DETROIT COUNCIL-INVESTIGATION

Detroit council member pleads guilty to taking towing bribes

DETROIT (AP) — A member of the Detroit City Council has pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Andre Spivey admits that he and an aide accepted nearly $36,000 in bribes related to oversight of city towing work. Spivey took the money from an undercover agent or an informant. He’s expected to resign from office. Saima Mohsin, the acting U.S. attorney, says Detroit residents deserve a government that's free of “pay-to-play politics.” Agents recently searched homes and offices connected to two other council members, Scott Benson and Janeé Ayers, and aides. They have not been charged. Mayor Mike Duggan says it's a “hard day” for Detroit and Spivey’s family.

GENITAL MUTILATION

Judge slams prosecutors, dismisses genital mutation charges

DETROIT (AP) — A judge has dismissed a new batch of charges in the government’s investigation of genital mutilation against girls in a Muslim sect. The judge says prosecutors in Detroit were being vindictive after major courtroom losses. It’s another blow for the government, which broke new ground in 2017 when it charged a Detroit-area doctor with performing genital mutilation at a suburban clinic. The law was later declared unconstitutional by Detroit federal Judge Bernard Friedman. He said genital mutilation was a matter for states, not Congress. This time the judge dismissed conspiracy and other charges against four people, including two doctors.

DETROIT RIVER-SPILL-ORDINANCE

City Council passes Detroit River protection ordinance

DETROIT (AP) — Companies operating along Detroit’s riverfront face increased inspections and maintenance rules following a materials spill into the waterway. The Detroit News reports that the Detroit River Protection Ordinance was approved Tuesday by the City Council and goes into effect next July. The city’s Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department will keep a registry of property owners along the river who also have to submit a seawall report every five years. Operators with bulk storage or use heavy equipment also have to submit geotechnical reports. Federal environmental officials found uranium, lead and several chemicals during testing of an industrial site where in 2019 limestone construction aggregate material spilled into the river.

TEEN RESTRAINED-DEATH

Nurse gets probation for role in teen's death at youth home

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A former nurse charged in the death of a teenager who was restrained at a Michigan youth home has been placed on probation for 18 months. Heather McLogan had no direct role in restraining Cornelius Fredericks at Lakeside Academy in Kalamazoo. But she acknowledged that she didn’t intervene. McLogan says she feels “horrible.” McLogan made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded no contest to third-degree child abuse. She had been charged with involuntary manslaughter. Fredericks died two days after he lost consciousness while being restrained by staff at Lakeside. The prosecutor at that time said the 16-year-old was being restrained for throwing a sandwich.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-GANG CHART

Man who posted FBI gang chart on social media gets probation

DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit-area man has been placed on probation after he snapped a photo of a gang chart while cleaning an FBI office and posted it on social media. The government says things could have gone “horribly wrong” if FBI agents had been harmed after the photo was posted on Snapchat. Anthony Cassani was cleaning an FBI office last year to reduce the spread of COVID-19 when he saw a chart of Detroit gang members. Cassani has apologized and says he understands that what he did was not simply theft of government property. Defense attorney Mark Gatesman says the 22-year-old Cassani and other people his age “live their lives online.”

TEEN KILLED

Ex-convict charged with 3 murders pleads no contest in one

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — An ex-convict charged with three murders in two Michigan counties has pleaded no contest in one of the cases. Isaiah “Zeke” Gardenhire was accused of assaulting a girlfriend near Mount Pleasant in June and fatally stabbing her 13-year-old daughter, among other crimes. The Morning Sun reports that the 41-year-old Gardenhire pleaded no contest Monday to second-degree murder and other crimes. On June 7, after a series of weekend crimes in Isabella County, Gardenhire drove to Flint in a stolen car and surrendered to police outside a liquor store. Separately, Gardenhire is charged in Ingham County with killing a couple in April.

FIREFIGHTER UNION-EMBEZZLEMENT

Former firefighters union treasurer charged with fraud

DETROIT (AP) — A former treasurer for a Detroit firefighters union has been charged in connection with the embezzlement of more than $220,000 in union funds. The U.S. Attorney's office in Detroit says 62-year-old Verdine Day was named in a criminal complaint and scheduled to appear in federal court on bank fraud and wire fraud. About $167,900 was fraudulently obtained by checks. More than $52,100 in personal expenses, including airline flights, hotel rooms, cruises and car insurance premiums were charged to union credit cards. Authorities said Day was hired by the fire department in 1986 and worked as a firefighter and engineer. She was elected union treasurer in 2015 and retired from the fire department in 2019.

AP-US-US-STEEL-DISCHARGE

US Steel: Plant's orange plume had elevated iron levels

PORTAGE, Ind. (AP) — U.S. Steel says a northwest Indiana plant’s discharge of elevated levels of iron were the cause of an orange plume that entered a Lake Michigan tributary, prompting the closure of several nearby beaches and a water treatment facility. The company idled the U.S. Steel Midwest plant in Portage as a precaution after it said the finishing line of its wastewater treatment facility experienced “an upset condition” and discharged the rusty colored plume into the Burns Waterway about 30 miles east of Chicago. The company didn't indicate what concentrations of iron were detected in the discharge, and it was not immediately clear if the release posed a threat to public health, the environment or wildlife.

AP-US-FORD-ELECTRIC-VEHICLE-JOBS

Green energy takes hold in unlikely places with Ford project

GLENDALE, Ky. (AP) — When Ford revealed plans to ramp up its commitment to the electric vehicle sector, the automaker chose two states where Republican leaders have vilified the push for green energy and defended fossil fuels. The project is expected to create nearly 11,000 jobs and pump billions in investments into Tennessee and Kentucky. In doing so, it creates an ironic disconnect between the automaker’s bet on battery-powered vehicles and the rhetoric from many Republican leaders who have railed against a shift toward green energy and away from fossil fuels. Those leaders embraced the automaker's announcement Monday.

NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE-MICHIGAN

Ballot drive: Join Michigan with national popular vote pact

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan would award its 15 electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote if enough other states also join the pact under a 2022 ballot initiative. The drive was announced Monday by former top leaders in both major political parties. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C., have enacted laws supporting the national popular vote. The movement would be successful when member states account for at least 270 electoral votes. The number now stands at 195. Twice this century, the loser of the popular vote has become president.

News from © The Associated Press, 2021