1. Step up your grocery shopping checkout experience even more with Meijer's "Shop and Scan."
It allows shoppers to scan bar codes on items as they shop and bag groceries as they move through the store. It's all aimed at decreasing their checkout time.
The technology works with Meijer's app. Once they're done shopping, simply scan the phone at self checkout lane to pay.
It is being offered at 31 stores in the Grand Rapids, Lakeshore and Southwest Michigan areas. The program expands to all Meijer stores by the end of the year.
2. There's some good news for one local school district, they're extending their partnership with Grand Rapids Community College.
The Early Middle College Program at Grand Rapids Public Schools allows students to take college courses while they're still in high school. If they stay for a fifth year, the teens can graduate with both a high school diploma, and an associate's degree.
School officials say it's a win-win for the kids; they can save a ton of money and it's a great achievement to have under their belts.
Right now the program is only available at Ottawa Hills High School, but the superintendent says she hopes to expand it to the other high schools in the district.
3. Digging for coins to feed the parking meter is simply a thing of the past in Grand Rapids. The city is using a new app called Park Mobile so people can pay for their meters digitally.
Pay for the parking meter, without having to stop what you're doing, and walk back to the car.
On Thursday, the city will be unveiling a new app, Motu. Not only will people be able to pay for metered parking, but the app is customized for Grand Rapids and will allow people to monitor their parking session, view payment history and have receipts emails to them.
4. Who is smarter, dogs or cats? Researchers analyzed 37 domestic dogs and focused on 47 gestures they used to communicate with each other. Out of the 47 gestures, the researchers successfully translated 19 of them, which gave them a closer look at the mind of the canine.
They found that dogs have 530 million neurons calculating their behavior versus 250 million neurons typically found in cats. This is mainly due to the fact that "man's best friend" have a denser cerebral cortex.
5. Remember that iconic oozy green slime from the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards? Now you can actually get the slime at home, and on your food.
Entertainment Giant Nickelodeon has teamed up with food company Great Value to launch Slime Sauce, a slime green ketchup.
Its makers recommend using it as a dip with corn dogs, french fries, and chicken nuggets, or as a topping on burgers. They also suggest you keep it safe for themed birthday parties and Halloween bashes.
The sauce is being sold exclusively at Walmart.
