Lansing
Workers facing layoff could get other prison jobs
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Department of Corrections says workers being laid off as part of a Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to privatize prison food service could become corrections officers.
The Detroit Free Press reports the State Administrative Board on Monday approved a 3-year, $145-million prison food contract with Aramark Correctional Services of Philadelphia after an appeal filed with the Civil Service Department was dismissed on Friday.
The contract is expected to eliminate 370 Corrections Department jobs. Unions say they plan to appeal to the Civil Service Commission.
Corrections Department spokesman Russ Marlan says affected workers will get the chance to train as corrections officers in December. Others may retire.
The Snyder administration has said the change could cut prison food service costs by 20 percent, or about $16 million a year.
Flint
New police chief plans ‘action’ on violent crime rate
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Flint’s new police chief has pledged investment, engagement and service in the city that is challenged by high rates of violent crime.
The Flint Journal reports James Tolbert was appointed to the job Monday, three days after Flint Police Chief Alvern Lock announced his resignation.
Tolbert comes to Flint from Detroit, where he served as deputy police chief. He says “there will be action” in Flint when he starts work.
Incoming Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley announced Tolbert’s appointment during a Monday evening public safety forum hosted by the Michigan State Police with local community leaders and residents at the World Life Christian Church.
Earley says he’ll request that Tolbert develop a plan to address public safety issues in the city, including violent crime.
Kalamazoo
Man sentenced to life in prison for April 2011 slaying
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A 44-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in the shooting death of another man on a Kalamazoo street.
The Kalamazoo Gazette reports that Samuel Steel told Kalamazoo County Circuit Court Judge Pamela Lightvoet Monday that he was “still innocent” in the slaying of Milo Conklin.
Conklin was killed in April 2011. Courtroom testimony last year showed Steel suspected the 35-year-old Conklin of breaking into his home and asked a friend for a gun.
An FBI taskforce arrested Steel last year in Georgia.
A jury on Sept. 6 found Steel guilty of first-degree murder.
Saginaw
Civil suit filed in police slaying of homeless man
SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) — The mother of a 49-year-old homeless man who was shot to death by police has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Saginaw and nine officers.
Jewel Hall’s lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Bay City and seeks compensation and punitive damages.
Milton Hall was shot 11 times in a parking lot on July 1, 2012 after refusing to drop a knife. The lawsuit states that the officers’ actions “amounted to an execution by firing squad.”
The lawsuit also claims Saginaw officers had previous encounters with Hall and should have been aware that he suffered from mental illness.
Some officers were disciplined by the police department. Hall’s death prompted protests.
The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is currently investigating Hall’s death.
Alma
Man arraigned in his roommate’s stabbing death
ALMA, Mich. (AP) — A 23-year-old Gratiot County man faces a murder charge in the stabbing death of his 18-year-old roommate.
MLive.com reports that Michael Wale was arraigned Monday before Gratiot County District Judge Stewart McDonald.
Devin Hendrix of Alma died at a local hospital on Sunday. The stabbing took place around 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
Gratiot County Prosecutor Keith Kushion says Wale and Hendrix lived “in the same household” and that Hendrix was stabbed “with a steak knife in the upper chest area.”
Another person witnessed the argument.
Wale was ordered held without bond pending an Oct. 14 preliminary examination.
