Local 4's 'First Block' features local restaurants, geocaching, and an urban forest

DETROIT (July 21, 2014) – Local 4's award-winning special interest program, First Block, features new eateries; a super geeky, world-wide treasure hunt Detroit style; and the planting of thousands of trees where there once was blight.

The program airs tonight at 9:30 p.m.

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First up in this primetime special, WDIV News Anchor Devin Scillian hangs out with three chefs - Andy Hollyday, Dave Mancini and Marc Djozlija - who are good friends. They all have impressive resumes but each is ready to try something new by opening their own restaurants in Detroit. Hollyday and Djozlija good-heartedly share why they left secure executive chef jobs to join the risky culinary landscape in a city clawing its way back to solvency.

Hollyday was named Best Chef, 2012, in Hour Detroit. Formerly executive chef at Roast, his new restaurant is Selden Standard. Mancini, owner of the popular Supino Pizza in Eastern Market, will debut an Italian eatery next door called La Rondinella. Djozlija, was executive chef of Wolfgang Puck's Fine Dining Group. His new place, Wright & Co., is on Woodward in the historic Wright Kay building.

Next on First Block, Local 4Caster Ben Bailey gets WDIV viewers involved in the world-wide craze of Geocaching. It's a real-life treasure hunt using GPS devices to locate specific coordinates to find hidden containers. In this segment, the secret "treasures" Bailey hid and viewers found, are revealed.

First Block's final story is about a millionaire business mogul who is transforming abandoned and neglected land in Detroit into a hardwood tree farm. John Hantz, of Hantz Farms, saw the decline in his Detroit neighborhood but didn't want to move. Now six years later, greenery has replaced weeds, garbage and two thousand dumped tires. And it doesn't stop there. His team mows lawns for neighbors who can't do it themselves. It's all part of his philosophy that confidence - and property values - will come back if the community is kept clean.

Local 4 has long been known for its local programming, producing shows like America's Thanksgiving Parade; The Fireworks; The Auto Show; Arts, Beats and Eats and Dateline Detroit.

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About WDIV-Local 4
Local 4 News is currently the #1 newscast at 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, and 11pm in Nielsen ratings for the Detroit television market, and Local 4 News at 11pm is the highest-rated newscast of all NBC affiliates in the top 11 markets nationwide. In addition, Local 4's ClickOnDetroit.com is the leading breaking news and weather website in Michigan and metro Detroit's #1 local media website.

About Post-Newsweek Stations
Post-Newsweek Stations is owned by Graham Holdings Company (NYSE:GHC), a diversified education and media company. Post-Newsweek Stations owns and operates six television stations: WDIV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit; KPRC, the NBC affiliate in Houston; WPLG, the ABC affiliate in Miami; WKMG, the CBS affiliate in Orlando; KSAT, the ABC affiliate in San Antonio; and WJXT, an independent in Jacksonville.