Grand Rapids

Police have canceled an Amber Alert for a Grand Rapids girl, saying she is back home and OK. It was reported that fourteen-year-old Jessica Gerdracht was believed to have been traveling with Moises Espinoza Hernandez, 31, who is currently on parole for assault crimes and may have organized crime connections, police say. Both have been located. Police did not release further details.

A 6-year-old South Bend boy is back home after being shot and rushed to the hospital earlier this weekend while visiting relatives in Grand Rapids. The boy's relatives say he was with his father getting ready to go to a family picnic in Grand Rapids Saturday when they heard a gunshot. That's when the boy, who has been identified by his grandmother as PJ DeBose, cried out and began bleeding from the leg. An 18-year-old Michigan teen is the suspect in the shooting.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A 22-year-old Grand Rapids woman has died after being thrown from a minivan that struck a tree. Grand Rapids police say Michelle Caverley died at a local hospital from injuries suffered in Saturday morning's crash. Caverley was a passenger in the minivan. After running into the tree about 4:05 a.m., the minivan's driver drove off. Caverley was left behind. Police were able to locate and arrest the driver. Earlier reports had said the victim was hit by a vehicle.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - The police chief in Michigan's second-largest city opposes a ballot question that would make marijuana possession a civil infraction in Grand Rapids, not a misdemeanor crime. Grand Rapids Chief Kevin Belk says young people won't benefit by making it easier to use marijuana. He compares it to the new Michigan law allowing fireworks, a law that boosted demand - and complaints. Grand Rapids voters will decide in November whether to make marijuana possession akin to a traffic ticket.

A 6-year-old South Bend boy is back home after being shot and rushed to the hospital earlier this weekend while visiting relatives in Grand Rapids. The boy's relatives say he was with his father getting ready to go to a family picnic Saturday when they heard a gunshot. That's when the boy, who has been identified by his grandmother as PJ DeBose, cried out and began bleeding from the leg. An 18-year-old Michigan teen, Dajawn Jones, is the suspect in the shooting.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - Officials say bomb sweeps, bag searches and an increased police presence are planned for the Fifth Third River Bank Run in West Michigan following the Boston Marathon bombings. Police are asking runners and spectators to limit any bags they might bring to the Saturday event. Police have said area law enforcement will help give the annual event its largest ever security force. They're asking runners and spectators to be alert. The River Bank Run includes 25-kilometer and shorter events.

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. (AP) - Authorities were trying to collect money tossed from a rental truck pursued by police following an early morning bank robbery near Grand Rapids. The Grand Rapids Press and WOOD-TV report that people stopped what they were doing Wednesday morning to pick up the cash. Some turned the money over to police. Others didn't. A witness says most of the bills were in $20 and $50 denominations. Some were $100 bills. The Grand Rapids Press reports that the chase followed a holdup in Comstock Park, outside Grand Rapids.

VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. - A simple phone call from a wife and mother may have saved the lives of her family. Van Buren County police were called to a home in the 95600 block of West Avenue on Magician Lake in Keeler Township late Sunday afternoon and found three people “unconscious.” Officers were called to check the welfare of a 45-year-old man and his two children. The man's wife called police from Illinois, concerned she had not heard from her family, who was expected home around 11 a.m. The call to police was made around 5 p.m. Sunday.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A Grand Rapids woman has been sentenced to serve a year of probation for posting a fake online ad offering sex with a woman with whom she argued outside a Meijer store. Amy Burnett was sentenced Wednesday in Kent County Circuit Court. She pleaded no contest to unlawfully posting a message and using a computer to commit a crime. A woman confronted Burnett on June 22 after finding a dog left unattended in Burnett's vehicle. Police say the 37-year-old Burnett continued to contact the woman for days afterward and used the victim's telephone number to post a Craigslist ad offering sexual favors for a monetary donation.

HOLLAND, Mich. (AP) — Authorities in Holland have identified a 73-year Zeeland man who was killed when a tree fell on him while he and others cut trees near Tulip City Airport. The Grand Rapids Press reports that Larry Senti died in the Thursday accident. Police say he was cutting a tree when it fell, hitting him and pinning him against a standing tree. Police say rescue workers couldn't revive him. ___ Information from: The Grand Rapids Press, http://www.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A Grand Rapids nightclub has closed a staircase where three fatal falls have occurred since 2009. MLive.com reports (http://bit.ly/10LDust) doors to the winding stairwell were closed at the basement, main and second levels of The B.O.B. nightclub on Friday. A sign posted to each of the doors read: "Emergency fire exit only" with security personnel standing at each of the doors not allowing anyone through. The stepped-up security comes on the heels of nightclub patron Kevin O'Brien falling to his death on May 12. On April 14, Zachary Bunting of Grand Ledge was trying to slide down a railing when he lost his balance and fell to his death in the stairwell.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - Officials say bomb sweeps, bag searches and an increased police presence are planned for the Fifth Third River Bank Run in West Michigan following the Boston Marathon bombings. Police are asking runners and spectators to limit any bags they might bring to the Saturday event. Police have said area law enforcement will help give the annual event its largest ever security force. They're asking runners and spectators to be alert. The River Bank Run includes 25-kilometer and shorter events.

VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. - A simple phone call from a wife and mother may have saved the lives of her family. Van Buren County police were called to a home in the 95600 block of West Avenue on Magician Lake in Keeler Township late Sunday afternoon and found three people “unconscious.” Officers were called to check the welfare of a 45-year-old man and his two children. The man's wife called police from Illinois, concerned she had not heard from her family, who was expected home around 11 a.m. The call to police was made around 5 p.m. Sunday.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - The West Michigan Sports Commission has announced that its Meijer State Games will hold a winter edition next February.   The commission said Monday that the Winter Games will be held in Grand Rapids. They join the Summer Games, which also are held in West Michigan.   The Meijer State Games of Michigan are an Olympics-style sports festival open to state residents regardless of age or ability.   The West Michigan Sports Commission also on Monday revealed details of this year's summer games, which are to be held June 21-23.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - Nine high school students in Grand Rapids have been suspended for performing a version of the "Harlem Shake" during class. WOOD-TV and WXMI-TV report the Union High School students were suspended for two days. They filmed themselves dancing on Thursday and posted it online. The "Harlem Shake" is an Internet dance craze. A substitute teacher was with the class at the time of the incident at Union High. The teacher was sent home on Thursday.

WYOMING, Mich. (AP) - An 8-year-old boy in the Grand Rapids area has died, a likely victim of bacterial meningitis. Ethan Giang died suddenly Thursday. St. John Vianney School in Wyoming told parents that bacterial meningitis is not considered contagious like a cold or flu. Principal Gregg Bruno says he wants to "convey fact and dispel fear. " Nonetheless, Mlive.com (http://bit.ly/15nXKFi) reports that the school was scrubbed after Ethan's death. The third-grader's funeral Mass is scheduled for Monday at St. John Vianney Catholic Church.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A Grand Rapids woman has been sentenced to serve a year of probation for posting a fake online ad offering sex with a woman with whom she argued outside a Meijer store. Amy Burnett was sentenced Wednesday in Kent County Circuit Court. She pleaded no contest to unlawfully posting a message and using a computer to commit a crime. A woman confronted Burnett on June 22 after finding a dog left unattended in Burnett's vehicle. Police say the 37-year-old Burnett continued to contact the woman for days afterward and used the victim's telephone number to post a Craigslist ad offering sexual favors for a monetary donation.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A 22-year-old Grand Rapids woman has died after being thrown from a minivan that struck a tree. Grand Rapids police say Michelle Caverley died at a local hospital from injuries suffered in Saturday morning's crash. Caverley was a passenger in the minivan. After running into the tree about 4:05 a.m., the minivan's driver drove off. Caverley was left behind. Police were able to locate and arrest the driver. Earlier reports had said the victim was hit by a vehicle.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - The police chief in Michigan's second-largest city opposes a ballot question that would make marijuana possession a civil infraction in Grand Rapids, not a misdemeanor crime. Grand Rapids Chief Kevin Belk says young people won't benefit by making it easier to use marijuana. He compares it to the new Michigan law allowing fireworks, a law that boosted demand - and complaints. Grand Rapids voters will decide in November whether to make marijuana possession akin to a traffic ticket.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A West Michigan church whose pastor is charged with embezzling from the church has cancelled its worship services. A notice to members of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church in Grand Rapids says services were cancelled effective this past Sunday until further notice. The Rev. Arthur Pearson Sr. was charged in December with embezzlement. A separate civil lawsuit claims he misappropriated up to $237,000 since 2008. His lawyer claims the church has no legal authority to shut out its members.