SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN
Lawyer: Artist didn’t know Michigan parents stayed in studio
A Detroit-area artist whose studio was where the parents of the Oxford High School student charged in a deadly shooting were found by police is cooperating with authorities and didn’t know the couple had stayed overnight. That’s according to attorney Clarence Dass. He’s representing artist Andrzej Sikora. James and Jennifer Crumbley face involuntary manslaughter counts. They were found early Saturday inside a Detroit commercial building. Dass says the Crumbleys came to the studio Friday morning, but Sikora was unaware of charges against the couple or that they stayed after he left for the day. Sikora has not been charged.
SCHOOL THREATS-MICHIGAN STUDENTS
Michigan prosecutor charges 7 juveniles with school threats
DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit-area prosecutor has charged seven juveniles in separate incidents for making threats against schools or having a weapon in school. The charges, issued Thursday and Friday, follow a school shooting at Oxford High School earlier this week which left left four students dead and six other students and a teacher wounded. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says there’s a stranglehold on southeastern Michigan and school threats put everyone edge. Those charged include a 14-year-old student at Parcells Middle School in Grosse Pointe Woods, who was charged with a false report or threat of terrorism.
SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN-SCHOOL’S HANDLING
Third party to probe Oxford High’s actions ahead of shooting
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan school leader says a third party will investigate events at Oxford High School leading up to a school shooting that left four students dead and six other students and a teacher wounded. Oxford schools Superintendent Tim Throne said in a statement that he called for the outside investigation because parents have asked questions about the school’s version of events leading up to the shooting this week. He also elaborated on interactions with the student. His comments came after a news conference Friday by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald that detailed numerous warning signs from the student charged in the shooting. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Sunday offered her staff to conduct the investigation.
FIREFIGHTER COMPENSATION
More Michigan firefighters with cancer eligible for benefits
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A new Michigan law makes more firefighters with cancer eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. Many in active service already qualify for the wage loss and medical benefits if they get certain types of cancer presumed to have been caused by hazards on the job. Legislation signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week extends eligibility to forest fire officers and fire/crash officers at military airfields. Jeff Roberts, president of the Michigan Association of Fire Chiefs, said many people may not realize the health effects that can occur years later due to exposure to contaminants and carcinogens while fighting fires and rescuing people.
SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN-TIMELINE
Key moments surrounding Michigan high school shooting
OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The parents of the 15-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of four students at a Michigan high school have entered not guilty pleas to involuntary manslaughter charges. James and Jennifer Crumbley entered their pleas during a Zoom hearing, hours after police said they were arrested while hiding in a commercial building in Detroit. A judge set bond at $500,000 for each. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald says Ethan Crumbley’s mother wrote on social media that her husband bought a handgun last week as a Christmas present for the boy. The next day, a teacher found an alarming note and drawings on his desk.
SCHOOL SHOOTING-MICHIGAN-EXPLAINER-CHARGING PARENTS
EXPLAINER: How unusual to charge parents in school shooting?
Experts say guns used in U.S. school shootings have often come from the homes of young perpetrators. But parents are rarely charged for the violence that occurs. That’s what makes the case against Ethan Crumbley’s parents unusual, following the fatal shooting of four students at Oxford High School in southeastern Michigan. Jennifer and James Crumbley were taken into custody early Saturday and later ordered held on $500,000 bond each after pleading not guilty. They are charged with involuntary manslaughter, while their son is charged with murder, terrorism and other crimes. Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald says the Crumbleys ignored opportunities to intervene, just a few hours before the bloodshed.
MINIMUM WAGE
Michigan hourly minimum wage will rise 22 cents to $9.87
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s minimum wage will rise by 22 cents to $9.87 an hour in January. State law requires annual increases in the wage until it reaches $12.05 in a decade. The 22-cent hike was supposed to occur in 2021 but was automatically delayed because of high unemployment early in the coronavirus pandemic. The state announced last week that the minimum wage for 16- and 17-year-olds will increase by 19 cents to $8.39 an hour. Employees who make tips will earn a base wage of $3.75 per hour, 8 cents more.
AUTO WORKERS-ELECTION
UAW votes for direct election of leaders in wake of scandal
DETROIT (AP) — Members of the United Auto Workers union have overwhelmingly approved picking their leaders by direct ballot elections. In doing so they have rejected a system that many blamed for corruption in the union’s top ranks. The so-called “one member, one vote” measure got nearly 64% of 140,586 valid ballots that were received by Monday’s mail-in deadline. About 36% favored the current system of leadership picked by delegates to a convention. That’s according to results released Thursday. The results are not official until approved by the Labor Department and a federal judge. The election of the union’s 13-member International Executive Board is likely to take place next summer or fall.
AP-US-EPA-ENVIRONMENTAL-JUSTICE
EPA head: ‘Journey to Justice’ tour ‘really personal for me’
RESERVE, La. (AP) — EPA Administrator Michael Regan says a recently completed “Journey to Justice” tour from Mississippi to Texas enabled him to put “faces and names with this term that we call environmental justice.” The five-day tour in mid-November highlighted low-income, mostly minority communities adversely affected by industrial pollution. A former environmental regulator in his native North Carolina, Regan has made environmental justice a top priority since taking over as EPA chief in March. The trip included visits to historically marginalized communities such as St. John and St. James parishes in Louisiana, along with cities such as New Orleans, Jackson, Mississippi, and Houston.