State Roundup

Hazel Park Doctor freed from prison after lies emerge HAZEL PARK, Mich. (AP) -- Oakland County prosecutors helped release a doctor from prison after a woman who had accused him of sexual assault was secretly recorded saying she had lied. The Detroit Free Press says Dr. Labeed Nouri spent more than three years in jail and prison for assaulting a woman who worked in his Hazel Park office. But the case took a dramatic turn when the woman's boyfriend said they had lied about her sexual past. The boyfriend agreed to secretly record the woman, and Nouri was released from prison in April. The doctor agreed to plead guilty to assault, a misdemeanor that will be erased after five years. Nouri insists he did nothing wrong but took the deal to get out of prison as soon as possible. Southfield Governor to endorse Hoekstra in Senate race SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Rick Snyder plans to endorse former Congressman Pete Hoekstra in the GOP race for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Debbie Stabenow. Snyder and Hoekstra are scheduled to make the announcement Monday morning in Southfield. Governors usually avoid picking favorites in a contested primary. The five-person Republican field also includes charter school executive Clark Durant, former Kent County Probate Judge Randy Hekman, Roscommon businessman Peter Konetchy and Midland resident Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan. Durant has the endorsement of three former heads of the Michigan Republican Party: current Republican National Committeeman Saul Anuzis, Betsy DeVos and Spencer Abraham, who lost the Senate seat to Stabenow in 2000. The primary election is next August. Acme Township Another Meijer try for OK for Grand Traverse store ACME TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Officials are planning four public hearings on Meijer Inc.'s new effort at winning approval to open a store in a Traverse City-area community where the retailer funded a recall campaign in a zoning dispute several years ago. A proposal for a Meijer store in Grand Traverse County's Acme Township is on the agenda for a public hearing Monday. It's the first of four planned hearings. The Traverse City Record-Eagle says officials want to avoid contentiousness that arose in 2004. Meijer funded a 2007 attempt to recall the Acme Township board over the zoning dispute. Michigan officials fined Meijer $190,000 for violating campaign laws. Last month, a prosecutor declined to bring charges over possible perjury during a 2007 deposition in a civil case related to the dispute. Detroit Feds get 2nd conviction in Detroit postal probe DETROIT (AP) -- A former Detroit-area postal employee could face three years in prison after pleading guilty to corruption. Jeffrey Adams is one of five people charged with taking cash bribes and other favors in exchange for having a Detroit contractor work on postal vehicles. Two have pleaded guilty. Adams admitted last week to accepting $50,000 in cash, free cars and other benefits from the head of Metro Diesel. Adams was a vehicle maintenance supervisor in Detroit and also managed a similar site in Akron, Ohio. Metro Diesel president Joe Fawaz cooperated with investigators and secretly recorded postal employees. He has not been charged. Published: Tue, Aug 30, 2011