Former TV Anchor Found Not Guilty, WZMQ Makes Its Local Debut, Covid Cases Decline, Long Covid Persists, Violent Crime Increases, and Yooper Lad Finds An Audience

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

NOT GUILTY…THAT was the verdict in the District Court trial this week of former TV6 anchor and meteorologist Shawn Householder…He’d been charged with breaking and entering the home of former TV6 anchor Sarah Blakely without her permission two years ago… “It came down to the issue of whether or not Shawn was given permission to enter the house,” said Sarah Henderson, Householder’s attorney…The jury, she said, decided there wasn’t sufficient evidence to conclude he had forcibly entered the house.

Both Householder and Blakely testified in the two-day trial…A he said/she said situation…The verdict came down in a little over an hour.

The case came to light last year when Blakely, a popular anchor, resigned because WLUC’s parent company was mandating COVID vaccinations for all its employees…She refused the vaccination, and in a much-read Facebook post at the time, she explained that her resignation also resulted, in part, from what she called a toxic atmosphere in the TV6 newsroom, and the sexual harassment she was suffering at the hands of Householder…Householder, she wrote, had come to her house “to profess his love for me.”

She left the station, and Householder, also a popular anchor, was let go by management.

Householder, now back in his home in West Virginia after the trial, was asked whether he’d learned anything from his experience over the last couple of years: “I think all of us at times wish we could have done things a little differently,” he replied, “but I think I’ve always tried to do the right thing.”….His future? “I don’t know at this point,” he said. “Right now, I just want to go and pet my dog.”

All in all, it was an unseemly mess for WLUC, the UP’s dominant TV station…Blakely had also leveled much of her anger at station management for its alleged failure to respond quickly and effectively to her harassment charges…Reaction from GM Rick Rhoades after the trial concluded this week: “We’re happy this issue has been resolved, and we hope they can both find peace…”

BLAKELY, AFTER A one-year hiatus from TV, has re-emerged on our TV screens at the CBS station, WZMQ. They aired the news locally for the first time this week out of their new studio on Washington Street downtown…Predictably, there were glitches, some of them major—audio problems, in particular, but those will be ironed out over time…The station’s strength clearly is Blakely, a likable and authoritative anchor. She’s also the executive producer of the newscasts.

We attempted to contact Blakely, by the way, but we were told by management that she was busy and focused on producing the newscasts.

No news director for the station yet—that’s not a priority for the station at this point, according to VP Brian Trauring…No sports director or regular sportscasts, either. Instead, they’ll offer a sports feature segment on Thursday and Friday…Those, along with weekly news feature segments, two of which will come from former TV6 meteorologist Karl Bohnak, and local radio host Jim Koski…A different approach to local news. We’ll see how it works.

PLAUDITS FOR THE Upper Peninsula Health Plan…The National Committee for Quality Assurance published its rankings of the top Medicaid plans in the nation. UPHP came in first in the state of Michigan, and ranked 9th out of 278 Medicaid Health Plans nationwide…Ratings are based on patient experience, prevention, and treatment.

COVID NUMBERS CONTINUE to decline here…As of October 6th, the seven-day average in Marquette County was 14 cases. Back in late January, the weekly total topped 200 cases….However, winter’s coming on, and epidemiologists will tell you that’s when the numbers will start to climb again.

NEARLY 24 MILLION Americans report having “long Covid,” according to Axios…That is, they have gotten over the initial sickness, but they’re now saddled with lingering symptoms such as shortness of breath, cognitive difficulties, and chronic fatigue. Four million people are estimated to be out of work because of the long Covid symptoms…Any hope on the horizon? Not yet.

COVID CASES MAY be declining, but crime is increasing in Michigan…This, according to Bridge Michigan…The numbers: Violent crime in the state increased 12.4% in 2020, higher than the national increase of 5.6%. It inched up again slightly last year, while the rest of the nation dipped lower…745 murders in Michigan last year—that’s an increase of 30% over 2019…Thankfully, we live in the UP where murders are almost as rare as warm winters.

THE NMU GUY is doing pretty well. Namely, Robert Saleh, the former tight end for the Wildcats who graduated in 2001 with a degree in financial management, and then went into coaching… He’s exceeding expectations so far in his second year as head coach of the New York Jets…The Jets, frankly, have been a joke for the last decade, and were only 4-13 last year, but so far this year, they’ve won two and lost two…Anything close to a .500 year for the Jets this year would be considered a major success, and a feather in Saleh’s cap.

YOOPER LAD…YOU might have seen its posts on Instagram or Facebook. Remarkably clever, satirical photos and faux news stories about the UP…The posts started back in the spring and now have attracted 3,400 followers on Instagram and 700 on Facebook…The genius behind Yooper Lad is a Marquette-based social media creator who wishes to remain anonymous, at least for now… “Yooper Lad appeals mostly to Gen Z and Millennials,” this person explains. “We have a big following at NMU.”

Slightly disagree. It’s genuinely funny to anybody who knows the UP and has a sense of humor. Examples of headlines: “Marquette Mayor Packs Hundreds of Migrant Tourists on a Plane and Flies them to Mackinac Island” and “UP Man Arrested for Catching 22 Lake Trout from Kitch-iti-kipi Raft”…Yooper Lad is a three-person operation (two of them interns), and before long, expects to be producing Yooper Lad merchandise for sale online…The creator of the brand is another one of those young, quirky, creative entrepreneurs who disdain working for “the man” from 9 til 5.

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