U-Michigan loses court decision over withholding pay details
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A judge has ordered the University of Michigan to fill a public records request and release pay information for employees in an office dedicated to diversity and equal opportunity.
“Exposure of the university’s salary, bonus and overtime pay decisions allows the taxpayers to learn how the people’s money was spent, fulfilling the policy objectives” of Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, Judge Elizabeth Gleicher said Monday.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy aggressively uses the public records law to get information from state and local governments and public schools. It sued the university after officials wouldn’t disclose all compensation details for employees in the Office of Institutional Equity for a two-year period.
The university cited privacy exceptions and other reasons for withholding details about overtime and bonuses. Gleicher at the Court of Claims said those defenses didn’t fit.
“We are happy the court upheld the rule of law and transparency in government by ruling in our favor,” said Steve Delie of the Midland-based Mackinac Center.
University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said officials were reviewing the decision.
Ex-Detroit officer convicted in vehicle repair scheme
DETROIT (AP) — An ex-Detroit police officer has been sentenced to six years and eight months in federal prison in a scheme where bribes were given by collision shop owners in exchange for referrals of stolen and abandoned vehicles recovered in the city.
Deonne Dotson, 49, was convicted of extortion in November 2019 but sentencing was delayed until Tuesday due to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Detroit said.
Vehicle owners were unaware that Dotson was receiving money from shop owners when they agreed to have repairs performed at the shops, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Five other officers have pleaded guilty to committing similar crimes while employed by the Detroit Police Department.
Former priest sentenced in sex abuse cases in Michigan
IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich. (AP) — A former priest has been ordered to spend eight to 15 years in prison in connection with the sexual abuse of teens in the 1980s in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Gary Jacobs, 75, was sentenced Tuesday in Dickinson County Circuit Court in Iron Mountain for second-degree criminal sexual conduct, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.
Jacobs also was sentenced in May in Ontonagon County to eight to 15 years in prison following a guilty plea in April to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
The sentences will be served concurrently.
The Diocese of Marquette has said Jacobs was removed from ministry in 1988 and left the state. He was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he was charged in January 2020.
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