SHELBY TOWNSHIP/STERLING HEIGHTS/UTICA — The Gene L. Klida Utica Academy for International Studies quiz bowl team, which is undefeated in Michigan competitions, won the Class B Michigan state championship in Lansing April 13.

MACOMB COUNTY — On April 16, Macomb County Commissioner Mai Xiong won the race for a partial term of office representing the state’s District 13 in the Michigan House of Representatives.

UTICA — The Utica City Council reviewed the marijuana business ordinance that it had approved at its Feb. 13 City Council meeting and determined March 12 that some changes needed to be made in order to be fair, competitive and transparent.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Wrong-way drivers have been in the news lately, and the Shelby Township Police Department was notified of a wrong-way driver heading northbound on the M-53 Freeway in the southbound lanes of traffic in the area of M-53 and 23 Mile Road at 11:56 p.m. March 18.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — The Shelby Township Police Department arrested three suspects in connection with vehicles that had been broken into in March.

UTICA — Dog lovers will once again gather for the annual Utica Puppy Parade at 2 p.m. April 27 in downtown Utica with all sorts of activities and animal support groups brought together for a cause.

UTICA/SHELBY TOWNSHIP/STERLING HEIGHTS — Utica High School student Natalie Garwood has been named the 2024 Michigan Journalist of the Year by the Journalism Education Association.

UTICA — Face Addiction Now, a Macomb County-based nonprofit formerly known as Families Against Narcotics, will hold its 16th annual Run Drugs Out of Town 5K Run/Walk fundraiser at 10 a.m. June 30 at Jimmy John’s Field in Utica.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Bees are an important part of nature and keeping flowers happy, and there is a lot to learn about making the bees happy too.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP/UTICA — Scott Boice, the Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 156 in Shelby Township, said that on Feb. 15, Blake Jahn, a senior at Utica High School, became the 156th Eagle Scout in the troop’s 56-year history dating to 1968.

MACOMB COUNTY — Two Macomb County leaders have been recognized by the federal government for their community policing efforts.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Utica Eisenhower senior Sammy Agnello is one of those wrestlers you only get in your school once a decade, or 12 years to be exact for Eisenhower’s case.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — It’s a special moment for two sisters to achieve something special together, especially when they’re twins making school history on one of the biggest stages in girls wrestling.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP/UTICA/STERLING HEIGHTS — Henry Ford II High School theater students won a great deal of recognition for their acting, technical and personal skills at the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association One-Act Play State Finals Feb. 18 at Wayne State University.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — If you would have polled various bowling coaches throughout Macomb, Wayne and Oakland Counties prior to this season and asked them, “Who’s the top bowler in the class of 2025,” it wouldn’t have been a surprise if Utica Eisenhower junior Dylan Harnden was mentioned multiple times.

MACOMB COUNTY — Closing parts of M-53 throughout this year’s construction season might mean detours or fewer open lanes, but it will extend the highway’s lifespan for years to come, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

MACOMB COUNTY — It was an election two years in the making. After Michigan voters passed Proposition 2 in 2022 with a 60% majority, the first statewide election with nine days of early voting arrived in February.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP/UTICA/STERLING HEIGHTS — Utica Community Schools varsity basketball players from Henry Ford II High School in Sterling Heights volunteered at a Pontiac-based nonprofit organization, Grace Centers of Hope, to help prepare and serve dinner to participants in the one-year Men’s Life Skills program Feb. 8.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP/UTICA — The Utica Shelby Kiwanis Club’s pitch competition once again is offering an opportunity for young entrepreneurs and celebrating their achievements.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Gardner White, Henry Ford Health and the American Heart Association teamed up Feb. 22 to mark American Heart Month by offering hands-only CPR and automated external defibrillator training sessions to the public for free at the Gardner White store on Hall Road in Shelby Township.