1. Try and resist the temptation to feed these police officers a sugar cube or carrot. The Kent county sheriff's department is bringing out the horsepower this holiday weekend by putting its mounted unit out on patrol.
You may see as many as four horses on the streets of Grand Rapids, for the city’s 4th of July celebrations.
Each horse goes through extensive training learning not to be afraid of loud things, like gunshots or fireworks, and not to jump at things they might come across on the streets.
The patrol handles crowd control in downtown Grand Rapids regularly, helping to close the streets down after events and monitoring parks.
The Kent County Sheriff's Department says just one mounted unit can do the work of 14 regular officers.
2. We're counting down the days until Tribute on the Grand."
Now, you can get tickets for a special dinner that's part of the event that’ll happen at Ah-Nab-Awen Park.
While the event itself is free, there's also a one of a kind ticketed beer pairing dinner that will be held on the Gilette Bridge with food provided by the Gilmore Collection. The dinner will be paired with beers from Fox 17's event partner, Founders Brewing Company.
Tickets cost $150 and are on sale now. Proceeds go to Grand Rapids Whitewater, a group dedicated to helping restore free flowing whitewater rapids into the Grand River.
3. It's a beautiful forecast for theLakeshore Art Festival kicking off in downtown Muskegon.
You can check out over 300 fine art and craft exhibitors, food vendors, interactive art opportunities, entertainers and children`s activities happening in Hackley park.
The event runs Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
4. Starting today, the minimum age to buy cigarettes in Chicago is going up to 21.
City officials say it's a benefit to public health.
Some young people, along with some business owners, are not too happy with it.
The city will also impose new taxes on retailers who sell tobacco products including cigars and smokeless tobacco. They’ll also enforce a ban on redeeming coupons and other discount vouchers.
Officials say this is all meant to protect young people by delaying the age at which they're exposed to tobacco products.
5. More than 300,000 Honda and Acura owners are being urged to stop driving their cars immediately, due to faulty airbags.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said new tests show these airbags have a much higher risk of exploding and killing a driver or passenger.
Officials say it's critical that owners of those vehicles do not drive the car until they are fixed.
Honda has the replacement parts to fix all of the high-risk cars covered by this alert.
So far there have been ten U.S deaths tied to these exploding airbags.
