Wednesday News Summary 01-11-23
Wed, 11 Jan 2023 12:17:10 EST


(Stories Courtesy of Michigan News Radio)


MICHIGAN MONSTER
Another woman has come forward with rape allegations against a man called "The
Michigan Monster." Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson says a woman who now
buh-rah-hahs ,
who was arrested last month on charges of rape and kidnapping involving a pregnant
woman who was a victim of human trafficking.
Swanson says the victim saw news coverage of the first case and alerted authorities.
Barajas has been charged with 20 additional charges related to the second victim.
Investigators have arrested two other suspects and are looking for two others involved
in the initial case.

WRONG WAY DRIVER
Potential tragedy was avoided... thanks to quick work from Livingston County Sheriff's
deputies. The department says a suspect in a stolen SUV drove through the median of
I-96 near Fowlerville Sunday morning... in an attempt to get away from deputies. Before
the suspect could drive into traffic -- going the wrong way on the freeway -- a deputy hit
the SUV and stopped it in the median.
The 34-year-old from Detroit was arrested and is now awaiting charges.

READING
The pandemic continues to show its detrimental impacts to education. Transparency is
needed to know whether federal COVID-19 relief funding is being spent on evidencebased strategies designed to improve student performance in Michigan. That's
according to a new report released Tuesday morning by The Education Trust-Midwest.
According to the group, Michigan's fourth graders are in the bottom 10 states nationally
for reading. Michigans students dropped to 43rd nationally in 4th Grade Reading.. and
Black students dropped to the bottom five.

AUTO AWARDS
Electric vehicles could get a boost as the winners are announced for North American
Car, Truck and Utility of the Year. Five of the nine finalists are EV's--including all three
in the Utility category. The awards are selected by a jury of 50 automotive journalists.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony later this morning at the M1 Concourse
in Pontiac.

VIT D
With winter in full swing and sunlight at a premium -- Michigan residents are scrambling
to get their hands on Vitamin D supplements. According to a new report from
DrugGenius.com -- the "sunshine" vitamin is the most in demand in the state... leading
other supplements in total Google searches. The report says Michiganders are
overwhelmingly deficient in vitamin D... which also became popular during the
pandemic when people were confined to their homes. Vitamin D can also be found in
oily fish, egg yolks, cheese and, beef liver.

SCHURR CASE-GRAND RAPIDS
Attorneys for a former police officer charged with second-degree murder in the fatal
shooting of a Black motorist in western Michigan, asking the judge to dismiss the case.
Ex-Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr is charged with second-degree murder in
the death of Patrick Lyoya. His attorneys, filing a motion seeking to toss out a ruling
stating a jury trial should be held in the case. The attorneys' claim Schurr was acting in
self-defense. Michigan law allows police officers to use deadly force to stop someone
from fleeing and to make an arrest. Lyoya briefly ran from a traffic stop, then grappled
with Schurr before he was fatally shot last April.

COVID MILESTONE
Michigan has hit a new COVID-19 milestone.
Since the start of the pandemic -- the state has now surpassed 3 MILLION cases of the
virus. That equals nearly a third of the state's total population.
The state has reported more than 41 THOUSAND virus-related deaths since the start
of the pandemic.
Michigan saw just under 10 THOUSAND new cases and 165 deaths over the last week.

911 OUTAGE-PARTS OF STATE
An investigation underway on the exact cause of a state-wide outage of 9-1-1
emergency services on Tuesday evening.. A large portion of Michigan with no access,
and residents unable to dial 9-1-1 emergency services and speak with dispatchers. A
technical issue with a router in the Upper Peninsula is believed to be the cause leading
to supervisors at centers all over Michigan asking people with emergencies to dial local
emergency numbers. A network provider located in the Upper Peninsula is expected to
review what happened and issue a report of the findings and report on keeping a
similar outage occurrence from taking place in the future.

BED BATH & BEYOND CLOSINGS
Bed, Bath & Beyond plans to close five more stores in Michigan. The company has
announced that stores in Muskegon, Lansing, Brighton, Ann Arbor and Auburn Hills will
close in the coming weeks to help the company save $80 to $100 million dollars in
costs. That will make ten stores that have closed in Michigan since September. Bed
Bath & Beyond announced its net sales dropped by 33 percent to $1.3 Billion dollars in
the third quarter.
The company has also said it may sell assets or restructure in bankruptcy court.

MEA POLL
As the Michigan legislature goes into session today for the first time this year, a new
survey of registered voters shows they want lawmakers to make greater investment in
school safety, higher pay for teachers, and expanded access to mental health services.
The survey , released by the Michigan Education Association, shows Michigan's public
school employees are the education experts and MEA president Paula Herbart says
the survey shows voters of all political persuasions want the voices of educators to be
heard and respected when it comes to crafting education policy.

VALADE TRUST
An attorney from Grosse Pointe Farms is set to appear in court today... facing
embezzlement charges linked to a trust of Carhartt heiress Gretchen Valade.
Attorney David Sutherland is scheduled to be arraigned on two charges of
embezzlement over 100-thousand dollars, embezzlement from a vulnerable adult, and
conducting a criminal enterprise.
A lawsuit -- filed last year -- involving Valade's Irrevocable Living Trust... claims
Sutherland stole more than seven million dollars from the trust... and wrote checks to
his own businesses from the trust. It's not clear if the criminal case is connected to
allegations presented in the lawsuit.
Valade passed away just over a week ago.

MISSING TODDLER FOUND
A missing toddler from St. Clair County has been found safe ... in Ohio.
A search got underway yesterday after 4-year-old Lilliana Nardini was dropped off to
her father Monday night at a Burger King in Marysville.
Erik Nardini had lost custody of Lilliana in court in Cadillac. Before her disappearance --
police say Nardini told the child's mother that she would never see their daughter again.
He's now under arrest -- as police work to reunite the little girl with her family.

OTTAWA COUNTY BOARD
The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners held its first meeting since a big shakeup
of the board on Tuesday. Earlier this month, the board fired county administrator John
Shay and put John Gibbs in his place. Commissioners also replaced the county's top
health officer and closed the office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
The meeting was packed....some complained about a lack of transparency and others
supported the moves.

MEGAMILLIONS GOING UP
It's "play on" for Mega Millions players across Metro Detroit... as no player won last
night's jackpot... ballooning the grand prize to a whopping 1.35 BILLION dollars ahead
of Friday's drawing.
The jackpot is the second largest in Mega Millions history -- only behind a 1.5 BILLION
dollar grand prize won in South Carolina in 2018. The cash option is just over 707
MILLION dollars.
The next drawing will be held on Friday the 13th... but Michigan has had uncanny
lottery luck on that day in history... as four Mega Millions jackpots have been won in the
state on that date.

MSU PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH
The search continues for a new president at Michigan State University.
The school's board of trustees will meet today... its expected to select a search
committee to find the university's next leader.
Dennis Denno -- who was elected in November -- and Sandy Pierce -- who was
appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in late December -- will officially join the
board today to help in the search.
Chairperson Dianne Byrum says the search for a permanent leader will likely continue
into 2024. In October -- the board appointed Provost Teresa Woodruff as the
university's interim president.... replacing Samuel Stanley.


   

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