At a Glance ...

MSU Institute kicks off public policy forums

Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research  kicks off its 26th year of public policy forums on  Wednesday, Sept. 19 with a panel on the state’s recreational marijuana market.

IPPSR’s forums have attracted thousands of policy-minded listeners to hear presentations on pressing topics that drive community and capital debate, said Ann Marie Schneider, director of IPPSR’s division of program planning and policy education.

“We take research and ideas from MSU’s campus to a full range of the community, the Legislature, legislative staff and state agency leaders. Forums are designed to reflect the highest concerns of community and decisionmakers,” she said.

Eight forums are planned at the Anderson House Office Building in Lansing.


Cop loses appeal over suit tied to girl’s death

DETROIT (AP) — The state Supreme Court has cleared the way for a trial or settlement in a lawsuit against a Detroit police officer who accidentally killed a seven-year-old girl during a raid in 2010.

Two courts have said a jury can decide whether Joseph Weekley’s actions amounted to gross negligence. The Supreme Court last week declined to hear an appeal.

Aiyana Stanley-Jones was shot in the head while she slept on a couch. Weekley, a member of an elite police unit, was the first officer through the door of her home during a chaotic search for a murder suspect. He insists he accidentally fired his gun during a struggle with Aiyana’s grandmother.

Weekley was charged with involuntary manslaughter. The charge was dismissed by a judge during a second trial in 2014.


City wants Pulse civil rights lawsuit tossed

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The city of Orlando is asking a federal judge to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of victims and survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

The Orlando Sentinel reports the lawsuit accuses Orlando police Det. Adam Gruler of failing to intervene to stop the 2016 massacre.

Authorities say Gruler, who was working an extra-duty shift, fired at Omar Mateen from two locations outside Pulse, but didn't pursue him inside.

The suit claims that it was Gruler's job to go inside the club to "neutralize" the shooter even though it would have risked his life.

A motion filed Friday by lawyers for Gruler and the city argues Gruler's reaction to the violence doesn't constitute a violation of the victims' right to due process.


Driving lesson ends with car landing in swimming pool

MONTGOMERY VILLAGE, Md. (AP) — A driving lesson went off the deep end in Maryland when authorities say the car jumped a curb, crashed through a fence and landed in a swimming pool.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer tells The Washington Post the driver and passenger were uninjured Saturday, albeit soaking wet.

He says the occupants were a man and a woman in their 50s or 60s, but it's unclear who was behind the wheel when the drive turned into a dive.

He says one was teaching the other to drive that afternoon.

The car landed in the North Creek Community Center Pool, which was closed for the season.

Piringer says the man and woman were standing poolside, having extricated themselves, by the time rescuers arrived.

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