Kilwin's Closes in Birmingham, Plymouth Plans Frozen Pub Crawl Saturday

What's happening in communities around Farmington and Farmington Hills? Here are a few of this week's big headlines from neighboring communities:

(Birmingham): Kilwins Chocolates has been added to the already growing list of prominent downtown Birmingham businesses to close in 2013. Still, Principal Shopping District Director John Heiney said a new business is already interested in the Kilwins space on North Old Woodward, and there may soon be new tenants in another recently-closed downtown restaurant.

Frozen Pub Crawl to Provide Downtown Fun Ahead of Plymouth Ice Festival: The 2013 Plymouth Ice Festival is still a week away, but downtown will get a taste of some early festivities Saturday (Jan. 12) with the Labatt Blue Frozen Pub Crawl. The pub crawl, which starts 4:15 p.m. Saturday at Panache 447 before moving on to E.G. Nick's, The Penn Bar & Grill and Sean O'Callaghan's, is sponsored by the Detroit Spartans, a Michigan State University alumni group.

Demolition of Northville Psychiatric Hospital Not Expected to Begin Until 2015: Northville Township will not begin demolition of the former Northville Psychiatric Hospital until it receives revenue from the development being built on the the corner of Seven Mile and Haggerty Roads, which is at least two years away. 

2 Killed in Novi Mobile Home Fire: A couple in their 70s found unconscious in their burning mobile home Thursday morning later died at Providence Park Hospital. The Novi Fire Department responded to a 911 call at 8:30 a.m. regarding a fire in the Novi Meadows mobile home community, near the intersection of Napier Road and Grand River Avenue.

West Bloomfield Students Chosen for U.S. Senate Program: The only two students chosen for the prestigious United States Senate Youth Program from the state of Michigan are both from West Bloomfield High School, Jacob Podell and Chloe Pan. In addition to outstanding leadership abilities and a strong commitment to public service, the students generally rank academically in the top one percent of the state.