Houghton
Michigan Tech gets $2 million gift from graduate
HOUGHTON, Mich. (AP) - An alumnus of Michigan Technological University has made a $2 million gift to the school's Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.
The gift from Richard Henes was announced Tuesday by the Houghton school. The money will be used to help fund an endowed faculty position, student development and other work.
Henes, a 1948 graduate, earlier this year made a $2 million gift to the school's Physics Department to establish The Elizabeth and Richard Henes Center for Quantum Phenomena.
Muskegon
Man gets life in prison for hacking grandpa to death
MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) - A Michigan man convicted of first-degree murder in the hacking and bludgeoning of his 71-year-old grandfather has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Trent Humphreys-McPherson appeared Monday in Muskegon County Circuit Court, where he was given the mandatory punishment.
The Muskegon Chronicle reports that he didn't make a statement before being sentenced on the advice of his lawyer, because the 26-year-old man faces other criminal charges.
Judge Timothy G. Hicks said he was disturbed "that Mr. McPherson's last memories of this life were his grandson, who apparently loves him, killing him with a hatchet."
Dennis McPherson was attacked Jan. 9 with a hatchet at his Muskegon Township home. Authorities say Humphreys-McPherson broke glass on a door to get into the home.
Rogers City
Prosecutor says locked file cabinet broken into
ROGERS CITY, Mich. (AP) - A prosecutor in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula says someone broke into a locked file cabinet in his office containing documents and audio related to alleged law enforcement corruption.
Presque Isle County Prosecutor Richard Steiger says in a statement Tuesday that the apparent breach of security was discovered the morning of Nov. 24.
Steiger says it's not immediately known what, if anything, was taken. He says there was no sign of forced entry into the office and the file cabinet was the only thing tampered with. He says he wants security cameras installed in his office as a precaution.
Police in Rogers City were called to investigate and Steiger says another law enforcement agency likely will be asked to handle the investigation.
Luddington
Officers pool money for shoes in shoplifting case
LUDINGTON, Mich. (AP) - Members of a western Michigan sheriff's department pooled their money to buy shoes for children caught up in a shoplifting case.
The Ludington Daily News reports Mason County sheriff's Sgt. Adam Lamb, Deputy Kyle Boyd and Deputy John Balowski responded in October to a shoplifting complaint at a Wal-Mart where the children's parents tried to steal shoes by having them wear them out of the store.
The officers took a complaint and pursued legal action against the children's father, but then pooled their money and paid for shoes for the children.
Sheriff Kim Cole says a store manager alerted him to the actions of his officers. Afterward, Cole says Wal-Mart donated flashlights for search-and-rescue crews.
Fenton Township
Unknown grave marker prompts search for identity
FENTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Officials in a community south of Flint are trying to identify a large cement grave marker that's more than 100 years old.
Fenton Township Clerk Bob Krug tells The Flint Journal that the marker reading "HERE LIES AB SMITH 1908" was discovered recently while an engineer and contractor surveyed more than 34 acres of land for fence lines where a large park is planned.
Krug and other township officials have been searching for records in an effort to determine who the marker belongs to and to get in touch with his or her family.
Krug says he's waiting to see if any other information can be uncovered before using equipment to check the immediate grounds for a grave.
Lansing
Corrections officers approve new contract
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The union representing corrections officers in Michigan says its members have approved a tentative contract that includes a one-year agreement on wages and health care.
The Michigan Corrections Organization says vote by mail was 1,314 to 516 and tallied on Monday. The Civil Service Commission, which meets later this month, must approve the contract.
The union says the wage agreement includes a 1 percent base increase effective Oct. 1, 2016, and a 1.5 percent lump sum payment in October 2016. The health care portion includes additions to the vision and dental plans and dependent life insurance.
A three-year agreement was reached on other contract terms.
The union represents more than 6,500 corrections officers working at state prisons and forensic security assistants at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry.
Flint
Museum damaged by fire; home dates to 1800s
FLINT, Mich. (AP) - A fire has damaged a museum that is considered to be one of the last houses in Flint from the 1800s.
The fire Monday destroyed part of the roof at the Whaley Historic House Museum, a house that once belonged to Robert Whaley, who was president of Citizens Bank. His family lived there until the 1920s.
Museum president Thomas Henthorn says most of the museum's collections were on the other opposite side of the fire. But he noted that any damage to the house is significant because the house is an artifact.
Henthorn tells The Flint Journal that bedrooms, a music room and the main stairwell were damaged.
Museum director Samantha Engel says the fire could be related to restoration work on the exterior.
Muskegon
4-time killer gets more sentences in western Michigan
MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) - A four-time killer already serving life in prison was sentenced Monday for the deaths of his wife and mother-in-law in western Michigan - a case from 1989 that was revived when he was captured for two other homicides last year.
Leon Means, 62, was silent in Muskegon County court as Judge Timothy Hicks sentenced him to at least 20 years in prison for the fatal stabbings of Cynthia Herrera Means and her mother, Linda Herrera.
"There really are no words adequate to describe the unspeakable horror that you brought into their lives and the unspeakable evil that somehow lies within you," the judge said.
Means pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. He's already serving a life sentence after pleading no contest to killing Anna Lawson and Judy Bushman 13 months ago in Muskegon Heights, about 40 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.
Means was charged with the deaths of his wife and mother-in-law after he was arrested in the Lawson and Bushman slayings.
Cynthia Means and Herrera were killed in 1989 after Leon Means escaped from prison. He was charged, but the case was dropped after he was sentenced to 15 years to 50 years in prison for the escape.
Prosecutor D.J. Hilson said he doesn't know why; he wasn't in office at that time.
Celestino Herrera discovered the bodies of his sister and mother, the Muskegon Chronicle reported.
"You left me with nothing," Herrera told Means in court. "You know the saying, 'Only God can judge you?' Well, He can judge you after we get done here today."
Published: Wed, Dec 02, 2015
