Federal judge dismisses water researcher’s defamation lawsuit
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — A judge has ruled that a Virginia Tech researcher who helped expose the Flint water crisis can’t silence critics with a federal defamation lawsuit.
The Roanoke Times reports that U.S. District Court Judge Michael Urbanski dismissed Marc Edwards’ $3 million lawsuit against three critics last week.
The engineering professor and a team of students helped expose lead contamination in the city’s water supply in 2015.
The suit was sparked by a letter signed by Flint residents that accuses Edwards of interfering with efforts to self-organize, abusing authority and insulting them.
Urbanski said the statements “plainly qualify as constitutionally protected opinion” and notes no reasonable reader would think it was factual.
Prosecutor: Paternity scheme involved dead rats, cow tongue
MOUNT CLEMENS (AP) — Authorities say a man took extraordinary steps to avoid responsibility for a child, even paying $500 to another man to assume his identity and take a paternity test.
The Macomb County prosecutor filed charges against Ken May. He’s accused of paying another man to get a driver’s license in May’s name and take a DNA test.
Investigators say it worked — until the child’s mother watched surveillance video and told police that the man who took the test wasn’t May. May is also accused of putting dead rats and a cow’s tongue outside the mother’s door after she helped unravel the scheme.
Prosecutor Eric Smith calls the case “egregious.”
May is charged with tampering with evidence and intimidating a witness.
Startups to compete for $1.2M in funding
DETROIT (AP) — Entrepreneurs and startups are invited to compete for $1.2 million in funding to help grow their for-profit businesses through the 3rd Annual Quicken Loans Detroit Demo Day.
Applications are due April 22 and 15 finalists will be chosen to pitch their businesses live June 14 at the Fillmore Detroit. A panel will select seven winners. Prizes will be presented as a grant, interest-free loan or an equity investment ranging from $50,000 to $300,000 for each winner.
Three grant recipients also will be voted on by the Fillmore audience.
Applicants must be based in Detroit or committed to relocating into the city. They also can’t have exceeded $2 million in annual revenue or raised more than $1 million in capital.
Woman makes suit of plastic bags
GREECE, N.Y. (AP) — Rosa Ferrigno's new suit takes recycling to an extreme — she knitted it from more than 300 plastic grocery bags.
The 75-year-old woman from Greece in western New York whiled away the winter knitting a skirt and jacket from filmy brown bags scissored into thin strips that were tied together to make yarn. She lined it with cotton fabric.
The finished has a tweedy look from green printing on the brown bags.
Her daughter told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Ferrigno has been knitting since her childhood in Sicily.
Last summer, Ferrigno saw someone's purse made from repurposed plastic bags and started her own bag project.
She says she does it just for fun.
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