Court overturns forced medication order in bank threat
DETROIT (AP) — An appeals court has overturned a decision to forcibly medicate a mentally ill man who is accused of placing a suspicious briefcase outside a downtown Detroit bank in 2015.
The government says the briefcase was made to look like a bomb, although it didn’t contain an explosive device. A federal appeals court said Wednesday that the case isn’t serious enough to “warrant mandated medication.”
Duane Berry has been declared incompetent to stand trial. Federal Judge David Lawson ordered him to be forcibly medicated to try to restore his mental health for trial.
But the appeals court says Berry’s alleged crime wasn’t violent, even if it was intended to cause fear. The court also noted that Berry’s pre-trial detention likely matches the length of any prison sentence, if convicted.
Former prosecutor gets night in jail after crash, cover-up
GRAND RAPIDS (AP) — A former assistant prosecutor in western Michigan has been sentenced to a night in jail for a 2016 crash that led to the firing of a police lieutenant and the suspension of two other officers accused of covering up the man's intoxication.
Josh Kuiper was also ordered this week to serve more than a year of probation after a jury found him guilty of misdemeanor reckless driving. He apologized, saying it’s “no fun when you’re on the other end.”
Kuiper resigned after the crash, which injured a man in a parked car.
Telephone recordings released last year revealed that a Grand Rapids police officer told then-Lt. Matthew Janiskee that Kuiper appeared intoxicated.
Kuiper wasn’t asked to take a Breathalyzer test and wasn’t charged with drunken driving. Police gave him a ride home.
Grant aims to benefit older minorities
DETROIT (AP) — Three Michigan universities are using a $3.5 million federal grant renewal for efforts to improve the health of older blacks and other minorities.
The National Institutes of Health grant allows the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research to expand its work through 2023. The center’s research and education is led by faculty and staff from Wayne State University, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.
Officials say black residents have higher rates of diabetes, stroke and other diseases than their white counterparts. Researchers seek to prevent health disparities.
The center has focused on Detroit since its 1997 launch, but the latest grant brings aboard Michigan State and expands work into Flint.
Nearly 3.6 million Michigan residents to travel for the holidays
DEARBORN (AP) — AAA projects nearly 3.6 million Michigan residents will travel more than 50 miles from home this holiday season.
The estimate by the auto club says that’s up by 4 percent from the holiday period a year ago. Most will drive, with the rest going by air, rail, bus or other means.
The holiday travel period runs from Dec. 22 to Jan. 1. That’s a day longer than last year, since Christmas and New Year’s Day fall on Tuesdays this year.
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