Widespread illness closes Van Dyke schools • 4 shot outside Westin Cadillac • Another hospital merger

FRIDAY NEWS HIT - An outbreak of illness has caused Van Dyke Public Schools to be closed Friday. But Thursday's events were held as usual, which raised its own set of questions. 

FOX 2 "Are you thinking twice about going into this event with school closed tomorrow?"

"Yeah I am, but my baby’s in here I've got to go," said parent Antoinette McHenry

It’s the big question facing every parent headed into the Van Dyke Community Auditorium for a band concert Thursday - on the same day school district officials decided to close up shop Friday for a deep cleaning.

A large number of students and staff are out sick Thursday and this evening at school events some came with masks just to be safe.

"Me personally, I think it was kind of crazy. I felt they should have shut all this down today," said one father.

"I don’t know how safe it is to have all of us here in the auditorium packed together," said one mother. "But we are here for our kids, and we’ll do anything for them. But it is getting pretty bad. Hopefully it won’t be too many school closings."

Van Dyke Public Schools posted the notice online saying in part:

"Our schools will be closed tomorrow, Friday, December 9th. It seems as if there are too many illnesses going around to safely and healthily run our buildings. It's definitely December in Michigan. Please get some rest this weekend and stay safe."

"If it’s closed tomorrow what’s the use being here so late?" asked a father. "They might as well kept it open tomorrow."

Thursday evening a school source told FOX 2 a whopping 75 percent of the administrative staff were out sick with Covid and about 20 percent of the student population stayed home sick.

There’s about eight schools in the district.  Health officials are warning the public to stay vigilant with COVID-19, the flu and RSV on a collision course this holiday season, and hospitals bracing for possible high intake.

"For them to clean, I thought it was a good idea," said a student's father. "Maybe take better precautions, seriously."

4 shot outside Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit

A chaotic evening in Detroit unfolded late Thursday evening after a gunman opened fire outside the Westin Book Cadillac downtown.

A total of four people were struck and sent to the hospital. Three of the victims are in critical condition and another is in temporary serious condition.

Detroit police said there are no suspects. Police will be getting surveillance footage in their investigation.

They did not release any other details. The famous hotel is located on Washington Boulevard near State Street and US-12. 

U-M Hospital acquires Sparrow Health System

University of Michigan Health will acquire Sparrow Health System under a proposed deal that would expand services to mid-Michigan, the two systems said Thursday. The university's Board of Regents approved the deal Thursday after the Sparrow Board of Directors did so on Nov. 28, the systems said in a joint announcement.

The merger is expected to close in the first half of 2023, pending final regulatory approvals, the announcement said. University of Michigan Health has committed to investing $800 million in Sparrow over eight years, it said.

With the addition of Sparrow, University of Michigan Health would become a $7 billion system with more than 200 care sites across the state. Sparrow operates E.W. Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, community hospitals in Carson City, Charlotte, Ionia and St. Johns, Sparrow Specialty Hospital, and nearly 500 Sparrow primary care providers and specialists. 

The planned merger follows one earlier this year of the eight-hospital Beaumont Health system and the 14-hospital Spectrum Health system in the Detroit area and western Michigan to form Corewell Health.

— Courtesy of the Associated Press

1 arrested after wild video of stunt driving in Detroit

A Detroit man is in custody in connection with a wild scene involving stunt driving and drifting on the city's west side. Early Monday, drivers gathered at the intersection of 7 Mile and Greenfield, where they did donuts around a ring of fire, right in front of a police officer.

"Detroit Police Department takes it very seriously. Again, they sent it directly to me. I was called in on Monday morning, and they said, ‘Hey, we got a problem. It’s drag racing, drifting,'" Cmdr. Eric Decker said.

Police aren't identifying the man they arrested, but they did say he is a 31-year-old Detroit resident. Other videos and tips led to his arrest. Decker said police didn't intervene in the drifting since it could have threatened their safety, calling it a "lose-lose" situation.

"Fortunately, in this specific instance, no one was injured. Not in the past. We’ve had people killed doing this drag racing, drifting. We’ve had officers that were hit by cars. We’ve had officers unfortunately fire shots at people. When you look nationwide, people are dying because of this," he said.

Former Southfield city clerk ordered to pay $10K fine for election mistake coverup

A former Southfield city clerk who tried to cover up an election mistake will not spend time in jail but must pay a $10,000 fine for an election mistake coverup. Sherikia Hawkins, who pleaded no contest to misconduct in office, was sentenced Thursday.

According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Hawkins tried to cover up a mistake during the November 2018 election by removing nearly 200 names from a list of absentee voters who had returned their ballots.

Nessel's office said election inspectors mistakenly put 193 absentee ballots in the ballot container without first running them through the tabulator. The ballot container was then sealed. Because of this error, the number of votes shown on the tabulator counter was 193 less than the number of absentee ballots received by the clerk’s office.

Instead of fixing this mistake, Hawkins is accused of removing those 193 names from the list of returned absentee ballots. She was caught when county election officials opened the ballot container and counted the votes.

Live on FOX 2

Daily Forecast

A wintry mix is on the way for Friday night. It'll be a cold start to the day before temperatures meet us in the low 40s by this afternoon. The real action begins when the sun goes down, transitioning from rain to snow overnight.

What else we're watching

1. Mazi Smith, the University of Michigan football player who was arrested with a firearm and ammunition, has pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge. Smith's arrest was unreported before he was charged with the felony.
2. Puppies are cute, but the scams trying to trick you into thinking you're adopting one are not. The Attorney General's office is warning people to be on the lookout for anything suspicious if they're shopping for a future pet.
3. Southfield police plan to hold a press conference with updates on several serious incidents that occurred within the last week, including an armed robbery at a store on Dec. 3.
4. A Detroit firefighter has been named "Mr. July" in the American Lung Association's National Calendar. John Farah is a firefighter in Sterling Heights.
5. Farmington Hills police are stepping up enforcement after reports of a man offering children candy outside an apartment near Nine Mile and Haggerty.

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema leaving Democratic Party

Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced Friday that she has registered as an independent, but she does not plan to caucus with Republicans, ensuring Democrats will retain their narrow majority in the Senate.

Sinema, who has modeled her political approach on the renegade style of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and has frustrated Democratic colleagues at times with her overtures to Republicans and opposition to Democratic priorities, said she was "declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington."

The first-term senator wrote in the Arizona Republic that she came into office pledging "to be independent and work with anyone to achieve lasting results. I committed I would not demonize people I disagreed with, engage in name-calling, or get distracted by political drama. I promised I would never bend to party pressure."