Patrick Sullivan | Author

April 28, 2018

You’d have a hard time fitting on a campaign sign the reasons opponents of two Arcadia Township trustees want to see the officials removed from office. Likewise, those trustees’ supporters would have just as hard a time briefly making their case.

The township is divided … Read More >>

Another Strange Twist in Bank Heist Case

April 21, 2018

Charges against bank robbery suspect William Minore were suddenly dismissed by a federal judge, leaving prosecutors scrambling to figure out their next move.

Minore was transferred from Grand Rapids to Traverse City April 18 and was arraigned the next day on felony weapons charges.<… Read More >>

LaSusa v. Antrim County

March 31, 2018

Mike LaSusa was visiting family last summer when conversation turned to a decade-old murder and suicide in Elk Rapids.

LaSusa vaguely recalled the sordid details, so he searched online and read news accounts, first of 16-year-old Sam Avery’s death and the suicide, two years la… Read More >>

The Big Bargain

March 24, 2018

Northern Michigan isn’t a hotbed of unionism, but in recent years, at least at some of the region’s community colleges, unions have made strides. Faculty at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City organized in 2015.

Now a vote is scheduled in April at North Centra… Read More >>

Camp Chasm in Charlevoix

March 17, 2018

There’s a township just northeast of Charlevoix with miles of Little Traverse Bay shoreline along its northern end, and at its south, miles of Lake Charlevoix shore. In between lie 42 square miles of rolling farmland, curving country roads, nature preserves, and woods.

It&rsqu… Read More >>

Welcome to Michigan’s Most Remote Brewery

March 10, 2018

After years of planning and honing his beer-making skills, this spring, Patrick McGinnity plans to open Beaver Island’s first microbrewery.

Opening a craft brewery is challenging. Opening one on a remote island in Lake Michigan that’s either a 15-minute plane ride or a t… Read More >>

Kalkaska Murder Mystery

March 3, 2018

One of the suspects in a Kalkaska County murder case — one that’s been alternately described as a botched robbery or a drug deal gone wrong — also faced questions in connection with a fatal drive-by shooting in Detroit two years earlier.

Jason Morgan (above center)… Read More >>

A Death in the Jail

Feb. 24, 2018

Attorneys for the family of a man who took his own life in the Grand Traverse County Jail want answers. They’re asking how it’s possible that an inmate — one who’d just been taken off suicide watch — could be left alone for hours with the means to accomplish th… Read More >>

The Saga of Noverr Farms

Feb. 10, 2018

A nasty years-long battle between neighbors in the pastoral hills of South Lake Leelanau might be settled soon. But one of the parties, Frank Noverr, has no intention of settling down.

At the heart of the conflict is Noverr’s barn and 26-acre farm, a stunning lake-view parcel … Read More >>

Bad Trip

Feb. 5, 2018

Dustin Jones and Casey Mutter learned a valuable lesson last October: If you’re freaking out on acid, don’t call police.

That’s what Mutter did Oct. 18 when Jones needed to be brought down from a drug-induced panic attack at the home they share in Long Lake Townshi… Read More >>

A Sister’s Pain

Feb. 3, 2018

Michigan State Police Sergeant Melvin “Paul” Holbrook was murdered by his wife in 2009; his sister recalls years before his death she believed his wife was capable of killing him.

Meleen Froman said she wants to speak about Joni Holbrook following a Jan. 15 Northern … Read More >>

Transforming “The Armpit” of Leelanau County Into The Gateway