Judge: Meth in courthouse serves as warning of epidemic
IONIA (AP) — A judge says an encounter with methamphetamine inside the courthouse where he works serves as a warning about the extent of the drug epidemic.
The Daily News of Greenville reports Ionia County Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Robert Sykes Jr. recounted his experience this month while giving an update on court matters to Ionia County commissioners.
Sykes said he was presiding over a child removal trial in which the mother was alleged to be a meth addict.
He said she the woman went into a courthouse bathroom and apparently left a small bag containing methamphetamine inside.
Someone brought it out and Sykes said it was the first time he’d seen meth in person.
He said in many cases he handles the “parents, the partner, sometimes even the children are using it.”
Prisoner dies after hospital stay for bee sting
YPSILANTI (AP) — A prison inmate who said she was stung by a bee has died after being discharged from a hospital.
Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz says Lisa Marie Johnston collapsed Friday while pushing another inmate in a wheelchair at the women's prison in Washtenaw
County. She died two hours after she had been returned to prison.
The 37-year-old was taken to a hospital on Wednesday.
Records show Johnston was sentenced in March to at least two years in prison for a drug crime in the Traverse City area.
Gautz tells the Detroit Free Press that Johnston collapsed before an appointment with prison medical staff. He says a follow-up is typical after a hospital discharge.
Environmental justice advocate named for Michigan agency
LANSING (AP) — Regina Strong has been named to the newly created position of environmental justice public advocate in the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
The agency formerly was known as the Department of Environmental Quality. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer changed its name as part of a reorganization that included establishing the environmental justice advocate post.
Strong is the former Michigan director for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. She previously served in a variety of leadership roles, including as executive director of Community Development Advocates of Detroit.
The term "environmental justice" involves efforts to ensure that pollution doesn't disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities.
Recruitment ad touts ‘Low Pay, Cool Helmet’
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri county trying to recruit new firefighters is getting real with its sales pitch, saying in signs posted outside its stations that the job offers “Hard Labor, Odd Hours, Low Pay (and) Cool Helmet.”
KFVS-TV reports that the Scott County Rural Fire Protection District's chief, Jeremy Perrien, says most advertisements are “kind of boring.” He says that’s why they “wanted to add some humor to it” and “try to catch people's attention.”
Perrien says they’re short about 15 firefighters, and rarely have a full staff. The recruitment ad comes amid a shortage of volunteer firefighters in the Heartland.
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