At a Glance ...

U of M, Harvard focus on poverty, opioid problems

ANN ARBOR (AP) — The University of Michigan and Harvard University are teaming up to tackle poverty and opioid addiction in Detroit.

The schools say they will work with the city to identify steps to improve low-income residents’ livelihoods. The effort pairs Michigan’s ongoing Poverty Solutions Initiative with Harvard’s statistical and computational research into forces influencing economic success or failure.

The universities also will share what they and other experts know about the opioid epidemic and plan national summits in the Detroit and Boston areas.

University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel says he called Harvard President Lawrence Bacow, who grew up in Pontiac, after learning of Bacow’s interest in working on national problems. They discussed areas of potential collaboration.


Foot doctor gets 28 months in prison for Medicare fraud

DEARBORN (AP) — A Detroit-area podiatrist has been sentenced to 28 months in federal prison after receiving about $340,000 from Medicare in a fraudulent billing scheme.

Lawrence Young told the government he was billing for a medicated dressing to control swelling of a patient’s foot or leg. But investigators say it typically was an elastic bandage. The doctor worked at clinics in Dearborn and Sterling Heights.

Young, 71, told federal Judge Judith Levy that he’s “completely ashamed and embarrassed” by his conduct. He says he continued to see patients with little or no compensation for eight months after he was indicted in 2017.


Mom admits to stealing dying daughter’s pain meds

TROY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman has been charged with stealing her terminally ill daughter’s pain medications.

Carol Ballweg, 46, of Troy, was charged Wednesday with four counts of stealing a controlled substance and two counts of abuse of a vulnerable person.

Police say Ballweg was the primary caregiver for her 20-year-old daughter who is in hospice care. 

Medical staff found bed sores on the daughter and began suspecting the daughter wasn’t being given the prescribed doses of fentanyl and oxycodone, so they tested her urine. Police say it showed no signs of the medications, even though Ballweg requested refills ahead of schedule.

Police say Ballweg confessed to being addicted to opioids and using the medicine herself. Bond is set at $100,000.


Kangaroo gets jump on owners and flees

HARRISVILLE, Miss. (AP) — A kangaroo is on the run — or maybe the jump — in central Mississippi.

The Simpson County sheriff's office says deputies have been looking for a 10-month-old kangaroo since he bolted from his new owners only minutes after arriving in Mississippi. The Shute family says they bought the kangaroo, named Ricky, from an online auction and were giving him a treat when he escaped.

Ricky has been sighted several times, including once by a woman who initially reported seeing a deer with short front legs.

However, no one has been able to catch the kangaroo because he's just too fast.

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