HOLLAND -- Jerry Thomas and Bruce Lor high-fived each other as they left City Hall Wednesday, celebrating the fact their businesses will be able to sell beer and wine on Sundays starting this weekend.

"We knew it was just a matter of time," said Thomas, owner of Guppies Casual Dining and Billiards, located in the Lincolnshire Plaza on Lincoln Avenue, just south of U.S. 31.

The City Council Wednesday voted 8-1 to strike down a city ordinance banning the Sunday sale of beer and wine, which had been in place since 1969. By the same margin, it also made the change an emergency ordinance, meaning it will go into effect immediately, instead of next month.

AP File PhotoMichigan native: Mitt Romney's op-ed piece was headlined, "Let Detroit go bankrupt."

Mitt Romney, who won Michigan's Republican presidential primary this year, says a federal rescue of the Detroit Three in his native state would destroy the U.S. auto industry.

"If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won't go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed," the former Massachusetts governor wrote in an op-ed essay in Wednesday's editions of the New York Times.

Romney, who was born in Detroit and whose father was the head of American Motors, wrote: "Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check."

U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra

Federal tax credits on new car purchases and delaying fuel-efficiency mandates are options that should be considered before Congress cuts a bailout package to domestic automakers, U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra planned to tell a House committee today.

But he said if lawmakers are inclined to dole out $25 billion to Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, executives at the Detroit Three and the thousands of employees across the nation need to make concessions, including slashing pay and developing new business models.

"It's very simple: If you want taxpayer money, it's going to come with tough strings attached," Hoekstra said Tuesday, the night before he was to testify before the House Committee on Financial Services on a potential bridge loan.

Don Gonyea

GRAND RAPIDS -- What set President-elect Barack Obama apart from other politicians, said National Public Radio reporter Don Gonyea, "is he doesn't have that thing in him that needs to be loved."

Gonyea covered Obama's presidential campaign the past 21 months and shared, for the first time in a speech, his impressions for a capacity crowd at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum on Monday.

"He is a very different type of politician, the likes of which I have not seen," said Gonyea, a 20-year reporter who covered the previous two elections for NPR.

PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Supervisor George Meek devoted scant time to explaining why he voted with the rest of the Township Board to pay Clerk-elect Scott Harvey the same annual salary as his predecessor, Susan Morrow.

"It was the right thing to do," Meek said Monday of his flip-flop decision, minutes after the board unanimously decided to pay Harvey $64,272.

AP File PhotoPervez Musharraf, the former president of Pakistan, will speak to the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan at its annual dinner Jan. 14.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Pervez Musharraf, the former president of Pakistan, will speak to the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan at its annual dinner Jan. 14.

Dixie Anderson, the council's executive director, said she is excited to host a speaker who was a key power figure in one of the most critical regions in the world.

"We have been working on this for several months," Anderson said.

"Pakistan and that part of the world is one of the most critical areas in the world."

Press file photos/Hollyn Johnson Speaking out: Kym Duursma holds a rainbow flag Saturday afternoon during a protest against a California measure approved Nov. 4 that restricts marriage to heterosexual couples.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Amber Horst says her two best friends are homosexual, and should have the same rights that she enjoys.

"I'm Christian, and I don't think Jesus discriminated, so why should we?" said Horst, 19, of Howard City.

She was among about 100 people taking part in the local observance of the National Day of Protest, organized in opposition to the recent California state ballot proposal to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

Plans called for simultaneous gatherings in 300 cities around the country. Horst and others sang, chanted and waved signs on Calder Plaza for about an hour before marching to the Civil War Memorial on Monroe Center, where dozens of cars honked horns in support.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Historian Richard Norton Smith is known locally for his work with the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, but he will reflect on Abraham Lincoln as one of the speakers headlining Calvin College's January Series.

Smith will be joined by presenters including one of Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People," a national sportswriter and an expert on the church in the Middle East in the series, which runs Jan. 7 to 27.

The January Series' 22nd year kicks off with Emory University Professor John Witte Jr., who will mark the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth and his political legacy.

Norton's session is scheduled for Jan. 14.

Bret Dorman

Kentwood Democrat Bret Dorman will likely ask for a recount of votes in the 13th District of the Kent County Commission race he lost to Republican incumbent Richard "Dick" VanderMolen by 78 votes.

While it is unlikely, if the results were to change and make Dorman the winner, the Democrats would hold nine of the 19 seats on a board traditionally dominated by Republicans.

Nov. 4 election tallies showed VanderMolen winning by 138 votes of 14,332 cast.

But that lead shrunk to 78 after election canvassers counted previously ineligible write-in ballots that were marked with straight party votes and after Kentwood officials tallied provisional ballots.

Also, until the election is certified Tuesday, there is a possibility Dorman could gain one or two more votes, said Kent County Elections Director Sue deSteiguer.

Gay rights advocates are praising a measure to broaden protection for victims of hate crimes as a long-overdue expansion of civil rights.

A bill to revise the ethnic intimidation law was approved this week 82-18 by the state House, though four West Michigan representatives voted against it.

Under the bill, a person could be charged with a bias-related offense for a crime based on disability, sexual identity or expression.

Press Photo/Mark CopierPark Township resident Bob Melcher drinks a beer Friday while waiting for his takeout food order at Blazers Sports Pub and Bistro. The Holland Township business is ready to serve beer and wine on Sunday for the first time.

OTTAWA COUNTY -- Bob Melcher sat inside Blazers Sports Pub & Bistro on Friday enjoying a Bell's Best Brown ale at the Holland Township establishment on his day off.

The 32-year-old Park Township resident said he was happy with Ottawa County voters last week approving Sunday sales of beer and wine. He said he never understood why the county banned beer and wine but allowed sale of spirits by the glass on Sundays.

"It didn't make any sense. It was illogical," Melcher said.

WASHINGTON -- Federal prosecutors have drafted an indictment against six Blackwater Worldwide security guards for the deadly shootings of 17 Iraqi civilians last year.

People close to the case tell The Associated Press that the Justice Department is reviewing the draft. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

No charging decisions have been made and none is expected until late this month at the earliest.

State Rep. Kevin Green

WYOMING -- A drunken driving arrest may have cost state Rep. Kevin Green a shot at the highest Republican post in the House, but it didn't diminish his standing among colleagues enough to remove him from another leadership position.

Green, on Thursday, retained his spot as the party's minority whip -- the fourth in the chain of command -- despite an effort by fellow Rep. Lorence Wenke, from Richland, to oust him.

Wenke sought the Wyoming representative's removal based on "his absence of judgment and a disregard for public safety" stemming from his Oct. 29 arrest in Saginaw County. Wenke could not be reached for comment after his effort failed.

OTTAWA COUNTY -- Two grants totaling $2.5 million will allow county parks officials to move ahead with two major projects.

The county plans to use a $2 million grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund to buy two Port Sheldon Township parcels totaling 13 acres on Lake Michigan for development of the proposed Olive Shores Park.

OTTAWA COUNTY -- A committee is urging that Ottawa County commissioners lift a Sunday ban on sales of packaged spirits.

The Planning and Policy Committee voted 3-1 today to recommend the Board of Commissioners eliminate the spirits ban.

The move comes a little more than a week after voters' 90,500-43,722 approval to end a similar ban on Sunday beer and wine sales.

The county board is expected to vote Nov. 25 whether to lift the spirits ban.

The Board of Canvassers could certify the election results by Friday, meaning Sunday beer and wine sales in the county would go into effect this weekend. 

Press Photo/Mark CopierNorthside Liquor Store in Holland Township will add Sunday sales hours after Ottawa County voters approved Sunday beer and wine sales Nov. 4.

OTTAWA COUNTY -- The county board is ready to go bottoms-up on its last liquor blue law: the ban on Sunday sales of packaged spirits.

"The people spoke loud and clear," Commission Chair Don Disselkoen said, referring to voters' two-to-one approval Nov. 4 of Sunday beer and wine sales. "I don't see the point in our not doing it."

On Tuesday, business people who pushed the Sunday beer and wine sales asked the county board to also lift the ban on packaged spirit sales. The question goes to committee Thursday.

But a majority of commissioners have indicated support in interviews with The Press. The move would lift the last county prohibition on Sunday alcohol sales in Michigan.

Press File PhotoDick DeVos

GRAND RAPIDS -- Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos surprised political observers today when he announced he will not run for governor in 2010.

DeVos made the announcement by video on a conservative Web blog RightMichigan.com.

"I'm not going to be a candidate in 2010," he said in the interview.

DeVos, who lost in his 2006 bid against Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said he made the decision after talking with his wife, Betsy, other family members and friends.

Press Photo/Emily ZoladzHudsonville resident Sally Love said she believes Sarah Palin "would be a great president."

Press File PhotoGov. Sarah Palin at a town hall meeting in the Grand Rapids Community College Fieldhouse in September.

Is she back, or did she never go away?

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's name and face are as common in news coverage now as they were during the presidential election.

And talk that the Republican Party's former vice presidential nominee could make a run at the Oval Office in 2012 won't go away, either.

That pleases Hudsonville resident Sally Love.

"I feel she would be a great president," said Love, 47, one of scores of West Michigan GOP volunteers eager to see more of Palin.

"I know she cares for the middle class. I feel she would be a great leader."

Barely a week after the party's defeat in the presidential election, debate over this polarizing figure has been reignited by her appearance on venues such as "The Today Show," CNN and Fox News.

KENT COUNTY -- In his bid for chairman of the Kent County Commission, Grand Rapids Township Republican Dean Agee is promising an unprecedented power-sharing arrangement that could put a Democrat in the No. 2 spot on the county board.

Meanwhile, Rockford Republican and current Chairman Roger Morgan, who had planned to step aside after this year, is challenging Agee.

Jail mug: State Rep. Kevin Green

GRAND RAPIDS — Backlash over the drunken driving arrest of state Rep. Kevin Green has reached Lansing.

The Wyoming Republican reportedly has decided not to run for House minority leader, and a fellow party member is demanding his removal from his present leadership position.

Green, 38, elected Nov. 4 to his third and final term in the state House, was considered by some a front-runner for minority leader before his Oct. 29 arrest in Saginaw County.

He told a Lansing news service this week he would not seek the leadership position but, instead, would try to keep his current job as Republican Caucus Whip.

Richard Root

KENTWOOD -- Non-city residents no longer will be billed for emergency services after City Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to amend the controversial ordinance.

"We didn't fully anticipate the difficulty in collections and the somewhat time-consuming process of administering the program," said Mayor Richard Root, who initially supported the program but has changed his vote.

The city's controversial cost-recovery ordinance was established in 2006. Non-city residents were billed for emergency fire responses, for situations including traffic accidents, industrial injuries and calls for medical assistance. The change approved Tuesday eliminates billing for emergency services except in cases where railroads and utilities, or other exceptions, are involved.

Press Photo/Mark CopierNorthside Liquor Store employee Diane Screptock restocks the Holland Township store, which will be adding Sunday sales hours after Ottawa County voters approved Sunday beer and wine sales in the Nov. 4 election.

OTTAWA COUNTY -- Bob Byars said voters' approval last week lifting a ban on Sunday sales of beer and wine in Ottawa County will allow him to open his Northside Party Store on Sundays.

However, Byars says there is one more piece of the puzzle that remains for his Holland Township establishment and other business owners selling alcohol in the county: a ban on Sunday sales of bottled spirits, including vodka and rum.

Byars and other members of the Say Yes to Sunday Committee, a coalition that successfully campaigned for lifting the beer and wine sales ban, on Tuesday asked county commissioners to end the bottled spirits ban.

AP PhotoOff subject: President-elect Obama and Gov. Jennifer Granholm laugh when Obama is asked what kind of dog he will get during an economics-focused news conference Friday in Chicago.

As President-elect Obama prepares to take office, leaders of several fields in Michigan have something for him: a wish list. It includes:

• Health care reform.

• More money for medical research.

• Tax incentives and policies to encourage alternative energy.

• Loans to save the auto industry.

• Restoring the Great Lakes.

All have one goal in common: Pulling Michigan out of its deep and abiding economic malaise as the nation faces a looming recession. What works in Michigan, they reason, could help the rest of the country.

Press Photo/Jon M. BrouwerSam Wohns, left, of East Grand Rapids, makes a point about the Electoral College as panelists John Joba, center, and Evan Bruin, both of Rockford, listen. They participated in the Michigan Junior State of America Conference on Saturday at East Grand Rapids High School.

High school students from throughout Michigan gathered Saturday at East Grand Rapids High School for a conference to debate hot topics such as the presidential election, race-based affirmative action and immigration.

They participate in a teen political activism club called Junior State of America. A growing Midwest group joins larger clubs in California and Virginia, said Charlie Wondergem, 18, an East Grand Rapids senior who coordinated the event.

"You're not defined by your political opinions" in JSA, said Beth Wiseman, 16, an East Grand Rapids junior who moderated an electoral college forum.

In the end, it wasn't about Barack Obama's faith, but voters' faith in him.

It wasn't about the flaming e-mails alleging Obama was a secret Muslim.

It wasn't about the rampant YouTube clips of the incendiary sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor.

It wasn't about whether Obama was "making stuff up" in his biblical interpretation, as Focus on the Family's James Dobson charged, or how sincere Obama was when he shared his Christian convictions with the Rev. Rick Warren.

Obama's election to the American presidency was about far more than these nagging issues. It was about a nation of many religions, many races and many minds putting their faith in this new man, and his potential to lead their country in a new way.

Jail mug: State Rep. Kevin Green

WYOMING -- A police report on the drunken driving arrest of state Rep. Kevin Green reveals new details of the incident and disputes at least part of his account.

Green, R-Wyoming, initially told The Press he had pulled over in a parking lot and fallen asleep after drinking the night of Oct. 28.

However, a Saginaw County Sheriff's Department report obtained by The Press shows he was passed out inside his running car on a service drive and had vomited on himself.

He also at first refused to answer a deputy's repeated requests that he take a breathalyzer, asking instead for leniency before eventually agreeing at the jail, the report shows.

AP File PhotoDoes Barack Obama have a job in mind for Jennifer Granholm? The are shown in June at a campaign appearance at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

The election of Barack Obama is complicating calculations for Michigan's 2010 governor's race, as Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer make multiple prospective Obama appointment lists.

Granholm is rumored to be on a list for U.S. Supreme Court, should Justices John Paul Stevens, 88, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75, or David Souter, 69, step down in the next four years.

She also is thought to be under consideration for secretary of energy, interior, labor or a post in the U.S. Justice Department. Speculation about her role was fueled further Thursday when Obama named her to his transition team's economic advisory board.

Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Archer, who also is contemplating a run for governor, has been mentioned for possible roles in the Obama administration.

If Archer runs for governor, he has good reason for wanting Granholm to finish her second and final term. That keeps Lt. Gov. John Cherry where he is, while Archer enjoys the role of favorite for the Democratic nomination. Archer has consistently topped polls rating Democratic gubernatorial prospects.

If Granholm goes to Washington, Cherry would ascend to the governor's post and have nearly two years to burnish his credentials.

Lansing political analyst Bill Ballenger said Granholm could face pressure from Cherry loyalists to accept a post.

UPDATE: Police reports indicate Rep. Kevin Green was sick, passed out in car before arrest

State Rep. Kevin Green

WYOMING -- State Rep. Kevin Green, arrested for impaired driving less than a week before he was re-elected in a landslide, said he wasn't trying to hide it from the public.

The news of his Oct. 29 arrest in Saginaw County leaked out on Wednesday, the day after the election.

Green, R-Wyoming, said he plans to continue pursuing the House minority leader position next week.

Hiding the arrest, he said, "was the last thing on my mind."

"It had everything to do with going through the steps, the legal process to get through this," Green told The Press Thursday.

UPDATE: Police reports indicate Rep. Kevin Green was sick, passed out in car before arrest

State Rep. Kevin Green

WYOMING — State Rep. Kevin Green, of Wyoming, faces an operating while intoxicated charge after his arrest Oct. 29 -- six days before election day -- in Saginaw County.

Green, 38, a Republican, was arrested by Saginaw County sheriff's deputies. Details of the arrest were not immediately available.

In a statement e-mailed to supporters today, Green said the arrest followed a long day of driving around the state to campaign for several candidates.

"During dinner, I had a few drinks and made the mistake of getting behind the wheel to go back to my hotel. As I began driving to the hotel, I started feeling the effects of the drinks and realized I needed to stop driving," the statement said.

"I pulled off the roadway and into a parking lot to rest. A short time later, I was approached by a sheriff's deputy who later determined that I should not have been driving."

Kevin CroninWilliam Baillargeon

ALLEGAN -- In the judicial world, ousting a sitting judge at the polls seldom is successful.

Attorney Kevin Cronin achieved the feat Tuesday, as supporters credited "key conservative support" in his razor-thin victory over Allegan County Circuit Judge William Baillargeon.

They do not deny, however, an attack campaign questioning Baillargeon's past ties to a support group for gays and lesbians may have helped.

"I don't know it had as much of a role as some say," said Cronin's campaign manager, Joshua Leatherman. "But it may have made some difference."

Campaign for Michigan Families, a political action group, spent $1,500 on radio ads and $1,000 on robo-calls to voters, citing Baillargeon's past as a board member of the Triangle Foundation and a 2004 donation he made to a group opposing Michigan's Marriage Protection Amendment.

Cronin's campaign is not affiliated with the PAC.

Clifford TaylorDiane Hathaway

The rule of thumb is incumbent judges, especially state Supreme Court justices, win re-election.

"In this case, the rule of thumb was repudiated by the voters," Traverse City lawyer Jim Olson said.

Tuesday's defeat of Michigan Chief Justice Clifford Taylor could hold significance for several areas of Michigan law, he and other attorneys said.

In replacing Taylor with Wayne County Circuit Judge Diane Hathaway, voters apparently signaled they want the state's highest court to end its rightward slant and return to a more moderate position, several observers said.

Over time, the court could overturn a series of 4-3 decisions some believe favored business over individuals, particularly in auto insurance cases.

AP File PhotosBarack Obama won Kent County in the 2008 election. Lyndon Johnson was the last Democratic candidate for president to do so, in 1964.

From Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama -- Kent County Democrats have had a long wait.

Johnson carried the county in the 1964 presidential election, and 44 years passed before a Democrat would repeat the feat.

Tuesday's jolting total: Obama 149,985; Republican presidential nominee John McCain 148,305.

That vote changes the ground rules in a county viewed for decades as a bastion of GOP strength.

"Today it is a Democratic county," said a jubilant Kent County Democratic Chairwoman Sue Levy.

"We will fight to keep it that way, we most certainly will."

Press Photo/Paul L. Newby IIFrom left, Rayna Pruitt, Alex Ngo and Vonte Shaw wear Obama T-shirts in Clark Ver Hulst's government class at Rogers High School.

On Tuesday, 17-year-old Reco Wheatley spent 13-plus hours working at a Wyoming polling place. A while later, he watched as Barack Obama took the stage to thank voters for electing him president of the United States.

Wednesday, while other poll workers and politicos greeted the day bleary-eyed, Wheatley was fresh with excitement.

"When they announced he had won, I shed tears," Wheatley said after his government class at Rogers High School in Wyoming. "When I get older and have my kids, I can say to them, 'He's black, just like you.'"

Wheatley was not the only enthusiastic teen in teacher Clark VerHulst's third-hour class. About a dozen of them worked the polls Tuesday. Others watched election returns for several hours. A few wore Obama T-shirts to acknowledge the outcome.

Classrooms throughout West Michigan buzzed Wednesday over the events of the night before.

Lauri Parks

"I thought she did a terrific job," said Kent County Clerk Mary Hollinrake. "I think Lauri and her entire staff deserve a large amount of praise. Let's give Lauri a straight 'A'."

Parks, a former administrator in the city's Equal Opportunity Office, was appointed to the job in March. She replaced Terri Hegarty, the longtime city clerk who retired after 14 years on the job.

On Tuesday, Parks and her staff operated 100 precincts in which more than 108,000 city residents cast ballots in the presidential election.

SPARTA TOWNSHIP -- Township Supervisor Dale Bergman easily won re-election after a challenge by write-in candidate Bob Boros.

Boros garnered 116 votes to Bergman's 2,935.

Bergman, 56, has been supervisor 12 years and said he wants to continue working on a variety of township issues such as building the tax base.

Boros lost his challenge in the August primary race, but believed voters may have been confused by media reports.

Other township races were uncontested.