Focus West Michigan
Focus West Michigan for 8-2-24
(upbeat music) - Today on Focus West Michigan, a potential alternative to emergency rooms has opened in Grand Rapids. Drunk driving arrests are down in Michigan, a preview of this weekend's new movies and more state and West Michigan news. For WGBU, I'm Joe Bilecki. Today is Friday, August 2, 2024. (upbeat music) Focus West Michigan is brought to you by listeners like you to support the show and everything we do here, visit WGBUNews.org and click the donate button. A first of its kind acute care clinic that now offers a low cost alternative to emergency room visits has opened in Grand Rapids. WGBU's David Limbaugh tells us more about the right care clinic. Michigan based emergency care specialists, a physician owned private practice that provides staffing for 13 emergency departments throughout the state, opened its first emergency clinic in Grand Rapids. Its goal, offer a low cost alternative to emergency room visits while providing services not available at area urgent care facilities. Dr. Todd Chasse, medical director for Right Care Clinic, explains how this new approach to emergency care came about. - We recognize that many patients have a need that doesn't quite require the level of the emergency department and conversely many patients who are seeing the urgent care need additional care. And so we try to create an environment where we can provide that care beyond that of traditional urgent care but meeting the needs of patients who don't need the full services of the emergency department. According to our recent US News and World Report study, the average cost of an emergency room visit has topped $2,000. Right Care Clinic estimates its average patient visit will cost around $350. That includes costs associated with consultation, x-rays, CT scans, and blood and urine lab work, all done onsite. - The whole point of this clinic was we see many patients who get directed to the emergency department where they don't need all of the bells and whistles and the resources of the emergency department. So the ability to offer that at a much better value, lower cost for the patient, we saw a huge opportunity. - The clinic is staffed with certified emergency professionals and accepts all insurances. You can visit the Right Care Clinic at 745 East Beltline Avenue in Grand Rapids. I'm David Limbaugh. - A new report shows drunk driving arrests are down in Michigan, but the number of alcohol-related crashes is up. WGVU's Dean Morrison reports. - Citing a report by Bridge, Michigan, state officials with the Department of Transportation are discussing why drunk driving arrests are trending down, but alcohol-related crashes are on the rise. Among the key findings in the report, drunk driving arrests have dropped 28% in the last 10 years, while fatal alcohol and drug-related crashes have risen 40%. Experts link the rise in crashes to fewer police officers and less traffic enforcement, which they believe leads to more dangerous driving behavior. In 67 of Michigan's 83 counties, drunk driving arrests have declined following the national trend. MDOT reports show alcohol is a factor in up to 40% of traffic fatalities in Michigan each year. According to the Michigan State Police, annual drunk driving audit, in 2023, the state had nearly 10,500 crashes in which a driver was found to be impaired, resulting in 454 deaths and more than 6,300 injuries. I'm Dee Morrison. - In Grand Rapids, the number of stolen vehicles is down in June and WGVU's Phil Dawson reports. The police chief says that means the city is safer. - This is fantastic because all the theft, while not always a violent crime, is often associated with other crimes. So this has been a huge help in making the city safer. - The police made auto theft a priority after the so-called key of boys and others found ways to bypass car security systems, and there was a surge in the number of stolen vehicles. - We haven't seen this few auto thefts since pre-pandemic level, and that's thanks to the work by the police, the work in the community, just getting the word out, how to secure your vehicles, are kind of a better place, assistance from the car companies, including Hyundai, who would give free ignition upgrades on their system. - The chief says seven murders so far in 2024 is also lower than last year. Commissioner Lisa Knight is chair of the city's public safety committee. - I'm grateful for the work that you all are doing. We're headed in the right direction. - I'm Phil Dawson. - The city of Grand Rapids recently announced a new community supported summer youth violence prevention program. WGVU's Jennifer Moss has the details. - It takes a village as a new collaborative and community summer youth violence prevention program. The city of Grand Rapids says the pilot initiative, which kicked off last week, provides recreational, creative, and educational opportunities for youth to help them stay constructively engaged. Here's Brandon Davis, director of oversight and public accountability for the city of Grand Rapids, which is coordinating the program. - Statistics tell us that violence increases amongst youth in the summer. And that's not just a grammar, it's a nation-wide thing. So we wanted to partner with community to really bring together resources to our youth to move forward in a productive way. - It takes a village is taking place at LifeQuest Urban Outreach and Alger Middle School. The program provides positive activities during the summer weekend evenings. - So with the sports side at the NightQuest program, but then there are the arts and culture things offered at citywide. LifeQuest, Grand Rapids Urban League, Grand Valley State University, and Grand Rapids Public Schools will be offering the programming through August 31st to youth ages 12 to 17. Davis says the program will make a big difference. - I believe that this program, this village, our village is coming together to surround our youth. And it will most certainly make a difference. Not only are the relates to violence reduction, but also to youth having mentors and individuals that they can look to and say, while they invested in me, they care about me, they care about my future, and I think that'll go a long way. - I'm Jennifer Moss. - Grand Rapids is the largest city in the state to earn the Storm Ready designation from the National Weather Service. WGVU's Dean Morrison explains what that means for residents. - The National Weather Service's Storm Ready designation is part of the Weather Ready Nation program. It's designed to prepare communities for increasing vulnerability to extreme weather and water events. For Allison Ferboli, Grand Rapids Emergency Management Administrator, the requirements of the award served as a checklist to be sure the existing system was as ready as it could be. - We obviously already had a 911 center. We already had an emergency operation center, but we are still missing a few pieces to be considered Storm Ready. - One key element, more focus on public outreach and education. Ferboli got a grant to create a position to highlight that aspect, including a push to encourage citizens not to rely only on warning sirens, but to sign up for the city's emergency alert system. - Folks can register their cell phone, their landline if they have one, and their email address on multiple addresses that are located in the city to receive weather alert for any of those addresses that may be in the impact zone. - She says residents should back that up in case technology fails by purchasing an all-weather radio. It connects to National Weather Service warnings through AM radio frequencies. - It's a great mechanism, especially for anything happening overnight, where it will make a loud sound, hopefully get your attention, wake you up to take action. - Ferboli says every individual has a responsibility to do his or her part to be ready for disaster situations, and she'll keep focusing on making sure the city of Grand Rapids is due. - We have not accomplished everything, and we never will, right? The world of emergency management being ready for disasters is ever evolving, so we're constantly learning and growing and figuring out what exactly does it mean that we need to do here in Grand Rapids. - I'm Dee Morrison. - Local state and federal officials gathered at the Kent County Road Commission today, focused on securing sustainable funding and the importance of the Patterson Road Project impacting Gerald R. Ford International Airport Travelers. WGVU's David Limba has the details. - U.S. Representative Hilary Skoulton was joined by ranking member on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Congressman Rick Larson, as they met at the Kent County Road Commission to discuss securing federal funding for future West Michigan Road Projects. Kent County Road Commission Director Jerry Byrne also met with representatives to discuss the importance of funding Kent Woods Patterson Road Project. It's our heaviest volume primary road in Kent County, okay? It goes to the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. It's a gateway, it needs to be better, but we need some federal dollars to help our local dollars go further. - Joining them was Michigan Department of Transportation Director Brad Wiefferick, who addressed securing sustainable funding for Michigan Roads. - Right now the Highway Trust Fund is not solvent and it's often propped up with general funds that can be unpredictable. And the more clarity we have on long-term sustainable funding, the more that our department and our local partners can be even more efficient at actually implementing those taxpayer dollars. - Both Skoulton and Larson are working together to ensure the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization, which funds highways, railways, and infrastructure programs will include priorities for West Michigan, the laws set to expire in 2026. - For me, it's essential that our federal tax dollars are coming back home to do the work they need to do here in West Michigan. - I'm David Limbaugh. - The EPA has given Michigan and three neighboring Midwest states' temporary clearance to stockpile and sell types of fuel that are typically restricted during summer months. We have more from Rick Pluto. - The EPA's summer fuel restrictions are to help reduce smog and ozone pollution. But gasoline prices have spiked in the Midwest after a refinery in Illinois was shut down due to tornadoes and summer storms. Dan Scripps chairs the Michigan Public Service Commission, the state's Energy Regulating Agency. He says this will also make Michigan less reliant on other parts of the nation amid concerns about summer storms that disrupt gas shipments. - So I think it will help to call market and reduce some of the volatility in places, but it's more of a long-term play to make sure that we've got that slip in that extra layer of protective. - Scripps says Michigan's summer fuel restrictions would typically remain in place another six weeks. I'm Rick Pluto. - The family of Michigan native Paul Whelan says they are grateful after he was freed on Thursday, after being detained for more than five years in Russia. Whelan was part of a multinational prisoner exchange with the Kremlin involving roughly two dozen prisoners. Paul's twin brother, David Whelan, says their family heard media reports that a deal could be in the works but remained somewhat skeptical. - I think the more complexity you have, the more likelihood that there is something to fall apart or that someone might get cold feet or that something doesn't work the way you expect. So I think particularly since Paul had not come home twice already, he had been left behind when Trevor Reed came home and he was left behind when Brittany Griner came home. I think we were all a little bit cautious about getting our hopes up too high that he would come home the third time. - Whelan says his family plans to give Paul time to readjust to life outside of a Russian penal colony and allow him to make his own decisions regarding his future. He says Paul Whelan has not had that freedom of choice for years. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - On the next hearts of space, the gentle, airy sound of summer electronic, music is by Meg Bowles, Dana and Clement, chromatope project, Altus and Steli. I'm Stephen Hill, a program called Summer Tones III, on the next hearts of space. - Sunday night at nine, here on WGBU FM, the WGBU app and your smart speaker. (upbeat music) - Trap is a new thriller, starring Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donahue. The classic children's book, Harold and the Purple Crayon, is now a live action and animated family movie, and kneecap is a fictionalized bio movie about an Irish hip hop group. WGBU's Scott Vanderworff and Eric Kuiper from Studio C talk about these movies and more. - What's with all the police trucks outside of the cameras everywhere Jamie? - I'm not supposed to. Something happened. - Don't wrap me out. - I won't. - You know, the butcher? The frickin' nut shot that goes around just chopping people up? Or the feds or whatever, heard that he's gonna be here today. So they set up a trap for her. (dramatic music) This whole concert? It's a trap. They're watching all the exits. Check it, everyone that leaves. There's no way to get out of here. - And that's Trap, M. Night Shyamalan, new film, and I've been seeing a lot of ads for this. It looks like from what I can tell, it's a father-daughter situation in a concert where people are enclosed and something happens. I don't know what happens yet. - Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it. So essentially the premise, like you said, father taking daughter to sort of her favorite pop artist, you know, I don't know, Ariana Grande kind of situation, right? And you said M. Night Shyamalan, it's actually his daughter who made the Watchers, it came out a few months ago. She actually plays the artist, the Raven or Raven or something like that is the name of the musician, right? The performer who's on stage. So she's at, you know, daughters at this absolute favorite show ever. They've got these great seats and they, you know, they settle in and as they're coming in, you get the sense like, man, there's a really significant police presence at this show, like far beyond what you would expect. I mean, like military style presence. And Josh Hartnett, who plays the dad, is, you know, becoming very aware of this. He starts to ask around and he, it's revealed at the beginning of the film that this whole show more or less has been constructed as a way to trap a recent serial killer in the area in this building and they're gonna get him. Now, the question is, is Josh Hartnett said serial killer? And that, you know, you get the sense early on that that's, you know, that's likely the case. Now it's an M. Night Shyamalan movie. So you're always sort of, you know, sitting there waiting for the twist, right? I mean, not all of his movies have a twist and I'm not telling you, and I have not seen this film in its entirety. I saw about the first half of it. I'm not telling you that there's a twist. But there, the reality of it is, is he just brings that element of like, he keeps you off kilter because of sort of his, his own sort of filmmaking past, right? So I think that's the most compelling part of it. As you go, Josh Hartnett is real awkward, real creepy in this movie as he's navigating this situation and scheming things and all that stuff. So there's just a whole lot going on. But of course, M. Night shows up in the movie as he does in all in some very minor speaking role that he gives himself. But it's, it's, it's, I think it's a fun little, fun little attempt at, you know, like a, just a hyper tense kind of context. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a cyclic, it's like a logical thriller, but it's a thriller. - So Josh Hartnett is not presented as like some hero type character in the movie. - Oh, by no means. - So that's why the question would arise. Is he the actual serial killer? - Yeah, and he, you know, very early on is, you have every reason to believe that that's the case. I mean, it's certainly presenting like that. No, again, I haven't seen the end of the movie and it's M. Night Shyamalan. So I'm, I'm withholding my, my assumption there. But it could very well be that he is. And then the film is really, how is he going to get out of this building that? I mean, we're talking it is completely encased in SWAT team. I mean, from roof to, you know, like they're not getting out. So how's he going to get out? If it's him or whoever else they're looking for. I saw the list of films coming out this week and Harold and the purple crayon. Well, it transported me back to my childhood in the 1960s with my mother reading a book to me. And I was like, oh, 2024, it's Harold has come back. - Yeah, Harold's finally getting his day on the screen. Yeah, I know it's, well, nostalgia sells, I guess. And until someone comes up with some brand new shiny idea, we're going to keep mining historical IP. And Harold and the purple crayon, like you said, it's been around for a while. And we all probably, I mean, I can still see the sort of yellowed pages of these books that I flipped through when I was a kid. So for those not familiar, Harold was a little boy who had a purple crayon and anything he drew with a purple crayon turned into reality. And so the movie is essentially Harold has grown up and is an adult who's played by Zachary Levy, who has, you know, has a history of playing adults and kids. I mean, he played Shazam, which is, you know, the DC character who basically goes back and forth sort of like Allah big in Tom Hanks. So he's this, you know, kind of young, or he's this now grown up, but still kind of kid at heart, Harold. And he asked the question, what would happen if I drew a door to the real world and would it work? And so the movie goes from animated to live action at that point as Harold steps through the door and brings this crayon with him. And so Jermaine Clementa is the bad guy, is the villain. So, you know, Harold's gonna get into the real world and it's largely a live action film, but he has this, you know, unbelievably powerful crayon that still works in the real world. And of course, if that crayon or part of it fell into the wrong hands, who knows what could happen? - Well, this sounds like they're taking the book and they're using it to leapfrog into two and another, a completely different story. - Yeah, yeah, it's really, it's not an animated movie by and large. I mean, it starts out there, but it doesn't stay there very long, other than the fact that there continues to be animated pieces to it. He has this crayon, he keeps drawing things. Those are, you know, those are animated pieces. But then they turn it, if he draws a bike, it turns into a real bike, he can ride. If he draws a, you know, a helicopter, it turns into a helicopter, right? So, there's lots of fun. It's just like, you know, imagination is the only limit to what could suddenly pop up into existence, which I'll show if you're gonna have like a bad guy, you know, good guy, bad guy kind of going after each other. Now, when they're wielding these crayons that can make anything possible, you know, you've got some fun action sequences that can come along with that. So, Zoe Deschanel is in this movie as well. So, it's got a nice cast and, you know, another good offering in a summer where there has been a lot of really wonderful family content inside out. Two continues to roll, highest grossing, you know, animated film of all time. Despicable Me 4 is still playing and doing very well. So, we'll see where this one slots in. - And also opening a kneecap, an Irish comedy drama about a real hip hop group from Belfast, is this a fictionalized biopic or is it an actual biopic? - I would say that it's a, yeah, it's probably leans to the fictionalized biopic. I mean, like anything that's based on a true story, you know, at some point they take creative license where that begins and ends on the screen, I'm not entirely sure. But this band does, in fact, exist. So, that's very real. And the band is, they're playing themselves. - Yeah, they're playing. That's why I wondered if it was a fictionalized biography. - Yeah, yeah, yes, it is. It is a drama. It's not a documentary. And really, the place that they held or are holding in the sort of musical landscape of Ireland is these guys actually still speak Irish, which I have to admit that I wasn't that long ago that I realized Irish is not, you know, English with an accent. Like it is a different dialect, you know, and it's its own language. And these guys still speak it. It's not spoken much. And in some ways, they were speaking it. They were wrapping it, which is really, you know, they're basically a rap group. And it was in part in defiance to sort of everything that's going on, you know, from their point politically in Ireland. And it's basically their way to kind of continue to resist or stick it to the band, so to speak. So there's this very punk sensibility underneath this rap group. And, you know, it got them into a lot of hot water. And they really upset a lot of people with the things that they were rapping about, which I think about sort of the golden age of rap and hip hop in the, you know, early '90s when it was just added, what I think it's pure as form, that's what it was. Or the late '80s. Yes, that was sort of, you know, that was the content of rap. I wouldn't say that my experience is that's the content of rap so much anymore. But it is in Ireland, apparently to some extent. So if you've got, again, a love of how rap can be a voice, this is a fun one. And briefly, in the seconds we have left, Deadpool and Wolverine, it did big at the box office. It achieved what it needed to achieve. And then some, $211 million. I never at any point going into the weekend saw a tracking number that was quite that high. So yes, it did it in then some. And I think audiences got what they wanted with it. All right, well, thanks for joining us. All right, see you guys. (upbeat music) This has been Focus West Michigan from WGVU for Friday, August 2, 2024. I'm Joe Bilecki, our audio operations manager is Rick Beerling and our news and public affairs director is Patrick Center. We'll be back with more news and events in West Michigan on Monday, wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening. 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