SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN

Parents of Michigan boy charged in Oxford school shooting

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The parents of a teen accused of killing four students at a Michigan high school have been charged with involuntary manslaughter. A prosecutor described chilling moments that day when a teacher found a drawing of a gun, a person bleeding and the words “blood everywhere” at the boy’s desk. Prosecutor Karen McDonald says Jennifer and James Crumbley committed “egregious” acts, from buying the gun for Ethan Crumbley to use and failing to intervene when they were confronted with his drawing. Authorities say they were searching for the parents, but their lawyer says they're returning to the area to face arraignment.

SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN-SCHOOL'S HANDLING

Expert: School should have flagged behavior before shooting

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The warning signs were there: A search for gun ammunition on a cellphone, drawings of blood on a school desk and a written plea for help. But on Tuesday, roughly 30 miles north of Detroit at Oxford High School, the student in question was sent back to the classroom after a school meeting with his parents. Three hours later four students were shot to death and six other students and a teacher were wounded. An expert and parents of students slain in a 2018 school shooting in Florida say police should have been alerted before Tuesday’s rampage.

AP-US-SCHOOL-SHOOTING-MICHIGAN-EXPLAINER-CHARGING-PARENTS

EXPLAINER: How unusual to charge parents in school shooting?

Experts say guns used in U.S. school shootings have often come from the homes of young perpetrators. But parents are rarely charged for the violence that occurs. That’s what makes the case against Ethan Crumbley’s parents unusual, following the fatal shooting of four students at Oxford High School in southeastern Michigan. Jennifer and James Crumbley are charged with involuntary manslaughter, while their son is charged with murder, terrorism and other crimes. Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald says the Crumbleys ignored opportunities to intervene, just a few hours before the bloodshed.

SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN-TIMELINE

Key moments surrounding Michigan high school shootings

OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A prosecutor has charged the parents of a 15-year-old boy who is accused of fatally shooting four students and wounding six at a Michigan high school this week. James and Jennifer Crumbley face involuntary manslaughter counts in Tuesday’s mass shooting in Oxford Township. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald says Ethan Crumbley's mother wrote on social media that her husband bought a handgun last week as a Christmas present for the boy. The teen was caught searching for ammunition on his cellphone at school the day before the shooting. The next day, a teacher found an alarming note and drawings on his desk. McDonald says the parents were summoned to school but resisted taking him home. She says the gun was kept in an unlocked drawer in the parents' bedroom.

AUTO WORKERS-ELECTION

UAW votes for direct election of leaders in wake of scandal

DETROIT (AP) — Members of the United Auto Workers union have overwhelmingly approved picking their leaders by direct ballot elections. In doing so they have rejected a system that many blamed for corruption in the union’s top ranks. The so-called “one member, one vote” measure got nearly 64% of 140,586 valid ballots that were received by Monday’s mail-in deadline. About 36% favored the current system of leadership picked by delegates to a convention. That's according to results released Thursday. The results are not official until approved by the Labor Department and a federal judge. The election of the union’s 13-member International Executive Board is likely to take place next summer or fall.

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

Michigan Senate approves $3.3B water infrastructure bill

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Senate has unanimously approved $3.3 billion in water infrastructure spending to replace lead pipes and repair dams statewide while also sending money to a Detroit-area system that has struggled with flooding. The influx of aid will next be considered by the House, likely in the new year. It includes about $2.4 billion in federal funding. Sen. Jon Bumstead, sponsor of the bill, says it would fund “transformational improvements” to aging water infrastructure. Michigan has an estimated 460,000 lead pipes. State regulations, made tougher following Flint’s water crisis, generally require that every line be replaced by around 2040.

AP-US-EPA-ENVIRONMENTAL-JUSTICE

EPA head: 'Journey to Justice' tour 'really personal for me'

RESERVE, La. (AP) — EPA Administrator Michael Regan says a recently completed “Journey to Justice” tour from Mississippi to Texas enabled him to put “faces and names with this term that we call environmental justice.” The five-day tour in mid-November highlighted low-income, mostly minority communities adversely affected by industrial pollution. A former environmental regulator in his native North Carolina, Regan has made environmental justice a top priority since taking over as EPA chief in March. The trip included visits to historically marginalized communities such as St. John and St. James parishes in Louisiana, along with cities such as New Orleans, Jackson, Mississippi, and Houston.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MICHIGAN

3rd military medical team sent to Michigan amid COVID surge

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A third 22-member medical team from the U.S. military is being deployed to Michigan, where hospitals are grappling with record-high numbers of COVID-19 patients amid the state’s fourth surge of infections. The nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists will assist Covenant Healthcare in Saginaw starting Dec. 12. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer calls it “much-needed relief.” Two other 22-member teams began treating patients in Grand Rapids and Dearborn this week. More than 4,500 people, most of them unvaccinated, were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases as of Wednesday. The 4,269 adults with confirmed infection surpassed the previous pandemic high that was reported two days earlier.

AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-US

'The fire that's here': US is still battling delta variant

While all eyes are on the new and little-understood omicron variant, the delta form of the coronavirus isn’t finished wreaking havoc in the U.S., sending record numbers of patients to the hospital in some states, especially in the Midwest and New England. The U.S. recorded its first known omicron infection on Wednesday, in a fully vaccinated person who had returned to California from South Africa, where the variant was first identified just over a week ago. For now, the extra-contagious delta variant accounts for practically all cases in the U.S. and continues to inflict misery at a time when many hospitals are struggling with shortages of nurses and a backlog of patients. And now the fear is that omicron will foist more patients, and perhaps sicker ones, onto hospitals.

XGR-PUBLIC SAFETY

Michigan House passes $368.5M in public safety funding

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan House has passed a $368.5 million public safety and police funding plan. The vote Thursday came with an increase in funding for school resource officers after the Oxford High School shooting this week when four students were killed and several students and a teacher were wounded. The plan also includes funding for recruiting and retaining public safety officers, and providing educational scholarships and support for different efforts like increased body camera usage. The plan passed with bipartisan support 97-3 and will now head to the state Senate for approval.

News from © The Associated Press, 2021