Michigan Tourism Only Gets $9.5 Million Boost

A campaign that advertises Michigan tourism likely will have to scale back its plans after lawmakers voted to provide $9.5 million in funding, far less than what officials sought.

The additional funding for the state’s popular Pure Michigan campaign raised its total budget this fiscal year to about $15 million, roughly half of what the campaign received last fiscal year for widespread national advertising.

Tourism officials had hoped to match last year’s funding level, and said the extra money is needed now to promote summer tourism. The television and radio ads promote Michigan’s lakes, shorelines, golf courses, cities and other tourist attractions.

Detroit City Workers Told To Go Scentsless

Change is in the air for Detroit city workers.

City employees will be urged not to wear perfume, cologne or aftershave as a result of a settlement in a federal lawsuit.

Officials plan to place warning placards in three city buildings. The signs will warn workers to avoid “wearing scented products, including … colognes, aftershave lotions, perfumes, deodorants, body/face lotions … (and) the use of scented candles, perfume samples from magazines, spray or solid air fresheners.”

The employee handbook and Americans with Disabilities Act training also will bear warnings.

The Detroit News reports the move stems from a $100,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit filed in 2008 by a city employee who said a colleague’s perfume made it challenging for her to do her job.

Man Sentenced For Stealing Date’s Car

A Detroit man has been sentenced to at least two years in prison for stealing a woman’s car after skipping out on the check during their first date.

Twenty-four-year-old Terrance McCoy was sentenced in Oakland County Circut Court to two to 10 years in prison.

McCoy pleaded no contest Sept. 18 to unlawfully driving away a vehicle. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as a conviction at sentencing.

Police say McCoy dined with the 27-year-old Southfield woman on April 24 at a restaurant in Ferndale. The woman told investigators McCoy said he forgot his wallet in her car and asked for the keys. Police say McCoy then took off in the car.

Defense attorney Terri Antisdale says McCoy is a “very nice man who made a bad decision.”

A Really Bad First Date

Police in Michigan say a first date went from bad to worse when a Detroit man skipped out on the restaurant bill, then stole his date’s car.

Police say 23-year-old Terrance Dejuan McCoy had dinner with a woman April 24 at Buffalo Wild Wings in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale. The woman says the two met a week earlier at a Detroit casino and she knew McCoy only as “Chris.”

The woman told police that McCoy said he left his wallet in her car and asked for keys. He then sped away in the 2000 Chevrolet Impala.

The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak reports that police identified McCoy by a photo he’d sent to the woman’s cell phone, and his phone number.

McCoy is charged with unlawfully taking the car, a five-year felony. He waived a preliminary exam and was bound over for trial.

Case Solved! IRS Elevator Urinator Nabbed And Charged

An agent used surveillance cameras to confirm a smelly suspicion: Someone had been urinating in a freight elevator at an Internal Revenue Service data center in Detroit.

Authorities filed a criminal charge against Michael Hicks. In an affidavit, treasury agent Delmaria Scott said she interviewed Hicks in January 2008 and he admitted urinating in the elevator for months.

Scott said Hicks did it “because he felt he could get away with it.” It cost $4,600 to clean the elevator.

Hicks, who was a contract employee at the IRS, was charged with damaging federal property. A defense lawyer was not listed.

Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for prosecutors, says the government was unsuccessful in trying to resolve the case without a criminal charge.

Ouch! Teen Pleads Guilty To Burning Man’s Groin

A suburban Detroit 18-year-old pleaded guilty to lighting a man’s pants on fire and causing a third-degree burn to his groin.

Tyler Quick pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder. Oakland County Circuit Judge Rae Lee Chabot will sentence Quick on June 2.

Police said Quick attended a party at home of a 51-year-old man, who passed out during the revelry.

Investigators told The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak that Quick painted the unconscious man’s face with makeup before placing a burning candle on his pants, igniting them.

Defense attorney Pamela Johnson said the judge agreed to dismiss the charge if Quick successfully completes probation.

Woman’s Underwire Bra Saves Her Life

The metal underwire in a Detroit woman’s bra was credited with deflecting a bullet fired at her during a break-in at a neighbor’s home.

Detroit police Officer Leon Rahmaan said the 57-year-old woman apparently looked out her window when one of three men fired the shot.

He said the slug smashed through her window pane before hitting the bra’s underwire. It did not penetrate her skin.

Police said she may have gone to the window after a burglar alarm at the house next door sounded.  Her neighbor was not at home at the time.

The suspects drove away after the shooting.

Detroit’s Finest At Work: Major Pillow Fight Averted

Police in Detroit have ruffled some feathers after they cracked down on an organized pillow fight at a downtown park.

The Detroit News reports that police at Campus Martiun Park prevented the feathery fight by disarming pillow-toting participants. The bout was part of a worldwide event organized on social networking Web sites.

Michael Davis of Hamtramck says police confiscated the 32-year-old man’s pillows but returned their cases. He says he was told that he needed a permit.

Scott Harris of Ferndale told the News that it’s “not illegal to own a pillow.”

Detroit police spokesman James Tate says cleanup was the issue.

Detroit Bids Farewell To Northwest

In a sign of things to come, the massive Northwest Airlines terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport has been rebranded as a Delta Air Lines hub with new signs, logo changes and Delta employee uniforms.

The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News report the new look officially made its debut at the airport in Romulus.

Atlanta-based Delta acquired Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines last year to become the world’s biggest airline operator. Delta already has rebranded some planes and airports and expects to transform all U.S. airports.

Before the merger, Northwest was Michigan‘s biggest passenger air carrier and had a hub at the Detroit airport.