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SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN

Prosecutors: Big bond needed for parents in school shooting

DETROIT (AP) — Prosecutors in Michigan are striking back against the parents of a boy charged with a school shooting that killed four students. James and Jennifer Crumbley are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case. They want a judge to lower their $500,000 bond so they can get out of jail. But prosecutors claim the Crumbleys will flee if they’re released. The parents are charged under a theory that they made a gun available to their son and had opportunities to prevent the bloodshed. On the day of the shooting, the parents were summoned to discuss Ethan’s disturbing drawings. The Crumbleys say they had no idea that he would commit violence. Their next court hearing is Jan. 7.

MICHIGAN FEDERAL JUDGE

New federal judge for Michigan sworn into office

DETROIT (AP) — Michigan’s newest federal judge has been sworn into office just days after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Shalina Kumar, took the judicial oath during a Thursday ceremony at the federal courthouse in Detroit. Kumar is a former Oakland County Circuit Court chief judge. Her father is from India and she is the first person of South Asian descent to be nominated for a federal judgeship in Michigan. Kumar said in a statement that she was deeply humbled by the faith and trust President Joe Biden and senators had given her. Kumar will be based at the U.S. Courthouse in Flint.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MICHIGAN UNIVERSITIES

Wayne State latest Michigan university to respond to omicron

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Wayne State University in Detroit says it will start the next semester off remotely. Several other public universities have announced their plans for the new year as the omicron variant of the coronavirus looms over the state. Wayne State said Thursday it will conduct classes online until Jan. 31 and then look at the situation to determine its next move. Last week both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University announced that all students, faculty and staff will be required to receive the COVID-19 booster at the beginning of the next semester. Wayne State also will require boosters.

FATAL STABBING-CONVICTION

Michigan convicted in fatal stabbing, dumping body in park

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan man has been convicted in the fatal 2019 stabbing of a man whose body was found dumped in an Ottawa County park. A jury deliberated for less than an hour before convicting 30-year-old Jordan Scott Loomis of Grand Rapids of murder. The Grand Rapids Press reports prosecutors said Loomis stabbed 51-year-old James Earl Robertson in a vehicle in November 2019 and dumped his body at a Tallmadge Township park. Kent County prosecutors say Loomis hoped to get Robertson to give him some crack cocaine on the promise of a later payback, and planned to rob him if he refused.

MISSING TEEN-FATHER

Man pleads guilty to 1989 killing of adopted daughter

ALLEGAN, Mich. (AP) — A former western Michigan man has pleaded no contest in the 1989 killing of his 14-year-old adopted daughter, whose body was found buried in his backyard. Seventy-two-year-old Dennis Bowman pleaded no contest Wednesday in an Allegan County courtroom to second-degree murder in Aundria Bowman’s death. The Holland Sentinel reports that Bowman’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 7. Aundria Bowman was last seen in March 1989. Her body was discovered in early 2020 in the backyard of Bowman’s Hamilton home after he confessed to her killing. Bowman told police he pushed the teen down stairs, killing her, in March 1989 after she threatened to report that he had molested her.

AP-US-SCHOOL-SHOOTING-MICHIGAN

Parents charged in Oxford school shooting seek lower bail

DETROIT (AP) — The parents of a teenager charged with killing four students at a Michigan high school are asking for a lower bond so they can get out of jail. An attorney for James and Jennifer Crumbley says they didn’t anticipate that their son Ethan would commit violence and are “devastated” like others in the Oxford community. The parents are charged with involuntary manslaughter. They’re accused of making a gun accessible to their son. The Crumbleys want their bond lowered to $100,000 from $500,000. Ethan is charged with murder and other crimes.

DOCTOR-SEXUAL ASSAULT-MICHIGAN STATE

Michigan prosecutors lose appeal in key Nassar-related case

DETROIT (AP) — State prosecutors have lost their bid to reinstate charges against the former president of Michigan State University. Lou Anna Simon was accused of lying to investigators in 2018 when they tried to learn what she knew years earlier about sexual assault complaints involving Larry Nassar. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed a decision by an Eaton County judge to dismiss the case against Simon. The court agreed there was insufficient evidence to send her to trial. Judge Elizabeth Gleicher severely criticized prosecutors for even pursuing the case. She says Simon was made a scapegoat to “exact retribution” against MSU. The attorney general’s office says it’s considering whether to ask the state Supreme Court to take the case.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-RESTAURANT OWNER

Man who kept diner open to pay bills dies after COVID-19

QUINCY, Mich. (AP) — A man who defied state orders and kept his restaurant open last year during the pandemic, partly to pay medical bills, has died of complications from COVID-19. John Parney operated the Quincy Diner in Quincy in southern Michigan. He was 62 years old. Parney was admitted to a hospital with COVID-19 in September, went home but quickly developed significant health problems that put him back in the hospital. Parney died Dec. 14. He kept the restaurant open in December 2020 in violation of orders from the Michigan health department, which was trying to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by banning dine-in business. Parney’s wife has colon cancer and they needed the income.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MICHIGAN

Michigan governor supports vaccine mandate; AG would defend

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she supports President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for employers. Her comments came Wednesday in a roundtable with reporters. That followed Attorney General Dana Nessel saying earlier in the week that she would support a defense of the mandate. Whitmer acknowledged that some comments she made earlier this month during a visit to Montcalm County expressing her concerns about the mandate were misunderstood. She said she was trying to address the problem of possibly losing state employees, but she still supports the mandate.

AP-MI-EX-DETROIT-COUNCILMAN-PAROLE

Ex-Detroit councilman Pugh out of prison after teen sex case

DETROIT (AP) — The former president of the Detroit City Council has been released from state prison after serving five years for having sex with a teenage boy when he previously worked as a TV journalist. A spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections tells the Detroit Free Press that 50-year-old Charles Pugh left the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia on Wednesday morning. Pugh was sentenced to 5 1/2 to 15 years in 2016 after he admitted to having sex with a teenage boy under the age of 16. He had pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct. Pugh was granted parole in July.