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Morning Buzz: 5 things to know for August 16

Posted at 10:44 AM, Aug 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-16 10:43:01-04

1. It may have the word "public" in its name, but the Waldron Public House on Ionia is now going "private."

The restaurant, owned by Mark Sellers' "Barfly Ventures," just opened a few months ago in the former McFaddens location.

But already, they've decided to close the doors, and open solely for private parties and big events.

They say they saw a huge growth potential in that part of the business.

The same company owns Hopcat, Stella's, and Grand Rapids Brewing Company.

2. College students will be heading back to campus soon, and one local university is making sure the place is spotless before the new year starts.

Here's Grand Valley State's mascot, Louie the Laker!

He spent the day cleaning up the Allendale campus, even vacuuming the dorms before students head back to school.

GVSU's fall semester starts in two weeks, on August 29.

3. Over the years, Western Michigan football coach P.J. Fleck has had some very creative ideas when it comes to awarding scholarships.

Now, he's at it again, and he's gaining national attention.

The 35-year-old came out in full pads and the Broncos new uniform, challenging one of his players to stop him in a 1-on-1 drill. Fleck challenged walk on Kasey Carson

Carson won the battle and then coach fleck turned the team’s attention to the video boards for a sly surprise, where rocky himself, Sylvester Stallone, had a special message for Carson telling him that he'd gotten a full ride scholarship.

4. A local little league softball team is nearing a chance to play for a World Series title.

The team from Grandville is representing the United States’ central division and won again Monday, moving them into the semifinals. The team is managed by Dave Vander Meer. His daughter Jamie struck out six batters in Monday's victory.

If they win tonight they will play in the championship match Wednesday.

You can catch the action on ESPN2 both tonight and Wednesday. A watch party is being held in the Grandville’s Uccello’s location to cheer on the team help raise money for travel costs. The games are being played in Portland, Oregon.

5. Can you see me now? Good.

Google is rolling out its own mobile video calling app today with the launch of "Google Duo."

While the company already provides its "Google Hangouts" service for video calls with multiple users, the mobile-only duo allows people to call "app to app" and even preview the video of the person calling them before they answer.

The new calling app also lets users call across rival platforms, meaning apple users can call Android phones and vice versa.