Daily Briefs . . .

Group starts process to sue U.S. agency over pipeline plans


DETROIT (AP) — A conservation organization has begun the process required for it to sue the U.S. Transportation department, saying the agency has failed to require pipeline owners to come up with safety response plans for worst-case oil spills.

The National Wildlife Federation said it filed the required “intent to sue” notice Tuesday through certified mail to the agency.

It says the Transportation Department has not come up with requirements or given approval of response plans for inland water pipelines as required by the 1990 Oil Pollution Act.
The group says the notice “is the first legal action in the effort to protect the Great Lakes from two pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac” in Michigan.

 

Court details rules for immunity in medical marijuana cases
 

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court says judges should follow a four-part test before trial to determine whether defendants in cases involving medical marijuana are immune from prosecution.

The court in a unanimous decision released Monday sent two cases back to Oakland County Circuit Court, saying defendants must show they're entitled to immunity.

The court says a defendant must have had a valid registry identification card, complied with state limits on amounts of medical marijuana; kept marijuana plants in an enclosed, locked facility; and participated in the medical use of marijuana.

The cases involved two medical marijuana patients, including one certified to supply medical marijuana to others.

Michigan voters approved marijuana use for some chronic medical conditions in 2008, but details of what's legal have been tied up in the courts.


 

Lawsuit accusing local police  chief of sex assault dismissed


PLEASANT RIDGE (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a woman who says a suburban Detroit police chief sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager decades ago.
Pleasant Ridge Chief Kevin Nowak has said the allegations are false. He was one of eight people the woman sued.

The 41-year-old woman says she was sexually assaulted in 1990 while participating in a police ride-along program in Garden City. She was 15 years old at the time, and Nowak was working in the Garden City police department.

The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak reports that Detroit U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman last week dismissed the suit, saying it was beyond the three-year statute of limitations.
No criminal charges have been filed.

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