GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE-DETROIT

Detroit going green to help slow flooding during heavy rains

DETROIT (AP) — Massive amounts of green are being spent to find “green” ways to help prevent basements, yards, streets and freeways in Detroit from flooding during heavy storms like one last month. Of the $100 million pumped each year into infrastructure upgrades for the city’s aging water and sewer systems, $10 million goes toward installing detention ponds, bioswales, rain gardens and permeable pavement. The features are called green stormwater infrastructure. They’re designed to hold and slowly release rainfall into sewers, lessening flooding that has plagued Detroit and other older cities for decades.

PRIEST-FUNERAL REMARKS

Family loses appeal in lawsuit over priest’s funeral remarks

TEMPERANCE, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Court of Appeals says a priest who criticized a teenager’s suicide during his funeral is protected by the religion clauses of the First Amendment. The court affirmed a decision by a Monroe County judge, who had dismissed a lawsuit by the mother of Maison Hullibarger. The 18-year-old died in 2018. Mourners were shocked when the Rev. Don LaCuesta gave a critical sermon. The priest said suicide was a “secular crime” and a “sin against God with dire eternal consequences.” Linda Hullibarger sued the priest and the Detroit Archdiocese, alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and other claims. Hullibarger says LaCuesta had reneged on an agreement to celebrate her son’s life. 

REGIONAL TRANSIT PLAN

Campaign starts to update regional master transit plan

DETROIT (AP) — The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan is launching its Advance 2021 education campaign to develop a community vision for the future of public transportation in Detroit and Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties. The aim is to update the authority’s Regional Master Transit Plan. The authority says the transit plan will be developed through this fall, starting with the broad perspective of what the public wants to see unfold with public transportation in southeastern Michigan through 2041. Virtual open houses will be held in each county and in Detroit. The first is scheduled Tuesday in Macomb County.

BIG TREE HUNT-MICHIGAN

Nonprofit seeks submissions for Michigan’s biggest trees

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — ReLeaf Michigan again is seeking the largest trees in the state. The Ann Arbor-based tree planting and education nonprofit is hosting its 15th biennial Michigan Big Tree Hunt contest. The trees can be found in backyards, local parks and even along hiking trails. Certificates and prizes are awarded for the largest tree submitted from each county, for the overall largest tree found by different age groups, and for the largest white pine. ReLeaf Michigan says it started the contest to celebrate Michigan’s beauty and create a fun way to gather information about the state’s biggest trees. Submissions will be accepted until Aug. 19, 2022.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-EMERGENCY LAW

Michigan court again rules in favor of emergency law critics

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court has reaffirmed an earlier decision that could lead to the repeal of a law that was used by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to order restrictions last year related to the coronavirus. The court directed the Board of State Canvassers to certify a ballot question that could kill the 1945 emergency powers law. It has already been declared unconstitutional, but critics want it off the books. A group called Unlock Michigan met the 340,000-signature threshold. But the Board of State Canvassers deadlocked on partisan lines and refused to certify the issue. The Republican-controlled Legislature now will likely enact the measure and end the law rather than let it go to a public vote in 2022.

LGBTQ DISCRIMINATION-MICHIGAN

Michigan bureau: LGBTQ rights ballot drive short signatures

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan elections bureau has determined that a ballot drive to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people failed to collect enough valid voter signatures. A report says that Fair and Equal Michigan gathered nearly 299,000 signatures, short of the roughly 340,000 needed. Election staffers ruled signatures ineligible because the signers weren’t registered voters or there were address or other errors. The Board of State Canvassers meets Tuesday to consider a recommendation to not certify the initiative. Fair and Equal Michigan says the Bureau of Elections improperly tossed thousands of valid signatures. The proposal would revise Michigan’s civil rights law to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations.

AP-US-ELECTION-2020-MICHIGAN

Michigan AG to probe people making money off election claims

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s attorney general is investigating after a Republican-led state legislative committee said people are making baseless allegations about 2020 presidential election results in a northern Michigan county to raise money or publicity for their own ends. A spokeswoman for Democrat Dana Nessel says the department accepted the request from state Sen. Ed McBroom and the Senate Oversight Committee he chairs. State police are assisting. Election night results in rural Antrim County initially erroneously showed a victory for Joe Biden over then-President Donald Trump. But it was attributed to human errors, not any problems with machines, and corrected. A hand recount validated the results as accurate.

MICHIGAN REDISTRICTING

Michigan court won’t extend voting redistricting deadline

LANSING, Mich (AP) — A commission in charge of drawing new legislative and congressional maps for Michigan has been denied a deadline extension by the state Supreme Court despite a six month delay in the U.S. Census Bureau releasing data. The current deadline for an initial proposal is Sept. 17, but the Census Bureau doesn’t expect to have tabulated data ready for the public until Sept. 30. The court acknowledged Friday that it believes the commission has worked diligently and has been put in a difficult position to present fair voting maps. But the court says there isn’t a sufficient legal reason for it to preemptively extend the deadline.

AP-US-UAW-VOLVO-TRUCK-STRIKE

Striking Volvo workers nix tentative deal at truck plant

A tentative labor deal between Volvo Trucks North America and a union representing nearly 3,000 workers who have gone on strike twice this year at a southwest Virginia truck plant has been rejected by the striking workers. It’s the third tentative accord rejected by the union workers this year. The United Auto Workers announced the rejection of the pact late Friday involving a Volvo tractor-trailer assembly plant in Dublin. It said an ongoing walkout will continue. Volvo Trucks North America called the outcome “very disappointing” and its statement said the tentative deal had offered significant wage gains and first-class benefits. Volvo says the plant is the largest maker of Volvo tractor-trailer trucks in the world.

RACIAL INJUSTICE-PARK ATTACK

White man sentenced in attack on Black teen at Michigan park

DETROIT (AP) — A white man has been sentenced to five years in prison for attacking a Black teenager with a bike lock because of his race at a southeastern Michigan park. A judge in Detroit federal court on Thursday also ordered 43-year-old Lee Mouat, of Newport, to serve three years of supervised release. Mouat pleaded guilty in March to a federal hate crime after he was accused of striking then-18-year-old Devin Freelon Jr. with a bike lock on June 6, 2020. Authorities have said Mouat confronted a group of Black teens at Sterling State Park beach in Monroe County’s Frenchtown Township, about 39 miles southwest of Detroit. He repeatedly used racial slurs and said Black people had no right to use the beach.