SAGINAW, MI - Edward Hall Jr. served in World War II, spoke seven languages, traveled the world, carried the Olympic Torch and was honored by General Motors for working more than 50 years without missing a single day of work. The 89-year-old longtime Saginaw resident and retired Saginaw Metal Casting Operations employee died July 4 after a short illness.

SAGINAW TOWNSHIP, MI - When Renee Buitron of Saginaw enrolled her son Ray Jr. at the Saginaw Learn to Earn Academy almost two years ago, she knew it might be his last chance. "I remember when I was in the office to register him the secretary said that this was the last straw," she said.

SAGINAW, MI - On Monday morning, Saginaw Habitat for Humanity's executive director Cameron Brady sat in a golf cart outside of one of the group's work sites. A drop of rain fell from the sky. "I didn't feel that," he said. "Nothing's happening." The rain began to fall faster.

MT. PLEASANT, MI - Dominic Sheahan-Stahl got his chance to address the Sacred Heart Academy class of 2012 Sunday, although it was before their commencement ceremony and at a different venue. Sheahan-Stahl, 32, is and alumnus of the school and is now an actor living in New York City.

SAGINAW, MI - Sitting in the living room of his Saginaw home, 18-year-old Raymond Buitron Jr., son of Renee and Raymond Buitron II, looks like any other high school senior. He is softspoken with close-cropped dark hair and wears an unassuming black polo shirt and gray shorts.

Bailee Schultz rescued an orphaned baby squirrel in his grandparents' back yard and placed it with a litter of newborn kittens. The kittens' mother has taken it in and cared for it as her own.

When the charter school movement took root in the early 1990s, one of the claims made by supporters was that independent public schools would be able to devote less money to paying administration and more to educating students.

Students at the University of Michigan are fighting for what they have dubbed "tuition equality." David Morales, a freshman from Detroit, has lived in Michigan his entire life, but he was born in Mexico and is not a legal resident of the United States. Because of this, he is charged out-of-state tuition at U-M.

Political insiders from across the state traveled to Central Michigan University Monday evening to discuss current issues in Michigan politics and make predictions about the 2012 elections at the spring Griffin Policy Forum.

Gail Jones is familiar with the details of her 2010 snow skiing accident - the brain injury, the surgery, the prognosis she would never walk again. She just doesn't remember any of it happening. On Feb. 10, 2010, while skiing on vacation in Durango, Colo., the 52-year-old Norton Shores resident fell and hit her head.

Fifty years ago, Ken Lundholm made a bet. In 1961, while standing in line in a sign shop, he heard James Forton complaining that his business, Mr. Scrib's Handout restaurant, was driving him bankrupt. "I had been in (the restaurant) and saw employees come in through the door, take money out of the till and leave," Lundholm said.

Like many small business owners, Sebastian Kuipers has the first dollar he earned displayed in a frame. Kuipers is involved in every aspect of running the business, from developing new menu items, ordering supplies and inventory control to designing a logo, a menu board and employee T-shirts.

A fire Saturday night destroyed a thrift store/community center owned by Word of Hope Church in Fruitport.

In the lobby of The Creative Edge Hair and Day Spa on W. Sherman Boulevard in Muskegon, a woman chatters excitedly as a stylist takes her jacket. "I can't wait.

MUSKEGON - After an hourlong yoga session, the dozen or so participants laid on their towels, eyes shut, in their final relaxation to end the class. They listened to the waves crashing on the shore to their right and the cries of seagulls overhead.

Raymond Hudd, a West Michigan native and celebrated milliner known for filling the window of his Chicago shop with wacky designs and creating hats for celebrities, has died at Brookhaven Medical Care Facility in Muskegon at the age of 86.