🌱 The Four Elements Statue + Rosa Parks Essay Contest + Job Fest

Good morning, Grand Rapids! Let's get you started this Tuesday with everything you need to know going on around Grand Rapids today.

First, today's weather:

A morning flurry; cloudy. High: 26 Low: 22.

Here are the top stories in Grand Rapids today:

1. Two men have pleaded guilty to murdering a 53-year-old Grand Rapids man in April 2020. Robert Artevious Kelly Jr., 26, and Lamar Marquis Holman, 30, face a minimum sentence of 25.5 years after pleading guilty to the second-degree murder of Earnest Griffin. Kelly and Holman are schedule to be sentenced on Jan. 10, 2022. (WOODTV.com)
2. A 16-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa has been installed in downtown Grand Rapids. The statue, titled “The Four Elements,” is located on the northeast corner of Monroe Avenue and Lyon Street NW. Weighing 5,400-pounds, the sculpture uses letters and element symbols for air, water, fire, and earth to form a human figure and is meant to signify “the many different characteristics that bring people together to form a single human race." (The Detroit News)
3. The City of Grand Rapids has announced the Rosa Parks Essay Contest winners. (Press Release Desk)
4. Seventeen different police and first responder agencies caravanned to the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital on Tuesday with a large supply of toys for patients. (Fox17)
5. A week-long Grand Rapids “Job Fest,” running Dec. 6-10, seeks to match over 500 people with new jobs. (corpmagazine.com)

Today's Grand Rapids Daily is brought to you in part by our friends at Ring, the home security company. Ring does a lot more than doorbells: check out their full suite of smart home products at Ring.com. And thank you Ring for helping to make local news happen in Grand Rapids!

Today in Grand Rapids:

• GRPL Pop-Up Shop | West Side Branch - Grand Rapids Public Library (10:00 AM)

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— Miranda Fraraccio

About me: Miranda Fraraccio is a born and raised Rhode Islander. She works as a freelance copywriter for content creation agency Lightning Media Partners and as an assistant producer for a live-lit storytelling show in Chicago. She holds a degree in Writing & Rhetoric and Communication Studies from The University of Rhode Island. In her free time, you can find her traveling, hiking, or photographing her neighborhood as a street photographer.