Email leslie.ellis@patch.com
Phone 248-303-4434
My family was a news family - we got the daily paper and discussed the nightly news over dinner. On the weekend, CBS News Sunday morning was part of our breakfast routine and we spent the first part of the day reading and swapping sections of the newspaper. With all that information floating around in our heads, you'd think one of us would have been able to beat my Dad at Trivial Pursuit. But, we never did - even when we teamed up against him! My first internship was in high school with the Rochester Eccentric newspaper. But I really caught the news bug at Michigan State University, where I studied history and journalism. I found a way to combine both subjects with jobs at The State News and the Lansing State Journal. Journalism, after all, has been called "the first rough draft of history." As luck would have it, I landed my first professional job near home at The Oakland Press and from there moved to The Detroit News. Despite its ups and downs, journalism has been a rewarding career that has allowed me to learn something new every day, meet fascinating people, be creative and serve the community!
The 95th annual observance, which is Michigan's oldest continuous celebration of the holiday, will begin at 10 a.m. Monday, May 27, and feature a Purple Heart award recipient and a representative from the Tuskegee Airmen.
"We've taken the food trucks and brought them inside," said owner Kerry Johnson, whose new venue will include the Sideshow Sandwich Emporium, Nacho Ordinary Nachos and Air-stream Coffee.
Find out how to participate and what other special programs – including an ice cream social with Treat Dreams and a yoga class for kids – will be available.
The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night at City Hall.
Denise Brainard issues a heartfelt thank you to volunteers, residents and Mother Nature for making the annual festival, which kicked off May 11 and wrapped up Sunday, a success.
The water shutdown schedule for the West Nine Mile Road reconstruction project in Ferndale has been tweaked.
"I just know how difficult my life was when my kids lost/left their security items somewhere and want to get it back to its rightful owner," festival chairwoman Denise Brainard says.
"She jumped the fence into the yard, wandered around for a bit and then walked out the gate and down the street," resident Kathy Bartley says.
The Fire Department has until Dec. 31 to find a sustainable source of funding for four positions that had been considered for layoffs; partnering with neighboring communities to cut costs and forming a tax authority are options.
Get the scoop on what's happening around town, including a Ferndale Pride planning meeting, Toast's reopening, a Mother & Son Tigers game and more.
He will play defensive end for the Division II school in North Canton, OH.
Find out what's happening with the West Nine Road reconstruction project during the week of May 20.
The festival wraps up with a pancake breakfast, petting zoo and raffle drawing.
Show us all the fun you had this weekend during the annual celebration.
"We want people to have fun with fashion," owner Ray Charles Colville says of the boutique that opened Friday on Woodward Avenue.
The festival will be in full swing with a pancake breakfast; pooch pageant; and Punt Pass and Kick competition.
We want to see your dresses, tuxes and all the fun you had Thursday night at the Lafayette Grande Banquet Facility in Pontiac.
"Images of America: Berkley" chronicles the city's evolution, including the arrival of settlers in the 1800s, farm life in the 1900s, a Ku Klux Klan kidnapping in the 1920s, the proposed Berkley Center mall in the 1960s and tons of fascin
The totaled Ford Focus outside Berkley High School warns juniors and seniors, who celebrate prom Thursday at the Lafayette Grande Banquet Facility in Pontiac, about the dangers of distracted driving.
