SAGINAW, MI — Here are a few headlines from Saginaw County last week that attracted reader interest.
Michigan bank employee raised safety concerns before being held hostage, assaulted for hours
A Saginaw Township bank branch employee repeatedly expressed her fears of working alone to her supervisors. Then, as she was closing one Friday evening, a probation absconder walked in.
She spent the next several hours held hostage, during which she was beaten, robbed, and sexually assaulted, police documents show. As her attorney put, she “endured one of the most harrowing ordeals imaginable…with the walls of her workplace becoming the confines of a nightmare.”
The nightmare ended when a Michigan State Police sniper shot the hostage-taker as he was focused on a Faygo Red Pop bottle dangling from a police drone.
Read more here.
Michigan mother testifies against son accused of torturing girlfriend to death
Last autumn, police found a mother of three unresponsive in a Carrollton Township house, having allegedly been confined to a bed for days by her boyfriend. Her injuries were so severe they eventually proved fatal months later.
Jonathan M. Zieroff, the deceased woman’s boyfriend, has been jailed on a torture charge since the day after police made their grim discovery. Shackled and wearing a jail jumpsuit, Zieroff entered the courtroom of Saginaw County District Judge Terry L. Clark for a preliminary examination on Wednesday, Oct. 1.
Read more here.
Here are the 10 state Senate candidates seeking vacant seat in 2026 election
And then there were 10.
Michigan Secretary of State officials released the final list of candidates set to appear on ballots in the 35th District state Senate seat race next year.
The deadline to file paperwork seeking a spot was 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 30. Later that evening, state officials released the list of candidates who applied and qualified.
Read more here.
Saginaw United High unveils its new football field. Here’s a sneak peek.
Saginaw Public Schools officials moved the public beyond the metaphoric 99-yard line during a ceremony celebrating the opening of a state-of-the-art football field and athletics facility.
Read more here.
Saginaw mother accused of giving children THC gummies asks judge to help her see her kids
A Saginaw mother accused of repeatedly giving her three children THC gummies was back in court Thursday, Oct. 2, and asked a judge to amend her bond conditions to allow her more access to her kids.
Stephany L. Mogg, 34, appeared before Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank on Thursday for a preliminary examination. Mogg is charged with three counts of third-degree child abuse. The felony is punishable by up to two years’ incarceration and five years’ probation.
Read more here.
Students, volunteers to help replace trees lost in St. Charles tornado
A tree planting event replaced trees St. Charles Community Schools lost due to a tornado that hit the area in May.
Volunteers planted 20 trees during an event last week to provide shade for athletes and spectators at the softball field, baseball field, and practice football field, said St. Charles Community Schools Superintendent Ronald Stanley.
Read more here.
Saginaw diocese members to travel to Rome for ceremony for priesthood student from Midland
A Midland-born seminarian with the Diocese of Saginaw was ordained to the transitional diaconate during a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City last week.
Charles Warner was among 20 seminarians who participated in the ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 2, Diocese of Saginaw officials said.
The ceremony was the last step before ordination to the priesthood, which he is on track to achieve early next year, officials said.
Read more here.
What’s that? Developer plans to transform shuttered Rite Aid into restaurant, bank
Developer Jason Kishmish is looking to transform a former Saginaw-area Rite Aid building into a multi-use development featuring a restaurant and a bank.
“We’ve got a very unique plan here that I think is going to knock everyone’s socks off, truthfully,” said Kishmish, founder of Grand Management & Development. “It’ll be one of the first complete redevelopments of a drugstore in this capacity, where we utilize the existing building but completely convert it to a multi-tenant type of development.”
Read more here.
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