It's President's Day, and a Washington College poll finds Lincoln rated as our greatest President while George Washington (who had a major role in inventing the office) rated 6th, behind Reagan, FDR, Kennedy, Clinton & George W. Bush ... guess he scored low in the "What have you done for me lately" category.

AuSable River Train Derailment
The Iosco County News-Herald reports thata 44-car Lake State Railway freight train derailed at about 10 PM Friday in Oscoda Township and collapsed the historic 1913 AuSable River trestle bridge in the process. Fortunately, the train was returning from dumping fly-ash rather than carrying it, which would have been a major disaster for Michigan's most famous fishing river.

Winter Storm Report
The Detroit Freep Press reports that a winter storm dumped snow across Michigan on Sunday, with up to 14 inches falling in the central Lower Peninsula and about six inches falling in metropolitan Detroit. Freezing rain is on tap for today.
Storm report with video from WJRT TV (Flint, Saginaw, Bay City)

Rick Larson Wins 2005 UP 200 Sled Dog Race
Rick Larson and lead dog Aspen have won the 2005 U.P. 200 Sled Dog Race with a time of 6 hours, 18 minutes, beating second-place finisher Tasha Stielstra by 10 minutes. Keith Aili finished third while defending champion Frank Teasley finished 9th.
Also read the feature Defending champ eyes repeat: Dashing to the finish line in the Mining Journal

Study: U-M Consumer Confidence Data "Useless"
WLNS TV (Lansing) reports that a new study says consumer confidence indices are essentially useless for forecasting Americans' spending patterns. The 2 closely-tracked indexes from the University of Michigan and the Conference Board may reveal the mood of Americans when they are surveyed, but they don't predict whether people will spend more or less.
In-depth feature from the Associated Press

Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium Make 11th Hour Effort
The Detroit Free Press reports that the Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium, a pro-Belle Isle Aquarium activist group, are seeking to find benefactors or convince the Detroit City Council to intervene at a hearing this morning.

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