Flint: Woman beaten after returning d r ugs on Christmas
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Flint police say a woman was beaten after returning a stolen bag of marijuana to a drug dealer on Christmas Day.
The Flint Journal says the unidentified victim and a friend bought the illegal drugs at a home in the city about 50 miles northwest of Detroit about 10 p.m. Saturday.
Police say when the woman tried to return the stolen bag to the dealer about 20 minutes later, several men and women punched, kicked and beat her with belts.
The dealer drove the woman and her friend to the victim’s home, where the victim’s two dogs bit the suspect when he tried to enter the house.
The suspect fled and the woman was transported by her son to a hospital.
No further details were released.
Clinton Twp.: 2 men charged with sexually assaulting girl, 17
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Two Clinton Township men accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old Mt. Clemens girl between late Christmas Eve and early Christmas Day have been charged.
Thirty-six-year-old Lynn Boyd and 41-year-old Nathan Lewis pleaded not guilty during their arraignment Monday after being charged with one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. They remain held in the Macomb County Jail on $75,000 bonds.
Police tell The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens, The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press that the underage victim was served alcohol while visiting her friend’s sister’s home.
The victim said one of the men forced himself on her, and the other made her perform a sex act.
Police did not immediately know if Boyd or Lewis had lawyers.
An investigation is ongoing.
A Jan. 10 preliminary exam is scheduled.
Sterling Heights: Family of man kil led by cops sues Detroit suburb
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — The family of a 39-year-old man who was fatally shot by three Sterling Heights police officers is suing the Detroit suburb.
A civil lawsuit filed by Matthew Moroni’s family in U.S. District Court in Detroit claims officers “unlawfully discharged their firearms at least 10 to 12 times.” The lawsuit seeking in excess of $75,000 also claims no crime was in progress Sept. 24 when police arrived at Moroni’s home.
Police said Moroni’s wife called police, saying her laid-off husband was suicidal, had been drinking and had cut himself. They say Moroni refused to put down a handgun and pointed it at them in a threatening manner.
The officers were cleared of criminal charges.
Chief Michael Reese tells The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens that city attorneys are reviewing the lawsuit.
Ann Arbor: UM gets $1.4M 3-year grant on prenatal chemicals
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan has received a $1.4 million, three-year grant to study the effects of prenatal exposure to certain toxins. The Ann Arbor school is opening a center in Detroit to conduct the research.
The grant to the School of Public Health aims to see if a pregnant woman’s exposure to obesogens contributes to child obesity or change the timing of puberty. The study will track data on the effects of the toxins on the same children from birth into adolescence.
Lead investigator Karen Peterson says the long-term approach is vital to discovering how obesogens affect the risk of a child developing obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases later in life.
Big Bay: Outdoors Woman events planned in Big Bay in Feb.
BIG BAY, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment says it’s holding its eighth annual winter weekend of Becoming an Outdoors Woman program in Big Bay in February.
WLUC-TV says the three day workshop will be Feb. 25-27 at the Bay Cliff Health Camp in the Upper Peninsula community.
The program costs $175, which includes meals, lodging, materials, and instruction. Registration information is available by calling 906-228-6561.
Other upcoming events in the Becoming an Outdoors Woman program around the state include a turkey hunting session in Novi on Jan. 8, an ice fishing session in Grandville on Jan. 9, a turkey hunting session in Kentwood on Jan. 15, and weekend programs in Roscommon on Jan. 28-30.
Detroit: Prosecutors want docs in probe of money manager
DETROIT (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Detroit say there’s an urgent need to get documents from the former financial empire of John Bravata, a Michigan money manager accused of fraud.
The government says a five-year statute of limitations on possible crimes expires in spring. A receiver overseeing what’s left of Bravata Financial was given a grand jury subpoena in February but nothing has been produced because Bravata believes there may be privileged information that shouldn’t be shared.
Bravata said Monday that exercising his legal rights is not a “stall tactic.”
His Southfield-based companies were shut down in 2009 after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit accusing him of a $53 million fraud. He says he was invested in dozens of real estate parcels and denies any fraud.
Michigamme Twp.: Change in mining company’s permit not significant
MICHIGAMME TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment has ruled in favor of Kennecott Eagle Minerals Co. in a question over a permit for its Eagle Project copper and nickel mine in the central Upper Peninsula.
The state agency says Kennecott’s request to amend its mining permit to cover power lines to the site “does not constitute a significant change to the permit.”
Kennecott filed the request Nov. 15. The company is asking for permission to add a power line so that doesn’t have to continuously run two diesel generators at the site.
The mine project is in Marquette County’s Michigamme Township, about 35 miles west of Marquette.
The company says the mine will need about 500 people to build and employ about 200 full-time workers.
