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DETROIT-COUNCIL-INVESTIGATION

Detroit changing towing rules after corruption probes

Officials in Detroit are looking at making continued changes to city towing rules after several federal corruption probes. Mayor Mike Duggan told reporters Thursday that he’s asked the city’s police chief for a plan in two weeks to eliminate a decade-long practice of rotating towing duties to a list of preferred companies. On Wednesday, search warrants were executed at offices in City Hall. Agents and state police also were seen at the homes of two city council members. The name of one emerged several years ago in a bribery investigation involving a local towing magnate.

PARKING TICKETS-TIRES

Drop the chalk: Michigan motorist wins appeal over tickets

DETROIT (AP) — A woman fed up with how a Michigan city tracked parking violations has won a major decision from a federal appeals court. Alison Taylor says Saginaw violated the U.S. Constitution by chalking her car tires and gathering information without a search warrant. The appeals court agreed, saying an exception claimed by Saginaw doesn’t fit. Saginaw says tire chalking is a signal to motorists that vehicles are being watched in a two-hour parking zone. The city calls it a “minimal intrusion.” But attorney Philip Ellison says Saginaw used chalk marks to illegally extract information from Taylor’s car. Taylor received more than a dozen parking tickets. The lawsuit now will return to a federal court in Michigan.

2020 ELECTION-TRUMP-LAWYERS

Lawyers allied with Trump penalized over Michigan lawsuit

DETROIT (AP) — Nine lawyers allied with former President Donald Trump face financial penalties and other sanctions in Michigan. A judge says they abused the court system with a lawsuit that challenged the state’s election results after Joe Biden’s victory was certified. Federal Judge Linda Parker says the lawsuit last November was a sham intended to deceive the court and the public. Parker told Michigan and Detroit to tally the costs of defending the lawsuit and submit the figures. The judge also ordered 12 hours of legal education, including six hours in election law. The attorneys include high-profile Trump allies Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood.

TRUCK CRASH-BEE SWARM

Michigan truck hauling bee hives crashes, unleashing swarm

BOYNE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Police say a truck hauling bee hives crashed and overturned along a northern Michigan roadway, unleashing a big swarm of bees. The truck overturned about 2 p.m. Wednesday and dumped its load of bee boxes along a Charlevoix County road, prompting police to urge residents to keep windows and doors closed. Charlevoix County Sheriff Charles Vondra said Thursday he was told that upwards of 50 million bees were in the truck’s load of bee boxes when it crashed about 260 miles northwest of Detroit. Beekeepers retrieved the hive-filled boxes and loaded them onto trucks that hauled them away, but Vondra says several hundred thousand bees got left behind.

MICHIGAN GOVERNOR-KIDNAPPING PLOT

Man gets 6 years in prison in Michigan governor kidnap plot

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A man upset over state-ordered coronavirus restrictions has been sentenced to just over six years in prison for planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Ty Garbin apologized and was sentenced Wednesday. Garbin admitted his role in the alleged scheme weeks after being arrested last fall. He is among six men charged in federal court but the only one who has pleaded guilty. Garbin says they trained at his property near Luther, Michigan, constructing a “shoot house” to resemble Whitmer’s vacation home and “assaulting it with firearms.” The government noted Garbin’s “exceptional” cooperation and asked the judge to give him credit for helping investigators reinforce their case against his co-defendants. He’s likely to testify at any trial.

AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-SCHOOL-FUNDING

Pandemic windfall for US schools has few strings attached

The Biden administration says the historic amount of federal pandemic aid flowing to the nation’s K-12 schools presents a moment for reimagining all aspects of American education. But there are no guarantees that’s going to happen, in large part because the government has imposed few requirements about how the money is spent. Many schools plan to use it for more practical needs such as building repairs. Officials also say they fear locking their districts into long-term programs they won’t be able to afford once the money runs out. The $190 billion is bigger than anything U.S. schools have seen before.

CONDUCTOR-ORCHESTRA AND UNIVERSITY

Conductor to work for 2 New Orleans orchestras

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A staff conductor with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is coming to New Orleans to work for both the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and a private university. A news release Thursday says Chelsea Gallo will be assistant conductor of the professional orchestra and conductor of the Loyola Symphony Orchestra at Loyola University New Orleans. She is currently a staff conductor with the Detroit Symphony and conducting faculty for its civic youth programs. As assistant conductor to the Louisiana Philharmonic, she will lead such programs as holiday, young peoples’ and parks concerts. She also will host the orchestra’s weekly radio program and serve as assistant to music director Carlos Miguel Prieto and guest conductors.

AP-US-ELECTION-2020-ROBOCALLS

Conservative hoaxers face $5.1M fine for election robocalls

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Two conservative hoaxers face a record $5.1 million fine for allegedly making illegal robocalls to wireless phones without the owners’ consent in the 2020 election. The Federal Communications Commission says the proposed fine for Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman and Burkman’s lobbying firm would be the largest ever for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The men already face criminal charges for allegedly organizing 85,000 robocalls that falsely warned people in predominantly Black areas of New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan that information gleaned from mail-in ballots could lead to their arrest, debt collection and forced vaccination.

DETROIT COUNCIL-INVESTIGATION

FBI searches Detroit City Hall, 2 council members’ homes

DETROIT (AP) — FBI agents have searched offices at Detroit City Hall and the homes of two City Council members. The searches Wednesday come a few weeks after another official was charged in an alleged bribery scheme. Agents and state police were at the homes of Janeé Ayers and Scott Benson. There was no immediate comment from Ayers or Benson, who are running for reelection. Tim Waters, head of the FBI in Detroit, says evidence was collected but no one was immediately charged. Authorities have been investigating Detroit-area corruption for years. Another council member, Andre Spivey, was recently charged with conspiracy to commit bribery. He’s pleaded not guilty.

FATAL POLICE SHOOTING-LAWSUIT

Michigan parents sue Hawaii police over son’s shooting death

HONOLULU (AP) — The Michigan parents of a man shot and killed by Hawaii police in June have filed a wrongful death lawsuit, saying officers didn’t need to shoot him 13 times. At the time, police said Daniel Buckingham cut an officer with a large knife when officers responded to an alarm at a Big Island home that was supposed to be empty. Police said he was hiding in a bedroom and swung a knife at an officer, hitting him in the forearm. Two of the other responding officers fired their guns, killing Buckingham. The lawsuit says officers didn’t announce themselves.