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Off-Duty NYPD Sergeant Arrested After Car Accident

An off-duty NYPD sergeant was arrested and charged with refusing to take a breath test after he was involved in an accident, police say.

Authorities say the 38-year-old officer was involved in an accident at the intersection of East 150th Street and Morris Avenue in the Bronx just before 9 p.m. Sunday.

No one was injured, but the officer refused to take a breath test, police say.

He was suspended following the incident.

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The name of his attorney wasn't immediately available.

Posted Monday, Feb 20, 2012 - 8:42 AM EST

Beverly man, 30, dies after car crash

BEVERLY â€" A Beverly man died yesterday morning from injuries suffered in a single-car accident on Middleton Road in North Andover on Thursday night.

The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle was identified by the Essex County District Attorney's office as Wesley von Burn, 30, of 19 Melvin Ave. His 1998 Mercedes hit a tree at about 8:15 p.m.

Middleton Road runs roughly north-south through the center of Harold Parker State Forest, from Haverhill Street in Andover to Forest Street in Middleton. The accident occurred near the ranger's cabin.

Von Burn was taken to Lawrence General Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries yesterday morning, according to Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

In the two or three years that von Burn lived on Melvin Avenue with his wife, Teegan, he established close relationships with some of his neighbors.

"Our dogs used to play together," said neighbor Kim Walker. "They are the nicest people."

Von Burn was a regular guest in the house, said her husband, Philip Walker. "He would come over and have wine and food," he said.

During those casual conversations the neighbors would discuss everything from the area's latest news to housework and their pets. Philip said von Burn was a Freemason who was interested in motorcycles and books. He remembered von Burn's large library collection, which included a sizeable comic book collection.

Von Burn's house sits at the end of the street surrounded by a large, well-groomed yard. The elevated back porch has a clear view of the water just west of Beverly Harbor and is positioned for a full view of the sunset.

Von Burn's wife is in her fourth year teaching science at the Saltonstall School in Salem.

"Obviously she is very much in our thoughts," said Saltonstall School Principal Julie Carter.

Some teachers offered their support by going to be with Teegan after the end of the school day, Carter said. The school has next week off, which will allow her to spend more time with what Carter said was her "strong family."

A commemorative book will be part of a memorial in Wesley's honor in the school library.

"(We will) do what we can to support her," Carter said.

Accident Leads to DWAI-Drugs Arrest

Accident Leads to DWAI-Drugs Arrest
New York State Police responded to a one-car accident on Rice Road in Elma at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Wed., Feb. 15. An investigation revealed that the 30-year-old Buffalo man was driving with a suspended license, and had no insurance on the 2002 Ford Explorer he crashed. He was allegedly was under the influence of drugs, and he was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs. He was processed at the State Police Elma Barracks, and a blood sample was obtained.

No Contests Expected in Village of East Aurora Elections
The Village of East Aurora will have a quiet election season in 2012. Tuesday was the last day in which candidates for the three open trustee posts and the mayor’s seat could submit independent nominating positions. The only candidates to submit petitions by the Feb. 14 deadline were current Mayor Allan Kasprzak and incumbent trustees Ernest Scheer, Patrick Shea and Randy West.

Aurora Historical Society Looks to Expand Millard Fillmore House Museum Complex
The Aurora Historical Society is considering a number of projects at the Millard Fillmore House Museum on Shearer Avenue. The organization hopes to expand the site by acquiring an additional parcel of land, members of the Historical Society told the Village Board at its Feb. 6 work session.

Iroquois Class of 2013 will Head to Walt Disney World
Iroquois High School students are going to Walt Disney World. The Iroquois School Board has approved a proposal for next year’s seniors to take an educational journey to the famed resort from Jan. 23 to 27, 2013. The board’s Feb. 8 vote followed a proposal the board heard from members of the student government.

Citizens, Teachers Speak Out Against Proposed Cuts at East Aurora Schools
Proposed staff and programming cuts, including the possible elimination of German language instruction, drew comments from local citizens and teachers at the Feb. 9 meeting of the East Aurora School Board. None of the proposed cuts have been finalized, Board President Daniel Brunson told the audience.

Review: "Millie" Charms Audiences
From the opening number through the final bow, East Aurora High School's production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" thoroughly charmed audiences last weekend. Strong voices, a talented orchestra, dazzling choreography, colorful sets, snazzy costumes, and appealing performances fit together flawlessly for one of the school's most impressive shows in the past decade. [See photos at Facebook.com/EastAuroraAdvertiser.]

Farm Fire in Holland [Updated Feb. 15]
Though exact numbers were unclear, at least 60 cows and 10 horses were displaced after fire ripped through a barn at the Norbert Bennett farm in Holland the afternoon of Mon., Feb. 13.

Felony DWI Charge Filed After Marilla Stop
While on patrol on Two Rod Road in Marilla around 1 a.m. on Wed., Feb. 8, Erie County Sheriff’s Deputy Simon Biegasiewicz stopped a vehicle for erratic operation. He arrested the driver, 33-year-old Aaron W. Lippert of Marilla, and charged him with driving while intoxicated, equipment violations and traffic infractions. The driving while intoxicated charge was raised to felony level due to a prior conviction for DWI. A breath test indicated Lippert’s blood alcohol content to be 0.08 percent. He was processed at the Elma substation and released on appearance tickets.

Holland School Board Looks at Cuts to Close $1.3 Million Budget Gap
Holland Central School District's budget estimates for 2012-2013 have been released and the good news is hard to find. In trying to close a projected $1.3 million gap, the School Board and administration are determining what programs will be eliminated, which positions to cut and what type of tax levy should be sent to the voters in May.

East Aurora School District Saves Thousands Through Bond Anticipation Notes
Rather than convert the debt from the district’s recent capital project to bonds, the East Aurora School District has been keeping the debt in the form of Bond Anticipation Notes, which have had lower interest rates than bonds in recent years. In 2010 and again in 2011, the district renewed those Bond Anticipation Notes, saving money in the short term and hoping that bond interest rates would not increase too much by the time the debt must (by law) be converted to bonds in 2013.

Immaculate Conception School Holds Science Olympics
Immaculate Conception School ended its celebration of Catholic Schools Week with the school's first-ever Science Olympics on Fri., Feb. 3. Students in kindergarten through grade four worked together, with fourth-grade students as team captains. Students in fifth through eighth grades worked on more advanced scientific problems, with eighth-graders in the team captain role.

Elma Business Turns Bottles and Cans Into Cash
Quick, clean, and easyâ€"that’s how Kevin Rolf and Sean Overton think the process of returning cans and bottles should be. And that is what they strive for at their new Elma business, Cans2Cash.

Village OKs Updated Offer for Center Street Site
The East Aurora Village Board on Monday night authorized Mayor Allan Kasprzak to execute an amended purchase offer for 33 Center Street. Village Attorney Robert Pierce reported that the renegotiated agreement for the site, which officials are eyeing as a potential location for a new central fire hall, is now contingent upon the board’s completion of its State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) of the property resulting in a "negative declaration" determination that the development of the project will not have a significant adverse environmental impact on the surrounding area.

State Selects East Aurora Middle School for National Contest
East Aurora Middle School is one of just 19 schools named as a New York State finalist for the National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence program. The program recognizes schools where students achieve at very high levels and schools that improve the performance of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Marconi's Team Creates New Tool for Military's Use
Will Marconi, a 2002 East Aurora High School graduate, served in the Marines for four years and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. He is now the president of Reflex Edge, a business which sells a product not for the average American but for the Marines and Army. His business team members are personal friends who have the shared experience of serving in the Marines. And, importantly, his product that is marketed to the United States military is entirely American made.

Suspects Sought in Larceny from Copper Shop
Two women, each with glasses and black hair, reportedly worked in conjunction to steal a $120 vase from the Roycroft Copper Shop on South Grove Street. Around 10:20 a.m. on Mon., Feb. 6, one subject reportedly distracted a worker with questions about another object while the other woman put the vase into a large black handbag.

Aurora Waldorf School to Host Screening of "Queen of the Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us?"
Aurora Waldorf School, in partnership with the East Aurora Cooperative Market will hold a screening of the award-winning documentary "Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling Us?" on Fri., Feb. 10.

Town of Holland Unveils New Website
With tulips, memorials and historic images on the home page, the Town of Holland has a new website that town officials hope will be more useful than previous editions.

clevermethod Takes a Creative Approach
clevermethod, a full-service web agency housed in an unassuming former furniture store on Maple Road, may be surrounded by farmland on the outside, but inside it seems to belong somewhere else entirely.

St. Paul's Lutheran Church Celebrates 150 Years in Elma
Looking back over 150 years of history yields a wealth of information and stories, some discovered through documents, some personally remembered and shared with others.

Beverly man dies in car accident in Harold Parker State Forest

NORTH ANDOVER â€" A Beverly man died this morning from injuries he sustained in a single-car accident on Middleton Road last night.

The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle was identified by the Essex County District Attorney's office as Wesley Von-Burn, 30, of 19 Melvin Ave. His car hit a tree at about 8:15 p.m.

Middleton Road runs roughly north-south through the center of Harold Parker State Forest, from Haverhill Street in Andover to Forest Street in Middleton.

The accident was near the ranger's cabin, near the middle of the park.

Von-Burn was taken to Lawrence General Hospital but succumbed to his injuries this morning, according to Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

• • •

For more details on this story, see tomorrow's editions of The Eagle-Tribune.

District Attorney William Fitzpatrick did not launch investigations into crashes when his son, prosecutor left the ...

Syracuse, N.Y. -- It’s a simple concept, according to Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick. You damage property with your car and leave the scene, you get a ticket. No room for discretion.

He was justifying his investigation into a crash involving Syracuse police Chief Frank Fowler’s son. Fitzpatrick said he’s looking into whether police gave Frank Fowler Jr. preferential treatment by not ticketing him for leaving the scene of a Jan. 8 crash that damaged another man’s car.

But Fitzpatrick could’ve been talking about two other accidents, one involving a prosecutor in Fitzpatrick’s office and the other Fitzpatrick’s own son.

Over the past three years, each crashed his car and caused property damage, left the scene and never got a ticket, according to police reports obtained by The Post-Standard under a Freedom of Information Law request.

Those cases demonstrate Fitzpatrick’s hypocrisy and reveal the motive behind his investigation into Fowler’s son, according to Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner. “I don’t get it, other than that he’s blinded by this vendetta” against Chief Fowler, she said.

Fitzpatrick, who denies he has a vendetta, has publicly denounced Fowler over the past three months for mischaracterizing evidence, incompetence and running his department as a fiefdom.

Fitzpatrick said he’s investigating not only the Jan. 8 crash, but two others in which Fowler’s son was driving a city vehicle and whether police covered them up. Fitzpatrick said he only got the grand jury involved because Miner ordered her workers not to talk to investigators from Fitzpatrick’s office.

“Why would someone not issue a ticket?” Fitzpatrick asked. “I’ve seen people brush up against a guardrail and leave a slab of paint and get a ticket for leaving the scene.”

That wasn’t the case on Dec. 18, 2009, when Assistant District Attorney Shaun Chase crashed his car into a light pole on Interstate 81 in Syracuse. It happened at 2:30 a.m., and he knocked the pole to the ground, according to a police report.

A prosecutor’s crash

Chase drove away without contacting police, the report said. He apparently didn’t realize the crash had torn the front license plate from his car, police said. He parked his car on a side street, then got a ride home, according to Syracuse police Capt. Shannon Trice.

Seven hours later, Trice got a call from Chase’s boss, First Chief Assistant District Attorney Rick Trunfio, according to Trice. “He said, ‘One of my ADAs was involved in a car crash. He left the scene and he thinks he left his license plate there,’” Trice said.

Trunfio didn’t ask that Chase not be ticketed, Trice said. Normally, if someone knocks down a light pole then drives away, police would ticket him for leaving the scene, Trice said. But police decided not to ticket the prosecutor, and the DA’s office didn’t launch an investigation.

Trice acknowledged that he took into consideration that Chase was a prosecutor and that his boss had called, Trice said.

Trunfio said he never asked Trice for preferential treatment, that he called only to report the accident. “My assumption would be if Chase didn’t do what he was supposed to do, then Shannon would’ve handled it different,” Trunfio said.

Trunfio said he believed Chase didn’t illegally leave the scene because he reported the crash to police the following morning. “He was in my office at 8:30 a.m.,” Trunfio said. “I said, ‘You’ve got to report it.’”

Chase, a narcotics prosecutor, said he was the designated driver for people leaving a party of Syracuse narcotics officers. He’d had one or two drinks but was not intoxicated, Chase said.

Fitzpatrick said he was unaware of Chase’s crash until a reporter told him about it this week. “Under those circumstances, it sounds like somebody should’ve gotten a ticket,” Fitzpatrick said.

A son’s fender bender

In May 2010, Fitzpatrick’s then 21-year-old son Daniel Fitzpatrick backed a car into the porch stairs at 1104 Madison St., where he still lives, according to a police report. The younger Fitzpatrick backed up four or five times into the railing before he got enough room to turn around, the report said. The railing was damaged but not did not detach. Fitzpatrick drove away without stopping, the report said.

After Fitzpatrick left, a witness called the police and supplied the driver’s license plate number, the report said. Police traced the plate to the home of the district attorney, according to the report.

Police talked to the DA, who told them he would contact his son and have him go to the scene right away, the report said. When he arrived, Daniel Fitzpatrick told police he didn’t know that he’d done any damage, the report said. He was not charged with the leaving the scene.

Daniel Fitzpatrick said that when he’d left to drive two friends home, he didn’t realize he’d hit the porch. It wasn’t until he returned five or six minutes later that he saw minor damage to the porch, he said.

“I immediately called the landlord and said, ‘I hit the porch,’” the younger Fitzpatrick said.

The landlord, Bill Osuchowski, confirmed he had a call from Daniel Fitzpatrick on his answering machine. “He was up-front,” Osuchowski said. “It wasn’t four days after the fact or anything like that. If everyone did that, it would be great.”

The younger Fitzpatrick could’ve been charged with leaving the scene, Trice said. But given the same fact pattern, with the driver returning to the scene after police were called and admitting he’d caused the damage, police normally wouldn’t issue a ticket, he said. “I would use my discretion,” Trice said.

When a reporter asked William Fitzpatrick last week about his son’s accident, he said he was disgusted that city officials raised it because it wasn’t the same as Fowler’s son’s crash.

“He tapped a porch,” DA Fitzpatrick said Monday. “He didn’t leave the scene. He stopped. He examined it. He called his landlord and insurance paid for it, and it wasn’t in a city car.”

The reporter asked again whether his son had left the scene. “Absolutely not,” Fitzpatrick said.

After The Post-Standard obtained the police report Wednesday, Fitzpatrick acknowledged that his son had left the scene. But Daniel Fitzpatrick had returned within a legally allowable time so he shouldn’t have been ticketed, William Fitzpatrick said.

“Legally, in a property damage accident, you have a certain time period before it constitutes” leaving the scene, Fitzpatrick said. “He’s not trying to avoid it. He contacted the landlord, the owner of the porch. The fact that he didn’t stay there and wait for his landlord to show up is irrelevant.”

Trice said the state vehicle and traffic law has no such time requirement for returning to the scene.

“It just says that you must stop, which means immediately, and furnish your information or find someone who the property belongs to, tell them what happened and give them your license and insurance information,” Trice said. “Then if nobody’s there or can’t find someone to report it to, you’re to go to the nearest police station or a police officer and report it.”

Two standards of justice?

Trice was one of three police officers subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury investigating Fowler’s son’s crash. As supervisor of the traffic division, Trice approves all investigations into crashes.

The DA’s investigators wanted to know if Fowler had ordered Trice not to ticket Fowler’s son, Trice said. Fowler instructed his officers to handle his son’s investigation the same as any other, Trice said. Trice said he met Feb. 8 with three DA’s investigators, one of whom asked him if he knew his rights. That was a first in his 22 years as a police officer, Trice said.

Trice said it’s hypocritical of Fitzpatrick to say police should have ticketed Fowler’s son and everyone who leaves the scene of a property damage accident.

Leaving the scene of a property damage accident is a violation, not a crime, and should not be a matter for the DA, Miner said.

The grand jury investigation isn’t so much about Fowler’s son not getting ticketed as it is about the possible cover-up, Fitzpatrick said. “If you take the position that there are two standards of justice in the city of Syracuse, that’s not acceptable,” he said.

Fitzpatrick defended his investigation into Fowler’s son’s crash by saying he was only trying to help the victim, city dog control officer Earl Reese, get the city to pay the $3,500 cost of repairing his car.

Fowler’s son backed a city parks department pickup truck into Reese’s personal car. The crash was caught on videotape by a security camera. Fowler at first denied causing any damage, then admitted it when confronted with the videotape, Fitzpatrick said.

The city suspended Fowler’s son for five days without pay for failing to report the crash. Police took that penalty into account, along with his cooperation, when they decided not to ticket him, Trice said. It was not because he’s the chief’s son, Trice said.

Fitzpatrick said his office got involved after learning that the city had denied Reese’s claim to pay for the damage. “He’s indicated to us that he had a level of frustration,” Fitzpatrick said. “He felt he was getting jerked around.”

Reese’s lawyer, however, said the city never denied the claim and has given Reese every indication that it would be paid. Reese believes the city has handled the case properly, said his lawyer, Michael Spano.

Reese did not ask the DA to investigate, Spano said. Reese hired a lawyer because the grand jury had subpoenaed him, Spano said.

Contact John O’Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 470-2187.

Driver, passenger facing charges after deadly accident on Grinstead Drive

LOUISVILLE, Ky (WHAS11) - A Clarksville, Ind. man may soon face murder charges after a car accident on Grinstead Drive that killed one of his passengers.
 
The crash happened over just before 12:30 a.m. Saturday, but the victim died Wednesday morning at University Hospital.
 
Police say John Koerner was driving a Honda Accord when he lost control on a curve on the 2400 block of Grinstead Drive and slammed sideways into a small tree. The crash did seemingly minimal damage to the back driver's side of the car, but it was enough to eject 33-year-old Jacob Mower of Clarksville.
 
Police say Mower was a passenger sitting in the back seat and was not wearing a seatbelt.,

"Right now, we are doing forensic testing to determine who was sitting where in the car. We're doing toxicology reports on the occupants of the car to determine if alcohol was a factor. We do suspect alcohol as being a factor just by our senses that night. But, further testing is being done and results are pending," LMPD Officer Greg Kellerman said.
 
Witnesses said they saw Koerner and another passenger, 32-year-old Kristy Harper, take off down the street, leaving Mower lying on the ground.

"There were about two witnesses that were almost nearly struck head on by this car, they had stopped just short of them as they struck the tree and saw initially what happened," Kellerman said.
 
Koerner and Harper were both charged with leaving the scene of an accident. Both are out of jail on bond. Koerner was also charged with assault, wanton endangerment, and DUI. The Commonwealth's Attorney is reviewing the case and will decide if those charges will be upgraded.
 
We stopped by both the addresses listed on the citations for Koerner and Harper, neither was available for comment.
 
This isn't Koerner's or Harper's first brush with the law. In 2001, Koerner was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. That charge was later dismissed. Harper has two previous DUI charges.

Coming up, more on fatal car/motorized wheelchair accident

An Evansville man is in jail this afternoon after police say he admitted to being under the influence of marijuana when he hit a man in a motorized wheelchair last night. The accident happened around 6 p.m. on Covert Avenue, near Walnut Lane. The operator of the motorized wheelchair, 67-year-old Stephen Ellison, was hit from behind by the vehicle of 27-year-old Bryce Klueh of Evansville. According to the police affidavit, Klueh admitted to police he had smoked marijuana about 20 minutes prior to the accident. Klueh also said he never said Ellison's wheelchair and he had looked down at his iPod before hitting it. Tonight on 14 News, Erin Meyer will have more on the story, including calls made before the accident that warned of Ellison's wheelchair as a hazard in the road. We will also hear from a Henderson high school student who tried to help at the scene.

14 News is learning more this afternoon from viewers about a layoff at a major financial company in Evansville. So far, the company has not confirmed the information. Ann Komis has been following the story and will have the latest information live from the 14 News Interactive Center at 4.

Indiana's attorney general is hoping the federal government will be able to help Indiana's on-going meth problem. Araceli Thiele will tell us his plan at 5.

The Roberts Stadium Task Force will review ideas given to it by the public tonight. Brandon Bartlett will be in Downtown Evansville with the full report on 14 News at 6.

A Henderson County firefighter is dead after a fatal head-on collision last night on Highway 60. Jonathan Coomes, a 29-year-old father, died in the crash when another vehicle struck his truck. Laura McNutt spoke with several members of the fire station Coomes belonged to and will have the full story for us tonight.


Here's what's coming up tonight:

4:00 â€" 14 News at 4

5:00 â€" 14 News at 5

5:30 â€" NBC Nightly News

6:00 â€" 14 News at 6

6:30 -- Wheel of Fortune Sandals Resorts Romance Week (HD, New, TV-G)

7:00 -- Whitney 48 Hours (HD, New, TV-14) Mark explains his dating theory to the group: that couples know within 48 hours of meeting each other if they want to be together, but Whitney doesn't agree.

7:30 -- Are You There, Chelsea? How To Succeed In Business Without Really Crying (HD, New, TV-14) After Chelsea discovers that a customer at the bar is a marketing executive, she starts dating him to help Olivia get an interview with his company.

8:00 -- Rock Center with Brian Williams (HD, New, TV-PG) Chelsea Clinton investigates the collaboration between public and charter school teachers; Brian Williams explores FedEx's Superhub facility in Memphis, Tenn.

9:00 -- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Home Invasions (HD, New, TV-14) An SVU investigation hits a dead end when no apparent motive for the crime is found; a revelation about Detective Rollins threatens her future at SVU.

10:00 â€" 14 News at 10

10:30 -- The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (HD, New, TV-14) Scheduled: from "Real Time with Bill Maher," host Bill Maher; actress Alexandra Wentworth; musical guest Punch Brothers.

11:30 -- Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (HD, New, TV-14) Scheduled: actor Greg Kinnear; from "Unforgettable," actor Poppy Montgomery; musical guest The Drums.

State leaders probing accident referral services like 411 Pain

What's the 411 on 411 Pain?

ORLANDO, Fl. -

When Jazzmil Rodriguez was in a car accident in Deltona last summer, she remembered a familiar jingle from television and radio commercials. It went something like, "1-800-411-PAIN."

A phone number and a jingle in one. How easy, she thought.

"I should have never called them," she said now.

When she called 1-800-411 PAIN (we’ll just call it 411 Pain), she assumed she was calling a lawyer referral service. She was referred to an attorney, but she was sent directly to Florida Injury, a pain clinic, where a paralegal, not an attorney, met her. 

She said she was told by both the attorney and the clinic to return for daily treatments for ten days and, after that, three to four times a week.

"I’m more frustrated because I was led to believe they were going to help me, and now I have more debt,” Rodriguez said.

She has more debt because the treatment at Florida Injury exhausted her $10,000 of personal injury protection (PIP) in just over two months. PIP is required in every auto insurance policy in Florida. 

By the time her coverage was exhausted, the law firm that 411 Pain referred her to told Rodriguez she had no case. The other driver had no bodily injury coverage that she could sue for.

"They waited until I wracked up almost $15,000 in chiropractor treatment," Rodriguez said.

Now she’s left $5,000 in the hole to foot the rest of her medical bills. Her story sounds familiar to Maria and Jessica Velez of Kissimmee. They called 411 Pain after an accident, too.  They, too, were referred to a lawyer, but sent directly to Florida Injury.

"They told me I had to be there for three to four months before I could start a case," said Maria Velez.

The women, however, stopped going when they felt better. Jessica said her attorney urged to continue treatment.

"If I wanted to continue the case I had to go to the therapy for four months, even if I was feeling better," she recalls the lawyer telling her.

Local 6 has been investigating the relationships between the lawyers, the pain clinics, and the referral services. 

 State business records reveal a very clear relationship between Robert Lewin, who runs 411 Pain, and Kimberly Russo, who runs Florida Injury. Their names not only appear on their own businesses, but on each other’s as well.

That might explain why all the women were sent to Florida Injury after calling 411 Pain.

Local 6 found a 411 Pain van parked at the Orlando headquarters of Florida Injury, and followed the van as it seemingly transported individuals from the clinic to homes throughout the area.  

No one from Florida Injury or 411 Pain responded to inquiries about their business practices. An attorney representing Florida Injury did explain that 411 Pain is a business that sells off territories, like franchises, to medical clinics.

Consequently, when an accident victim calls the 411 Pain lawyer referral service, that call essentially goes to a pain clinic hotline.

"Florida consumers deserve better than this," said the state’s Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater. 

He’s called for the Florida Bar to take action against referral services like Ask Gary and 411 Pain that don't disclose their for profit relationships with lawyers and clinics.

"I think they should be banned," he said. "Those of us who are responsible for getting to the bottom of insurance fraud are going to leave no stone unturned to find out anywhere the scoundrels exist, and you can assume they exist everywhere.  And we’re going to find them."

Atwater is not alone in his concerns. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's office has launched an investigation into 411 Pain.

"Our office reviews all the complaints and determines whether to open an investigation," says Jenn Meale, of the Attorney General’s office. "And we’re currently investigating 411 Pain for violations of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act."

That’s exactly what Rodriguez has suspected about the referral service. 

Man, 25, identified in fatal Owings Mills car crash

Police have identified the man who died Thursday morning after he was involved in a two-car accident near Owings Mills Mall, police said.

Joseph Russell Royston Jr., 25, lived in Hampstead and was pronounced dead at Northwest Hospital in Randallstown shortly after the 7:45 a.m. accident on Red Run Boulevard, according to a Baltimore County Police spokeswoman.

Royston was making a left turn from a driveway of the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield offices, in the 10800 block of Red Run, into the road's southbound lanes when his Honda Civic was struck by a northbound Volkswagen Passat, police said.

The driver of the Passat suffered minor injuries, police said. The police are still investigating the accident and working with the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office to determine if charges will be filed.

steve.kilar@baltsun.com

twitter.com/stevekilar

Ex-Newburgh cop going to prison for insurance fraud

KINGSTON, N.Y. â€" A former Newburgh city police officer who fled the scene of a car accident that left a woman permanently injured and later claimed he had struck a deer will spend one to three years in state prison, according to Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright.

Thomas W. Douglass IV of Milton was sentenced Friday by Ulster County Judge Donald Williams Friday after being convicted of insurance fraud and falsifying business records. Douglass was also ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution, Carnright said.

Douglass was convicted by an Ulster County jury Nov. 23, 2011, on charges stemming from an Oct. 11, 2009, incident on U.S. Route 9W in the town of Marlborough, Carnright said.

On that night, authorities said, a car carrying five young women was hit from behind by a pickup truck driven by Douglass. It struck the car with such force that it was crushed, injuring four of the women. One of them was “seriously and permanently” injured, Carnright said.

There were no witnesses to the accident, and none of the victims could identify the driver of the truck, he said.

Carnright said the pickup truck fled the scene without checking the occupants of the car or calling for emergency help.

Marlborough town police launched an investigation that lasted for 13 months, eventually leading them to Douglass, who was indicted in November 2010.

His trial lasted eight days, with the jury finding him guilty of insurance fraud and falsifying business records. Authorities said he tried to conceal the accident by falsely reporting a car-deer accident and filing an insurance claim for the damage to his truck.

The jury acquitted him of a charge of leaving the scene of the accident, Carnright said.

The case was prosecuted by assistant district attorneys William J. Weishaupt and William Andrews, with the assistance of the New York State Department of Financial Services. Douglass was represented by attorney Rory Bellantoni. 

Attorney for driver in Saratoga hit-and-run case blames cyclist

Delivering a forceful but risky closing argument, the lawyer for a Saratoga man accused of plowing into two cyclists and then driving away turned the tables Friday -- placing the blame for the first time on the lead rider for yelling so loudly that his startled companion toppled off her bike and smashed into the asphalt.

Both cyclists then conspired to blame affluent businessman Robert Schiro for hit-and-run driving in hopes of milking him for money via a lawsuit, Schiro's lawyer Dan Jensen contended.

"Why has everybody lied?" Jensen asked. "There's an awful lot of money at stake."

Jensen contended that lead rider David Nelson was yelling at the BMW because he thought the car was coming too close to him and his then-fiancee Ashley Jackson on Highway 9 near Fruitvale Avenue in Saratoga.

"The reality is, he's yelling and screaming, and Ashley comes up on his wheel and panics and falls down," Jensen said. "He caused the accident when he got mad and arrogant."

But Jensen's strategy is risky because the Nelsons made for sympathetic witnesses, especially Ashley, who was eight months pregnant, tearful and spoke in a sometimes-shaky voice about her double vision and the other disabilities caused by her fall.

In a rebuttal statement, prosecutor Katrina Ohde calmly scoffed at Jensen's account, calling it "theatrics" and "smoke and mirrors."

"Not just one witness, not just two witnesses, not just three witnesses, but four

different witnesses detailed Mr. Schiro's own admissions he was involved in the accident," Ohde argued.

To accept Jensen's account, she contended, jurors also would have to believe there had been a wide-ranging conspiracy to cover up David Nelson's culpability, involving, among others, a sheriff's deputy who heard Schiro admit he'd struck the woman.

They'd also have to believe in several unusual coincidences, including that Schiro's car just happened to be missing its passenger-side mirror when police seized it. David Nelson had said he saw a mirror dangling off the BMW when it briefly stopped, then sped off.

Schiro has pleaded not guilty to three counts of hit-and-run driving -- two felonies and a misdemeanor. If he's convicted, he faces a maximum of four years in county jail.

After about four days of testimony, the jury of seven women and five men began deliberating about 3 p.m. Friday but left for the long weekend without a verdict in a case that has galvanized the Bay Area's cycling community. Court is closed Monday for Lincoln's Birthday.

The jury must decide not only between two conflicting accounts of what happened on April 19, 2009, but also must evaluate whether those events meet the legal definition of the charges. The first two counts -- felony hit-and-run driving and felony hit-and-run driving causing serious and permanent injury -- are based on what happened to Ashley Jackson Nelson. The misdemeanor count is related to David Nelson; Schiro is charged with brushing into him and bruising his arm.

Schiro has to have been "involved" in the incident, but his car does not have to have made physical contact with the Nelsons. For instance, when a motorist swerves on a freeway and two cars crash as a result, the driver of the car that swerved is considered to have been involved.

Schiro also had to have known someone was likely to be injured. And he had to have failed to do his duty by stopping to help out and provide his information and driver's license to the victims or authorities. Jensen claimed Schiro couldn't hear David Nelson shouting because the BMW is so well-insulated. But the car did pause briefly. And one prosecution witness testified Schiro asked him to order a new mirror -- from out of town -- ostensibly because Schiro's girlfriend had been in a car accident.

Jensen sought to explain Schiro's admissions of guilt to four people, the most incriminating evidence against him. He also noted the jury cannot rely on those statements alone to convict him.

"Just because a 72-year-old man reads he was a suspect in the paper and does and says some dumb things doesn't mean anything," Jensen said.

He also argued that David Nelson's conflicting statements about his wife's location at the time of the crash were crucial because "the science" means the hit-and-run accident couldn't have happened the way Nelson said it did if she were riding her bicycle as far away from him as he claimed.

But Ohde said Nelson was distraught when he estimated the distance because his wife lay "gurgling" on the road with broken bones and a severe head injury that has left her with a weak left side, the distorted vision and memory problems to this day.

Contact Tracey Kaplan at 408-278-3482. Follow her at Twitter.com/merccourts.

US author Zaslow killed in car accident

Coordinates 28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
name Michigan
fullname State of Michigan
flag Flag_of_Michigan.svg
flaglink Flag
seal Seal of Michigan.svg
map Map_of_USA_MI.svg
nickname The Great Lakes State, The Wolverine State
motto Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice (If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you)
former Michigan Territory
capital Lansing
demonym Michigander Michiganian
largestcity Detroit
largestmetro Metro Detroit
governor Rick Snyder (R)
lieutenant governor Brian Calley (R)
legislature Michigan Legislature
upperhouse Senate
lowerhouse House of Representatives
senators
representative 9 Republicans6 Democrats
postalabbreviation MI
tradabbreviation Mich.
officiallang None (English, de-facto)
arearank 11th
totalareaus 96,716
totalarea 250,493
pcwater 41.5
poprank 8th
2010pop 9,883,640 (2010)
densityrank 19th
2010densityus 102.2
2010density 39.46
medianhouseholdincome $44,627
incomerank 21st
admittanceorder 26th
admittancedate January 26, 1837
timezone Eastern: UTC-5/-4
tz1where most of state
timezone2 Central: UTC-6/-5
tz2where 4 U.P. counties
latitude 41° 41' N to 48° 18' N
longitude 82° 7' W to 90° 25' W
widthus 386
width 621
lengthus 456
length 734
highestpoint Mount Arvon |
highestelevus 1,979
highestelev 603
meanelevus 902
meanelev 275
lowestpoint Lake Erie
lowestelevus 571
lowestelev 174
isocode US-MI
website www.michigan.gov }}
Michigan () is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake".

Michigan is the eighth most populous state in the United States, with the 2010 census placing its population at 9,883,640 residents. It has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. Michigan is one of the leading U.S. states for recreational boating. The state has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. A person in the state is never more than six miles (10 km) from a natural water source or more than from a Great Lakes shoreline. It is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River.

Michigan is the only state to consist entirely of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "The U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km)-wide channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Upper Peninsula is economically important for tourism and natural resources.

History

Michigan was home to Native American cultures before colonization by Europeans. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous and influential tribes were Algonquian peoples, specifically, the Ottawa, the Anishnabe (called Chippewa in French, after their language Ojibwe), and the Potawatomi. The Anishnabe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the most populous.

The Anishnabe were well-established in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan, and also inhabited northern Ontario, northern Wisconsin, southern Manitoba, and northern and north-central Minnesota. The Ottawa lived primarily south of the Straits of Mackinac in northern and western Michigan, while the Potawatomi were primarily in the southwest. The three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. Other tribes in Michigan, in the south and east, were the Mascouten, the Menominee, the Miami, and the Wyandot, who are better known by their French name, Huron.

17th century

thumb|right|Père Marquette and the Indians (1869), Wilhelm LamprechtFrench voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what later became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlé's expedition in 1622. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions. Missionaries in 1671â€"75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were well received by the Indian populations in the area, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph.

18th century

thumb|Approximate area of Michigan highlighted in Guillaume de L'Isle's 1718 map.In 1701, French explorer and army officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or "Fort Pontchartrain on-the-Strait" on the strait, known as the Detroit River, between lakes Saint Clair and Erie. Cadillac had convinced King Louis XIV's chief minister, Louis Phélypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, that a permanent community there would strengthen French control over the upper Great Lakes and discourage British aspirations.

The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent (about , the equivalent of just under per side) and named it Fort Pontchartrain. Cadillac's wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post. The Église de Saint-Anne (Church of Saint Ann) was founded the same year. While the original building does not survive, the congregation of that name continues to be active today. Cadillac later departed to serve as the French governor of Louisiana from 1710 to 1716.

At the same time, the French strengthened Fort Michilimackinac at the Straits of Mackinac to better control their lucrative fur-trading empire. By the mid-18th century, the French also occupied forts at present-day Niles and Sault Ste. Marie, though most of the rest of the region remained unsettled by Europeans.

From 1660 to the end of French rule, Michigan was part of the Royal Province of New France. In 1759, following the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in the French and Indian War (1754â€"1763), Québec City fell to British forces. This marked Britain's victory in the Seven Years War. Under the 1763 Treaty of Paris, Michigan and the rest of New France east of the Mississippi River passed to Great Britain.

During the American Revolutionary War, Detroit was an important British supply center. Most of the inhabitants were French-Canadians or Native Americans, many of whom had been allied with the French. Because of imprecise cartography and unclear language defining the boundaries in the 1783 Treaty of Paris, the British retained control of Detroit and Michigan after the American Revolution. When Quebec split into Lower and Upper Canada in 1790, Michigan was part of Kent County, Upper Canada. It held its first democratic elections in August 1792 to send delegates to the new provincial parliament at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake).

Under terms negotiated in the 1794 Jay Treaty, Britain withdrew from Detroit and Michilimackinac in 1796. Questions remained over the boundary for many years, and the United States did not have uncontested control of the Upper Peninsula and Drummond Island until 1818 and 1847, respectively.

19th century

During the War of 1812, Michigan Territory (effectively consisting of Detroit and the surrounding area) was surrendered after a nearly bloodless siege in 1812. An attempt to retake Detroit resulted in a severe American defeat in the The River Raisin Massacre. This battle is still the bloodiest ever fought in the state and had the highest number of American casualties of any battle in the war. Ultimately, Michigan was recaptured by Americans in 1813 after the Battle of Lake Erie. An invasion of Canada which culminated in the Battle of the Thames was then launched from Michigan. The more northern areas were held by the British until the peace treaty restored the old boundaries. A number of forts, including Fort Wayne were built in Michigan during the 19th century out of fears of renewed fighting with Britain. The population grew slowly until the opening in 1825 of the Erie Canal connecting the Great Lakes and the Hudson River and New York City. The new route brought a large influx of settlers, who became farmers and merchants and shipped out grain, lumber, and iron ore. By the 1830s, Michigan had 80,000 residents, more than enough to apply and qualify for statehood. In October 1835 the people approved the Constitution of 1835, thereby forming a state government, although Congressional recognition was delayed pending resolution of a boundary dispute with Ohio known as the Toledo War. Congress awarded the "Toledo Strip" to Ohio. Michigan received the western part of the Upper Peninsula as a concession and formally entered the Union on January 26, 1837. The Upper Peninsula proved to be a rich source of lumber, iron, and copper. Michigan led the nation in lumber production from the 1850s to the 1880s. Railroads became a major engine of growth from the 1850s onward, with Detroit the chief hub.

The first statewide meeting of the Republican Party took place July 6, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan, where the party adopted its platform. The state was heavily Republican until the 1930s. Michigan made a significant contribution to the Union in the American Civil War and sent more than forty regiments of volunteers to the Federal armies.

Modernizers and boostersâ€"especially Yankees set up systems for public education, including founding the University of Michigan (1817; moved to Ann Arbor in 1837), for a classical academic education; and Ypsilanti Normal College, (1849) now Eastern Michigan University, for the training of teachers. Michigan State University (1855) in East Lansing was founded as the pioneer land-grant college, a model for those authorized under the Morrill Act (1862). In 1899, as Michigan State Normal College, the former Ypsilanti was the first normal college in the nation to offer a four-year curriculum. Many private colleges were founded as well, and the smaller cities formed high schools late in the century.

20th and 21st centuries

Michigan's economy underwent a transformation at the turn of the 20th century. The birth of the automotive industry, with Henry Ford's first plant in Highland Park, marked the beginning of a new era in transportation. Like the steamship and railroad, it was a far-reaching development. More than the forms of public transportation, the automobile transformed private life. It became the major industry of Detroit and Michigan, and permanently altered the socio-economic life of the United States and much of the world.

With the growth, the auto industry created jobs in Detroit that attracted immigrants from Europe and migrants from across the U.S., including those from the South. By 1920, Detroit was the fourth largest city in the U.S. Residential housing was in short supply, and it took years for the market to catch up with the population boom. By the 1930s, so many immigrants had arrived that more than 30 languages were spoken in the public schools, and ethnic communities celebrated in annual heritage festivals. Over the years immigrants and migrants contributed greatly to Detroit's diverse urban culture, including popular music trends, such as the influential Motown Sound of the 1960s led by a variety of individual singers and groups.

Grand Rapids, the second-largest city in Michigan, is also an important center of manufacturing. Since 1838, the city has also been noted for its furniture industry and is home to five of the world's leading office furniture companies. Grand Rapids is home to a number of major companies including Steelcase, Amway, and Meijer. Grand Rapids is also an important center for GE Aviation Systems.

Michigan held its first United States presidential primary election in 1910. With its rapid growth in industry, it was an important center of union industry-wide organizing, such as the rise of the United Auto Workers.

In 1920 WWJ (AM) in Detroit became the first radio station in the United States to regularly broadcast commercial programs. Throughout that decade, some of the country's largest and most ornate skyscrapers were built in the city. Particularly noteworthy are the Fisher Building, Cadillac Place, and the Guardian Building, each of which is a National Historic Landmark (NHL).

Detroit continued to expand through the 1950s, at one point doubling its population in a decade. After World War II, housing was developed in suburban areas outside city cores; newly constructed U.S. Interstate Highways allowed commuters to navigate the region more easily. Modern advances in the auto industry have resulted in increased automation, high tech industry, and increased suburban growth since 1960.

Michigan is the leading auto-producing state in the U.S., with the industry primarily located throughout the Midwestern United States, Ontario, Canada, and the Southern United States. With almost ten million residents, Michigan is a large and influential state, ranking eighth in population among the fifty states. Detroit is the centrally located metropolitan area of the Great Lakes Megalopolis and the second largest metropolitan area in the U.S. linking the Great Lakes system.

The Metro Detroit area in Southeast Michigan is the largest metropolitan area in the state (roughly 50% of the population resides there) and the eleventh largest in the USA. The Grand Rapids metropolitan area in Western Michigan is the fastest-growing metro area in the state, with over 1.3 million residents as of 2006. Metro Detroit receives more than 15 million visitors each year. Michigan has many popular tourist destinations which include areas such as Traverse City on the Grand Traverse Bay in Northern Michigan. Tourists spend about $17 billion annually in Michigan supporting 193,000 jobs.

Michigan typically ranks third or fourth in overall Research & development (R&D) expenditures in the U.S. The state's leading research institutions include the University of Michigan, Michigan State University,and Wayne State University which are important partners in the state's economy and the state's University Research Corridor. Michigan's public universities attract more than $1.5 B in research and development grants each year. Agriculture also serves a significant role making the state a leading grower of fruit in the U.S., including blueberries, cherries, apples, grapes, and peaches.

Government

State government

Michigan is governed as a republic, with three branches of government: the executive branch consisting of the Governor of Michigan and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch consisting of the House of Representatives and Senate; and the judicial branch consisting of the one court of justice. The state also allows direct participation of the electorate by initiative, referendum, recall, and ratification. Lansing is the state capital and is home to all three branches of state government.

The Governor of Michigan and the other state constitutional officers serve four-year terms and may be re-elected only once. The current Governor is Rick Snyder. Michigan has two official Governor's Residences; one is in Lansing, and the other is at Mackinac Island.

The Michigan Legislature consists of a 38-member Senate and 110-member House of Representatives. Senators serve four-year terms and Representatives two. The Michigan State Capitol was dedicated in 1879 and has hosted the state's executive and legislative branches ever since.

Law

The Michigan Court System consists of two courts with primary jurisdiction (the Circuit Courts and the District Courts), one intermediate level appellate court (the Michigan Court of Appeals), and the Michigan Supreme Court. There are several administrative courts and specialized courts. The Michigan Constitution provides for voter initiative and referendum (Article II, § 9, defined as "the power to propose laws and to enact and reject laws, called the initiative, and the power to approve or reject laws enacted by the legislature, called the referendum. The power of initiative extends only to laws which the legislature may enact under this constitution").

In 1846 Michigan became the first state in the Union, as well as the first English-speaking government in the world, to abolish the death penalty. Historian David Chardavoyne has suggested that the movement to abolish capital punishment in Michigan grew as a result of enmity toward the state's neighbor, Canada. Under British rule, it made public executions a regular practice.

Politics

Voters in the state elect candidates from both major parties. Economic issues are important in Michigan elections. The three-term Republican Governor John Engler (1991â€"2003) preceded the former two-term Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm (2003â€"2011). The state has elected successive Republican attorneys general twice since 2003. The Republican Party has won a majority in both the House and Senate of the current Michigan Legislature (2011â€"present). Michigan supported the election of Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The current Governor Rick Snyder (2011â€"present) is a Republican.

+ Presidential elections results
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However, the state has supported Democrats in the last five presidential election cycles. In 2008, Barack Obama carried the state over John McCain, winning Michigan's seventeen electoral votes with 57% of the vote. Democrats have won each of the last three, nine of the last ten, and fifteen of the last eighteen U.S. Senate elections in Michigan with confidence on national economic issues posing a challenge. Republican strength is greatest in the western, northern, and rural parts of the state, especially in the Grand Rapids area. Republicans also do well in suburban Detroit, which tends to be an important factor in deciding statewide elections. Democrats are strongest in the east, especially in the cities of Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, and Saginaw.

Historically, the first formal meeting of the Republican Party took place in Jackson, Michigan on July 6, 1854 and the party thereafter dominated Michigan until the Great Depression. In the 1912 election, Michigan was one of the six states to support progressive Republican and third-party candidate Theodore Roosevelt for President after he lost the Republican nomination to William Howard Taft.

Michigan remained fairly reliably Republican at the presidential level for much of the 20th century. It was part of Greater New England, the northern tier of states settled chiefly by migrants from New England who carried their culture with them. The state was one of only a handful to back Wendell Willkie over Franklin Roosevelt in 1940, and supported Thomas E. Dewey in his losing bid against Harry Truman in 1948. Michigan went to the Democrats in presidential elections during the 1960s, and voted for Republican Richard Nixon in 1972.

Michigan was the home of Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States. He was born in Nebraska and moved as an infant to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and grew up there. The Gerald R. Ford Museum is located in Grand Rapids, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library is located on the campus of his alma mater, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Administrative divisions

State government is decentralized among three tiers â€" statewide, county and township. Counties are administrative divisions of the state, and townships are administrative divisions of a county. Both of them exercise state government authority, localized to meet the particular needs of their jurisdictions, as provided by state law. There are 83 counties in Michigan.

Cities, state universities, and villages are vested with home rule powers of varying degrees. Home rule cities can generally do anything that is not prohibited by law. The fifteen state universities have broad power and can do anything within the parameters of their status as educational institutions that is not prohibited by the state constitution. Villages, by contrast, have limited home rule and are not completely autonomous from the county and township in which they are located.

There are two types of township in Michigan: general law township and charter. Charter township status was created by the Legislature in 1947 and grants additional powers and stream-lined administration in order to provide greater protection against annexation by a city. As of April 2001, there were 127 charter townships in Michigan. In general, charter townships have many of the same powers as a city but without the same level of obligations. For example, a charter township can have its own fire department, water and sewer department, police department, and so onâ€"just like a cityâ€"but it is not required to have those things, whereas cities must provide those services. Charter townships can opt to use county-wide services instead, such as deputies from the county sheriff's office instead of a home-based force of ordinance officers.

Geography

Michigan consists of two peninsulas that lie between 82°30' to about 90°30' west longitude, and are separated by the Straits of Mackinac. The 45th parallel north runs through the stateâ€"marked by highway signs and the Polar-Equator Trailâ€"along a line including Mission Point Light near Traverse City, the towns of Gaylord and Alpena in the Lower Peninsula and Menominee in the Upper Peninsula. With the exception of two small areas that are drained by the Mississippi River by way of the Wisconsin River in the Upper Peninsula and by way of the Kankakee-Illinois River in the Lower Peninsula, Michigan is drained by the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed and is the only state with the majority of its land thus drained. The Great Lakes that border Michigan from east to west are Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. It has more lighthouses than any other state. The state is bounded on the south by the states of Ohio and Indiana, sharing land and water boundaries with both. Michigan's western boundaries are almost entirely water boundaries, from south to north, with Illinois and Wisconsin in Lake Michigan; then a land boundary with Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula, that is principally demarcated by the Menominee and Montreal Rivers; then water boundaries again, in Lake Superior, with Wisconsin and Minnesota to the west, capped around by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and east.

The heavily forested Upper Peninsula is relatively mountainous in the west. The Porcupine Mountains, which are part of one of the oldest mountain chains in the world, rise to an altitude of almost 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level and form the watershed between the streams flowing into Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. The surface on either side of this range is rugged. The state's highest point, in the Huron Mountains northwest of Marquette, is Mount Arvon at . The peninsula is as large as Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island combined but has fewer than 330,000 inhabitants. They are sometimes called "Yoopers" (from "U.P.'ers"), and their speech (the "Yooper dialect") has been heavily influenced by the numerous Scandinavian and Canadian immigrants who settled the area during the lumbering and mining boom of the late 19th century.

The Lower Peninsula, shaped like a mitten, is long from north to south and from east to west and occupies nearly two-thirds of the state's land area. The surface of the peninsula is generally level, broken by conical hills and glacial moraines usually not more than a few hundred feet tall. It is divided by a low water divide running north and south. The larger portion of the state is on the west of this and gradually slopes toward Lake Michigan. The highest point in the Lower Peninsula is either Briar Hill at , or one of several points nearby in the vicinity of Cadillac. The lowest point is the surface of Lake Erie at .

The geographic orientation of Michigan's peninsulas makes for a long distance between the ends of the state. Ironwood, in the far western Upper Peninsula, lies 630 highway miles (1,015 km) from Lambertville in the Lower Peninsula's southeastern corner. The geographic isolation of the Upper Peninsula from Michigan's political and population centers makes the U.P. culturally and economically distinct. Occasionally U.P. residents have called for secession from Michigan and establishment as a new state to be called "Superior".

A feature of Michigan that gives it the distinct shape of a mitten is the Thumb. This peninsula projects out into Lake Huron and the Saginaw Bay. The geography of the Thumb is mainly flat with a few rolling hills. Other peninsulas of Michigan include the Keweenaw Peninsula, making up the Copper Country region of the state. The Leelanau Peninsula lies in the Northern Lower Michigan region. See Also Michigan Regions

thumb|left|Little Sable Point Light south of Pentwater, Michigan.Numerous lakes and marshes mark both peninsulas, and the coast is much indented. Keweenaw Bay, Whitefish Bay, and the Big and Little Bays De Noc are the principal indentations on the Upper Peninsula. The Grand and Little Traverse, Thunder, and Saginaw bays indent the Lower Peninsula. Michigan has the second longest shoreline of any stateâ€", including of island shoreline.

The state has numerous large islands, the principal ones being the North Manitou and South Manitou, Beaver, and Fox groups in Lake Michigan; Isle Royale and Grande Isle in Lake Superior; Marquette, Bois Blanc, and Mackinac islands in Lake Huron; and Neebish, Sugar, and Drummond islands in St. Mary's River. Michigan has about 150 lighthouses, the most of any U.S. state. The first lighthouses in Michigan were built between 1818 and 1822. They were built to project light at night and to serve as a landmark during the day to safely guide the passenger ships and freighters traveling the Great Lakes. See Lighthouses in the United States.

The state's rivers are generally small, short and shallow, and few are navigable. The principal ones include the Detroit River, St. Marys River, and St. Clair River which connect the Great Lakes; the Au Sable, Cheboygan, and Saginaw, which flow into Lake Huron; the Ontonagon, and Tahquamenon, which flow into Lake Superior; and the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Grand, Muskegon, Manistee, and Escanaba, which flow into Lake Michigan. The state has 11,037 inland lakes (totaling of inland water) in addition to of Great Lakes waters. No point in Michigan is more than six miles (10 km) from an inland lake or more than from one of the Great Lakes.

The state is home to a number of areas maintained by the National Park Service including: Isle Royale National Park, located in Lake Superior, about southeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Other national protected areas in the state include: Keweenaw National Historical Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Huron National Forest, Manistee National Forest, Hiawatha National Forest, Ottawa National Forest and Father Marquette National Memorial. The largest section of the North Country National Scenic Trail passes through Michigan.

With 78 state parks, 19 state recreation areas, and 6 state forests, Michigan has the largest state park and state forest system of any state. These parks and forests include Holland State Park, Mackinac Island State Park, Au Sable State Forest, and Mackinaw State Forest.

Adjacent states & provinces

Climate

thumb|Michigan USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.Michigan has a continental climate, although there are two distinct regions. The southern and central parts of the Lower Peninsula (south of Saginaw Bay and from the Grand Rapids area southward) have a warmer climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa) with hot summers and cold winters. The northern part of Lower Peninsula and the entire Upper Peninsula has a more severe climate (Koppen Dfb), with warm, but shorter summers and longer, cold to very cold winters. Some parts of the state average high temperatures below freezing from December through February, and into early March in the far northern parts. During the winter through the middle of February the state is frequently subjected to heavy lake-effect snow. The state averages from of precipitation annually, however some areas in the northern lower peninsula and the upper peninsula average almost 160" of snowfall per year. Michigan's highest recorded temperature is at Mio on July 13, 1936 and the coldest recorded temperature is at Vanderbilt on February 9, 1934.

The entire state averages 30 days of thunderstorm activity per year. These can be severe, especially in the southern part of the state. The state averages 17 tornadoes per year, which are more common in the extreme southern portion of the state. Portions of the southern border have been nearly as vulnerable historically as parts of Tornado Alley. For this reason, many communities in the very southern portions of the state are equipped with tornado sirens to warn residents of approaching tornadoes. Farther north, in the Upper Peninsula, tornadoes are rare.

>
colspan="13" style="text-align: center;font-size:120%;background:#E8EAFA;"|Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Other Michigan Cities in °F(°C)
City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Flint 29/13 (âˆ'2/âˆ'11) 32/15 (0/âˆ'9) 43/24 (6/âˆ'4) 56/35 (13/2) 69/45 (21/7) 78/55 (26/13) 82/59 (28/15) 80/57 (27/14) 72/49 (22/9) 60/39 (16/4) 46/30 (8/âˆ'1) 34/19 (1/âˆ'7)
Grand Rapids 29/16 (âˆ'2/âˆ'9) 33/17 (1/âˆ'8) 43/26 (6/âˆ'3) 57/36 (14/2) 70/47 (21/8) 78/56 (26/13) 82/60 (28/16) 80/59 (27/15) 72/51 (22/11) 60/40 (11/4) 46/31 (8/âˆ'1) 34/21 (1/âˆ'6)
Muskegon 30/17 (âˆ'1/âˆ'8) 32/18 (0/âˆ'8) 42/25 (6/âˆ'4) 55/35 (13/2) 67/45 (19/7) 76/54 (24/12) 80/60 (27/16) 78/59 (26/15) 70/51 (21/11) 59/41 (15/5) 46/32 (8/0) 35/23 (2/âˆ'5)
Sault Ste. Marie 22/5 (âˆ'6/âˆ'15) 24/7 (âˆ'4/âˆ'14) 34/16 (1/âˆ'9) 48/29 (9/âˆ'2) 63/39 (17/4) 71/46 (22/7) 76/52 (24/11) 74/52 (23/11) 65/45 (18/7) 53/36 (12/2) 39/26 (12/âˆ'3) 27/13 (âˆ'3/âˆ'11)

Geology

The geological formation of the state is greatly varied. Primary boulders are found over the entire surface of the Upper Peninsula (being principally of primitive origin), while Secondary deposits cover the entire Lower Peninsula. The Upper Peninsula exhibits Lower Silurian sandstones, limestones, copper and iron bearing rocks, corresponding to the Huronian system of Canada. The central portion of the Lower Peninsula contains coal measures and rocks of the Permo-Carboniferous period. Devonian and sub-Carboniferous deposits are scattered over the entire state.

Demographics

As of 2010, Michigan had a population of 9,883,640, at â€" 0.6% since the year 2000, retaining its rank as the eighth most populous state in the nation.

The center of population of Michigan is located in Shiawassee County, in the southeastern corner of the civil township of Bennington, which is located northwest of the village of Morrice.

As of the 2009 American Community Survey for the U.S. Census, the state had a foreign-born population of 614,111, or 6.2% of the total. In recent years, the foreign-born population in the state has grown. Michigan has the largest Dutch, Finnish, and Macedonian populations in the United States.

The 2010 Census reported:

  • White: 78.9% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 76.6%)
  • Black or African American: 14.2%
  • American Indian: 0.6%
  • Asian: 2.4%
  • Pacific Islander: <0.1%
  • Some other race: 1.5%
  • Multiracial: 2.3%
  • Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 4.4%
  • The ten largest reported ancestries in Michigan are: German (22.9%) Irish (12.0%) English (10.6%) Polish (9.1%) French or French Canadian (7.0%) Dutch (5.2%) Italian (4.9%) American (4.8%) Scottish (2.5%) Swedish (1.7%)

    The large majority of Michigan's population is Caucasian. Americans of European descent live throughout Michigan and most of Metro Detroit. Large European American groups include those of German, Irish, French, Belgian and British ancestry. People of Scandinavian descent, especially those of Finnish ancestry, have a notable presence in the Upper Peninsula. Western Michigan is known for the Dutch heritage of many residents (the highest concentration of any state), especially in metropolitan Grand Rapids.

    About 300,000 people trace their descent from the Middle East. Dearborn has a sizeable Arab community, with many Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac, and Lebanese who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s along with more recent Yemenis and Iraqis. African Americans, who came to Detroit and other northern cities in the Great Migration of the early 20th century, form a majority of the population of the city of Detroit and of other cities, including Flint and Benton Harbor.

    An individual from Michigan is called a "Michigander" or "Michiganian". Also at times, but rarely, a "Michiganite". Residents of the Upper Peninsula are sometimes referred to as "Yoopers" (a phonetic pronunciation of "U.P.ers"), and Upper Peninsula residents sometimes refer to those from the lower as "trolls" (they live below the bridge).

    Religion

    The Roman Catholic Church was the only organized religion in Michigan until the 19th century, reflecting the territory's French colonial roots. Detroit's St. Anne's parish, established in 1701, is the second-oldest Catholic parish in the country. French-Canadian Catholics were reduced to a small minority by the influx of Protestants from the United States in the early 19th century. By the mid-19th century, there was a wave of immigration of Catholics from Ireland and, later, from eastern and southern Europe.

    Change was rapid in the 19th century. The Lutheran Church was introduced by German and Scandinavian immigrants; Lutheranism is the second largest religious denomination in the state. The first Jewish synagogue in the state was Temple Beth El, founded by twelve German Jewish families in Detroit in 1850. Islam was introduced by immigrants from the Near East during the 20th century.

    The largest denomination by number of adherents, according to a survey in the year 2000, was the Roman Catholic Church with 2,019,926 parishioners. The largest Protestant denominations were the Lutheran Churchâ€"Missouri Synod with 244,231 adherents; followed by the United Methodist Church with 222,269; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with 160,836 adherents. In the same survey, Jewish adherents in the state of Michigan were estimated at 110,000, and Muslims at 80,515.

    Economy

    The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated Michigan's 2009 gross state product at $368 B. In May 2011, the state's unemployment rate was 10.3%.

    Some of the major industries/products/services include automobiles, cereal products, pizza, information technology, aerospace, military equipment, copper, iron, and furniture. Michigan is the third leading grower of Christmas trees with of land dedicated to Christmas tree farming. The beverage Vernors was invented in Michigan in 1866, sharing the title of oldest soft drink with Hires Root Beer. Faygo was founded in Detroit on November 4, 1907. Two of the top four pizza chains were founded in Michigan and are headquartered there: Domino's Pizza by Tom Monaghan and Little Caesars Pizza by Mike Ilitch.

    Since 2009, GM, Ford, and Chrysler have managed a significant reorganization of their benefit funds structure after a volatile stock market which followed the September 11, 2001 attacks and early 2000s recession impacted their respective U.S. pension and benefit funds (OPEB). General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler reached agreements with the United Auto Workers Union to transfer the liabilities for their respective health care and benefit funds to a 501(c)(9) Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA). Manufacturing in the state grew 6.6% from 2001 to 2006, but the high speculative price of oil became a factor for the U.S. auto industry during the economic crisis of 2008 impacting industry revenues. In 2009, GM and Chrysler emerged from Chapter 11 restructurings with financing provided in part by the U.S. and Canandian governments. GM began its initial public offering (IPO) of stock in 2010. For 2010, the Big Three domestic automakers have reported significant profits indicating the beginning of rebound.

    Michigan ranks fourth in the U.S. in high tech employment with 568,000 high tech workers, which includes 70,000 in the automotive industry. Michigan typically ranks third or fourth in overall Research & development (R&D) expenditures in the United States. Its research and development, which includes automotive, comprises a higher percentage of the state's overall gross domestic product than for any other U.S. state. The state is an important source of engineering job opportunities. The domestic auto industry accounts directly and indirectly for one of every ten jobs in the U.S.Outdated

    Michigan was second in the U.S. in 2004 for new corporate facilities and expansions. From 1997 to 2004, Michigan was the only state to top the 10,000 mark for the number of major new developments; however, the effects of the late 2000s recession have slowed the state's economy. In 2008, Michigan placed third in a site selection survey among the states for luring new business which measured capital investment and new job creation per one million population. In August 2009, Michigan and Detroit's auto industry received $1.36 B in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy for the manufacture of electric vehicle technologies which is expected to generate 6,800 immediate jobs and employ 40,000 in the state by 2020. From 2007 to 2009, Michigan ranked 3rd in the U.S. for new corporate facilities and expansions.

    As leading research institutions, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University,and Wayne State University are important partners in the state's economy and the state's University Research Corridor. Michigan's public universities attract more than $1.5 B in research and development grants each year. The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory is located at Michigan State University. Michigan's workforce is well-educated and highly skilled, making it attractive to companies. It has the third highest number of engineering graduates nationally.

    Detroit Metropolitan Airport is one of the nation's most recently expanded and modernized airports with six major runways, and large aircraft maintenance facilities capable of servicing and repairing a Boeing 747 and is a major hub for Delta Air Lines. Michigan's schools and colleges rank among the nation's best. The state has maintained its early commitment to public education. The state's infrastructure gives it a competitive edge; Michigan has 38 deep water ports. In 2007, Bank of America announced that it would commit $25 billion to community development in Michigan following its acquisition of LaSalle Bank in Troy.

    Michigan led the nation in job creation improvement in 2010.

    Taxation

    Michigan's personal income tax is set to a flat rate of 4.35%. Some cities impose additional income taxes. Michigan's state sales tax is 6%. Property taxes are assessed on the local level, but every property owner's local assessment contributes six mills (six dollars per thousand dollars of property value) to the statutory State Education Tax. In 2007, Michigan repealed its Single Business Tax (SBT) and replaced it with a Michigan Business Tax (MBT) in order to stimulate job growth by reducing taxes for seventy percent of the businesses in the state. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, recent growth in Michigan is 0.1%.

    Agriculture

    A wide variety of commodity crops, fruits, and vegetables are grown in Michigan, making it second only to California among U.S. states in the diversity of its agriculture. The state has 55,000 farms utilizing of land which sold $6.6 billion worth of products in 2008. The most valuable agricultural product is milk. Leading crops include corn, soybeans, flowers, wheat, sugar beets and potatoes. Livestock in the state included 1 million cattle, 1 million hogs, 78,000 sheep and over 3 million chickens. Livestock products accounted for 38% of the value of agricultural products while crops accounted for the majority.

    Michigan is a leading grower of fruit in the U.S., including blueberries, cherries, apples, grapes, and peaches. Plums, pears, and strawberries are also grown. These fruits are mainly grown in West Michigan due to the moderating effect of Lake Michigan on the climate. There is also significant fruit production, especially cherries, but also grapes, apples, and other fruits, in Northwest Michigan along Lake Michigan. Michigan produces wines, beers and a multitude of processed food products. Kellogg's cereal is based out of Battle Creek, Michigan and processes many locally grown foods. Thornapple Valley, Ballpark Franks, Koegel's, and Hebrew National sausage companies are all based in Michigan.

    Michigan is home to very fertile land in the Flint/Tri-Cities and "Thumb" areas. Products grown there include corn, sugar beets, navy beans, and soy beans. Sugar beet harvesting usually begins the first of October. It takes the sugar factories about five months to process the 3.7 million tons of sugarbeets into 970 million pounds of pure, white sugar. Michigan's largest sugar refiner, Michigan Sugar Company is the largest east of the Mississippi River and the fourth largest in the nation. Michigan Sugar brand names are Pioneer Sugar and the newly incorporated Big Chief Sugar. Potatoes are grown in Northern Michigan, and corn is dominant in Central Michigan. Alfalfa, cucumbers, and asparagus are also grown. Michigan State University is dedicated to the study of agriculture.

    Tourism

    Michigan's tourists spend $17.2 billion per year in the state, supporting 193,000 tourism jobs. Michigan's tourism website ranks among the busiest in the nation. Destinations draw vacationers, hunters, and nature enthusiasts from across the United States and Canada. Michigan is fifty percent forest land, much of it quite remote. The forests, lakes and thousands of miles of beaches are top attractions. Event tourism draws large numbers to occasions like the Tulip Time Festival and the National Cherry Festival.

    In 2006, the Michigan State Board of Education mandated that all public schools in the state hold their first day of school after the Labor Day holiday, in accordance with the new Post Labor Day School law. A survey found that 70% of all tourism business comes directly from Michigan residents, and the Michigan Hotel, Motel, & Resort Association claimed that the shorter summer in between school years cut into the annual tourism season in the state.

    Tourism in metropolitan Detroit draws visitors to leading attractions, particularly The Henry Ford, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Detroit Zoo, and to sports in Detroit. Other museums include the Detroit Historical Museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, museums in the Cranbrook Educational Community, and the Arab American National Museum. The metro area offers four major casinos, MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown, Motor City, and Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada; moreover, Detroit is the largest American city and metropolitan region to offer casino resorts.

    Hunting and fishing are significant industries in the state. Charter boats are based in many Great Lakes cities to fish for salmon, trout, walleye and perch. Michigan ranks first in the nation in licensed hunters (over one million) who contribute $2 billion annually to its economy. Over three-quarters of a million hunters participate in white-tailed deer season alone. Many school districts in rural areas of Michigan cancel school on the opening day of firearm deer season, because of attendance concerns.

    Michigan's Department of Natural Resources manages the largest dedicated state forest system in the nation. The forest products industry and recreational users contribute $12 billion and 200,000 associated jobs annually to the state's economy. Public hiking and hunting access has also been secured in extensive commercial forests. The state has highest number of golf courses and registered snowmobiles in the nation.

    The state has numerous historical markers, which can themselves become the center of a tour. The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.

    With its position in relation to the Great Lakes and the countless ships that have foundered over the many years in which they have been used as a transport route for people and bulk cargo, Michigan is a world-class scuba diving destination. The Michigan Underwater Preserves are 11 underwater areas where wrecks are protected for the benefit of sport divers.

    Transportation

    Michigan has nine international crossings with Ontario, Canada:
  • Ambassador Bridge, North America's busiest international border crossing the Detroit River
  • Blue Water Bridge, a twin-span bridge (Port Huron, Michigan and Point Edward, Ontario, but the larger city of Sarnia, Ontario is usually referred to on the Canadian side.)
  • Blue Water Ferry (Marine City, Michigan and Sombra, Ontario)
  • Canadian Pacific Railway tunnel.
  • Detroitâ€"Windsor Truck Ferry (Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario)
  • Detroitâ€"Windsor Tunnel.
  • International Bridge (Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario)
  • St. Clair River Railway Tunnel (Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario)
  • Walpole Island Ferry (Algonac, Michigan and Walpole Island First Nation, Ontario
  • A second international bridge is currently under development between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario.

    Railroads

    Michigan is served by four Class I railroads: the Canadian National Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, CSX Transportation, and the Norfolk Southern Railway. These are augmented by several dozen short line railroads. The vast majority of rail service in Michigan is devoted to freight, with Amtrak and various scenic railroads the exceptions.

    Amtrak passenger rail services the state, connecting many southern and western Michigan cities to Chicago, Illinois. There are plans for commuter rail for Detroit and its suburbs (see SEMCOG Commuter Rail).

    Roadways

    Interstate 75 is the main thoroughfare between Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw extending north to Sault Sainte Marie and providing access to Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario. The expressway crosses the Mackinac Bridge between the Lower and Upper Peninsulas. Branching highways include I-275 and I-375 in Detroit; I-475 in Flint; and I-675 in Saginaw.

    Interstate 69 enters the state near the Michigan-Ohio-Indiana border, and it extends to Port Huron and provides access to the Blue Water Bridge crossing into Sarnia, Ontario.

    Interstate 94 enters the western end of the state at the Indiana border, and it travels east to Detroit and then northeast to Port Huron and ties in with I-69. I-194 branches off from this freeway in Battle Creek. I-94 is the main artery between Chicago, Illinois and Detroit.

    Interstate 96 runs eastâ€"west between Detroit and Muskegon. I-496 loops through Lansing. I-196 branches off from this freeway at Grand Rapids and connects to I-94 near Benton Harbor. I-696 branches off from this freeway at Novi and connects to I-94 near St Clair Shores.

    U.S. Highway 2 enters Michigan at the city of Ironwood and runs east to the town of Crystal Falls, where it turns south and briefly re-enters Wisconsin northwest of Florence. It re-enters Michigan north of Iron Mountain and continues through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the cities of Escanaba, Manistique, and St. Ignace. Along the way, it cuts through the Ottawa and Hiawatha National Forests and follows the northern shore of Lake Michigan. Its eastern terminus lies at exit 344 of I-75, just north of the Mackinac Bridge. This is generally regarded as the main route through the Upper Peninsula, although some prefer to travel on M-28 as it tends to save time (U.S. 2 hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline for much of its length.)

    Airports

    The Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is Michigan's busiest airport in the western suburb of Romulus, followed by the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids.

    Important cities and townships

    The largest municipalities in Michigan are (according to 2010 Census):

    ! Rank ! City ! Population ! Image
    style="text-align:left;" 713,777
    style="text-align:left;" 188,040
    style="text-align:left;" 134,056
    style="text-align:left;" 129,699
    style="text-align:left;" 114,297
    style="text-align:left;" 113,934
    style="text-align:left;" 102,434
    style="text-align:left;" 98,153
    style="text-align:left;" 96,942
    style="text-align:left;" 96,796

    Other important cities include:

  • Battle Creek ("Cereal City U.S.A.", world headquarters of Kellogg Company)
  • Benton Harbor / St. Joseph (headquarters of Whirlpool Corporation)
  • East Lansing (home of Michigan State University)
  • Holland (home of Tulip Time, the largest tulip festival in the U.S.)
  • Jackson (headquarters of CMS Energy)
  • Kalamazoo (Largest city in southwest Michigan and home to Western Michigan University)
  • Manistee (home to the world's largest salt plant, owned by Morton Salt)
  • Marquette (largest city in the Upper Peninsula with 19,661 people and home of Northern Michigan University)
  • Midland (headquarters of the Dow Chemical Company and the Dow Corning Corporation)
  • Pontiac (major automobile manufacturing center, and home of the Pontiac Silverdome)
  • Saginaw (the largest of the Tri-Cities, which also consist of Bay City and Midland, and home to Saginaw Valley State University)
  • Sault Ste. Marie (home of the Soo Locks and Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge)
  • Traverse City ("Cherry Capital of the World", making Michigan the country's largest producer of cherries)
  • Half of the wealthiest communities in the state are located in Oakland County, just north of Detroit. Another wealthy community is located just east of the city, in Grosse Pointe. Only three of these cities are located outside of Metro Detroit. The city of Detroit itself, with a per capita income of $14,717, ranks 517th on the list of Michigan locations by per capita income. Benton Harbor is the poorest city in Michigan, with a per capita income of $8,965, while Barton Hills is the richest with a per capita income of $110,683.

    Education

    Michigan's education system provides services to 1.6 million K-12 students in public schools. More than 124,000 students attend private schools and an uncounted number are homeschooled under certain legal requirements. The public school system has a $14.5 billion budget in 2008â€"2009. Michigan has a number of public universities spread throughout the state and a numerous private colleges as well. Michigan State University has one of the largest enrollments of any U.S. school. Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University are the three major research institutions in the state.

    Professional sports

    Michigan's major-league sports teams include: Detroit Tigers baseball team, Detroit Lions football team, Detroit Red Wings ice hockey team, and the Detroit Pistons men's basketball team. All of Michigan's major league teams play in the Metro Detroit area.

    The Pistons played at Detroit's Cobo Arena until 1978 and at the Pontiac Silverdome until 1988 when they moved into The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Detroit Lions played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit until 1974, then moved to the Pontiac Silverdome where they played for 27 years between 1975â€"2002 before moving to Ford Field in Detroit in 2002. The Detroit Tigers played at Tiger Stadium (formerly known as Navin Field and Briggs Stadium) from 1912 to 1999. In 2000 they moved to Comerica Park. The Red Wings played at Olympia Stadium before moving to Joe Louis Arena in 1979.

    Thirteen-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams was born in Saginaw. The Michigan International Speedway is the site of NASCAR races and Detroit was formerly the site of a Formula One World Championship Grand Prix race. From 1959 to 1961, Detroit Dragway hosted the NHRA's U.S. Nationals. Michigan is home to one of the major canoeing marathons: the Au Sable River Canoe Marathon. The Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race is also a favorite. Professional hockey got its start in Houghton, when the Portage Lakers were formed.

    State symbols and nicknames

    Michigan is, by tradition, known as "The Wolverine State," and the University of Michigan takes the wolverine as its mascot. The association is well and long established: for example, many Detroiters volunteered to fight during the American Civil War and George Armstrong Custer, who led the Michigan Brigade, called them the "Wolverines". The origins of this association are obscure; it may derive from a busy trade in wolverine furs in Sault Ste. Marie in the 18th century or may recall a disparagement intended to compare early settlers in Michigan with the vicious mammal. Wolverines are, however, extremely rare in Michigan. A sighting in February 2004 near Ubly was the first confirmed sighting in Michigan in 200 years. The animal was found dead in 2010. State song: My Michigan (official since 1937, but disputed amongst residents), Michigan, My Michigan (Unofficial State Song, since the civil war)
  • State bird: American Robin (since 1931)
  • State animal: Wolverine (traditional)
  • State game animal: White-tailed deer (since 1997)
  • State fish: Brook trout (since 1965)
  • State reptile: Painted Turtle (since 1995)
  • State fossil: Mastodon (since 2000)
  • State flower: Apple blossom (adopted in 1897, official in 1997)
  • State wildflower: Dwarf Lake Iris (since 1998). Known as Iris lacustris, it is a federally listed threatened species.
  • State tree: White pine (since 1955)
  • State stone: Petoskey stone (since 1965). It is composed of fossilized coral (Hexagonaria pericarnata) from long ago when the middle of the continent was covered with a shallow sea.
  • State gem: Isle Royale greenstone (since 1973). Also called chlorastrolite (literally "green star stone"), the mineral is found on Isle Royale and the Keweenaw peninsula.
  • State Quarter: U.S. coin issued in 2004 with the Michigan motto "Great Lakes State."
  • State soil: Kalkaska Sand (since 1990), ranges in color from black to yellowish brown, covers nearly in 29 counties.

    Sister states

    Shiga Prefecture, Japan Sichuan Province, Peoples Republic of China

    See also

  • Great Lakes
  • List of National Register of Historic Places in Michigan
  • List of people from Michigan
  • U.S. state
  • USS Michigan
  • References

    Further reading

  • Bald, F. Clever, Michigan in Four Centuries (1961)/
  • Browne, William P. and â€" Kenneth VerBurg. Michigan Politics & Government: Facing Change in a Complex State University of Nebraska Press. 1995.
  • Bureau of Business Research, Wayne State U. Michigan Statistical Abstract (1987).
  • Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, Bibliographies for Michigan by region, counties, etc..
  • Dunbar, Willis F. and George S. May. Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State (1995) excerpt and text search
  • Michigan, State of. Michigan Manual (annual), elaborate detail on state government.
  • Press, Charles et al., Michigan Political Atlas (1984).
  • Public Sector Consultants. Michigan in Brief. An Issues Handbook (annual)
  • Rich, Wilbur. Coleman Young and Detroit Politics: From Social Activist to Power Broker (Wayne State University Press, 1988).
  • Rubenstein, Bruce A. and Lawrence E. Ziewacz. Michigan: A History of the Great Lakes State. (2nd ed. 2008)
  • Sisson, Richard, Ed. The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia (2006)
  • Weeks, George, Stewards of the State: The Governors of Michigan (Historical Society of Michigan, 1987).
  • External links

  • State of Michigan government website
  • Energy Data & Statistics for Michigan
  • Info Michigan, detailed information on 630 cities
  • Michigan Historic Markers
  • Michigan History Magazine
  • Michigan Lighthouse Chronology â€" Clark Historical Library
  • Michigan State Guide from the Library of Congress
  • Michigan Official Travel Site
  • Michigan State Fact Sheet from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
  • Michigan Underwater Preserves Council
  • The Michigan Municipal League
  • USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Michigan
  • Category:States and territories established in 1837 Category:States of the United States

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