State Roundup

Flint
City Council is opposed to new emergency boss
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Flint City Council is opposing the state’s appointment of a new emergency financial manager to oversee the cash-strapped city.
The Flint Journal reports City Council voted Monday night to seek court action to block the appointment of Ed Kurtz as emergency manager. Word of the action sparked applause from many at the meeting, including some holding signs saying “Democracy Yes, Dictatorship No.”
Kurtz says he plans to continue his work unless a judge orders him to stop.
Also Monday, City Council voted to hold an investigative hearing Sept. 10 into final actions of former emergency manager Michael Brown.
Michigan voters will get the chance this fall to repeal the state’s emergency manager law. Flint got a new manager this month because of a technicality in the old law.


Muskegon
Prisoner used makeshift dummy in escape attempt
MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — An official says a prisoner in West Michigan placed a makeshift dummy in his bed and buried himself in a prison-yard garden in an attempt to escape.
Tom Tylutki, president of the Michigan Corrections Organization, tells The Muskegon Chronicle the escape attempt happened Sunday night at Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility near Muskegon. Tylutki says officers discovered the prisoner missing after his cellmate started acting odd.
The cellmate eventually told officers the prisoner was gone. Tylutki says the missing prisoner was found with sheets apparently to be used to scale a fence.
Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan says the prisoner has some “mental health issues.” Michigan State Police officials are handling the investigation.
The prisoner’s name wasn’t immediately released. He could face charges in the escape attempt.

Rogers City
Woman sentenced in death of her newborn daughter
ROGERS CITY, Mich. (AP) — A northern Michigan woman who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her newborn daughter has been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
The Alpena News reports 29-year-old Karrie Lynn Mulka was visibly upset during her sentencing Monday in a Presque Isle County courtroom in Rogers City. She is expected to serve 43 months to 15 years in prison as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Authorities say the baby was delivered alive in 2011. They said the Rogers City woman cut the umbilical cord and cleaned the child, but didn’t get medical care.
Defense lawyer Terri Tringali says what happened “was terribly regretful and terribly sad, but it was not intentional.” Tringali says Mulka didn’t intend for the child to die.

East Lansing
Universities to study effects of extreme weather
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University are getting grant money to support research into the effects of extreme weather on water and air quality.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced that Michigan State University will get $750,000 to quantify the relationship between extreme weather events and harmful algal blooms and to predict the effects of climate change on algal blooms and water quality.
Michigan Tech was awarded a nearly $375,000 grant to research projected changes in weather such as heat waves, lightning and lightning-caused wildfires, and their impact on air quality.

Livonia
Business building classes offered free for veterans
LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) — A 10-week business development class is being offered at no cost to any U.S. military veteran jumping into entrepreneurism.
The New Venture class begins Oct. 13 at Eastern Michigan University’s Livonia campus, west of Detroit.
The program is designed to help entrepreneurs evaluate opportunities and develop an action plan for owning their own business.
It is offered by Eastern Michigan and the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center. The $700 per person cost is being waived and paid through a Michigan State University Broadband Technology Opportunity Program grant award.
Qualified applicants are required to attend an orientation before the start of class.
Interested veterans can call (734) 487-0355.

Evart
Dean Foods may close its Liberty  Dairy operations
EVART, Mich. (AP) — Dean Foods Co. likely will close a longtime dairy plant in Michigan after its contract with retailer Meijer Inc. to supply stores in the state winds down.
MLive.com reports the Dallas-based company announced plans Monday to lay off 54 workers at the Liberty Dairy plant in Evart in October on top of 43 workers this month. That will leave fewer than 60 employees at the plant about 70 miles northeast of Grand Rapids.
Most of the facility is expected to be closed in February.
The closing is expected to be a blow to the Osceola County community. The dairy pays property taxes and about $200,000 in water and sewer fees annually.
Grand Rapids-based Meijer announced in March its new “Purple Cow Creamery” would supply stores in Michigan.

Ann Arbor
U-M getting grant for study of Asian carp invasions
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan is expected to get nearly $300,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study the possible effects of Asian carp on the Great Lakes.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan announced the grant funding Monday for the Ann Arbor-based school.
Invasive bighead and silver carp have infested the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Government agencies have spent more than $100 million on efforts to keep them out of the Great Lakes, where scientists say they could unravel food webs by gobbling plankton on which other fish rely.

Detroit
Group seeks answers in man’s shooting by police
DETROIT (AP) — An advocacy group says Saginaw should fire six police officers involved in the daylight shooting death of a mentally ill man.
MLive.com reports that the Michigan Chapter of the National Action Network on Monday said the civil rights community is looking for answers in Milton Hall’s death.
A cellphone video aired by CNN shows Hall collapsing in a hail of gunfire on July 1. It also shows police ordering him to drop a knife.
The Rev. Charles Williams II calls Hall’s death excessive and racially motivated. He spoke Monday from his Detroit church.
He plans to visit Hall’s family.
The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and state police are investigating the shooting. Six officers have been assigned to other police work while Hall’s death is reviewed.

Detroit
GM to take Volt plant off-line to control supply
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors will temporarily close the Detroit-area plant that makes the Chevrolet Volt next month to control inventory and prepare to make a new model.
Spokesman Bill Grotz says the factory will be off-line to match supply with demand and prepare to build the 2014 Chevrolet Impala. He wouldn’t say how long.
Grotz says GM is happy with its supply of electric Volts. The plant also makes Chevrolet Malibus.
GM has sold 10,666 Volts so this year, more than three times as many as last year.
But the publication Automotive News says GM has 6,500 Volts in stock, enough to supply dealers for 84 days at the current sales rate. Automakers like to have a 60-day supply.
The move affects 1,350 workers at the factory on the Detroit-Hamtramck border.