Daily Briefs

Some Michigan communities say no to marijuana businesses


NILES, Mich. (AP) — Some Michigan communities are already saying no to marijuana businesses after voters approved the use of the drug for people 21 and older .

The South Bend Tribune reports the Niles City Council in southwestern Michigan voted Monday to temporarily opt out of allowing retail marijuana sales in the city. Council members have said they’re waiting for the state to sort out rules and regulations for the sale of marijuana.

The Herald-Palladium reports the southwestern Michigan community of St. Joseph also is among those expected to opt out.

In southeastern Michigan, WHMI-FM reports the village of Pinckney adopted an ordinance Monday prohibiting marijuana establishments for now due in part to the potential strain on community resources such as police and zoning.

Voters last week approved the recreational use of marijuana.

 

Case against ex-senator revived after Supreme Court decision
 

DETROIT (AP) — A criminal case against a former state lawmaker who shot his ex-wife’s car in Detroit is starting over after a summer stop at the Michigan Supreme Court.

A judge on Monday granted the prosecutor’s request to withdraw from a 2016 plea deal with Virgil Smith. The Supreme Court said prosecutors should have been allowed to withdraw when Judge Lawrence Talon dropped key provisions.

Smith pleaded guilty in 2016 to shooting his ex-wife’s Mercedes-Benz. He was sentenced to 10 months in jail and quit his Senate seat.

The original charges have been reinstated: malicious destruction of property, felonious assault, a gun crime and misdemeanor domestic violence.

Smith claimed that he shot Anistia Thomas’ car after she tried to attack a woman in his bed.

 

Michigan man who shot at black teen gets 4 years in prison


PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A white retired firefighter has been sentenced to at least four years in prison for shooting at a black teenager who came to his suburban Detroit home asking for directions to school.

Jeffrey Zeigler apologized before he was sentenced Tuesday in Oakland County court. A jury convicted him last month of assault and a gun crime.

Fourteen-year-old Brennan Walker wasn’t hurt. He told police he missed a school bus on April 12 and knocked on Zeigler’s door in Rochester Hills after getting lost. He ran after seeing a man inside the house grab a gun.

The 53-year-old Zeigler says he woke up to his wife’s screams and that she believed someone was trying to break into their home.

He’ll be eligible for parole after four years.
 

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