VIRUS OUTBREAK-ANTI-VACCINE RALLY

Hundreds rally at Michigan Capitol against vaccine mandates

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered outside the Michigan State Capitol on Friday to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Carrying signs with slogans such as “Jab or Job? Wrong!” and “Let me call my shots,” the demonstrators heard speakers criticize government officials and and urge their audience to contact elected representatives to express their opposition. Ron Armstrong, president for Stand Up Michigan, one of the organizers of the rally, said they were fighting "for individuals’ rights to choose — that’s all — in the employment area, in the student area, in the schools, in the universities . . . or wherever else it is mandated.”

UPPER PENINSULA FIRE-EMERGENCY DECLARATION

U.P. fire prompts governor's state of emergency declaration

CARNEY, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has declared a state of emergency in a western Upper Peninsula county where crews were battling a large fire at a cedar mill. Whitmer says the order was made Thursday night for Menominee County and was done to make sure state resources are available to help in preventing the fire’s further spread. WLUC-TV reports Friday that one person has died as a result of the blaze which started Thursday afternoon at Superior Cedar Products in Carney, about 80 miles south of Marquette and east of the Wisconsin state line. More than 100 firefighters responded and contained the blaze. County officials requested the state of emergency declaration from Whitmer.

BORDER-TRAFFIC DELAYS

Canadian labor issue brings long delays at border crossings

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Commercial truck drivers trying to cross the border into Canada from New York and elsewhere in the United States endured massive delays because of a labor dispute. In Buffalo, trucks at the Peace Bridge crossing waited as long as three hours. Delays were also extensive at crossings in Detroit and in Sumas, Washington. The Public Service Alliance of Canada and its Customs and Immigration Union started a strike just days before fully vaccinated U.S. citizens will be able to visit Canada without having to quarantine. The union and the Canadian Border Service Agency have been in negotiations for the past few years.

CORPSE FOUND-BOYFRIEND CHARGED

Prosecutors: Suspect lived with dead girlfriend for months

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 37-year-old suburban Detroit man who prosecutors say lived with his girlfriend's corpse for more than seven months has been charged in her slaying. The Macomb County prosecutor's office said in a news release Thursday that Matthew Lewinski has been jailed on charges including first-degree murder, and disinterment and mutilation of a body. The woman’s body was discovered in the Clinton Township home last week. Prosecutors said she was killed there in December and that her body had been moved to the basement. They say large portions of flesh appeared to have been removed from her back, but did not elaborate nor describe how she died. Lewinski was arraigned Friday.

DUI SENTENCE-BOY KILLED

Man sentenced in Detroit-area DUI crash that killed son, 7

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) — A New York man has been sentenced to 29 months in prison after pleading guilty in a 2019 drunken driving crash in suburban Detroit that killed his 7-year-old son. A Macomb County judge sentenced 33-year-old Arturo Molina Mendez on Thursday for the crash that killed Arturo Molina. The Macomb Daily reports Mendez had pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated causing death. Police say the upstate New York man was visiting family in suburban Detroit for the holidays in December 2019 when his car crashed into a utility pole after he had been drinking at a friend’s house. His son was pronounced dead at a hospital.

MIGRANTS-HOUSING

Planning commission in mid-Michigan rejects housing migrants

ALMA, Mich. (AP) — The planning commission in a central Michigan community is opposed to a zoning change that would turn a former nursing home into temporary housing for boys who cross the U.S. border. Planning commissioners in Alma recommended Wednesday that the request be denied. The Alma City Commission will make the final decision. Bethany Christian Services wants to lease Warwick Living Center to provide temporary housing for boys who crossed the southern U.S. border without parents or guardians. The proposal has caused tension in Alma. Hundreds of people attended a public hearing.

EVICTION MORATORIUM-TENNESSEE

Tennessee says court ruling prohibits new eviction pause

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s court system won’t follow a new COVID-19 pandemic eviction moratorium by President Joe Biden’s administration because of the federal appeals court for its region. Attorneys helping tenants say the legal interpretation leaves those now facing eviction with limited options. The attorneys said they are trying to negotiate with landlords to accept federal pandemic housing aid applied for by tenants, or get landlords to cut ties with tenants who agree to move out sooner than required. Either aims to avoid an eviction mark on their record that could inhibit their ability to get a new place to live in the future. The state is citing a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from last month.

TRANSGENDER-INTIMIDATION

Court extends intimidation crime to transgender victims

DETROIT (AP) — A Michigan law that prohibits intimidation based on gender covers people who are transgender. That's the opinion of the state Court of Appeals. The court ruled in the case of a transgender woman who was shot after being confronted by a man at a Detroit gas station. Michigan’s ethnic intimidation law makes it a crime to maliciously harass another person because of race, color, religion, gender or national origin. The court reinstated an ethnic intimidation charge against Deonton Rogers. Prosecutor Kym Worthy says it's a "huge win for the protection of the transgender community."

COCA-COLA PLANT TO CLOSE

Coca-Cola to shutter plant in 2023; 319 to lose jobs

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) — Coca-Cola has announced plans to shutter a Massachusetts bottling plant in summer 2023, leaving its 319 employees to find new jobs. The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports that the beverage giant announced plans to close the Northampton plant Wednesday as well as sell facilities in Michigan, Missouri and Texas to Refresco. The company says the closure and sales are unrelated. Mayor David Narkewicz said on Thursday that this will be a major economic loss for the city. Narkewicz said the plant is the city's largest manufacturer, water customer and taxpayer. He said representatives informed him that the closure is tied to a restructuring plan that will also close a facility in California.

HYSTERECTOMIES-SETTLEMENT

Ascension Michigan to pay $2.8M to feds over hysterectomies

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan health care provider has agreed to pay $2.8 million to the federal government to settle allegations that a doctor performed unnecessary hysterectomies and other services. The deal settles claims of false billings made by Ascension Michigan to Medicare, Medicaid and another federal insurance program. The doctor’s name wasn’t disclosed. Over a six-year period, the government says radical hysterectomies were performed on women when only a simple hysterectomy was necessary. A hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus. Three people who blew the whistle on Ascension Michigan will share $532,000.

News from © The Associated Press, 2021