Police chief resigns, no reason given [Detroit Free Press]

March 22--Headlines

HIGHLAND PARK

Police Chief Lorenzo Veal II resigned Wednesday without giving a reason, Mayor DeAndre Windom said.

Veal, a retired State Police lieutenant, had been chief for about two years after a year as a detective, Windom said. Veal hadn't said he was unhappy with the job that paid a salary but didn't offer benefits, Windom said, adding that he had no plans yet for appointing an acting chief.

Last week, the city's deputy police chief also resigned unexpectedly, said former Mayor Hubert Yopp, a retired Highland Park police officer.

The city hired at least eight officers in 2011, easing concerns about understaffing, Yopp said.

WAYNE COUNTY

Identify theft insurance offered

Wayne County is offering identity theft insurance to more than 1,200 union employees whose personal information -- including dates of birth and Social Security numbers -- were mistakenly released in an e-mail.

The e-mail was to extend open-enrollment health benefits to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees workers, spokeswoman Brooke Blackwell said.

Anyone who knows of an employee who forwarded or printed the information is asked to report that person to the county personnel and human resources department.

LANSING

More Michiganders have hope for state

Optimists outnumber pessimists in Michigan for the first time in nearly a decade, according to the results of an annual poll released Wednesday.

The poll by Marketing Resource Group of Lansing found that 46% of Michiganders say they believe the state is on the right track, compared with 43% who think it's headed in the wrong direction. That's the first time since the MRG spring poll in 2003 that a plurality in the state anticipated a brighter future.

West Michigan, Wayne County and Detroit were the only areas where more respondents were negative than positive. In Detroit, only 31% said the state is on the right track, with 63% saying it's going in the wrong direction.

The telephone poll of 600 likely voters was conducted March 14-19. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

METRO DETROIT

Lady Luck visited area stores 9 times

Nine winning Mega Millions tickets worth $250,000 each were purchased in southeast Michigan on Tuesday, including five at a Meijer at 20401 Haggerty Road in Northville. Lottery officials said it's likely that the same player bought the five tickets.

Meanwhile, because the top prize wasn't won Tuesday, Friday's jackpot has jumped to $290 million.

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