Person of interest named in Dearborn hit-and-run, dispensary hiring vets for delivery, Covid climbs in schools

Dearborn police are searching for an 18-year-old man listed as a person of interest in a hit-and-run case that killed a 6-year-old girl over the weekend.

Footage from the neighborhood in the 7600 block of Bingham Street on Sunday recorded the moments leading up to when a light-colored Chevrolet Equinox struck Batoul Haider Alfawdawi. Police say she had run into the street when she was struck. The vehicle that hit her didn't stop.

Police are asking the public to be on the lookout for Jyon Collins, who is wanted in connection to the hit-and-run.

The deadly crash happened around 3 p.m. Nov. 7, where Alfawdawi was playing at her grandmother's house. 

Alfawdawi was a student at the Star International Academy in Dearborn Heights.

"Tough situation. As you can imagine everyone is trying to cope with from students to staff," Superintendent Dr. Ali Bazzi said following the incident. "Everyone grieves differently especially with younger kids but to conceptualize what happened I think is pretty touch especially at that grade because they’re so young."

A $5,000 reward is now being offered for proof leading to an arrest in the case. 

Collins is described as 5 feet, 3 inches, and 120 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair. 

DPD chief promises to clean up towing program

After the guilty plea from one city councilman and federal raids at the homes of two other councilmembers, along with federal charges against two Detroit police officers, Chief James White is planning to overhaul practices within the department's towing operations, which have been at the center of the scandal for months.

"Increase accountability through a code enforcement unit," White said. "This will be a civilian oversight code enforcement unit." White also plans to introduce a new citizen towing app that will be transparent in costs and who is doing the towing. 

"The citizen will have the ability to download the app," he said. "If they are requesting a tow they will know on the front end who is coming, how much the costs are so that there is no intervention by any person to change who the tower is." 

While no company name has been made public, redacted sections of federal affidavits list "Towing Company A" as being a frequent contact with a police lieutenant and officer, who have both been charged with bribery. "This is really eliminating opportunity," he said. "And these are the first part of those major changes."

Michigan dispensary hiring vets to deliver weed

No stranger to promotions, Walled Lake's Greenhouse is back at it with the launch of its new delivery service that will be driven by military veterans. The gig needs 12 drivers that will pay up to $50,000 a year - not bad for an industry still in its infancy.

Timed up with Veteran's Day, the dispensary will provide both the cars and the gas to the drivers. All they have to do is make the trip. "So I'm looking to hire up to 12 veterans. We started delivery today at the Greenhouse of Walled Lake because there's such a demand for deliveries.  It's called greenhouse to go," said owner Jerry Millen.

And the Greenhouse has already started hiring. Todd Hopper is a disabled veteran who served nine years in the U.S. Army had a tough time finding work. Until the Greenhouse's job opened up.

Delivery from the Greenhouse is available between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. with a minimum $99 order and a $5 delivery fee. Resumes and or e-mails should be sent to info@greenhousemi.com as soon as possible. 

Covid climbs in schools as testing falls

Michigan's COVID-19 outbreaks are climbing again, especially in our schools as many have stopped testing which is impacting the spread among students and staff. Just a few short weeks ago, the state's most recent COVID-19 surge seemed to be slowing but daily cases are now around 3,000. However, because more citizens have been vaccinated, this surge is not as severe but it is clearly alive and well in schools.

There are 1.5 million school kids and only 34 of them have been hospitalized with COVID-19. However, only 42% between the ages of 12 and 15 have had the vaccine. Add to that, the vaccines have just now been opened to children between 5 and 11.

Michigan's Chief Medical Executive, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian said all of that is leading to this stunning statement: "In terms of outbreaks, K through 12 schools are the biggest source of outbreaks across the state," Dr. Bagdasarian said. "(At) the start of school...we saw in our 5 to 18-year-olds, we saw an uptick in cases right as schools were re-opening and that has continued to go up."

104 new school outbreaks have been reported this week, on top of the 101 last week and 76 the week before. THat's a grand total of 592 outbreaks of two or more cases in state schools.

Michigan says it is holding millions in assets - here's how to check if you have some

The Michigan Department of Treasury could owe you a couple of hundred bucks in unclaimed property and you have no idea. Here's how to check your status with the state of Michigan.

The Michigan Department of Treasury says it is holding millions of dollars in assets from bank accounts, uncashed checks, valuables, and stock certificates. If any of them belong to you, the state of Michigan wants you to have them back.

The properties were all considered to be abandoned and, as such, were turned over to the state as required by law. But the state is just the custodian of the assets until they can be returned to the rightful owners or the owners' heirs. You just have to claim it.

A complete breakdown of how to find a potential property and claim it is here

What else we're watching

  1. A press conference is scheduled in Ferndale for the Secretary of State to the rollout of Michigan's new gender marker that designates someone as "nonbinary." It'll be held in Ferndale at Affirmations.
  2. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer released a joint statement alongside several other state leaders advocating for legislation that would increase the production of semiconductors, at the benefit of auto manufacturers in dozens of states.
  3. Detroit City FC, the city's semi-professional football club is joining the United Soccer League, an upgrade in stature for a program that only began playing soccer a few years ago. Games will continue to be played at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck.
  4. Plans will soon be announced for the future of the former Cooley High School building, a property on the city's west side that has been vacant. The announcement will be made at 10 a.m.
  5. The winter transformation of Detroit is set to be complete Wednesday and open to the public as downtown readies up for the holidays.

Live on FOX 2

Daily Forecast

Is snow on the way? The weekend forecast certainly looks like some could fall on Saturday and Sunday. But first, a midweek warm-up is upon us, along with some rain before temperatures take a tumble before the weekend. 

NASA says next astronaut moon landing will be in 2025 at earliest

NASA on Tuesday delayed putting astronauts back on the moon until 2025 at the earliest, missing the deadline set by the Trump administration.

The space agency had been aiming for 2024 for the first moon landing by astronauts in a half-century.

In announcing the delay, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Congress did not provide enough money to develop a landing system for its Artemis moon program and more money is needed for its Orion capsule. In addition, a legal challenge by Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, Blue Origin, stalled work for months on the Starship lunar landing system under development by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Officials said technology for new spacesuits also needs to ramp up, before astronauts can return to the moon.