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APARTMENT SHOOTINGS

Michigan woman sought in shootings of boyfriend, brother

INDEPENDENCE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Police are searching for a woman suspected in the fatal shootings of her live-in boyfriend and her brother at a Michigan apartment. The Oakland County sheriff’s office says officers found the bodies of 26-year-old Ray Muscat and 25-year-old Bishop Taverner early Sunday morning in an apartment in Independence Township, northwest of Detroit. Authorities say someone who lived in the apartment called 911 about 3:20 a.m. after being awakened by the sound of gunshots. Officers found Taverner’s body in the living room of the apartment and Muscat’s body in a bedroom.

WOMAN IN WHEELCHAIR-CRASH

Woman in wheelchair struck, killed while crossing road

ROYALTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 39-year-old woman has been struck and killed by a vehicle while trying to cross a southwestern Michigan road in a wheelchair. The Berrien County sheriff’s office says Emily Rudman was hit about 10:30 p.m. Saturday on M-139 in Royalton Township. Rudman, of Royalton Township, nearly was struck by a car heading northbound before she was hit by a southbound vehicle. She was pronounced dead at a hospital. No arrests were made. The sheriff’s office says the driver of the vehicle that struck Rudman was cooperating with investigators. Royalton Township is southwest of Grand Rapids.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Michigan looks to fix the state’s affordable housing problem

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Members of the Resilient Homes Michigan coalition are looking to attract workers back to the state and modernize rental properties for low-income families to live in homes with clean air and nontoxic materials by proposing $1.6 billion in state spending. Around 320,000 renting households in Michigan have incomes at or below 30% of the median income for their area. The National Low Income Housing Coalition says that of those households, 71% spend more than half their income on rent, leaving little money remaining for other costs for life. The coalition is asking the Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to approve the spending.

AFGHAN REFUGEES-ST. LOUIS

St. Louis seeking to boost population with Afghan refugees

ST. LOUIS (AP) — An aggressive effort in St. Louis is trying to lure Afghan refugees. About 600 have made it to the Midwestern city so far and another 750 are expected by later this year. Civic leaders are hopeful that over the next few years, thousands more will decide to locate to St. Louis, helping to offset seven decades of population loss and rejuvenate urban neighborhoods — just as the arrival of Bosnian refugees did three decades ago. The St. Louis region is now home to about 40,000 Bosnians. An area of the city known as “Little Bosnia” features Bosnian-run businesses, a chamber of commerce and even an online newspaper.

POLICE SHOOTING-MICHIGAN

Autopsy: Patrick Lyoya killed by cop’s shot to the head

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — An official autopsy has concluded that Patrick Lyoya, a Black man who was killed by a Michigan police officer, died from a gunshot to the back of his head. The finding matches the conclusion of an expert hired by Lyoya’s family. The report from the Kent County medical examiner also says Patrick Lyoya’s blood-alcohol level was 0.29, more than three times over the legal limit for driving, when his car was stopped in Grand Rapids on April 4. The Detroit Free Press reported the autopsy results Friday. Lyoya was a 26-year-old refugee from Congo. He was killed during a physical struggle with Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr.

MICHIGAN POLICE SHOOTING

Police in Michigan chase shopper, shoot him in parking lot

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Video shows police chasing a man and shooting him twice in the parking lot of a big-box store in a Michigan city. The shooting occurred April 25 at a Meijer in East Lansing. City officials released video Thursday and said state police are investigating. The man has been identified as DeAnthony VanAtten. His injuries weren’t life-threatening. A 911 dispatcher told officers that a 20-year-old Black man was heading into the Meijer with a gun. An officer confronted VanAtten as he was leaving the store and a foot chase ensued. VanAtten told officers they shot him for no reason. A gun was found under a vehicle in the parking lot.

PONTIAC LAKE-BODY IDENTIFIED

Police: Body found in lake is that of missing Pontiac man

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a body found in a Pontiac lake by a father and son has been identified as that of a 31-year-old man who went missing in December. Police said Friday the body is that of Ryan Patrick Pitts of Pontiac and that his body was positively identified through fingerprints. An autopsy was performed Friday and Pitts’ cause and manner of death were pending. Pitts’ body was found Thursday in Pontiac’s Harris Lake by a father and son as they were fishing on the lake. Relatives reported Pitts missing in January although he had not been seen since December.

MICHIGAN LAWMAKER-DRUNKEN DRIVING

Michigan lawmaker gets probation, fines for drunken driving

LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan lawmaker who pleaded guilty to driving drunk has been sentenced to probation and fined. Rep. Mary Cavanagh received the recommended sentence Friday of a $500 fine plus other fines, a 10-day work program, two years of probation and must appear for sobriety court. The 30-year-old Redford Democrat pleaded guilty in April to operating while intoxicated following her Feb. 25 arrest in the Livonia area. Officials say a blood test showed Cavanagh’s blood alcohol level was 0.20. It was Cavanagh’s second time being arrested by Livonia police for drunken driving after a 2015 stop in which she pleaded to a lesser charge.

MICHIGAN FLOOD

Report says Michigan 2020 dam failures were ‘preventable’

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Experts say the 2020 failure of two dams on a Michigan river was “foreseeable and preventable.” A five-member panel appointed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released a report Wednesday. It says the disaster resulted from flaws in the design and construction of the Edenville Dam in the 1920s, along with operation and maintenance shortcomings over the years. The dam on the Tittabawassee River in central Michigan collapsed May 19, 2020. It released a torrent that overtopped the downstream Sanford Dam and flooded the city of Midland. Thousands of people were evacuated and 150 homes were destroyed, with damages exceeding $200 million.

AP-US-ELECTION-2022-ABORTION

Abortion rights may rest on governor’s races in some states

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The fight for Congress often dominates midterm elections. But the stunning revelation that the Supreme Court may soon overturn its landmark decision on abortion rights has thrust candidates for governor into the forefront of the 2022 midterm debate. In a handful of battleground states with Republican-controlled state legislatures, every Republican candidate for governor supports severe abortion restrictions, if not a total ban with no exceptions. That allows Democrats to rightly claim that women’s access to abortion in some states may rest almost entirely on which party wins the governor’s race in November. Governor’s races in Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin could have a profound impact on abortion rights.