Birders from all over are flocking to the Columbia Reservation of the Lorain County Metro Parks after a purple gallinule was spotted there this week.

According to information found online, the purple gallinule normally lives in marshes in Florida, the Caribbean or South and Central America.

The purple gallinule was first spotted on Wednesday, according to birdwatchers at the reservation Friday. They said word about the bird has quickly spread around the birding community.

CT reporter Steve Fogarty met up with a woman from Medina. She had just picked up two friends from Baltimore at the airport, and the trio drove straight to Columbia Reservation in hopes of sightng the bird.

According to Fogarty, spotting the bird isn’t hard. It’s frequently in sight. Fogarty said the bird had just flown and was “real visible.” He said birders told him it could be seen picking off bugs and even eating a frog.

A number of birders were passing through Columbia Reservation on Friday. Many mentioned a large birding meetup this weekend at Magee Marsh, west of Port Clinton, and said many of those birders would undoubtedly be stopping by to see the purple gallinule.

Read Saturday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

More photos from CT Facebook fan Mike Behlke of Grafton:

Police Chief Duane Whitely and Elyria Mayor Bill Grace. (CT photo by Bruce Bishop.)

ELYRIA — Mayor Bill Grace wants to put another income tax measure before voters to beef up funding in the Police Department, taking their current budget of about $9.8 million and increasing it to more than $12 million. Grace and Police Chief Duane Whitely announced the plan this afternoon at a press conference at Elyria City Hall.

They say a goal of the additional funding is to take the department from 82 to 100 officers.

The proposal, which is complicated in its details, would involve placing a 0.25 percent income tax increase on that ballot with the funds to be generated to go strictly to the Elyria Police Department. The issue aims to increase the existing 0.25 percent police levy to a full 1 percent and repeal the city’s existing 0.50 percent general fund temporary income tax.

This would push the city’s overall tax rate to 2 percent, something city officials have unsuccessfully tried to do many times. Voters have overwhelming said through their votes they do not want a permanent tax.

If passed, each year the additional 0.25 percent increase would bring in about $2.8 million.

Passage of the proposal would also come with simultaneous action by City County to allocate 0.125 percent of the remaining 1 percent income tax for the exclusive use of the Police Department, giving the department exclusive hold on 1.125 percent of the city’s proposed 2 percent income tax.

Read Friday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

Memo from Mayor Bill Grace:

DETROIT — A federal appeals court has stopped the release of nine jailed Michigan militia members accused of conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government.

From top left, David Brian Stone Sr., 44, of Clayton, Mich,; David Brian Stone Jr. of Adrian, Mich,; Jacob Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio,; Tina Mae Stone and bottom row from left, Michael David Meeks, 40, of Manchester, Mich,; Kristopher T. Sickles, 27, of Sandusky, Ohio; Joshua John Clough, 28, of Blissfield, Mich.; and Thomas William Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind. (AP photo.)

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati issued an emergency stay this morning.

The nine, which include a man from Huron and a man from Sandusky, were expected to be returned to U.S. District Court in Detroit to be processed before being released until trial but the appeals court keeps them in jail. The defense has until 5 p.m. to respond.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said in a ruling late Wednesday that she would not further suspend her Monday order releasing the militia members under strict guidelines, including electronic monitoring and curfews.

The defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the government and the attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

CLEVELAND — A rare weekday afternoon game at Progressive Field turned into a nightmare for the Indians.

Seemingly en route to a sweep-avoiding win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday, the Indians instead found themselves on the losing end again, squandering a two-run lead in the ninth inning to drop an agonizing 5-4 decision.

A crucial error from shortstop Luis Valbuena and another collapse from closer Chris Perez earmarked Cleveland’s fourth straight defeat.

“Tough loss, tough series and a tough homestand so far,” said Cleveland manager Manny Acta, whose last-place team has dropped six of its last seven games to fall seven games under .500. “Nothing is more discouraging than battling for 82/3 innings and then losing.

“Whether you’re on the winning or losing end, you’ve got to love this game, because you can’t freeze the ball. You have to get 27 outs and we weren’t quite able to do that.”

The ninth inning began without incident, as Perez, who got the final two outs in the eighth, retired the first two batters he faced. But with Cleveland an out away from a much-needed victory, things took a drastic turn for the worse.

More photos below.

Perez allowed a double to Fred Lewis but still appeared headed for his fifth save of the season when the next batter, Aaron Hill, hit a groundball right at shortstop Luis Valbuena.

Instead of making the routine play, Valbuena let the ball get under his glove and through his legs to score Lewis from second. Unable to shake off the tough luck, Perez allowed a game-winning, two-run home run to the following hitter, Adam Lind, on a 1-2 pitch.

The mind-boggling scene played out in front of 12,563 fans, who voiced their displeasure by booing Perez off the mound when he finally recorded the final out of the inning.

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“It’s easy to sit here and blame Valbuena, but the fact is that I didn’t make the pitches when I needed to,” said Perez, who had been performing better out of the closer role since struggling mightily at the outset of the season. “I’m totally to blame for this. It’s easy to blame Luis, but he didn’t throw those pitches.”

Still, the game would have gone in the win column for the Indians had Valbuena made the easy play.

“It was a routine groundball. I don’t have an excuse for that,” Valbuena said. “I feel bad, because if I make that play, the game is over. Right now, we lose.”

Valbuena was at short for the second straight game in place of injured Asdrubal Cabrera, but wouldn’t use that as an excuse, and neither did his manager.

“A groundball is a groundball,” Acta said. “He’s played enough shortstop. He just made an error at the wrong time. But we win as a team and we lose as a team.”

Perez was asked to pitch more than one inning for the first time this year, but Acta felt comfortable with the strategy because his closer hadn’t gotten much work as of late, his last appearance coming Saturday.

“It’s no secret that we haven’t been playing good baseball and there haven’t been many save opportunities, but at the same time, I was called on to do a job,” Perez said. “We wouldn’t be talking about any of this if I would have made the pitches.”

Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona made enough pitches to give his team another positive outing, the right-hander allowing two runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings.

Carmona departed with his club in front 3-2, the Indians adding another run in the eighth, ironically enough on a two-out RBI double from Valbuena.

“He fought hard against a very good lineup,” Acta said of Carmona, who has worked at least six innings in all of his six starts this season.

Cleveland’s sagging offense showed signs of life for the second straight day, spreading its four runs over four innings and getting a rare homer from designated hitter Travis Hafner — his third of the season.

The Indians entered the game with the third-lowest homer total in the majors (14), while Hafner had not gone deep since April 20. The Blue Jays, who lead the majors with 43 homers, went deep for the 15th time in their last seven games.

“We’re making progress offensively, but we’ve still got to win as a team,” Acta said.

Wins have been hard to come by for the Indians, who posted another losing record in April and have begun May with three losses in four games. Still, Acta is staying positive.

“We know what we signed up for,” he said. “It’s a long season. These guys are going to come around and play better.”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.