STERLING HEIGHTS — The Sterling Heights Police Department and its hockey team have a common goal in sticking up for a department officer who is battling cancer.

BIRMINGHAM — After 38 years of service, Chief Mark Clemence has retired from the Birmingham Police Department.

GROSSE POINTE FARMS — At only 5 feet, 1 inch tall and 130 pounds, Grosse Pointe Farms Public Safety Fire Specialist Sundee Harland didn’t look formidable. But, as she proved time and time again, looks can be deceiving.

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Cranbrook Educational Community is remembering the legacy of Detroit textile and interior designer Ruth Adler Schnee following her passing.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — The Humane Society of Macomb, 11350 22 Mile Road, has acquired a new executive director to lead it.

WEST BLOOMFIELD — Seven years have passed since West Bloomfield resident Lori Klisman Ellis first learned of the horrors that her mom endured as a Holocaust survivor.

WEST BLOOMFIELD — After being involved in a car accident in 1995, West Bloomfield resident Adrienne Matthews started to have headaches so severe that she would sometimes make trips to the hospital for IV pain medication.

ROYAL OAK — Athletics was never in the cards for Pamela Moore as a potential career choice when she was a high school student at Royal Oak Kimball High School, which today is Royal Oak High School.

STERLING HEIGHTS/SHELBY TOWNSHIP/UTICA — At the Dec. 19 Utica Community Schools Board of Education meeting, the UCS Board of Education honored Plumbrook Elementary School student Mila Sikes, who, as the Beaumont Children’s ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network, has helped raise more than $500,000 for the organization.

FARMINGTON HILLS — Those who are interested in knowing what it is like to be a missionary don’t have to travel too far to find out, as SEND International — an inter-denominational, multinational Christian mission organization — has a location in Farmington Hills.

GROSSE POINTE FARMS — Motown has lost its “Angel of Jazz.” Surrounded by family, businesswoman and philanthropist Gretchen Carhartt Valade, 97, died at her Grosse Pointe Farms home Dec. 30.

WARREN — Pastor Tsegayesus Hurisa Hunde has traversed the globe spreading the good news of Christ.

WEST BLOOMFIELD — If living a life of service to others is the truest indication of wealth, then many people in the West Bloomfield area might say that the community recently lost one of its wealthiest members.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Boutique salon Bell Amore’s owners have faced huge challenges in the past few years, but they continue to have a focus on the community.

GROSSE POINTE PARK — Although Grosse Pointe Park recently parted ways with its longtime former law firm, it wasn’t done out of ill will.

FARMINGTON HILLS — After having seizures for more than a decade, Farmington Hills resident Peter Varga said he feels like a normal person again.

STERLING HEIGHTS — The world was a completely different place a century ago, when Clarence Arens was born. The year 1922 is when the USSR was founded, Babe Ruth signed with the Yankees and the first edition of Reader’s Digest was published.

NOVI — A young girl has started the roots of what she hopes will become a nonprofit for climate change one day.

OAKLAND COUNTY — Jamie L. Wittenberg, a judge in the 44th District Court, died Nov. 20 at the age of 48 after a three-year battle with brain cancer.

UTICA — A Utica resident was recently recognized with a certificate from the American Heart Association for performing lifesaving CPR on a bicyclist back in March.