following a huge blackout tuesday that closed schools, forced evacuations, even trapped people in elevators. the aging power grid in detroit has been run for decades by the city s public lighting department. however, decades of delayed maintenance have led to frequent outages. a $200 million, four-year upgrade is currently under way in hopes of avoiding similar outages in the future. the wife of a maryland man serving 15 years in cuba is begging toor his release. five years after his arrest, judy gross says her husband, alan is in poor health and will not make it another year. her words come a day after the state department renewed calls for cuba to free gross. the former state department subcontractor was arrested for bringing satellite communications equipment into cuba. well, it is beginning to look a lot like christmas. an 88-foot tall minnesota spruce