ROYAL OAK (WWJ) - Bring your kids out to the Detroit Zoo for not only the usual trick-or-treat experience but for games and fun rides.

The Detroit Zoo’s annual Zoo Boo celebration makes a return for this Halloween season, taking place on Oct. 12-14, 19-21 and 26-28 from 6 to 8 p.m. The Zoo Boo features a unique half-mile trick-or-treat trail through the front of the Zoo.

The treat trail is decorated with pumpkin displays, where greeters will hand out goodies to children at treat stations along the route. The children can follow the trail of eerie fog that will lead through a spooky graveyard to the Haunted Reptile House, sponsored by Flagstar Bank, where friendly witches, vampires and other monsters will await them.

The popular live mini-musical Zoo Boo Revue will return this year to perform in the Events Pavilion. The Ghouly Games Tent, sponsored by Blue Care Network of Michigan, will offer Halloween-themed games, prizes, arts and crafts and a hay maze. The Zombie Zone, sponsored by Tim Hortons Café & Bake Shop, will feature ghastly games, spooky activities and pumpkin-carving demonstrations.

Zoo Boo guests can take the yellow brick road to the Wild Adventure 3-D/4-D Theater, which will show a 15-minute version of The Wizard of Oz. Guests can also take a ride at the Wild Adventure Ride featuring Happy Feet: Mumble’s Wild Ride. Both experiences will be held in the Ford Education Center and they are $5 per person per ride or a Beastly Bundle price of $7 for both. Children under 2 can get in for free.

The Carousel, located near the Arctic Café, will also be open and will cost $2 per person. Children under 3 or 42 inches can ride for free with a paying adult.

The tickets cost $7 per person ages 2 and up. Guests can purchase advance tickets for Zoo Boo at Booth One in front of the Detroit Zoo or online.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/03/halloween-fun-and-treats-at-the-detroit-zoo-boo/

DETROIT (WWJ) - A three-week-old girl is dead after being mauled by a pit bull on Detroit’s west side.

Sgt. Eren Stephens said the incident happened inside of a home on Staheilin street, near Tireman and the Southfield Freeway, around 5:45 p.m. Thursday.

Investigators say the 24-year-old mother went inside of the home and placed her infant daughter, who was strapped in a car seat, on the floor. The mother walked away for a moment and when she returned, she saw the pit bull attacking her daughter.

The child was taken to Sinai-Grace Hospital for medical treatment, but died from the injuries.

Police say the mother told them she didn’t know the dog was loose in the home. Stephens said it’s too early to decide if charges will be filed in the case.

The dog was removed from the home Thursday night and taken to an animal control facility.

Neighbors expressed shock and sadness upon hearing of the girl’s death.

“This is ridiculous and you see it on the news every day about these dogs, okay, you see it every day. You see it’s about kids, okay, protect your kids. If you love them, you had them, you have to protect them,” said one neighbor.

This neighbor, Rosa Bell, didn’t know the family but was brought to tears over the baby’s tragic death.

“I’m very hurt on the inside. That could have been my grandbaby. I’m not understanding this, something needs to be done. Keep these dogs away, period,” said Bell.

Police say an investigation is ongoing.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/05/3-week-old-girl-mauled-to-death-by-pit-bull-in-detroit/

ROSEVILLE (WWJ) - A Roseville woman is in serious condition after she was run over by carjackers who had her two children in the vehicle.

Police say the 31-year-old mother was about to drive her children, ages 7 and 8, to school Thursday around 8:45 a.m. The kids were loaded in the car when the woman ran back into her home on Collingwood Street to grab an item she forgot.

As the woman exited her home, she observed two younger-looking black male suspects entering the front seating area of her Jeep Grand Cherokee, which had been parked and left running in home’s driveway, according to police.

The woman ran to her vehicle screaming in an attempt to stop the thieves from driving off with her children. Police say the two suspects fled from the driveway at a high rate of speed and in doing so, first struck the victim with the vehicle and then ran over her legs in their haste to escape.

The suspects fled from the scene to Marquette Street, were they lost control of the stolen vehicle and struck a telephone pole. The two suspects fled the vehicle and witnesses state they were immediately picked up by a dark-colored minivan or a small SUV driven by another unknown black male suspect. This vehicle then fled the area and all attempts to locate in the immediate vicinity failed.

The victim was transported to an area hospital with head and leg injuries and is currently listed in temporary serious condition. The two children were unhurt in the crash and are now in the care of family members.

Anyone who may have witness this event is urged to contact the Roseville Police at 586-447-4483.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/04/mother-run-over-by-carjackers-who-took-her-children/

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) — Soul superstar John Legend took to social media and spoke directly to his fans announcing that his Fall 2012 tour will be postponed until 2013 to coincide with his forthcoming album “Love In The Future.”

Legend’s Detroit concert was originally scheduled for Sunday, November 4 at the Fox Theatre.

This is how he explained the change on his website:

“Unfortunately, while the creative process has been exciting and I’m pretty certain we’re going to deliver the best album of my career so far, the timing hasn’t adhered to the schedule I originally envisioned,” he wrote. “In other words, we’re not done with the album. And my team and I have made the agonizing decision to put off the tour until 2013* when we know we will have the new music done and will be ready to fully unveil the creative vision through the album and the live experience.

He went on to say he had never postponed a tour “or done anything like this” before, missing only a couple of shows due to illness his entire career.

“I don’t like letting my fans down, and I sincerely regret disappointing the thousands of you who have already spent your hard-earned money and gotten excited to see the show,” he wrote. “Please know that we will try our best to make the music and the 2013 tour well worth the wait. In the meantime, ticket holders can get a refund on your ticket purchases now.”

Tickets already purchased will be honored for the new, yet-to-be-announced date. For Ticketmaster Customer Service, please call (800) 653-8000. Ticket refunds are also available at point of purchase.

Additional details and updates on John Legend’s album and tour dates can be found at www.johnlegend.com.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/03/john-legend-postpones-detroit-show-apologizes/

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Amid reports that workers were crossing the picket lines and returning to work, the Executive Board of AFSCME Local 207 released word Wednesday evening that word of the strike ending were greatly exaggerated.

The union said the strike will not end “until there is an agreement from DWSD management that there will be amnesty for all of the 34 fired workers, and that there will be no retaliation against any other workers or union officers.”

Meanwhile, Water Department officials said the facilities were running normally. The strike in the department, which has about 900 employees, comes in the wake of cuts the city wants to institute after a study found 80 percent of the jobs there are redundant.

“The power of our strike is based on the support of Detroit’s black community and the surrounding communities of Michigan, including unions and churches, and is being expressed more and more each day,” the union said in a press release.

“The power of our strike cannot be measured by numbers alone, but in what it represents to hundreds of thousands of people who understand that the striking members are heroes. Our strike’s power is based on the potential of our fight to expand and become more militant, and change the balance of power between the people and the powers-that-be.”

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/03/union-water-department-strike-is-still-on/

EASTPOINTE (WWJ) - An Eastpointe police sergeant has turned in his badge and a second officer remains under investigation for trying to sell merchandise that was seized during drug raids.

WWJ’s Ron Dewey reports the pair is being investigated for misconduct in office after accusations emerged that they sold off seized items that included a Rolex watch, jewelry, televisions and tire rims. The items were believed to be traded or sold in exchange for cocaine and heroine.

The story came to light after some of the seized items were found listed for sale on Craigslist.

Eastpointe City Manager Steve Duchane told WDIV the officers had “blurred the lines of responsibility” as they worked in an undercover capacity to gain the trust of targeted drug dealers. He said the officers had to build those relationships in order to further their investigations.

Both officers involved worked in the drug enforcement unit and will likely face charges.

Police say evidence in the case was recently handed over to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/04/eastpointe-cops-accused-of-selling-items-seized-in-drug-raids/

DC residents are getting a glimpse of the D with two photography exhibits that opened Sunday at the National Building Museum.

Views of Detroit and its residents are displayed through rich, large-scale photographs of urban decay in Andrew Moore's "Detroit Disassembled" and Camilo José Vergara's examination of the city through the years in "Detroit Is No Dry Bones." The two exhibits will be on view in adjacent galleries until February 18.

For Detroiters who feel saturated by images of urban decay, Moore's image of the melted clock in the razed Cass Tech high school, recently turned into a commercial object as the likely inspiration for a Swatch watch design, may seem overwrought. But the visceral, metaphoric depictions of the city's struggles will likely strike a chord for those who have never witnessed it first hand, and there's no denying the artist's talent for finding beauty in the city's abandoned ruins.

Vergara's view of Detroit, refined after more than a quarter century visiting the city, offers a more nuanced view, where the ruins take a background role to the lives of residents and current projects.

Take a sneak peek at some of the photographs in "Detroit Is No Dry Bones" and "Detroit Disassembled" in the slideshow below, and tell us how it changes, or reinforces, your view of the city in the comments.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/28/detroit-photo-national-building-museum_n_1923687.html?ref=topbar

Former Motown producer Frank Wilson – who worked on music for The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye among others – died Thursday after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 71.
At one time, Wilson was also a singer who released one record … the 1965 single “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do).” The BBC said the record was so rare that in 2009 one of the few remaining copies was sold for more than $40,000 at an auction, making it the most expensive record ever sold at auction.

However, singing wasn’t what wilson wanted to do professionally. It was all about producing other artist for him. Some of his Motown successes include: Stevie Wonder’s “Castles In the Sand;” Diana Ross and The Supremes’ “Love Child,” “I’m Living in Shame,” “Up the Ladder to the Roof,” and “Stone Love;” The Temptations’ “All I Need;” Marvin Gaye’s “Chained;” and Four Tops’ “Still Water (Love).”

But life changed for Wilson and in 1976 he left the secular world to become a born-again Christian. However, he continued to write throughout the years apparently. His most recent work is represented by John Legend’s “Each Day Gets Better.”

As an ordained minister a Wilson also penned two books: “The Master’s Degree — Majoring in Your Marriage” and “Unmasking the Lone Ranger.”
Wilson is survived by Bunny Wilson, his wife of more than 26 years and their six children

Read more at http://www.eurweb.com/2012/09/we-remember-former-motown-producer-frank-wilson-dies-at-71/#g51olEwd9Vcr2c7F.99 

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) While most Detroit movers and shakers are staying mum on the suspension of Police Chief Ralph Godbee, one man is speaking up — really speaking up.

Former Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans lashed out early Wednesday at coverage of the Godbee scandal after the married Godbee was outed for an alleged affair with a fellow officer that blew up when she reportedly found out he was out of town with another woman. The officer reportedly posted a Twitter photo of herself with a gun in her mouth, and was relieved of duty while she seeks counseling.

Evans posted this on Facebook: ”Single man openly dates single woman = forced resignation. Married man has affair with single woman=promotion to Chief. Married man has another affair with married woman=30 day suspension.”

Evans lost his job to Godbee in 2010 after a “sizzle reel” he filmed to promote a new reality show was released showing him breaking down doors and toting automatic weapons. Evans was also tainted by a relationship he was having with a fellow officer, and in an odd twist it was revealed at the time his replacement — Godbee — was having an illicit relationship with the same woman. In the wake of scandal, it was revealed Godbee and his wife have been in the midst of divorce proceedings since late summer.

But now their stories are much different, Evans says, and he thinks Godbee is getting off too easily.

“As a single man, I had an open and public relationship with a member of the department who was also single,” Evans wrote in a letter to the media. “This is a significant distinction between my relationship and the current chief’s extramarital affairs.”

Evans goes on to say he made his relationship “clear” to the mayor at the time “and was not challenged about it or admonished for it.”

“In fact, the mayor and I, along with my girlfriend, attended functions where we spent time socializing together,” Evans said.

He added that he got permission from the mayor’s office for the “sizzle reel” that was later used as the reason he was forced to resign.

And then he issued this salvo.

“It should also be noted that I did my job to reduce crime significantly by systematically using data driven intelligence and produced remarkable results with less money and fewer resources,” Evans wrote. “My crime was that I got more and better press than the mayor. That in politics is a capital crime.”

Evans would not speak on the record about the controversy; Bing, and others, have refused to comment beyond the announcement of the 30-day suspension.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/03/former-detroit-chief-explodes-at-godbee-scandal/

DETROIT, MI -- The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has suspended 34 workers pending termination, saying the striking employees "endangered public health and safety by unlawfully abandoning their jobs at the plant."

Workers from the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant walked out and began picketing Sunday, protesting a planned 81 percent reduction in the city's Water and Sewerage Department.

"The individuals were ordered not to enter on to any DWSD property and directed not to misrepresent themselves as department employees in good standing during the suspension period," department officials announced in a news release Tuesday.

Their termination will go into effect Oct. 10, but workers can request a hearing to contest their suspension.

The striking workers have defiantly picketed outside the plant, ignoring a federal court order to return to work.

Lawyers for AFSCME Local 207, which represents 950 water workers, were reviewing suspension notifications and have been fighting for a court hearing to challenge the ruling from U.S. District Judge Sean Cox, who they say caused the labor dispute in the first place.

AFSCME Local 207 is an affiliate of Michigan AFSCME Council 25.

AFSCME Council 25 officials have urged the workers to comply with the court order, but Local 207 officials refused.

Council 25 President Al Garrett said that he sympathizes with the workers' frustrations with "poor working conditions, lack of equipment and inadequate staffing levels," but said they should comply with the court order.

Shanta Driver, an attorney for Local 207, said Council 25 officials' pleas for an end to the strike were firmly rejected by demonstrators.

The Local reprimanded Council 25 in a release sent Monday night.

"The leaders of Council 25 know that their decision to try to break the Local 207 strike has completely discredited them with Local 207 members and will discredit them with other union members that hear about what they did," the Local said in a detailed document (Read in full here). "But they have a sense of how powerful our strike is and how quickly it could go from the strike of one union to the strike of many."

Detroit's water department supplies drinking water to the city and 126 other Michigan communities, many of which have had to raise water rates to pay for the service.

Ypsilanti City Council will discuss proposed water and sewage rate increases tonight.

Cox ruled last year that water department union contracts could be broken to improve efficiency, in an order stemming from a federal pollution lawsuit.
A Board of Water Commissioners given broad authority to make dramatic changes has planned sweeping reductions and privatization moves in the department.

AFSCME Local 207 has rejected contract concessions that include the right to replace workers with non-union contractors and voted last week to authorize a strike.

Cox on Monday morning issued a temporary restraining order against the strike, ruling that "the job duties performed by DWSD employees represented by the unions perform job duties that impact the safety of the public and the threatened strike by such employees will harm the safety of the public."

Driver filed motions asking for the dissolution of the restraining order and for the recusal of Cox from the case.

"Judge Cox is the cause of this strike," said Driver. "He took over and unilaterally started deciding what union rights would be... We just don't think he can be employer and judge. We don't think you can act as management and then pretend to be neutral party."

The dispute is one of several over sweeping department cuts in the city.

A number of other departments are being reduced under a separate fiscal stability plan outlined in a consent agreement with the state approved in April after Gov. Rick Snyder determined Detroit to be in financial emergency.

A judge last week dissolved a restraining order that stalled the outsourcing of the city's health department to a nonprofit agency. That move was scheduled to begin this week.

 http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2012/10/detroit_water_workers_could_be.html