Whitmer names much of Cabinet, including nine department heads
LANSING (AP) — Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer has named additional members of her Cabinet, including the state's top environmental regulator and the leader of a transportation agency she says needs more funding to fix the roads.
The Democrat on Thursday announced Paul Ajegba to serve as director of the Department of Transportation. He has worked at MDOT 28 years.
Liesl Eichler Clark, co-founder of a clean-energy policy consulting firm, will lead the Department of Environmental Quality. The agency came under fire for Flint’s water crisis.
Whitmer also named directors of the natural resources, agriculture, state police, military, licensing and insurance departments. She is keeping Heidi Washington on as director of the Department of Corrections.
Poker player turns $5 bet into $1M at casino
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A man playing poker at an Atlantic City casino has won $1 million on a $5 bet.
The man, identified only as a Lakewood resident, made the three-card poker "6 Card Bonus" bet Saturday afternoon at the Borgata Hotel Casino. He then hit a royal straight flush of diamonds, a hand that overcame 1-to-20 million odds.
The man was dealt the 10, queen and ace of diamonds. The dealer's hand was the nine, jack and king of diamonds.
Casino officials say it's the first time this bet has been hit at the Borgata.
NY?baby is named after highway where she was born in a car
NEW YORK (AP) — It was my way and the highway for a newborn New Yorker, who’s now named after the expressway where she was born in her parents’ minivan as they raced to a hospital.
Alie Albarracin arrived around 3 a.m. on Dec. 26 as parents Maria and Ivan Albarracin headed east on the Long Island Expressway from their Queens home to Bellevue Hospital.
Her name is spelled A-L-I-E. The highway’s nickname is the”"L.I.E.”
Her parents tell the New York Post they planned to name their third child Aurora but switched it after the unusual birth.
Realizing they wouldn’t make it to the hospital, the Albarracins pulled over and asked Metropolitan Transportation Authority officers for help.
They got it from Lt. Harry Persad, who has emergency medical technician experience.
Hundreds of surfers in Santa suits ride waves in Florida
COCOA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The waves of red in the waters off Florida's Space Coast weren't the dreaded red tide algae but rather hundreds of surfers dressed as Jolly Old St. Nick.
Hundreds of surfers in Santa suits jumped on their boards off the beach in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on Dec. 24 in what has become an annual tradition.
Thousands of spectators cheered them on as part of a fundraiser for the Florida Surf Museum and also a charity for cancer patients.
Organizers say about $40,000 was raised this year.
Spectators on the beach dressed as elves, donned Santa hats, and wore Christmas sweaters.
The surfing Santas have been riding the waves off Coach Beach on Christmas Eve for the past decade.
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