Supreme Court takes case involving lawyer Mike Morse
DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court is stepping into a legal dispute involving a popular personal-injury lawyer who is accused of sexual abuse.
Mike Morse is accused of inappropriately grabbing a paralegal and a receptionist, and making sexual comments.
The issue for the top court is whether the claims should go through private arbitration or proceed publicly as lawsuits in Oakland and Wayne county courts.
The Supreme Court says it will hear arguments in the months ahead.
Morse denies the allegations. He also says the claims must go through arbitration under an agreement signed by employees at his firm.
But the state appeals court in March disagreed, saying arbitration behind closed doors for assault allegations "would effectively perpetuate a culture that silences victims."
Judge sides with farmer battling state over swine
BARAGA (AP) — A judge has sided with an Upper Michigan farmer who has battled state regulators for seven years over the pigs he raises.
Circuit Judge Charles Goodman ruled recently the Department of Natural Resources had failed to prove that Roger Turunen's pigs were covered by a 2010 order banning Eurasian boars and other exotic swine.
The DNR says the animals are escaping from farms and hunting ranches and damaging crops and the environment.
Turunen contends his Baraga County hogs are not Russian boars, but domestic animals derived from heritage breeds.
Goodman ruled the DNR failed to show what characteristics made Turunen's pigs illegal and that the invasive species order was vague.
Detroit seeks $250M bond sale to wipe out residential blight
DETROIT (AP) — Mayor Mike Duggan wants Detroit voters to approve the sale of up to $250 million in bonds to eradicate residential blight across the city.
Duggan's office says a proposed resolution seeking to put the initiative on the March 2020 ballot has been submitted to the city council.
Duggan says he expects the bond funding to be available next year. It then would take five years to remove residential blight from Detroit neighborhoods.
The bonds would be repaid over the next 30 years using existing tax revenue.
About 19,000 vacant houses have been demolished since 2014. Another 9,000 have or are being rehabilitated.
Sheriff: Women left wallet, meth at store
CALHOUN, La. (AP) — Authorities ay a wallet forgotten at a cash register was filled with more than just old receipts.
The Monroe News-Star reports the wallet contained a bag of crystal methamphetamine and an insurance card belonging to Alicia Pitre, 23. The newspaper says Pitre was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance.
An arrest report says an employee noticed the wallet at the register and looked through it to find an I.D., but instead found meth.
The report says deputies took Pitre's name from the insurance card and matched it to previous booking photos. It says the photos resembled a woman seen on store surveillance video.
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