First winner of the Pothole Pocketbook Contest receives $500 for pothole-related repairs

LANSING, Mich. – Nicole VanPutten of Kalamazoo is the first winner of the Pothole Pocketbook Contest and will receive $500 for pothole-related repairs to her vehicle, the Michigan Transportation Team (MTT) announced today. VanPutten submitted her $700 repair bill after her husband hit an unavoidable pothole on his way to work.

“My husband drives from Kalamazoo to East Lansing every day because he works at Michigan State University,” VanPutten said in her entry. “He [had] been avoiding the same hole, but it [had] been getting larger and larger. Finally, it was just too big and he hit it. It caused $700 in damage to our VW. The entire wheel had to be replaced ... and they had to keep our car for four days.”

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University is again partnering to present a timely talk on international issues in conjunction with the 2013 Great Decisions Discussion Series organized by the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan.

The discussion series is one of the largest foreign policy lecture programs in the nation and the state's only lecture series devoted to American foreign policy issues.

Locally, WMU will be offering a live lecture by National Public Radio correspondent Dina Temple-Raston at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 4, in the Fetzer Center's Putney Auditorium.