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MICHIGAN GOVERNOR-KIDNAPPING PLOT

Witness: Whitmer kidnapping aimed at stopping Biden win

A man who pleaded guilty to planning a kidnapping of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says he and his allies wanted to act before the 2020 election to prevent Joe Biden from winning the presidency. Ty Garbin is a star witness for prosecutors in the trial of four men charged with conspiracy. Garbin says they thought a kidnapping would cause a “disruption” before the election. He took the jury through training, secret messages and a late night trip to Whitmer’s weekend home to see how they could kidnap her in retaliation for her COVID-19 restrictions. Garbin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison.

STATE SENATOR-BATTERY

Michigan lawmaker sentenced to probation for touching nurse

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan lawmaker has been sentenced to a year of probation for inappropriately touching a nurse practitioner while seeking treatment for COVID-19. State Sen. John Bizon, a Battle Creek Republican, also must pay $1,130 in court costs and fines, undergo mental health counseling and have no contact with the victim. The incident occurred last summer at an urgent care facility in Marshall. Bizon, who is in his first Senate term after serving four years in the House, will not face legislative discipline.

FLINT WATER

Michigan Supreme Court adds 2nd Flint water case to docket

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court is getting more involved in Flint water criminal cases. It has agreed to hear arguments on May 4 about whether a one-person grand jury violates the state constitution. The Supreme Court will also hear arguments about defendants are entitled to additional hearings to challenge the evidence against them. Nine people, including former Gov. Rick Snyder, were indicted by a judge who was serving as a grand juror in Flint. Evidence was presented by the attorney general’s office. It’s an unusual way for prosecutors to charge people in Michigan. Nick Lyon is a former state health director. His attorneys asked the Supreme Court to reach over the Court of Appeals and immediately get involved.

SCHOOL BUS-FATAL CRASH

Muskegon woman dies after her car crashes into school bus

SPRING LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Police say a Muskegon woman died after her car rear-ended a school bus in western Michigan. The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office says the 47-year-old woman’s car collided Tuesday afternoon with the rear of a Grand Haven Area school bus on U.S. 31 in Ottawa County’s Spring Lake Township. The woman died from her crash injuries, but police said the school bus driver was not injured and there were no children on the bus at the time of the crash. The school bus driver was slowing down for a traffic backup and police said the woman motorist didn’t have time to avoid the crash.

AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-SCHOOL-DISPUTE

Michigan school paying $190K in dispute with outspoken mom

DETROIT (AP) — A suburban Detroit school district agreed to pay nearly $190,000 to settle a lawsuit by a parent who said she lost her job after criticizing COVID-19 policies. The Rochester district released the agreement Tuesday after a public records request by The Associated Press. Controversies over masks, online learning, in-person instruction and other issues have rocked schools across the U.S. during the pandemic. But the allegations in Rochester were extraordinary: Elena Dinverno accused the district of making calls that got her fired from a marketing job. Dinverno participated in Facebook groups that were in favor of reopening Rochester schools for in-person instruction in 2020. Rochester acknowledged that a deputy superintendent called Dinverno’s employer, though it denied any wrongdoing.

SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN

Judge grants request that school shooter’s name not be used

A judge has granted a prosecutor’s request that a Michigan teen charged in a fatal school shooting not be named in court during his parents’ separate criminal trial. Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews in her ruling Monday ordered that Ethan Crumbley’s name not be spoken openly in court or used in writing in the case against James and Jennifer Crumbley. Matthews ruled that “calling the shooter by name does not appear to be relevant to these proceedings and prohibiting its use does not appear to prejudice the defense in any way.” Prosecutor Karen McDonald filed a motion March 18 requesting that the boy’s name be withheld.

MUSEUM DIRECTOR-BALTIMORE

Detroit native named American Visionary Art Museum director

BALTIMORE (AP) — The head of an acclaimed outdoor art project in Detroit has been appointed the second director of the Baltimore-based American Visionary Art Museum. The Baltimore Sun reports that Jenenne Whitfield, president and CEO of the Heidelberg Project, was named to her new post Wednesday and will start Sept. 6. She’ll succeed Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, the museum’s founder who’s leaving after 27 years. Whitfield was picked from a pool of more than 140 applicants. The museum was established in 1995 and focuses on showcasing works created by self-taught and intuitive artists, many of whom experience mental illness or homelessness or are imprisoned. It has an annual attendance of about 115,000.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-MICHIGAN-FRAUD

Feds: Detroit-area man tried to use pandemic loans on condo

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — A Detroit-area man has been charged in connection with a scheme to use more than $1 million in federal pandemic relief funding to buy a condominium in the Middle East. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Detroit says a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday charges 59-year-old Wahid Mohamed Makki of Dearborn Heights with wire fraud and money laundering. Authorities say loans were obtained for 10 shell corporations and then wire-transferred to a bank in Turkey for the purchase of a “sea view condo in Beirut, Lebanon.” The loans are part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act that allows qualifying small businesses and other organizations to receive forgivable loans to cover payroll, mortgages, rent and utilities.

AP-US-MED-BABY-FORMULA-RECALL

FDA details problems at plant behind recalled baby formula

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal safety inspectors say baby formula maker Abbott failed to maintain sanitary conditions at the Michigan manufacturing plant recently linked to a cluster of infant illnesses. The Food and Drug Administration began investigating the plant after Abbott recalled several leading infant formulas. The products have been tied to four infant hospitalizations, including two deaths, due to a rare bacterial infection. FDA inspectors released their initial findings Tuesday evening. Among other problems, they found a history of contamination with the bacteria in various parts of the plant. But the FDA report doesn’t identify a root cause for the latest outbreak.

TRAFFIC CAMERAS

Michigan Senate votes to codify red-light camera ban

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The use of red-light cameras to issue traffic tickets would be banned in Michigan law under legislation that has been approved by the Senate and sent to the House for further consideration. Neither the state nor municipalities have the automated cameras. In 2007, then-state Attorney General Mike Cox issued an opinion declaring them to be illegal except at railroad crossings. The bill, which was passed Tuesday, would codify the ban. The also Senate unanimously sent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer legislation that would authorize flashing digital speed limit signs in highway construction zones when workers are present.