Detroit
Man convicted in deaths of discount store workers
DETROIT (AP) - A jury has convicted a 35-year-old man of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of two 20-year-old suburban Detroit discount store workers.
The jury reached a verdict on Monday in the case of Lavere Bryant in Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit. The Dearborn man faces a mandatory term of life in prison without parole when sentenced Dec. 11 for the deaths of Joseph Orlando and Brenna Machus.
During the trial, Bryant said he didn't commit the crime.
Surveillance video showed a suspect enter the Family Dollar store in Dearborn where the victims worked on the night of July 15, 2013, and leave later with Machus. A co-worker found Orlando's body in the store the next day, and Machus was found dead two days later in some woods in Dearborn.
Lansing
Snyder pitches company, stops by auto show
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is next headed to Shanghai, China's largest city, as part of his weeklong investment mission.
Snyder spent the weekend and Monday meeting with executives from a leading Chinese machine tooling company and with government officials in northern China. He also led Michigan's first official visit to Guangzhou in southern China, where he attended an auto show.
Snyder joined the signing of an agreement committing the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to conduct a U.S.-China auto forum at the North American International Auto Show and the alternating Shanghai/Beijing Auto Show.
The governor says there's "no better place" for Chinese companies to expand because Michigan's home to 70 percent of global automotive research and development and has a "strong manufacturing base, talent and (a) business-friendly environment."
Detroit
Fannie Mae hands over foreclosed properties to city
DETROIT (AP) - Fannie Mae is transferring 44 of its foreclosed houses to Detroit and giving the city $15,000 apiece for 18 of the properties that need to be demolished.
Monday's announcement from the federal government-sponsored Fannie Mae outlines a partnership with the Detroit Land Bank Authority to help stabilize neighborhoods hard-hit by foreclosure. The other properties involved are to be renovated.
The Detroit News reports this is the first group of surplus foreclosed properties that Fannie Mae plans to get into the city's hands.
Kevin Simowski of the Land Bank says the agreement is an important piece of its larger strategy to stabilize neighborhoods through its auction program, demolitions and side lot sales. He says the Land Bank is "working with multiple financial institutions on similar deals."
Kalamazoo
$45 million power line project to move forward
OSHTEMO TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - A $45 million high-voltage power line project in Kalamazoo County is expected to move forward despite opposition from local government officials and landowners.
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently affirmed the Michigan Public Service Commission's July 2013 decision to grant a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Michigan Electric Transmission Co., a subsidiary of Novi-based ITC Holdings Corp., the Kalamazoo Gazette reported.
The ruling lifts a halt on construction that was imposed after Kalamazoo County's Oshtemo Township and landowners filed an appeal in August 2013. ITC spokesman Joe Kirik said a review is planned to determine when construction on the Weeds Lake reliability project might start.
"ITC remains committed to improving the reliability and integrity of the transmission grid in the Kalamazoo area in a responsible and cost-effective manner," Kirik said in a statement.
The court said that the project is clearly needed to maintain reliability and that the landowners didn't have their private property taken without due process.
Oshtemo Township attorney James Porter said he was disappointed with the decision and "in the state of law in this state because it gives the MPSC, in my opinion, too much authority, especially when they can come and confiscate people's property."
The MPSC also stated the certificate preempted the township's utility ordinance, which the township amended in 2011 to require detailed information about proposed projects and place underground any utility lines within 250 feet of public road right of way.
The Weeds Lake project consists of about 7 miles of transmission lines through Oshtemo Township and an electrical transmission substation nearby.
Detroit
City pension cuts expected to take place by March 1
DETROIT (AP) - Detroit's main pension fund plans to hold public meetings in early December to discuss upcoming cuts and an opportunity for retirees to apply for financial help.
Attorney Ron King says 4.5 percent cuts for 12,000 retirees likely will kick in by March 1 as a key part of Detroit's bankruptcy. The pension fund also is recouping nearly $200 million from what the city says was excessive interest paid to annuity accounts.
Retirees at risk for falling into poverty can apply for money from a separate fund. Applications are being mailed and must be returned by Dec. 31.
The disclosures were made in court Monday.
Police and fire retirees in a separate pension fund fared better. Their annual cost-of-living payment will be reduced but their pension will not be cut.
Pontiac
Pontiac theater undergoes $20 million renovation
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - A Pontiac theater is undergoing a $20 million renovation after being shuttered for nearly two decades.
The Detroit News reports the 858-seat Strand Theatre for the Performing Arts is expected to reopen late next year. The 1921 vaudeville theater was converted into a movie house before closing in the mid-1990s.
The theater will host plays and concerts, and will have an attached restaurant and bar. A movie screening room will be available for small groups.
The project is just one component of roughly $300 million in new investments being poured into the area. Developers hope revitalization efforts will attract young professionals to the area.
The Strand's president and CEO says the theater has "big plans" because there are about 2.7 million people within a 20-minute drive of downtown.
Delta Township
Prosthetic arm recovered after vehicle theft
DELTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Authorities in the Lansing area say they have recovered a prosthetic arm that was inside a vehicle that was stolen last week.
The Eaton County sheriff's department says investigators worked with family members of those suspected of stealing the vehicle to recover the electric prosthetic arm. The Lansing State Journal reports family members turned over the limb on Friday.
The vehicle was stolen last Tuesday night in Delta Township and was soon recovered. Two juveniles were arrested, but the arm wasn't immediately found. Investigators say the two suspects in the case may have stolen another vehicle as well in the area.
Ann Arbor
Homeless camp faces eviction by property owner
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - People living in an Ann Arbor homeless camp are bracing for eviction from the privately owned woods where they've established their tent community.
The Ann Arbor News reports California-based Highridge Costa Housing Partners said Sunday it has authorized Ann Arbor police to clear the camp from the company's property. Camp Serenity, as its residents call it, is situated along nature trails near a highway on the city's southeast side.
The nonprofit group MISSION has provided tents, blankets and other supplies to the camp. MISSION President Sheri Wander says police have said eviction notices will be posted soon and campers will have one week to clear out. She says some people have already moved on, but seven or eight people remain at the camp and don't know where to go.
Battle Creek
Mother's remarks open probe of boy's death in '61
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) - Authorities have exhumed the remains of an 8-month-old boy, decades after he died, following comments by his mother that raised questions about the death, a newspaper reported Sunday.
A coffin was removed from a cemetery in Marshall in October, the Battle Creek Enquirer reported. The boy died in 1961.
Det. Steve Hinkley of the Calhoun County sheriff's department in southwestern Michigan said a homicide investigation has been opened. He's awaiting results of an autopsy, although it could be very difficult to determine a cause of death because of the condition of the remains.
Hinkley said he interviewed the boy's mother, who lives in a Kalamazoo nursing home. The boy's death certificate says he died because of a lack of oxygen due to regurgitation of baby formula.
In interviews with the newspaper, the 77-year-old woman gave conflicting accounts of what happened to her son, first denying any role and then saying she killed him, the Enquirer reported. A daughter said she contacted the sheriff's department in September after recording a conversation with her mother.
No charges have been filed. The Associated Press is not identifying the woman.
The boy's father, now 86, was sent to prison in September for criminal sexual conduct in an unrelated matter.
Published: Tue, Nov 25, 2014
