Ann Arbor
Univ. of Michigan to review bad weather policy
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan plans to review the Ann Arbor school’s policy for shutting down during inclement weather, a top official told faculty members.
Provost Martha Pollack said part of the reason the school didn’t close during subzero temperatures last week is because it doesn’t have a plan in place, The Ann Arbor News reported.
Pollack met Monday with a faculty senate committee.
“We didn’t have the appropriate mechanisms, even if we wanted to close the university,” Pollack said. “That said, after this was all over, I and some of the other executive officers really strongly believe that we ... need to revisit this policy.”
A committee is expected to be convened to review the school’s closing guidelines.
Many public and private school districts in Michigan, as well as some colleges and universities, shut down on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 due to plummeting temperatures that followed heavy snowfall.
Lows of negative 14 degrees were reported both days in the Ann Arbor area, with wind chills of 30 to 40 degrees below zero. Blowing snow and icy roads made driving difficult.
Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Wayne State University in Detroit and Oakland University in suburban Detroit were closed for two days. Michigan State University in East Lansing canceled classes on Jan. 6.
The University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus last closed because of bad weather in 1978.
Faculty at the school were not pleased that the campus remained open early last week, said Karen Staller, head of the faculty senate. She said people trying to get to work put themselves at risk.
In the event of a weather-related closing, some facets of university operations — such as the hospital system, campus police and residence hall dining operations — would still need to stay open.
“The university should only close in extreme circumstances,” Pollack said. “One hopes that it is very rare. It’s a big deal to close. It really is like closing a city. A small city.”
Detroit
Man pleads guilty in case involving dismemberment
DETROIT (AP) — A 73-year-old Detroit man faces 10 years to 20 years in prison in the slaying of a woman whose dismembered body was found in his bathtub.
Defense attorney Donald Cook says Tuesday that Alphonso Jackson entered a plea Monday to all charges in the grisly case.
Jackson was charged with murder, concealing the death of an individual and tampering with evidence. He was arrested May 3, 2013, after police followed a trail of blood from a sidewalk to his eastside apartment where the unidentified remains were found.
Cook says Jackson told the court Monday that he gave the victim money for drugs and she later died of an overdose.
Cook says his client “panicked ... and tried to get rid of the body.”
Jackson’s sentencing is set for Jan. 29.
Grand Rapids
Land raises nearly $1.7M in last 3 months of 2013
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land is announcing that her campaign raised nearly $1.7 million during the last three months of 2013.
The total announced Tuesday includes $600,000 of the former Michigan secretary of state’s own money.
Land and Democratic U.S. Rep. Gary Peters are the two leading candidates to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Carl Levin.
In six month, Land raised more than $3.7 million heading into the election year, including $1.6 million of her own money. Her campaign didn’t release how much cash she has in the bank after spending.
Spending on the race is expected to total tens of millions of dollars. Polls have showed Peters and Land evenly matched.
Campaign-finance reports aren’t due until Jan. 31.
Grand Rapids
Feds in W. Mich. say they collected more than $5M
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Federal prosecutors in western Michigan say they collected more than $5 million in criminal and civil cases in the budget year that ended last fall, about 40 percent of that amount in two cases alone.
The government collected more than $1 million from a physical therapist, Babubhai Rathod, in a case of health care fraud. In another case, Elaine Dawson paid nearly $1 million after evading taxes. Agents say she failed to report the actual number of people who bought tickets, popcorn and other items and skimmed the cash for personal use. The theaters are in Bellaire, Petoskey, Gaylord, Mackinaw City and Cheboygan.
In Grand Rapids, U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles says a majority of the money collected by his office came from criminal cases.
