Latest Michigan news, sports, business and entertainment at 9:20 p.m. EDT

AP-US-MICHIGAN-GOVERNOR-KIDNAPPING-PLOT

US seeks 9-year prison term for Gov. Whitmer kidnap plotter

DETROIT (AP) — Federal prosecutors are recommending a nine-year prison sentence for a man who says he worked on a wild plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Ty Garbin pleaded guilty to conspiracy just four months after being arrested. In a court filing, the government says he deserves credit for assisting investigators. The FBI last October said it broke up a plot to kidnap the Democratic governor by anti-government extremists who were upset over her coronavirus restrictions. Garbin and five other men were charged in federal court. Others were charged in state court with aiding them. Garbin will be sentenced on Aug. 25 in federal court in Grand Rapids.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MICHIGAN

Top doc told Whitmer school mask mandate would curb virus

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s top doctor says she’s told Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state health director that reinstituting a mask requirement in K-12 schools would likely lessen the spread of COVID-19, but she adds there are other factors when considering the step. Dr. Joneigh Khaldun reiterated Wednesday she’s “concerned” about the coronavirus’ potential impact on schools as the delta variant takes hold. The state health department last week strongly recommended universal masking in schools regardless of vaccination status but stopped short of requiring it. Superintendents have expressed frustration over having to decide about masks, a contentious issue in recent school board meetings.

CAPITOL BREACH-MICHIGAN

Michigan man charged with assaulting officer at US Capitol

A 40-year- old mid-Michigan man has been arrested and accused of assaulting a police officer as part of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Logan Barnhart of Lansing is charged with assaulting and resisting with a dangerous weapon, civil disobedience, disorderly and disruptive conduct, engaging in physical violence and an act of physical violence in the Capitol Building or grounds. A federal indictment Tuesday says he and others using “a deadly weapon, that is, a baton, flag, pole, and crutch, did forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, and interfere with” an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department. He made an appearance Tuesday in federal court in Grand Rapids and was released on bond.

HIKER FATAL FALL

Hiker dies after fall from cliff at river gorge in U.P.

LAIRD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 75-year-old man has died after falling from a cliff while hiking down a trail near a waterfall in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. State police say Douglas Welker slipped at the edge of the cliff Monday at Sturgeon River Gorge near Houghton County’s Laird Township. Welker of Pelkie fell 20 feet and struck his head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. State police say an investigation reveals his death to be accidental. The gorge is part of the rugged Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness, about 80 miles west of Marquette.

AP-US-DEADLY-CHASE-DEPUTY-SHOT

Family: Man in deputy’s shooting had ‘irrational thoughts’

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — The family of a man identified as a suspect in the fatal shooting of a deputy in southwestern Michigan said he had been “tormented by invasive and irrational thoughts.” Gary Goidosik and Kim Goidosik referred to themselves in a statement Tuesday as the family of the shooter in the weekend death of Kalamazoo County sheriff’s deputy Ryan Proxmire. State police on Monday identified the 35-year-old Kyle Goidosik as the man who shot Proxmire. Authorities have said a man pointed a gun at deputies at a gas station in Galesburg Saturday night then drove away. Proxmire gave chase and was shot. He died at a hospital Sunday. The man later was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the other deputies.

AP-US-UAW-CORRUPTION

Automaker FCA US admits paying off union leaders; fined $30M

Automaker FCA US has been fined $30 million after admitting that it paid off leaders of the United Auto Workers to try to win concessions in negotiations covering thousands of factory workers. U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman also sentenced FCA US Tuesday to three years’ probation and ordered an independent compliance monitor. FCA stands for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which now is part of Stellantis. The automaker pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy. Its conviction follows a series of guilty pleas from UAW officials who were showered with more than $3.5 million in cash and items of value from a jointly run training center over an eight-year period.

CHRISTMAS TREES-BUG THREAT

Bug that could hurt Christmas tree industry found in Kent Co

ROCKFORD, Mich. (AP) — An invasive bug that could threaten Michigan’s Christmas tree industry has been discovered in the western part of the state. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said Monday it had confirmed the presence of the balsam woolly adelgid near Rockford in Kent County. A homeowner noticed several Fraser firs in their yard were declining and contacted an arborist, who spotted the infestation and alerted the state. It’s unclear how the bug reached Michigan or how long it’s been in the state. The Balsam woolly adelgid has been on Michigan’s invasive species watch list for years.

AP-US-HATE-CRIME-PROBE-MICHIGAN-FAMILY

Man sentenced for attacking Black neighbors’ Michigan home

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) — A white neighbor who shot at a Black family’s Michigan home, slashed tires on a vehicle and wrote racist graffiti on a pickup truck, told a judge he did it because of a Black Lives Matter sign in the window. Michael Frederick Jr. said during his sentencing in Macomb County Circuit Court that his actions weren’t an attack on Eddie and Candace Hall, “personally.” The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens reports that 25-year-old Frederick was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison. The incidents occurred in September in Warren, which borders Detroit.

DRUNKEN DRIVING-EXPUNGEMENT

Whitmer to OK letting drunken drivers try to clear record

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan legislators have voted to let an estimated 200,000 one-time drunken drivers seek to set aside their conviction, finalizing expungement bills that will be signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The legislation received wide bipartisan support Tuesday in the state House. It would lift a prohibition barring DUI offenders from clearing their record. To be eligible, they could have only one offense and it could not have caused another person’s death or injury. They would have to wait at least five years after their probationary term to apply. A judge would review any request and made a decision.

LANSING-COUPLE SLAIN

Man charged in couple’s slaying also charged in teen’s death

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A man charged in the April killings of a Lansing couple is also accused in a string of June crimes that include the killing of a teenage girl and a sexual assault on a woman. Isaiah Gardenhire is charged in Ingham County in the fatal April 28 shootings of 39-year-old Harley Owens and his 29-year-old girlfriend, Kelsey Coon-Lennon, according to court records. The Lansing State Journal reports that he also faces 12 felonies stemming from several crimes in early June in the county, including the slaying of 13-year-old Adrie Dembowski. Gardenhire is in custody in the Isabella County Jail on $1.5 million bond.