Official Cherry Festival program, full schedule, photo galleries, reader photos and more.

A slew of new venues, events, and products will be on display at the 83rd National Cherry Festival, which gets under way on Saturday.

Ken Renaudo is on multiple waiting lists for affordable housing, but he doesn't expect to find an apartment anytime soon. To Renaudo, who is homeless, the issue is simple: Create more low-income housing, and more people would have an address. More of them, in turn, would be able to find work, and they wouldn't need to depend so much on public assistance.

Two area townships won't wait for Grand Traverse County to decide if it needs a road millage to fix its crumbling infrastructure.

Richard K. Connell-Sanford clutched a cane and slowly limped to the podium in 13th Circuit Court. He can't stand for long periods, so judge Philip E. Rodgers let him sit in a chair next to his defense attorney. Connell-Sanford, 24, was badly injured in a Jan. 2 traffic crash on Garfield Road near Potter Road. The crash killed Kira Kirchler, 24, of Traverse City, and Connell-Sanford was in court to be sentenced on a negligent homicide count.

Biologists at Sleeping Bear Dunes are reporting what appears to be another botulism-related bird die-off.

Sheldon McDonald will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Documentaries "starring planet Earth," movies from Tehran, Texas and Norway, and short movies by budding filmmakers help make up the lineup of 121 movies at this year's Traverse City Film Festival. There are 71 features and 50 shorts on this year's schedule. The film festival runs July 28 through Aug. 2.