Sports

“This year, by far, will be the largest security force that we’ve had for a 5th/3rd River Bank run to date,” Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk told city commissioners Tuesday.

21,000 runners are registered for the race.

He’s coordinating security with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and five police forces from neighboring communities.

Belk says Michigan State Police will fly helicopters overhead and use bomb-sniffing canine units

We have seen droughts in sports in this state, that is for sure.

The last time the Lions won the NFL championship, for example, was 1957. Well, there’s been a similar drought in the world of bowling leagues, but that might be about to end.

Mel Shannon’s been bowling with the Knights of Columbus Men’s League in Ann Arbor for about as long as anyone can remember.

Last time Mel won the championship was 46 years ago - 1967.

But, Mel is on the verge of winning the championship again tonight.

Mel is a Word II veteran who is 87 years young and he stopped by the studio along with John Kennard - who is also part of the K of C men's bowling league.

Listen to the full interview above.

Marc Stein of ESPN was the first to report the news:

The Detroit Pistons, as widely expected, fired coach Lawrence Frank on Thursday.

The dismissal of Frank has been expected for some time, after the young Pistons lost 27 of 36 games in the second half of the season before winning four of their final five.

Frank guided the Pistons to a 29-53 mark this season and was 54-94 overall in two campaigns.

Stein reports Frank "went to the playoffs three times in six seasons coaching the New Jersey Nets before his dismissal in 2009, then worked as an assistant in Boston under Doc Rivers."

A group of runners in Kalamazoo will honor victims of the Boston marathon bombing by running together tonight.

“Runners who were nowhere near Boston just feel like a piece of their heart has been ripped out,” said Tonya Durlach. She did not run the Boston marathon, but members of her E.P.I.C. running group and Kalamazoo Area Runners did.

“We’re trying to make sense of what happened but we can’t. We can’t understand why someone would do something so horrible. But the only thing we can do right now is think of them and pray for them,” Durlach said.

The two thousand runners expected to take part in this Sunday’s Lansing marathon can expect to see tight security along the 26-mile course.

The added security is in response to Monday’s deadly bombing at the finish of the Boston Marathon.

Lansing Police Chief Teresa Szymanski says people attending the Lansing marathon will be protected.

“We’ll certainly have additional patrols….we’ll have extra officers working the event. We’ll take precautionary measures…such as bomb sweeps and those types of things we do for these events,” says Szymanski.