KALAMAZOO, Mich.— A grant from the Delta Dental Foundation is helping to protect smiles in Kalamazoo.

The foundation donated $100,000 to the Michigan Department of Community Health Oral Health Program to start or maintain community water fluoridation programs for residents, which prevent cavities. The state divvied up the money for nine communities; Kalamazoo is receiving $8,076.

The chief medical executive with the Michigan Department of Community Health says studies have shown oral health is key to overall health. On January 25, 1945, Grand Rapids became the first city in the U.S. to add fluoride to its water system. Now, nearly 90 percent of Michigan communities with a water system have access to fluoridated water.

This is the fourth year for the fluoridation grants. The other recipients include Plainfield Township ($12,522); Battle Creek ($18,775) and Benton Harbor ($2,667).

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WZZM) - Two people caught a purse snatcher in Kalamazoo overnight.

The incident happened just before 1:00am Tuesday at Gatis' Up and Under in the 700 block of W. Michigan in Kalamazoo.  Officers say that the purse snatching suspect was talking in the parking lot with the victim, when he suddenly pushed her to the ground, grabbed her purse and took off.

An employee and another person began chasing the suspect.  Police found the suspect being held on the ground by the two people.  The suspect, a 40-year-old Kalamazoo man, will be charged today with Unarmed Robbery and Assault and Battery since he punched one of the two people who caught him.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— Grand Rapids is getting another tribute to the men behind Meijer Stores.

On May 8, the Michigan Historical Commission approved a marker to honor Hendrik and Fred Meijer, who in 1962 became the first grocers to combine two popular retail models—discount department stores and supermarkets—into a single store on 28th Street, called “Thrifty Acres.”  The Meijers then took their model to Holland and Muskegon. 

Meijer now has nearly 200 stores across the Midwest, including Kalamazoo, Walker, Wyoming, Jenison, Rockford, Plainfield Township, Forest Hills, Lowell, Grandville, Kentwood, Grand Haven and Greenville, where Hendrik Meijer opened his very first store in the 1930s.

The new historical marker will be added to more than 1,700 green and gold signs found across the state, that chronicle the people, places and events that make Michigan’s heritage unique and unforgettable.  The historical markers are nominated by spons