of Government’s Executive Committee. At a Friday meeting, the…

Transgender Day Of Remembrance Lists 242 Killed

Transgender Day Of Remembrance Lists 242 Killed (Crystal A. Proxmire, orig. Between the Lines, Dec. 6, 2013) 242. That is the number of transgender individuals whose murders and suicides have been reported in the past year around the world. Groups like Gender Identity Network Alliance (formerly Transgender Detroit) know that this number is low due…

Ferndale’s UHS Partners with Wayne State University

Ferndale’s UHS Partners with Wayne State University (Wayne State University Press Release, Dec. 6, 2013) A group of more than 100 Detroit-area high school students are learning firsthand how to navigate the college experience thanks to a newly formed partnership between Wayne State University’s College of Education (COE) and the Ferndale Public Schools’ University High…

Reckless Driving: MDOT’s Lead Foot on Freeway Projects

Guest Column: Reckless Driving: MDOT’s Lead Foot on Freeway Projects (Richard Murphy, Michigan Suburbs Alliance, December 4, 2013) The public appeals to delegates entering SEMCOG’s June meeting. The sign in back, “No new gas tax, Snyder — We don’t need our freeways wider,” demonstrates our trust problem. Over the past few years, Governor Snyder’s Lansing…

Disabled Veterans Property Tax Exemption Deadline Nears

Disabled Veterans Property Tax Exemption Deadline Nears (Oakland County Press Release, Nov. 28, 2013) Counselors in Oakland County’s Veterans’ Services Division are ready to help totally disabled veterans meet the Dec. 5 deadline to retroactively claim their homestead property tax exemption for 2013. Under a new Michigan law, Public Act 161 of 2013, totally disabled…

Ferndale Resolution Supports Ending Corporate Personhood

Ferndale Resolution Supports Ending Corporate Personhood (Crystal A. Proxmire, Nov. 26, 2013) How much power should corporations have in the Democratic process?  The recent Citizens United court decision gave unprecedented spending ability to big business interests, and across the country Americans are coming together to fight back. This includes Ferndale. At the Nov. 25 Ferndale…