Death of Grand Rapids Chicks player may have marked the end of an era
Joyce Hill Westerman played for the inaugural Grand Rapids Chicks team in 1945, and she may have been the last surviving player from that year s team. Author: Matt Gard Updated: 1:44 PM EST January 30, 2021
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich When it comes to Grand Rapids sports legends, Joyce Hill Westerman may not be the first name that comes to mind. After all, her only season with the Grand Rapids Chicks was her rookie year, a year in which she only had 18 at bats over nine games.
But the 1945 season Westerman spent in Grand Rapids was historic for the city. The Chicks franchise had just moved from Milwaukee, where the team struggled to compete for fans with the Brewers, which at the time was a minor league franchise.
The on-campus death of a Grand Valley State University student last month was caused by hypothermia and alcohol was a contributing factor, school officials said Thursday.
Taylor DeRosa, an 18-year-old freshman from Royal Oak, was found dead on the morning of Dec. 12 in an area near the intramural fields and cross country trail on the university s Allendale campus.
An
investigation by university police showed DeRosa had attended several social gatherings, said Mary Eilleen Lyon, Grand Valley spokeswoman. Police determined she was with friends in a vehicle and asked to be let out to go see a friend around 2:40 a.m., Lyon said.
HOLLAND — Local accounting and consulting firm De Boer, Baumann and Company, PLC, has announced a new member of its partner group.Steven Darrow, CPA, was added to the group Friday, Jan. 1. A member of the firm since 2007, Darrow was previously a senior manager and took part in the firm’s member-in-training program."I am very pleased to welcome Steve," said managing partner Mark Veenstra. "Throughout his many years of service to the firm, he has proven to be a hard worker, a talented
The GVSU police department had been waiting since mid-December on the results of toxicology testing to provide insight into the cause of death.
Toxicology tests determine if there was alcohol, drugs or other toxins in a person’s system when he or she died and typically take six to eight weeks for results.
Authorities did not release any details as to what those results yielded in DeRosa’s death investigation, however, a university spokesperson said DeRosa had died of hypothermia, with alcohol as “a contributing factor.”
According to the National Weather Service’s past weather records for Dec. 12, the low temperatures that day were in the low 30s Fahrenheit, just above freezing.
Ottawa County says current COVID-19 vaccine allotment isn’t cutting it
Updated Jan 27, 2021;
Posted Jan 27, 2021
COVID-19 vaccination clinic opens at DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. The clinic, serving those who are eligible to receive the vaccine, opened as part of a partnership between the Kent County Health Department, Spectrum Health and Mercy Health Saint Mary s. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)Cory Morse | MLive.com
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HOLLAND, MI Health officials in Michigan’s fastest growing county say the current amount of vaccine doses it receives isn’t cutting it.
The health department in Ottawa County, home to nearly 300,000 residents, has administered 6,683 vaccine doses, according to local health leaders. When you take into account healthcare providers and the health department, 23,100 doses have been distributed to Ottawa County, according to state data.