State Roundup

Grand Rapids @ROUND UP Briefs Headline:Judge dismisses charges in workplace death GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A judge in western Michigan has dismissed criminal charges in the case of a man who plunged 26 feet to his death while working on a commercial roof. Black River Builders owner Joe Novak of Holland was charged with a safety violation causing death, a felony. WZZM-TV says a Kent County judge dismissed the charge Monday after Novak's lawyers argued that he shouldn't be held personally responsible. In 2012, Brian Tarachanowicz fell while removing a roof deck at a commercial building in Sparta, north of Grand Rapids. The state says the victim was not wearing protective equipment, and no inspections were performed to detect hazards. Tarachanowicz was working as a subcontractor on the project. The state says Black River Builders has been cited for past safety problems. Lansing Report: So-called sin taxes exceed business taxes LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Smokers and alcohol drinkers paid more taxes last year than Michigan companies paid in net business income taxes, according to a newspaper's analysis published Monday. Revenue from so-called sin taxes on tobacco, beer, wine and liquor totaled $290.5 million in the 2014 fiscal year, more than twice the $137.6 million net income taxes paid by Michigan businesses after $768.8 million in refunds from tax credits, The Detroit News reported. State revenue numbers show net business income taxes have dropped 90 percent since 2011 when Gov. Rick Snyder and lawmakers delivered business tax relief. The figures show that has depleted the state's main operating fund of $1.33 billion. "The fact that wealthy corporations are contributing less to the state budget than those subject to an excise tax on tobacco should be a real wake-up call to how little corporations are currently paying in taxes," said House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills. The percentage of general fund revenue from business income taxes also has dropped as tax credit payouts to companies have grown. Republican lawmakers and business groups, however, note that corporations pay other state taxes on property, fuel, utilities and supplies, while some business owners pay the 4.25 percent personal income tax on their profits, which is harder to track. "I've heard companies argue that they're paying more than they should now," said Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kowall, R-White Lake Township. "Some would have you believe we raised everybody's taxes to give these corporations a big tax cut. That's not the fact at all." Regardless, the tax trend is expected to continue. Taxes from the Michigan Business Tax and Corporate Income Tax are projected to total $244 million this year, while beer, liquor, wine and tobacco taxes will total about $280 million, according to Senate Fiscal Agency data. Tilden Township State opens new off-road vehicle route in UP TILDEN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - The state has opened a new off-road vehicle route in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that's also for hiking, biking, snowmobiling and equestrian use. The state Department of Natural Resources and the Iron Ore Heritage Recreation Authority plan to host a ribbon-cutting on Tuesday morning in Marquette County's Tilden Township. The 19-mile-long trail connects the communities of Ishpeming, Clarksburg, Humboldt and Republic. "We recognize the importance of connecting communities with ORV routes," Michigan DNR recreation specialist Ron Yesney said in a statement. "This is a good first step, and we're pleased to partner with agencies ... to improve recreation opportunities throughout the state." The Iron Ore Heritage Trail and the DNR have worked together on the development of many miles of hiking and biking trails in Marquette County. The new route continues that collaboration, with the eventual goal of including Negaunee and Gwinn to the route. Detroit R&B-jazz singer Ortheia Barnes-Kennerly, 70, dies DETROIT (AP) - Detroit R&B and jazz singer Ortheia Barnes-Kennerly, who opened for Motown greats like Stevie Wonder and later entered the ministry, has died. She was 70. Barnes-Kennerly died Friday in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she went for a performance, friend and bass player Ralphe Armstrong told the Detroit Free Press. He said she had at least two strokes in recent years and died of heart failure. Barnes-Kennerly recorded in the 1960s for Detroit's Mickay Records and Coral Records, a Decca Records label. While never signing with Motown Records, she opened for a number of its stars, including Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight. If Aretha Franklin is the Queen of Soul, "Ortheia was the empress," Armstrong said. She later turned her career toward speaking and the ministry. Barnes-Kennerly told the Free Press in 1990 that she never lamented the lack of national success in her music career. "I love doing my music, but mostly I love making people feel good," she said. "The music has been good to me. I've had furs, cars and diamonds and all that without the million-seller. But it's more to it than that for me. There's a higher consciousness that lets me know I'm a part of this universe who has a gift to share, and when I'm sharing that gift, I'm happy." Her funeral is scheduled for May 26 at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit, Swanson Funeral Home told The Associated Press. Michigamme Twp. Woman's quest: Identify 1,335 unmarked graves MICHIGAMME TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Who's buried in hundreds of unmarked graves at an Upper Peninsula cemetery is a question that has challenged one genealogy enthusiast for 15 years. About 1,335 people have been buried in unmarked graves at Lakeview Cemetery over the past century and a half, according to Renee Saari of Michigamme. "Everyone deserves to be remembered," she told The Mining Journal of Marquette. And so, she went to work in 2000 to track down the names of those buried in the cemetery. About a dozen members of the Michigamme Historical Society's Lakeview Cemetery Committee have joined the project. So far, they've used death certificates, obituaries and burial permits to identify about 300 people, and they know the grave sites of about 50. The cemetery is in Marquette County's Michigamme Township, about 35 miles west of Marquette in central upper Michigan. Many of the people without a headstone died in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and likely couldn't afford a marker, Saari said. Published: Tue, May 19, 2015