Lansing
Man gets 20-60 year term in MSU student’s slaying
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Lansing-area man convicted of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of a 23-year-old Michigan State University senior has been sentenced to 20 to 60 years in prison.
The Lansing State Journal reports 19-year-old Connor McCowan learned his punishment Wednesday morning.
A jury in Ingham County Circuit Court earlier convicted McCowan in the attack, which happened at an off-campus apartment. Authorities said that McCowan went to Andrew Singler’s apartment in Meridian Township on Feb. 23 with a plan to kill him.
Authorities say the fight stemmed from an argument between Singler and McCowan’s sister.
Ypsilanti
Probe advances in football player’s October slaying
YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — Police say they’re working to exhaust all possibilities and tips in their investigation of the slaying of Eastern Michigan University football player Demarius Reed.
The Ann Arbor News reports Ypsilanti’s Interim Police Chief Tony DeGiusti said Tuesday evening that investigators have executed 14 search warrants, seized 42 pieces of evidence and interviewed more than 50 people as part of their work.
DeGiusti said that in addition to university investigators the department has brought in outside help on the case.
Reed was fatally shot multiple times Oct. 18 at an off-campus apartment building in Ypsilanti in what police have said was a possible robbery.
The 20-year-old played in six games for Eastern Michigan this season. He was a communications major and starred as a receiver at Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy.
Roscommon
Wildlife officials seek black bears in northern dens
ROSCOMMON, Mich. (AP) — Michigan wildlife officials want hunters and trappers to watch for black bears in dens so the animals can be fitted with radio collars for ongoing research.
Information gathered from female bears helps the state Department of Natural Resources manage the black bear population, according to wildlife biologist Mark Boersen. Currently, three female bears are being monitored in the northern Lower Peninsula with radio-tracking equipment.
“We would like to have a few more female bear collared throughout the area,” Boersen said in a statement this week. “Hunters are all over northern Michigan right now, and they provide a great set of eyes for information on denning locations.”
Denned bears shouldn’t be disturbed by the public, the DNR said.
People who encounter bear dens are asked to record the location, with a GPS unit if possible, and contact Boersen at the Roscommon Operations Service Center at 989-275-5151. After locating a denned bear, biologists will determine if the animal is a good candidate for a radio collar.
If selected, a bear will be sedated by a biologist and fitted with a radio-tracking collar and ear tags. Hair samples will be taken for DNA analysis, and a small tooth will be collected to determine the bear’s age. The bear then will be returned to its den for the winter.
Ann Arbor
U. of Michigan plans to centralize some services
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan plans to centralize its human resources and financial services and cut staff in an effort to reduce costs by $5 million to $6 million in the first few years, officials said.
The Shared Services Center will include 275 employees doing the work of the roughly 325 people who currently do human resource and financial service functions throughout the school, The Ann Arbor News reported. It’s scheduled to open in April.
“Long-term savings will come through a reduction over time in the total number of people necessary to conduct the work, in gains from technology and standardized processes at the Shared Services Center, and in re-engineered work processes in the units,” according to an email from university officials.
“The campus processes more than 4 million human resource and finance-related transactions each year and that number is growing. Process improvements alone can generate significant savings with such high volume.”
The center is expected to be at full capacity next October. The 325 affected employees aren’t guaranteed a job, but they’ll be considered for employment. University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the process will let the school inventory employees’ skills.
The school tested a shared services center in its Flemming Administration Building, when all of the administrative units there used the same human resource and finance staff.
Affected positions include those handling accounting, billing, financial accounts for units, expense reimbursement, benefit administration, data management, and employee time tracking for the roughly 44,000 employees at the school’s Ann Arbor campus.
As part of a decade-long effort to contain costs, the school said it has saved $235 million in recurring costs through changes including services, product sourcing and space uses.
Warren
Rep. Levin, others launching local veterans project
WARREN, Mich. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Sander Levin joins a suburban Detroit mayor and an official representing veterans in launching a history project for those who have served in the military.
The Democratic lawmaker will attend an announcement Wednesday at the Warren Community Center with Warren Mayor Jim Fouts and Southfield Veterans Commissioner Dan Brightwell. The aim is for local veterans to record their stories for the Library of Congress.
Brightwell is expected to interview World War II veteran Sam Fittante on camera after the announcement as part of the national project. Congress in 2000 passed legislation creating the project, which collects oral histories, memoirs, diaries, letters and other documents from those who have served during wartime.
Since Friday, Levin’s Facebook page has featured stories of local vets who have participated in the project.
