Guests at the newly opened Soaring Eagle Waterpark and Hotel in Mt. Pleasant will never forget that they are near water. Splashes of bright turquoise and blue are prominent among the otherwise warm, earth-toned dcor of the hotel. From a turquoise velvet chair in a guest suite to wavy blue glass panels in the lobby and the subtle wave patterns on the carpet, water is everywhere. Hotel management say the resort was designed to complement the existing Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort down the road to create a one-stop vacation destination for families. "We are very excited to be offering a family fun-cation destination in Mid-Michigan," said Bonnie Sprague, general manager of the hotel and water park.

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Dick's Sporting Goods, the largest U.S. based full-line sporting goods retailer, invites the community of Mt. Pleasant to their three-day grand opening weekend. The store will open its doors on Wednesday, May 16 and begin the celebration with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, May 18 at 8:00 a.m. at the retailer's new location at Indian Hills Plaza, 4228 East Bluegrass Road, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858, (989) 772-1990. Special extended store hours will also be in effect for Friday (8:00 a.m. to 10), Saturday (8:00 a.m. to 10) and Sunday (9:00 a.m. to 8). Dick's Sporting Goods also has a variety of special athlete appearances and giveaways scheduled to celebrate the grand opening festivities. On Friday, the first customers through the door will receive a free Reebok t-shirt while supplies last.

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"Pure Michigan" is the sixth most recognized state tourism advertising campaign in the world. Michigan.org is the top state tourism website in the nation. Now, Mt. Pleasant is benefiting from both. Several community partners have joined with the Mt. Pleasant Area Convention and Visitors Bureau to create a radio advertising campaign for the area. Actor and Michigan native Tim Allen lends his voice to the campaign, which is airing in Grand Rapids, Flint and Kalamazoo, as well as Toledo, Ohio, and Ft. Wayne and South Bend, Ind.

The only career mementos that mark Keno Davis' new, windowless office at Central Michigan University are three coaching awards from the year that changed his life. That dream season of 2007-08 at Drake University earned Davis national coach of the year honors. Now, after three tumultuous years at Providence College of the Big East Conference and a year in broadcasting, the son of former Iowa coach Tom Davis is out to prove himself again at the mid-major level. Keno Davis takes over a Central Michigan program that has only four winning seasons in the last 33 years.

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Allison Quast is about to start her fourth summer as owner of Motorless Motion, the bicycle shop in downtown Mt. Pleasant previously owned by her father. In March, she purchased a property containing a carriage house and a main house that was a rental property until deemed unfit for human occupancy by the fire department, and is in the process of restoring it so she and her fianc can use it as a home. While not running Motorless Motion and restoring the old house, she also serves as the liaison between the planning commission and zoning board of appeals; vice president of the Downtown Development Board; vice chairwoman of Mid-Michigan Pathways Group, which hopes to create a rail trail from Clare to Ithaca; and participating in Talk Around Town, the Mt. Pleasant Toastmasters club she started.

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A Central Michigan University freshman has bacterial meningitis. Central Michigan Life reports Livonia resident Nicholas Collins tested positive for meningitis between April 30 and Monday. He lived in Trout Hall on campus and moved out Thursday. School officials alerted students, CM Life reported. Anyone who has been in close contact with Collins should call CMU Health Services at 989-774-6577. Bacterial meningitis is a bacterial form of the infection that causes inflammation in fluids surrounding the brain and spinal cord, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It can cause hearing loss and brain damage, although it is treatable.

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Kathy Griffin says she would have been merciless on someone like herself a few years ago. "I mean, I lived with my parents in a two-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica until I was 28," she said. I was the person who wouldn't leave. It was quite pitiful; I'd go on a date and couldnt take the guy home. But her mother and dads investment in their daughters dream paid off They wanted to retire in California, anyway, said the Chicago native. I just told them Los Angeles had great golf courses and shes moved up from the D-list with her sharp-witted insights on the celebrity world.

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A generation ago, Central Michigan University students celebrated the end of spring semester with something they called the End of the World party, a massive, drunken street party that brought thousands of people to Mt. Pleasant's South Main Street. After a court order and a massive police presence, the party faded away about a quarter-century ago. Students now leave town for the summer fairly quietly, but South Main Street and its concentration of student housing remains a concern for the city of Mt. Pleasant. "About 80 percent of the incidents (police) track are in the student area," said Jeff Gray, the city's director of planning and community development.

Former Central Michigan University quarterback Dan LeFevour was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team announced Monday. LeFevour was a sixth-round pick by the Chicago Bears in 2010, but has spent the last two seasons bouncing from team to team as a third quarterback. When the Bears cut LeFevour, the Cincinnati Bengals picked him up for the 2010 season. The Bengals cut LeFevour before the 2011 season. The Indianapolis Colts signed LeFevour to their practice squad, but Jacksonville signed LeFevour off the practice squad.

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Who could have foreseen what life had in store for the good little girl encouraged by the sisters at her Catholic school to share her gift with the world? "The nuns were so good to me," remembered Sylvia Browne, the renowned psychic coming on Mother's Day to Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant. They protected me, and when I was 18, they encouraged me to help people full-time. I was only 5 years old when I sensed that both of my great-grandmothers were going to die, and within weeks, both did. Thank God I had a grandmother who was psychic, too. It scared me this was in the 1940s in the Midwest but she helped me see ways to put it to good use.

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