The school year is wrapping up for many people, but it’s just beginning for dozens prospective Michigan State Police troopers.

Sunday, May 12, 80 men and women from across the state began the 125th Trooper Recruit School.  For the next 21 weeks, MSP members and academy staff will train the recruits in firearms, water safety, defensive tactics, patrol techniques, report writing, ethics, first aid, criminal law, crime scene processing and precision driving.  Recruits who successfully complete the training will graduate October 4.

Michigan State Police selected recruits from more than 3,000 potential candidates.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—He’s in fourth grade and he’s already got $5,000 tucked away for college.

On Friday, May 10, Navid Hasan found out he won the Ford Freedom Award essay contest.  The Knapp Charter Academy student was the only finalist from West Michigan, beating out 2,000 other students in grades four through eight for  the top prize—a $5,000 college scholarship. Hasan also received a certificate and medal.

Students vying for the Ford Freedom Award  were asked to write an essay about an African American they considered a “quiet hero.” Hasan chose to write about Detroit native Ruby Dunson, who took in neglected or unwanted children and raised them as her own.

“A quiet hero does something selflessly, out of the kindness of their hearts without being recognized,” Hasan said. “I chose Ruby Dunson because she did a righteous thing and was not really recognized for it.”

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— Grand Rapids is getting another tribute to the men behind Meijer Stores.

On May 8, the Michigan Historical Commission approved a marker to honor Hendrik and Fred Meijer, who in 1962 became the first grocers to combine two popular retail models—discount department stores and supermarkets—into a single store on 28th Street, called “Thrifty Acres.”  The Meijers then took their model to Holland and Muskegon. 

Meijer now has nearly 200 stores across the Midwest, including Kalamazoo, Walker, Wyoming, Jenison, Rockford, Plainfield Township, Forest Hills, Lowell, Grandville, Kentwood, Grand Haven and Greenville, where Hendrik Meijer opened his very first store in the 1930s.

The new historical marker will be added to more than 1,700 green and gold signs found across the state, that chronicle the people, places and events that make Michigan’s heritage unique and unforgettable.  The historical markers are nominated by spons