SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN

Michigan parents found in building; bond set at $500K apiece

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A judge has imposed a combined $1 million bond for the parents of the Michigan teen charged with killing four students at Oxford High School, hours after police said they were caught hiding in a commercial building. James and Jennifer Crumbley entered not guilty pleas to each of the four involuntary manslaughter counts against them during a hearing Saturday held on Zoom. Judge Julie Nicholson assigned bond of $500,000 apiece to each of the parents and placed other requirements such as GPS monitoring, agreeing with prosecutors that they posed a flight risk.

SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN-SCHOOL'S HANDLING

Third party to probe Oxford High's actions ahead of shooting

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan school leader says a third party will investigate events at Oxford High School leading up to a school shooting that left four students dead and six other students and a teacher wounded. Oxford schools Superintendent Tim Throne said in a statement Saturday that he called for the outside investigation because parents have asked questions about the school’s version of events leading up to the shooting this week. He also elaborated on interactions with the student leading up to the shooting. His comments came after a news conference Friday by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald that detailed numerous warning signs from the student charged in the shooting.

SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN-TIMELINE

Key moments surrounding Michigan high school shooting

OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The parents of the 15-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of four students at a Michigan high school have entered not guilty pleas to involuntary manslaughter charges. James and Jennifer Crumbley entered their pleas during a Zoom hearing, hours after police said they were arrested while hiding in a commercial building in Detroit. A judge set bond at $500,000 for each. 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 next day, a teacher found an alarming note and drawings on his desk.

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 were taken into custody early Saturday and later ordered held on $500,000 bond each after pleading not guilty. They 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.

MINIMUM WAGE

Michigan hourly minimum wage will rise 22 cents to $9.87

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s minimum wage will rise by 22 cents to $9.87 an hour in January. State law requires annual increases in the wage until it reaches $12.05 in a decade. The 22-cent hike was supposed to occur in 2021 but was automatically delayed because of high unemployment early in the coronavirus pandemic. The state announced last week that the minimum wage for 16- and 17-year-olds will increase by 19 cents to $8.39 an hour. Employees who make tips will earn a base wage of $3.75 per hour, 8 cents more.

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.

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