At a Glance ...

Former Macomb County clerk arraigned on larceny charge

WARREN (AP) — A former county clerk has been arraigned on a larceny charge in connection with the withdrawal of $1,660 from the bank account of a 78-year-old Detroit-area woman.

Karen Spranger was released Friday on bond following an appearance in Warren District Court. She was arrested Thursday in a doughnut shop just north of Detroit.

The 66-year-old Spranger was a political unknown who rode President Donald Trump’s popularity to the Macomb County clerk’s job as a Republican. Trump got 53 percent of the county vote.

She spent 15 months as clerk before a judge removed her from office in 2018 . A judge said she wasn’t living at a Warren house when she filed to run for clerk in 2016.

The Associated Press left a message Friday seeking comment from Spranger’s attorney, Joseph Arnone.


Woman loses appeal over Facebook post about son in sewer

DETROIT (AP) — A woman who says she suffered when she learned that her missing son was found slain in a Detroit sewer has failed to persuade the Michigan Court of Appeals to reinstate her lawsuit over a Facebook post.

Brenda Burton sued Detroit and a water department employee who was accused of writing on Facebook that he had found a “dead body in the sewer” in September 2015. Burton says she went to the site and saw her son, Osean Lockett, under the manhole cover.

Burton says the water employee acted recklessly when he made the Facebook post before police could remove the body. She says she suffered emotional distress.

The court said the post might have been “thoughtless” but it wasn’t “utterly intolerable in a civilized community.”


Mayor signs plastic bag ban into law

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The mayor of Providence has signed into law a city-wide ban on plastic checkout bags.

Mayor Jorge Elorza signed the Retail Plastic Bag Reduction Act on Wednesday. The Providence City Council voted unanimously earlier to approve the ban.

The law prohibits retailers from distributing plastic checkout bags unless they can prove a qualifying exemption.

If retailers violate the ban, they will get a warning for the first offense, a $50 fine for the second offense and a $100 fine for each subsequent offense.

The new ban will go into effect in six months.


Squirrel initially scares, then snuggles with subway riders

BOSTON (AP) — A surprise passenger hitched a ride on a Boston commuter trolley, frightening some people at first, but warming their hearts when it willingly snuggled in a human passenger's arms.

Commuters say a squirrel bounded onto a Red Line trolley one recent morning at an aboveground stop, prompting some passengers to hop onto their seats.

A passenger posted a Twitter photo of the squirrel resting on another person’s arm. She told boston.com someone even tried to feed the rodent a piece of granola bar.

The rodent rider was let off by passengers at another aboveground station.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials commended the kindness of passengers but warned against interacting with wild animals on a train.

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