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SEVERE WEATHER-MIDWEST

Flooding, power outages hit Michigan as storms rake Midwest

DETROIT (AP) — Flooding brought by heavy rains shut down some freeways in the Detroit area Thursday as waves of thunderstorms made their way across large swaths of the Midwest. Thunderstorms that toppled trees or tree limbs onto power lines left nearly 1 million homes and businesses in Michigan without power at one point Thursday morning. By mid-afternoon Thursday crews had restored power to about 100,000 utility customers across the state, although about 830,000 customers remained in the dark, uncertain when their power might return. Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana also have been hit by recent rounds of storms.

1990 SLAYING-SENTENCE

Woman’s life sentence reduced in Michigan man’s 1990 slaying

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — A woman sentenced to life in prison three decades ago for her role in the robbery and killing of a Michigan man slain when she was 16 has received a reduced sentence. A Muskegon County judge on Wednesday cut Amy Lee Black’s life sentence to 35 to 60 years in prison. The Detroit News reports Black and her boyfriend were convicted of first-degree murder for Dave VanBogelen’s December 1990 killing. Both were sentenced to life in prison without parole. But Black was entitled to a review of her case after the U.S. Supreme Court found mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles were cruel and unusual punishment.

CENSUS-MICHIGAN-HIGHLIGHTS

Census: Big population drops in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Figures released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau show some of Michigan’s largest percentage population losses over the past decade are in the state’s Upper Peninsula, while three of the four most populous counties in the Lower Peninsula gained people.The U.P. for years has struggled through job losses tied to downturns in the manufacturing and mining industries. Luce County along Lake Superior in the eastern U.P. had a population loss of 19.5% from 2010 to 2020, while Ontonagon County dropped 14.2% over that time. Gogebic saw its population tumble by 12.5%. Census figures released in April show Michigan’s overall population increased slightly from 2010 to last year.

DIGITIZING MAIL-PRISONS

Ohio prisons to digitally scan mail to thwart drug smuggling

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio prisons system plans to digitally scan virtually all incoming mail for inmates to thwart drugs smuggled by soaking them into paper. The agency says each prison facility will have scanning equipment to digitally copy mail under a contract with a company called GTL. The contract is worth an estimated $22.7 million annually. The scanned mail will be delivered to tablets or wall-mounted kiosks that inmates already have access to. Legal mail will be exempt from being digitized. A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, JoEllen Smith, says that in the interim, the agency has been photocopying thousands of pages of mail a month.

WHITE SUPREMACISTS CHARGED-MICHIGAN

Authorities: Sites assessed by hate group as training areas

CARO, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says two former state Corrections sites allegedly were being assessed by a white supremacist group called The Base as potential training areas for “hate camps.” Three men, including one arrested last year after an Ann Arbor-area family was intimidated, have been charged in connection with a state police and FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation. The vacant properties are in Tuscola County’s Caro, about 100 miles northwest of Detroit. Nessel said Wednesday in a release that “hate camps” are what The Base calls paramilitary firearms training exercises. The Anti-Defamation League says The Base is a small, militant neo-Nazi organization.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MICHIGAN SCHOOLS

Michigan panel OKs leaving masking up to school districts

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s Board of Education has approved a resolution that supports allowing local school districts to make “scientifically informed decisions” about whether to mandate COVID-19 masks for all students, teachers and visitors. The Democratic-majority board signed off on the resolution in a 5-2 vote Tuesday that members stressed “supports the right of local control to mask and not to mask.” Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said she will not require masks in school, like she did last academic year. But her administration has endorsed a recommendation from the state health department for universal masking in school buildings.

MICHIGAN ELECTION-ATTORNEY GENERAL

Michigan GOP lawmaker announces bid for attorney general

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Oakland County state Rep. Ryan Berman has announced he will seek the Republican nomination for Michigan attorney general. In a letter Wednesday from his campaign, Berman said he will use his background in law as an attorney and reserve police officer to build trust and accountability in Michigan’s leadership, criticizing Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. He said both Whitmer and Nessel have misused their positions and backed each other as political allies rather than putting the law first. Nessel has said she will seek reelection to a second four-year term.

HOTEL ROOM-OVERDOSE DEATHS

Man, 21, enters plea in overdose deaths at suburban hotel

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) — A 21-year-old man faces up to 15 years in prison in the deaths of three people who fatally overdosed in a suburban Detroit hotel room. The Detroit Free Press reports that Lorenzo Brabo of Lake Orion pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter. He had been charged with three counts of delivery of a controlled substance causing death. Police in Auburn Hills found the bodies of a 17-year-old girl, and two brothers, ages 19 and 18, at the hotel, about 33 miles northwest of Detroit in July 2020. Authorities have said fentanyl-laced pain relievers were given to the victims. Brabo had overdosed and was found unconscious in the hotel room. He will be sentenced in September.

MICHIGAN GOVERNOR-DEVOS

GOP’s DeVos says she will not seek Michigan governorship

Former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says she will not run for Michigan governor in 2022, putting an end to speculation about the onetime Trump administration Cabinet member and partner in one of the state’s most influential Republican couples. The 63-year-old DeVos made the announcement Tuesday. She said she never weighed a campaign to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, despite weeks of chatter in Michigan’s political class. Though a billionaire able to finance a campaign and former state party chairwoman with key connections, DeVos would have faced complications in a Republican primary and the general election. DeVos is married to Dick DeVos, Michigan’s losing candidate for governor in 2006.

AP-US-EX-DETROIT-COUNCILMAN-PAROLE

Ex-Detroit councilman Pugh gets parole in sex case with teen

DETROIT (AP) — The former president of the Detroit City Council has been granted parole about five years after his conviction for having sex with a teenage boy when he previously worked as a TV journalist. Michigan’s Department of Corrections says Charles Pugh is expected to be released from prison sometime in December. His parole first was reported by Deadline Detroit. The 50-year-old Pugh will have to register as a sex offender, spend two years on parole and be required to wear a GPS tether for at least six months. He was sentenced in November 2016 to at least 5 1/2 years in prison. The teen was younger than 16 when they illegally engaged in sex acts in 2003 and 2004.