Police arrested a Wisconsin man today following an early-morning shooting in South Marquette. Police were called to Unit #23 at the Birch Grove Trailer Park at 500 Pioneer Road around 5:10 this morning on a report of a breaking and entering. A man, who police had escorted away from the area about 15 minutes earlier, was pounding on the door of a residence and was yelling for a woman. The owner inside yelled back telling the man to leave and that there was no woman there and called 9-1-1. The man became increasingly agitated and began to beat on some parked cars and eventually kicked in a side door of the residence. The owner of the residence shot at the man three times with a .22 caliber handgun after he entered the home. The suspect was shot twice in the legs and fled the scene. He was captured by police a short time later and taken to M-G-H. He was later released to police and identified as 24-year-old Jesse Home of Sayner, Wisconsin. He is currently being held at the Marquette County Jail on charges of 2nd Degree Home Invasion, Malicious Destruction of Property, and Drunk & Disorderly Conduct. The investigation is continuing.
The Michigan Department of Transportation has announced a new statewide program that allows tourism groups across the state to “adopt” Welcome Centers in their community. This new program is designed to enhance operations and leverage the resources of all organizations. The Marquette County Convention and Visitors Bureau is the first to take advantage of this new program, adopting the Marquette Welcome Center. The Marquette CVB is reassigning staff during the peak summer travel months to the Welcome Center to better utilize staff at both agencies and offer coverage seven days a week.
M-DOT will close the westbound outside lane of US-2&41/M-35 at Lake Bluff Road in Delta County between Gladstone and Wells Township for a culvert replacement tomorrow. One lane of westbound US-2 will remain open. Eastbound US-2 traffic turning onto Lake Bluff Road will be controlled by flaggers. The closure is expected to last all day Wednesday.
The Catholic Diocese of Marquette has joined with Michigan’s largest Catholic organization and a number of other national Catholic groups in filing a lawsuit against the federal government for it’s requirement that insurance policies in the u-s include coverage for abortion. The Michigan Catholic Conference says the requirement violates religious liberty. In a statement on its website, the M-C-C says “the mandate and its exemption run contrary to centuries of federal laws that have consistently honored and respected the conscience rights of religious institutions and individuals.” M-C-C executive director Paul Long says the requirement affects 10-thousand employees of Catholic organizations in the state which are covered by the M-C-C health insurance program.
Holiday travel in Michigan this Memorial Day Weekend is projected to be up slightly, based on a survey from Triple-A Michigan. The survey projects more than one-point-one million Michigan residents will travel 50 miles or more between Thursday, May 24th through Monday, May 28th. The auto club says 91-percent of those travelers will go by vehicle, slightly more than last year, while six-percent of them will go by air, the same as last memorial day. The remaining three-percent will get to holiday destinations by bus or train. Of those Michiganders traveling by vehicle, 53-percent say average gas prices of three-dollars 74-cents per gallon, which are 18-cents per gallon cheaper than last memorial day, said they will not impact their plans. The rest said they will just take shorter trips and economize in other areas. Nationally, the auto club expects nearly 35 million Americans to travel over the upcoming holiday weekend, 88-percent or nearly 31 million of them by vehicle.
