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AP-US-MICHIGAN-GOVERNOR-KIDNAPPING-PLOT

2nd guilty plea planned in alleged plot to kidnap Whitmer

DETROIT (AP) — Records show another man charged in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has agreed to plead guilty. That would leave four to face trial in March and give prosecutors a second insider who could be a key witness. Kaleb Franks in a document filed Monday said he would join Ty Garbin as the second person to admit guilt in the scheme to kidnap the Democratic governor. FBI agents stepped in and arrested the group in October 2020. Garbin pleaded guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to slightly more than six years in prison. The government said six men wanted to kidnap Whitmer because of their disgust over COVID-19 restrictions.

MICHIGAN BUDGET-ROADS

Whitmer to propose $1 billion boost to transportation budget

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will propose a $1 billion, or nearly 20%, boost to Michigan’s transportation budget to repair roads and increase other spending. The $6.3 billion plan she will present to lawmakers Wednesday includes new road and bridge funding from the federal infrastructure law. Three-quarters would go to state roads and bridges and one-quarter to local roads and bridges. Whitmer’s proposal includes a call for augmenting the transportation budget with general funds. It also factors in a nearly 1-cent-per-gallon fuel tax hike that took effect last month under a 2015 law. Whitmer says Michigan has made “huge progress” fixing roads, “but there’s still so much more to do.”

MISSING TEEN-FATHER

Virginia inmate sentenced in Michigan for daughter’s killing

ALLEGAN, Mich. (AP) — A man serving life sentences in Virginia for raping and killing a woman in 1980 was sentenced Monday to an additional 35 to 50 years in prison in Michigan for the 1989 killing of his 14-year-old daughter. Dennis Bowman pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in December for the killing of his daughter Aundria Bowman, whose body was found two years ago buried in his backyard in Hamilton, southwest of Grand Rapids. He told police he pushed his daughter down the stairs, killing her, after she threatened to report he had molested her. He buried her in a barrel in the backyard. Bowman is serving two life sentences for the 1980 rape and murder of Kathleen Doyle in Norfolk, Virginia.

MICHIGAN BUDGET-TEACHER BONUSES

Whitmer will propose retention bonuses for teachers, staff

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will propose spending $2.3 billion over four years to recruit and retain teachers and other school staff, enticing them with annual $2,000 bonuses that would grow to $4,000 by 2025. Her plan to address educator shortages, provided to The Associated Press, is part of the budget Whitmer will present to lawmakers. Starting in the fall, all full-time returning K-12 public employees would get $2,000, with part-timers receiving less based on hours worked. They would get an additional $2,000 in 2023. Teachers and other certified staff like counselors would qualify for $3,000 in 2024 and $4,000 in 2025.

BENZIE COUNTY SLAYING

Man held on murder charge after neighbor found dead in home

HOMESTEAD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A northern Michigan man man faces an open murder charge after an elderly neighbor was found dead inside her burning home. Fifty-seven-year-old Jeffrey Duane Stratton of Homestead Township is being held without bond after being arraigned Sunday in a Benzie County court. The Benzie County Sheriff’s Office says Stratton was captured by Michigan State Police after running from his home. A police dog led officers there from the nearby home where 72-year-old Linda Henry was found dead Friday afternoon and surrounded by flames. Sheriff’s deputies had been sent to the home on a report of a breaking and entering in progress. It’s not clear how the woman died.

CONVICTION VACATED

Detroit man freed after conviction in 2005 killing vacated

DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit man who spent 16 years behind bars after being wrongfully convicted of fatally shooting a teenager is now a free man after a judge vacated his convictions. WXYZ-TV reports 38-year-old Dennis Atkins walked out of a state prison Friday in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula after a Wayne County judge vacated his convictions in the 2005 murder of 17-year-old Billie Rutledge. The teen was on a stretcher and being treated by two EMS workers for gunshot wounds when an armed man walked up and fatally shot Rutledge. Atkins maintained his innocence and the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit re-investigated the case and pushed for his release.

AP-US-ELECTION-2022-ATTORNEYS-GENERAL

State AG races become litmus test for GOP election claims

Races for state attorneys general are emerging as important battlegrounds this year as Republicans seek to expand their reach in the office sometimes referred to as “the people’s lawyer.” Democrats are concerned about the emergence of far-right candidates running for attorney general and what that could mean for election challenges related to the 2024 presidential election. Tight races are expected this year in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, where Democrats won the job four years ago. But there could be major shifts even in some states where Republicans already hold the office because loyalty to former President Donald Trump has become a litmus test in some GOP primaries.

NEIGHBORHOOD LEARNING CENTER-DETROIT

AT&T Michigan contributes broadband, computers to center

DETROIT (AP) — AT&T Michigan has contributed $50,000, high-speed broadband service and computers to a center on Detroit’s east side for students and families. The contribution is to the Connected Learning Center at Jefferson East Inc.’s new Neighborhood Resources Hub, which will launch Monday. AT&T Michigan President David Lewis says it will “help connect Detroit’s underserved students and families to the technology they need.” Jefferson East Inc. works to build inclusive neighborhoods along Detroit’s east Jefferson corridor and its five adjoining historic neighborhoods. The Neighborhood Resource Hub provides the community with services and resources designed to help keep residents in their homes.

FOUR KILLED-INMATE DIES

Michigan man convicted in killings of 4 women dies at 78

COLDWATER, Mich. (AP) — A state correction official says a Michigan man who was serving life sentences for the 1972 killings of four women in the Kalamazoo area has died after being found unresponsive in prison. Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz says 78-year-old Danny Ranes was pronounced dead at a hospital after being found unresponsive Jan. 29 at Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater. The Kalamazoo Gazette reports that Ranes was convicted in the slayings of 18-year-old Western Michigan University student Pamela Fearnow; 19-year-old Chicago residents Claudia Bidstrup and Linda Clark; and 29-year-old Patricia Howk of Kalamazoo Township. He was sentenced to four life sentences without parole.

OBIT-COHN

Avern Cohn, retired judge who served for 40 years, dies

DETROIT (AP) — Avern Cohn, a retired federal judge in Detroit who heard cases into his 90s, has died at age 97. The court says Cohn died Friday after a brief illness. Cohn was nominated by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and served for 40 years until stepping down in 2019. Long before becoming a judge, Cohn was involved in public service. He was chairman of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in the 1970s and also served on the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners, a civilian oversight panel. In 2010, Cohn presided over the case of Monica Conyers, a Detroit City Council member who was convicted of taking bribes to support a sludge-hauling contractor.