Traverse City Record-Eagle

Michigan

August 4, 2012

Michigan in Brief: 08/04/2012

----

West Nile virus reported in two adults

DETROIT — Health officials say a man and woman in Wayne County have contracted the West Nile virus.

The announcement Friday from the county Department of Public Health comes a week after health officials in neighboring Oakland County confirmed the first such case to be reported in the state this year.

According to Wayne County health officials, the two patients were hospitalized with West Nile virus meningitis. They since have been treated and discharged.

In Oakland County, a 44-year-old man was hospitalized in July after showing symptoms and was at home recovering.

State officials say an unusually warm spring encouraged the early hatching of mosquitoes, which transmit the virus.

GM predicts European losses this year

DETROIT — General Motors expects its European operations to incur "substantial losses" for the rest of the year because auto sales in the region will not improve, the company said in a regulatory filing Friday.

The outlook was bleaker than GM's executives portrayed on Thursday, when the company released its second-quarter earnings.

GM has lost money in Europe for a dozen years.

Rain curtails search for Michigan hiker

WEST GLACIER, Mont. — Search teams looking for a missing hiker in Glacier National Park adjusted their strategy Friday after rainfall created some unsafe conditions in the search area.

The search for 19-year-old Jakson Kreiser of Hudsonville, Mich., has been focused between Hidden Lake and Avalanche Lake after boot prints believed to be Kreiser's were found in the area.

However one-third of an inch of a rain fell overnight Thursday, creating slippery conditions in the steep and rocky terrain.

Incident Commander Scott Emmerich said Friday's efforts would avoid areas that are too hazardous to search.

The search for Kreiser, a seasonal employee at Lake McDonald Lodge, began July 29 after he failed to return from a hike a day earlier.

Text Only