Muskegon Hgts.
Man charged in slaying of prep basketball star
MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — A man has been charged in the fatal shooting of a western Michigan high school basketball player.
Shundarius Lawson faces arraignment Wednesday on an open murder charge. The 20-year-old Muskegon resident also faces a charge of being a second-time habitual offender. Bond was denied.
Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson says Lawson was in a sport utility vehicle from which the shots were fired that killed 17-year-old Marquis Gresham on April 23. The prosecutor’s office says Wednesday morning Lawson had no lawyer on record.
According to Hilson, the investigation is continuing, and more charges against others are possible.
Gresham was a junior and a starting center on the Muskegon Heights Public School Academy team that advanced to the state semifinals.
Hilson calls his death “just a tragedy all the way around.”
Grand Rapids
Official: Curtis complaints were handled correctly
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan superintendent says sexual assault complaints against ex-Major League Baseball player Chad Curtis were handled appropriately by the school district.
The Lakewood Public Schools board directed Superintendent Mike O’Mara to evaluate how the district dealt with the allegations.
According to a report released to MLive.com under the Freedom of Information Act, O’Mara concluded administrators followed established handbook policies in investigating each allegation.
O’Mara’s findings are in contrast to claims made in a lawsuit recently filed by three teenagers who say the district took no independent action to investigate the allegations when they surfaced.
Prosecutors say three teenage girls were sexually assaulted in 2012 when Curtis volunteered at a high school as a weight-room strength trainer.
He was sentenced in October to seven to 15 years in prison.
Sparta
Charge are filed in 2012 building work site death
SPARTA, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan man has been charged with a crime in the death of a man who fell through a roof in 2012.
The state attorney general’s office says investigators found many problems with Black River Builders. The state says the victim, Brian Tarachanowicz, was not wearing protective equipment, and no inspections were performed to detect hazards.
Tarachanowicz fell 26 feet while removing a roof deck at a commercial building in Sparta, north of Grand Rapids.
Black River Builders owner Joe Novak of Holland has been charged with a safety violation causing death, a felony. He’s due Wednesday in 63rd District Court.
A message seeking comment was left at Black River Builders.
Lansing
Prison parolee work certificate gets OK in House
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Former prisoners on parole may more easily find a job if they have a state-issued employability certificate created by legislation the Michigan House passed Tuesday.
The House sent three bills to the Senate, two of which had unanimous support. The first would allow the Michigan Department of Corrections to issue a “certificate of employability” to a parolee who completes a training course and doesn’t have a significant misconduct record. Another bill requires that the certificate be considered if a hiring board or agency were also taking the parolee’s criminal history into account.
“This legislation will help reduce the 78 percent unemployment rate among Michigan prison parolees, and will be a positive influence on the lives of qualified parolees who have paid their debt to society and have a chance to contribute to Michigan’s turnaround,” bill sponsor Rep. Klint Kesto, R-Commerce Township, said. “This will also keep Michigan families safer as these qualified parolees go to work instead of returning to crime.”
The third bill passed the Republican-controlled House 65-45, mostly along party lines, and would provide legal protections and immunity for employers who hire parolees with the certificates.
“The primary factor is just to get people jobs. We want them trained, and we have to give the employer some comfort that they’re going to be protected if they hire somebody,” bill sponsor Rep. John Walsh, R-Livonia, said. “If this encourages somebody to hire a (former) prisoner, then all the better.”
The certificate would be valid for four years unless revoked by the department, and would be issued along with records detailing misconduct and whether the prisoner obtained an educational degree and completed departmental programming.
