Good morning, Saginaw.

Aram Mrjoian has been named the 2026–2027 recipient of Saginaw Valley State University's Stuart D. and Vernice M.

Gross Award for Literature for his debut novel Waterline, and he will visit SVSU in winter 2027 to accept the award and a $1,000 prize (he will meet with classes and student groups).

SVSU will buy the eastern portion of Campus Village Apartments for $32 million to create Cardinal Corners (357 single bedroom townhouse style units) and will place the complex under University Police when the sale closes Friday, Oct.

30, bringing campus housing to about 3,000 students by fall 2027.

Saginaw Valley State's Board of Control approved up to $32 million to buy the eastern portion of Campus Village Apartments at Pierce and Davis Roads and rename it Cardinal Corners, adding townhouse units for (357) students; the deal is set to close this week and will help reach about 3,000 on-campus beds by fall 2027.

Watertown Township Clerk Malisa Pyles has produced 15 short videos over the past five-and-a-half months to teach kids how voting works, from an August cartoon-character vote to lessons that will show how to request an absentee ballot in November (one child used a video to get a ballot when she was sick).

Fourteen Saginaw-area high school football teams will open the 2026 playoffs Friday at 7 p.m. at various sites; Michigan Lutheran Seminary will play Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart Saturday at 1 p.m., and Merrill is already in a regional semifinal against Fulton at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Michigan high school football playoffs begin this weekend, and 18 Flint-area teams earned berths; fans can vote for which team they think will win a district title until 9 a.m. Friday + results will follow next week.

The Michigan high school football playoffs will begin Friday with 13 Saginaw-area teams kicking off at 7 p.m. in district semifinals; players to watch include Millington’s Week 9 hero Brenden Wascher and leading quarterbacks and tailbacks from Midland Dow, Frankenmuth, and Swan Valley.

MLive’s Bay City Athlete of the Week highlights top high school performers for the week of Oct.

27, and readers can cast votes in the poll until 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29 to pick the winner.