A phone call home is all it took for a missing and vulnerable adult to make it home safely. 

SOUTHFIELD — The annual Southfield tree lighting ceremony will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 2 on the front lawn of the Southfield Municipal Campus, 26000 Evergreen Road.

SOUTHFIELD/LATHRUP VILLAGE — The cities of Southfield and Lathrup Village are now home to two new murals thanks to the help of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

NOVI — Thano Karimalis, 51, of Novi, has developed an extensive and elaborate collection of action figures over the years. 

METRO DETROIT — The video icon PAC-MAN is helping the American Red Cross. 

NOVI — The city of Novi is currently looking into the possibility of a sister-city relationship with Nagahama in Japan.

NOVI — A new housing development will soon be built in the area of 12 Mile and Meadowbrook roads.

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — The Macomb Township Board of Trustees voted to lower fees associated with the township’s parks and recreation offerings at the board’s Nov. 12 meeting. Township Clerk Kristi Pozzi was absent.

TROY — Shawn Rankin, a senior at Troy High School, has brought in donations and built doghouses for the Oakland County Animal Control and Pet Adoption Center — part of his efforts to achieve the status of Eagle Scout, the highest rank for Scouting America groups. 

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — A group of girls from around metro Detroit came together to win this season’s Girls Take The Field flag football league in Bloomfield Hills.

BIRMINGHAM — Every holiday season, it is a family tradition for Birmingham Village Players member Joe Vercellone to watch Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” This year, Vercellone and his son Phillip adapted the show into a one-man play to be performed as a fundraiser for the Birmingham Village Players. 

BIRMINGHAM — The Birmingham Museum will be starting the year off with the opening of a new exhibit that celebrates local history. 

ST. CLAIR SHORES — Four Jefferson Middle School students will have the chance to present their work to officials in Lansing at the Student Technology Showcase on Dec. 2. 

ROSEVILLE — Renovations at both of the city’s fire stations continue to progress.

EASTPOINTE — A group of young children who gathered at the Eastpointe Fire Station Nov. 17 anxiously awaited the arrival of the city’s brand-new fire engine.

EASTPOINTE/ROSEVILLE — Whether you like to view twinkling lights that glow or sing Christmas carols with others, the following community holiday events are designed to bring a festive mood.

ROSEVILLE —  Darrell McKee always ran a good race.

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — An investigation remained ongoing at press time Dec. 3, more than a week after a shooting at The Mall at Partridge Creek left one man injured.

The Novi Police Department is asking for the public's help to locate a Novi woman who has a history of mental illness and other health conditions, and who disappeared from Twelve Oaks Mall earlier today, according to a press release. 

NOVI — Comic books are so much more than a small pictorial storybook that some might recall being included with the children’s menu at Big Boy Restaurants, or the “funnies” that Grandpa used to read to us as kids, and later wrap presents with.