Lansing
Michigan Senate plans vote on animal cruelty penalties
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Legislation up for a vote in the Michigan Senate would reclassify and stiffen criminal penalties for people who treat animals cruelly or neglect them.
The bills are expected to be approved Tuesday and sent to the House.
They would create harsher felony penalties if people abuse or neglect 10 or more animals. The current law would be extended to specifically cover breeders and pet shop owners.
Senators also propose creating a tiered system to classify degrees of torturing or killing animals.
Someone convicted of killing or mutilating an animal now gets up to four years in prison.
The legislation would increase prison time to up to 10 years if the animal was a pet and the defendant killed it to hurt or threaten another person.
Bay City
Charter school founder goes to trial on tax, fraud charges
BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) - A charter school founder is going to trial on fraud and tax charges in federal court.
Prosecutors accuse Steven Ingersoll of a series of illegal deals in which he took large cash advances for managing Traverse City Academy and tried to use construction loans to repay the money.
Jury selection started Tuesday in Bay City.
Ingersoll started the Traverse City school and Bay City Academy with charters granted by Lake Superior State University.
Defense attorney Martin Crandall says Ingersoll paid taxes on the money and is innocent. His wife, brother and two other people are also on trial.
Lansing
Wolf survey starts Feb. 16 in Michigan's Lower Peninsula
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - State officials announced Monday that they are planning to track the presence of gray wolves in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula.
The survey on wolf numbers in the region is scheduled to begin Feb. 16 and run through March 13, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Wolf sightings or tracks believed to be from a wolf can be reported to the DNR online as part of the survey.
Wolves started returning to Michigan's Upper Peninsula through Canada and Wisconsin in the early 1990s. Wolf populations have been increasing since then, and their range continues to expand as well.
The DNR estimates there were more than 630 wolves in the Upper Peninsula last year, compared to 658 in 2013. A wolf hunt in 2013 killed 22. There was no hunt last year.
"The probability of observing an actual wolf or its tracks in the Lower Peninsula is low," said DNR wildlife biologist Jennifer Kleitch. "It's helpful to have as many eyes as possible looking, so public reports are important for this survey."
The survey will be a collaboration between the DNR, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians.
Survey teams will respond to areas where there have been reports of wolves.
"It's important that observations are reported in a timely manner so we can work with fresh evidence," Kleitch said, adding that any evidence should be disturbed as little as possible.
A federal judge in December threw out the Obama administration's decision to remove wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan from the endangered list. The move banned sport hunting and trapping of wolves in the region, where the combined population is around 3,700.
Ann Arbor
Reports in woman's fatal shooting by police made public
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - Autopsy, lab and other reports collected following the shooting death of a 40-year-old woman during a confrontation with police in Ann Arbor were released Monday on a county government website.
The materials made public by the Washtenaw County prosecutor also include shooting scene photos, police interviews and a recording of the original 911 call, The Ann Arbor News reported (http://bit.ly/1CM9qnS ).
Authorities have said Aura Rosser confronted officers with a knife as they responded Nov. 9 to a domestic disturbance complaint. She was shot once in the chest.
Prosecutor Brian Mackie has said officer David Ried would not be charged in her slaying. The decision not to prosecute Ried prompted protests in Ann Arbor.
"The fatal shooting of Ms. Aura Rosser by an Ann Arbor police officer has understandably generated great interest," Mackie said in a statement. "Because of that interest and concern, we are posting material amassed during the investigation of this shooting on our website so that it is available without the necessity of filing a Freedom of Information Act request."
Rosser's mental health records were not included in the documents released. She suffered from a serious mental illness but had not been taking her prescribed medications at the time of her death, according to a memo from the prosecutor. A toxicology report showed high levels of cocaine and alcohol were present in her system.
More documents - including photos, recordings of police radio traffic and video of witness interviews - will be added to the website for public viewing, Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor Steve Hiller told the newspaper.
Grand Rapids
Woman in bacon-less burger shooting awaits new trial date
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A western Michigan woman is awaiting a new trial date on charges that she fired a shot at a McDonald's restaurant after workers twice failed to put bacon on her burgers.
The Grand Rapids Press reports that Shaneka Torres' trial initially was scheduled to start Monday in Kent County Circuit Court but has been pushed back. It could come before the end of February.
Torres is charged with carrying a concealed weapon and shooting at a building.
Police say Torres became angry in February 2014 when the first burger she ordered at the restaurant's drive-thru was missing bacon. She was offered a free meal, but bacon also wasn't added to a second burger order.
A shot was fired through the restaurant. No one was injured.
East Lansing
Researchers building 'sound map' of religion in Midwest
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan and Ohio researchers are building a "sound map" of religion in Midwestern communities to explore religious diversity in a novel way.
Religious and comparative studies professors from Michigan State University and Ohio State University received a $30,000 grant from the Humanities without Walls consortium. It's funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Researchers will record what they call "canonical" sounds, such as calls to prayer and chanting, and "non-canonical" sounds in homes and workplaces during festivals and secular gatherings. They will be combined with interviews, images and stories into a public online platform.
Michigan State says this week the project is expected to launch next year, and the team will archive recordings at Ohio State's library. Museum installations and traveling exhibits are planned in which listeners can upload recordings.
Published: Wed, Feb 11, 2015
