Lawsuit alleges bias in Detroit demolition program
DETROIT (AP) — A minority-owned business that’s participated in Detroit federally funded demolition program is alleging racial discrimination by city officials.
A federal lawsuit from Direct Construction Services and its managing member, Timothy Drakeford, who is black, says he was treated unfairly. It says program officials conspired to have Drakeford suspended for refusing to falsify documents and for cooperating with the FBI.
The recent lawsuit names Mayor Mike Duggan, the city’s land bank, the building authority and others.
Detroit Corporation Counsel Lawrence Garcia defended the suspension, saying Drakeford's claims are “just sour grapes.”
The program has been under scrutiny since 2015 amid concerns about demolition costs and bidding practices.
Sergeant who alleged ridicule over genetic test settles case
HASTINGS (AP) — A police sergeant who says he was ridiculed on the job in western Michigan after a genetic test showed he was part black has settled a lawsuit over his treatment for $65,000.
The agreement obtained by The Grand Rapids Press using Freedom of Information Act request says Hastings police Sgt. Cleon Brown will be on paid administrative leave until Oct. 31, when he'll resign.
After the Ancestry.com test, Brown says he was subjected to racial taunts including someone placing a black Santa Claus figurine in his Christmas stocking at the police station and officers whispering "Black Lives Matter."
City Manager Jeff Mansfield says the settlement allows Hastings "to focus its efforts and resources on more productive endeavors."
The city earlier said Brown started the trouble by joking about the results.
Ex-nurse convicted of manslaughter in diabetic inmate death
VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — A former Mississippi jail nurse has been convicted of manslaughter in the death of a diabetic inmate who went a week without insulin.
The Sun Herald reports a Warren County judge sentenced Carmon Sue Brannan on Monday to 15 years in prison.
Brannon testified she thought 28-year-old William Joel Dixon of Lucedale was undergoing drug withdrawal the week before his death in 2014 in the George County jail.
Her trial followed a mistrial earlier this year.
During closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Cherie Wade said when jailers asked Brannan to check on Dixon, she glanced into his cell and said, “I don’t have time for him.”
Bear caught in storm drain freed when manhole cover lifted
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Authorities have freed a bear that got caught in a storm drain for about an hour.
Colorado Springs Utilities workers and Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southeast Region workers arrived to the residential neighborhood to work out a strategy to get the bruin out.
They didn't want to handle it because they would have to tag it and it would be euthanized if tagged again.
Wildlife officials harassed the bear by firing a nonlethal rubber slug while utility workers opened a manhole . The bear, estimated to be about 250 pounds, climbed out and was chased away.
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