Traverse City
Mayor pleads guilty to impaired driving charge, may face jail
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Traverse City Mayor Michael Estes has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving while impaired.
The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports that Estes appeared in district court on Monday, less than two weeks after his arrest on a drunken driving count. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
The 63-year-old mayor was pulled over Oct. 23 after a candidates’ forum. Police spotted his pickup truck weaving across turn and bike lanes on a downtown street. A breath test recorded a blood-alcohol content of 0.12 percent, exceeding the 0.08 percent legal limit for driving.
He could get up to 93 days in jail. Judge Michael Stepka ordered an examination of the details of Estes’ drinking.
Estes was seeking re-election Tuesday. He has asked for the public’s forgiveness.
Grand Rapids
Killing suspect gets term of 25-75 years in related assault case
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — An ex-con awaiting trial on accusations of strangling his girlfriend to keep the mother of five from implicating him in a stabbing has been sentenced to at least 25 years in prison for the earlier attack.
Kent County Circuit Judge James R. Redford on Monday sentenced Jahleel Hoskins to 25-75 years in prison. A jury found Hoskins guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm for attacking Kenneth Harris in a parking lot Feb. 19.
The jury also convicted the 26-year-old Hoskins of perjury.
Authorities say Hoskins strangled 26-year-old Latrice Maze to prevent her from telling police about the stabbing from fear she’d lose custody of her children for non-cooperation.
Relatives reported Maze missing March 20, and her body remains unfound. Hoskins’ murder trial is scheduled Dec. 4.
Traverse City
History group says it has cloned famous John Muir sequoia tree
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan-based organization that produces genetic copies of the world’s oldest and largest trees says it has successfully cloned a sequoia planted by famed naturalist John Muir.
Muir planted the tree at his home in Martinez, Calif., in the early 1880s. It’s now 75 feet tall but is dying from two fungal diseases.
The John Muir National Historic Site took cuttings from the tree last spring and sent them to the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, which has a propagation facility near Copemish, Mich.
The cuttings were treated with a cocktail of root-stimulating growth hormones.
Archangel founder David Milarch says this week the cuttings have developed roots, indicating the cloning succeeded.
Muir founded the Sierra Club and was instrumental in establishing Yosemite National Park.
Lansing
Michigan claims $42M as part of $2.2B drug national settlement
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan will get $42 million as part of a $2.2 billion national settlement with Johnson & Johnson over allegations that the company promoted powerful psychiatric drugs for unapproved uses in children, seniors and disabled patients.
State Attorney General Bill Schuette said Monday that most of the money will go back to Michigan’s Medicaid program.
Justice Department officials say Johnson & Johnson used illegal marketing tactics and kickbacks to persuade physicians and pharmacists to prescribe the antipsychotic drugs Risperdal and Invega and the heart failure drug Natrecor.
While doctors are allowed to prescribe medicines for any use, drugmakers can’t promote them in any way that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved.
Grand Haven
Teen gets 3-17 year prison sentence in gun death of friend, 16
GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — A judge has ordered a three- to 17-year prison sentence for a 19-year-old western Michigan man who authorities say accidentally killed a teenage friend while they played with a gun.
Richard M. Usher pleaded no contest in September to manslaughter in the death of 16-year-old Brandon Kuiper.
Authorities say Usher shot Kuiper in the face March 6 in the basement of Usher’s home in Ottawa County’s Tallmadge Township.
Police say the shooting followed talk about a game of Russian roulette. Four other males ages 17 to 19 were in the basement, but no one else was hurt.
An Ottawa County Circuit Court judge sentenced Usher on Monday to serve one to 15 years for manslaughter, plus an additional two years for having a firearm while committing a felony.
Bay City
Man gets 3 days in jail over juror questionnaire
BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Bay City man who wrote profanity and insults on a juror qualification questionnaire has been sentenced to three days in jail.
Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph Sheeran issued the sentence Monday for 36-year-old Erick Haubenstricker, who pleaded guilty last month to criminal contempt.
Court records show that he signed and returned a juror questionnaire form June 30 with the word “pigs” and profanities written in several places.
Haubenstricker says he’s sorry for the “rant” he put on paper.
Sheeran says Haubenstricker has a felony conviction from about 10 years ago that could have spared him a stint as a juror anyway.
