State Roundup . . .

Coldwater
Traffic stop leads to arrest of man for sexual assault
COLDWATER, Mich. (AP) — State police have arrested a 52-year-old man in connection with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy at a southern Michigan cemetery.

WOOD-TV and WXMI-TV report that the man and boy were in a van stopped about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. The trooper learned during the traffic stop that the boy had been sexually assaulted at a cemetery in Coldwater, southwest of Detroit.

The West Branch man was being held in the Branch County Jail on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Pontiac
Jury convicts man in hammer deaths of older parents
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A 54-year-old suburban Detroit man with a history of mental illness and substance abuse will spend the rest of his life in prison for beating his 87-year-old father and 85-year-old mother to death with hammers.

An Oakland County jury found Jeffrey Maurer guilty Friday of first-degree premeditated murder. He will be sentenced Tuesday.

Sheriff’s deputies found the bodies of William and Gayle Maurer Jan. 19 in a vehicle inside the garage of their Rochester Hills home. They were bludgeoned two days earlier with two hammers and a heavy tea kettle.

Jeffrey Maurer lived with his parents. Prosecutors have said he wanted their money.

Defense attorney Michael McCarthy has said the slayings were “spur of the moment” and not planned.

Grand Rapids
Chad Curtis can’t interview women in molesting case
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Former MLB player Chad Curtis says the young women who accuse him of sexual misconduct at a Michigan high school are looking for a payday.

Curtis made the remarks Monday by video from a Michigan prison where he’s serving a seven-year sentence for criminal sexual conduct.

He’s being sued in federal court by the same women who say they were molested as students when he worked at Lakewood High School in 2011.

Curtis is representing himself in the civil lawsuit. Much of the hearing involved procedures for upcoming depositions. Magistrate Judge Ellen Carmody won’t let him directly question the women.

Curtis says the four women are liars who are seeking a “possible monetary windfall.”

He played for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees and other teams between 1992 and 2001.

Lansing
New online syste­m for environmental permits activated
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan has activated a new system designed to streamline the process of obtaining environmental permits required by the federal government.

The Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Technology, Management and Budget have developed the MiWaters system, a web-based permitting and compliance database.

It replaces more than 25 applications and databases, some of which were more than 30 years old.

Officials say MiWaters simplifies the permitting process for permits dealing with matters such as discharging pollution, stormwater, groundwater discharges and aquatic nuisance control.

It also includes electronic reporting of untreated or partially treated sanitary wastewater.

The system can be accessed at https://miwaters.deq.state.mi.us .

Officials say it’s part of a larger project to replace aging information technology systems throughout state government.

Flint
Judge: Challenge to water rates can be class-action
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A judge says a lawyer challenging Flint over water bills can turn the case into a class-action lawsuit, potentially affecting 30,000 people.

Genesee County Judge Archie Hayman announced his decision Monday in a crowded courtroom. Three weeks ago, he ordered Flint to stop cutting off water to people with unpaid bills.

Hayman also lowered water rates and ordered the city to stop collecting a special fee to replenish the water fund. Flint is appealing to a higher court and predicting dire consequences if the decisions are allowed to stand.

Meanwhile, three groups working to stop the use of the Flint River for drinking water submitted a petition with 26,000 signatures Monday. But officials say new carbon filters are effectively removing organic carbons.

The city broke away from the Detroit system.

Muskegon
Man who ran eatery pleads guilty to fraud
MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — A man who ran a popular restaurant in western Michigan while telling the government he couldn’t work because of a bad back has pleaded guilty to disability fraud.

Pablo Fierro was in federal court Monday.

Social Security investigators became suspicious after Fierro was featured in a Muskegon Chronicle story in 2008 about his restaurant, Pablo’s Tacos. He was quoted as saying he worked long hours nearly seven days a week.

At that time, he had been receiving disability benefits for 12 years.

The 66-year-old Fierro fled to Mexico in 2012 but eventually returned to Michigan. He was arrested in June in Twin Lake.