Student group sues college in Michigan over speech policy
MACOMB, Mich. (AP) — A conservative nonprofit student group at a community college in eastern Michigan has sued the school, saying its policy of requiring permission for public speech violates their First Amendment rights.
Attorneys representing Turning Point USA say the Macomb Community College chapter is challenging the school’s “Policy on Expressive Activity” in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Detroit.
The organization, which has college chapters across the country, says it trains students to “promote the principles of freedom, free markets and limited government.”
The complaint follows an April incident in which members of the chapter said college police told them they couldn’t speak with other students, pass out literature or collect signatures on campus because they didn’t have administrators’ approval.
College spokeswoman Jeanne Nichol says the school doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Doctor serving jail term in wife’s 2014 death
CHEBOYGAN, Mich. (AP) — A 76-year-old northern Michigan doctor is serving a 5-month jail sentence following a plea agreement to resolve charges in his wife’s 2014 death.
Jerome Siudara of Cheboygan was charged last year with murder. He pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced in May to jail followed by 18 months of probation. The plea isn’t an admission of guilt, but is treated as such for sentencing.
Online records show Thursday he’s jailed in Cheboygan County. As part of the plea he agreed to surrender his medical license.
The Cheboygan County prosecutor’s office says 60-year-old Elizabeth Siudara died after ingesting numerous pills that were prescribed to her in a grossly negligent manner. The Emmet County medical examiner had ruled the death a suicide, however, and no autopsy was conducted.
Lawsuit settled over Michigan jail’s mail delivery policies
HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — A federal lawsuit over the distribution a journal titled Prison Legal News at a Michigan jail has been settled.
WHMI-FM reports that under the agreement the Livingston County Jail must accept up to 30 subscriptions per month of the publication addressed to specific inmates. The jail also must deliver up to 30 books per month addressed to specific inmates.
Prison Legal News sued the sheriff’s department in 2011, saying a policy of limiting mail banned the delivery of its journal and was unconstitutional.
Livingston County denied any wrongdoing. Sheriff Mike Murphy, who took over as sheriff after the lawsuit was filed, noted that the average length of stay for inmates at the jail is 14 days. He says many inmates will be released before getting the publication.
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