Judge: U.S. government can be sued for Flint water crisis
FLINT (AP) — A judge says the federal government can be sued by Flint residents who blame the Environmental Protection Agency for waiting too long to intervene in the city’s water crisis.
Federal Judge Linda Parker didn’t determine whether EPA employees were negligent when Flint’s water system became contaminated with lead in 2014 and 2015.
The decision at this stage is more narrow, with the judge saying that the government isn’t immune to a lawsuit.
Parker says EPA employees knew lead was leaching from old pipes because Flint’s water wasn’t being properly treated. She says the EPA also knew that Michigan regulators were misleading residents about the quality of the water.
The judge says the “lies went on for months.”
Court affirms payment in marriage agreement
DETROIT (AP) — A court says a Detroit-area man must pay his former wife $50,000 under the terms of their Islamic marriage certificate.
The man argued that a Wayne County judge exceeded her authority by trying to resolve a religious issue in a divorce. But the Michigan Court of Appeals said Judge Melissa Cox simply applied common law regarding contracts.
The court last week says Cox used “neutral principles.”
The $50,000 payment is called a “mahr” in the Islamic faith. The appeals court says it’s a gift of money or property made by a man in marriage. The decision sets a precedent for Michigan judges.
League settles lawsuit, allows boys to dance competitively
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota State High School League has agreed to a legal settlement that will allow boys to compete on high school dance teams beginning next school year.
The Star Tribune says the settlement comes after a ruling by a federal appeals court that it must allow two high school boys in Roseville and Hopkins to be a part of their schools’ competitive dance teams.
Juniors Dmitri Moua and Zachary Greenwald sued last July saying the league’s girls-only bylaws violate a federal law that bars sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funds.
A federal judge denied the request, but the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month reversed the judge’s ruling and remanded the case to the lower court to issue the boys’ injunction.
Couple to wed at airport bag claim where they first met
CLEVELAND (AP) — Proving life and love can be a carousel, a couple is marrying at the Ohio airport baggage claim where they met 12 years ago.
Michelle Belleau’s boss sent her to pick up Ron Peterson at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in 2007.
A long-distance relationship developed, with Belleau in Cleveland and Peterson in Los Angeles. Now they’re getting married Saturday at a spot Belleau says “couldn't be more perfect,” The Plain Dealer reports.
Belleau says airports became happy and sad places for the couple as they’d reunite and then too quickly have to depart. She has since moved to California.
Southwest Airlines has agreed to move arriving bags to another carousel to make way for the ceremony.
Belleau says it took time to convince Hopkins officials to let them marry there.
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