updated October 11th, 2008 9:25 a.m.
BOAT ACCIDENT CLAIMS THREE LIVES
A boating accident last night claimed three lives and left one in critical condition at River District Hospital in St. Clair. A boat heading down the North Channel in the vicinity of the 3000 block of Pte. Tremble Road in Clay Township struck a dock. The St. Clair County Marine Patrol reports the incident occurred about 9:40 last night and witnesses pulled one person from the water. Rescuers found the other three. One was dead at the scene the others were taken to the hospital. The investigation is continuing, but alcohol is believed to be a factor.
BANK ROBBER NABBED
No injuries were reported in a bank robbery Friday afternoon in Port Huron. Police say a white male walked into the Citizen's First branch at Pine Grove and Hancock with a handgun and asked for money before fleeing. The suspect, a 46-year old Harper Woods man, was nabbed by Sheriff's Deputies near the Wadhams and Gratiot area in St. Clair Township after a brief vehicle chase by the Sheriff's Department.
CHRYSLER AND GM MAY WED
General Motors and Chrysler are in preliminary talks about a possible merger, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal. Talks began nearly a month ago and will continue for several more weeks if they progress at all. Sources say a merger between Chrysler and GM was “50/50” as of Friday evening. The Journal reports Cerberus has proposed selling GM all of Chrysler's automotive operations, in exchange for GM selling Cerberus its remaining 49% stake in GMAC. GM believes they could save as much as $10 billion in costs with a merger. There are many hurtles the companies would have to pass for a merger to be completed, including UAW acceptance. The Journal says Chrysler has been shopping itself to global auto makers, including Nissan and Renault.
LAPEER TO CLOSE MONDAY
The Port Huron Department of Public Works says Lapeer Avenue from 24th to 20th Streets will be closed on Monday for some street repairs. The closing will be from 7:00 am until 4:00 pm, with posted detours around the project. Travelers on westbound Lapeer will be detoured onto 16th to Court to 24th, and north on 24th to Lapeer. Eastbound motorists will be detoured onto 24th to Union, east on Union to 16th to Lapeer.
WINNER COMES FORWARD
The winner of the $42 million Mega Millions jackpot says he would like to become a pecan farmer and buy a Dodge Challenger, and his wife would like to start a horse ranch for kids. The winner, Christopher and Tina Crane of Macomb County, spoke to the media Friday in Lansing. Chris Crane works for Chrysler, and says he'll be retiring soon. Tina is an x-ray technician who will also be retiring. The couple will take the prize in $1.6 million annual increments and will forgo the chance at a "one lump sum" payment because "it's too much to manage" all at once. He has played the same Mega Millions numbers regularly for years. He's the eighth winner from the state of Michigan since he multi-state game began in 2002.
WALL STREET DIVE CONTINUES
Stocks took a wild ride Friday with the Dow having a spread of 1,000 points. The Industrials ended up losing 128.00 points and finished at 8,451.19. The Nasdaq gave back 4.39 at 1,649.51. And the S&P 500 dropped 10.70 ending at 899.22. Monday will be better for investors, the market is closed for Columbus Day.
