WATZ Today's Country

Thursday News Summary 02-09-23
Thu, 09 Feb 2023 11:54:32 EST

(Stories Courtesy of Michigan News Radio)

MI WOMAN WANTED BY FBI
State and federal authorities say a Michigan woman fled to Thailand to avoid the
consequences of a hit-and-run crash that killed a Metro Detroit college student on New
Year's Day. Tubtim "Sue" Howson was charged with a federal crime related to her
sudden one-way flight to Thailand earlier this month. Benjamin Kable was hit in Detroit
while walking before dawn on January 1st. The Michigan State University student, who
was home for the holidays, died at the scene. The FBI says Howson was encouraged
by an associate to contact police after the crash but she said, "no cops."

ICE CLIMBER UPDATE
Search efforts for a missing ice climber have been suspended. 32 year old James Bake
of Gaylord, was climbing a roughly 50-foot cliff at the Pictured Rocks National
Lakeshore. He fell into an icy Lake Superior. His friend called 911. Lt. Kathleen
Romas with the Coast Guard said they sent helicopters Tuesday to help with the
search, but they faced rough conditions. Rescue swimmers rode a moving ice shelf to
search from the surface, but they still couldn't find Bake. The search continued
Wednesday, but they found no sign of life.

SCAM WARNING
A cyber attack left more than 37-thousand people with personal information out there
for scammers to steal -- that's why Attorney General Dana Nessel is warning people
who gamble and game online to be cautious when using personal information like
credit cards online. She warns against 3 major cites that may have been impacted by
the cyber attack -- BET MGM, Draft Kings, and Fanduel. She says to prevent
information from being stolen online -- people should always monitor their financial
accounts and credit reports, and use secure passwords only you have access to. A list
of legal, online betting cites can be found on Michigan-dot-gov ahead of super bowl
weekend.

DTE RATE INCREASE
Starting next month, your energy rates could be higher. DTE Energy will open a "time
of day" rate for residential electricity customers. It means weekdays between 3 and 7-
P-M, customers will see a rate jump that varies depending on the monthly demand.
DTE says the change is expected to be cost-neutral, which is off-set with a lower rate
during other times. In 2021, Consumers Energy had a similar rate increase. They later
reported an average customer's bill went up about $1.25 per month.

GOV. WHITMER BUDGET PLAN
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed her $79-billion dollar budget on Wednesday that
heavily focused on inflation relief and rolling back the retirement tax, and also
education and schools. If passed, Whitmers proposal for next year would be the the
states largest in history. This comes after a projected $9-billion dollar budget surplus.

MOM OF 8-KALAMAZOO COUNTY
The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office now says the disappearance of a mom of eight,
Heather Kelley, is now a murder investigation. The 35-year-old from Portage has been
missing since December 10th. Court records reportedly show her cousin found her
burning car the next day and the car had a large amount of blood and human hair
inside. Sheriff Richard Fuller says DNA proved it was Kelley's blood.
A person of interest, believed to be Kelley's boyfriend, is in custody, but Fuller says
another person or persons may have been involved. Kelley's body has not been found.

THIRD GRADE READING LAW
The Michigan Senate has voted to repeal a portion of the state's third grade reading
law. The vote was 22 to 16 to take out a part of the bill that requires students to be
held back if they're behind in their reading skills. Education advocates and democrats
have said studies show that retaining students hurts students psychologically and has
impacted more low income and minority students. The bill still keeps provisions
outlining how schools assess students for reading skills and what interventions to
provide.

TEEN FOUND PORT HURON
Authorities have found a teenage girl in Port Huron... missing for over a year.
On Tuesday -- the U-S Marshals recovered a critically endangered 14-year-old girl who
had been missing since September 2021.
Marshals received the case that morning -- finding the girl in a Port Huron home just
hours later around 5:30. The girl was found hiding inside a closet... after homeowners
denied to authorities that she was at the residence.
Officials say she was being sexually abused... and a medical exam determined that
she's several months pregnant. She has been reunited with her family.

TROY DOCTOR FRAUD
A Troy doctor faces criminal charges related to a health care fraud scheme.
The U.S. Attorney's office says 50-year old Sangita Patel ran the Advance Home
Physicians Center and submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for telehealth
visits that she never performed. Investigators say Patel worked with a person in the
Thumb region in the scheme.
They aren't saying how much she received through the bogus claims.

SCHOOL SICKNESS-LIVONIA
A Livonia school is closed until next week because of the norovirus. Administrators at
St. Michaels Catholic School said they made the decision to close all week after talking
with the Wayne County Health Department. In a letter sent to parents, students in
every grade have been sick along with some teachers.Classrooms and other areas of
the school will be sanitized and disinfected.

INFLATION RELIEF
Key legislation that Governor Whitmer says would put more money in the pockets of
residents will be voted on in the state house today.
The legislation would deliver 180 dollar inflation relief checks to every to every tax filer,
phase out the retirement tax, and quintuple the Michigan Working Families Tax Credit.
Whitmer says phasing out the retirement tax would put an average of 1,000 dollars
back in the pockets of 500 thousand households. the tax credit would be raised from 6
percent to 30 -- which Whitmer says would deliver a refund of over 3,000 dollars to 700
THOUSAND families.

FATAL ACCIDENT-U-P
A fatal accident reported yesterday in Presque Isle County. A 58-year-old woman died
Wednesday morning, after two vehicles collided on US-23 near the Family Fare store in
Rogers City. Police say the woman was pulling out of the store parking lot just before
noon when her S-U-V was hit by a northbound pickup. A passenger was taken to the
hospital and the driver of the pickup suffered only minor injuries.

NORTHWEST MI COLLEGE-DAVENPORT
Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City announced Wednesday that it has
chosen Davenport University as its exclusive partner for a program that will give local
students a new pathway toward earning Bachelor of Science nursing degrees. The
program will officially start in May.

METH ARRESTS-N MI
In Grand Traverse County, two Traverse City men were arrested on meth-related
charges in separate traffic stops. State Police stopped a vehicle driven by a 32-yearold Williamsburg woman on north U.S. -31 in East Bay Township. A passenger, 45-
year-old Ralph Mason was arrested on a warrant and was found to be in possession of
multiple containers of meth and other drug paraphernalia.

DSO-INTERLOCHEN
This summer -- the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is continuing a nearly 100 year
tradition of teaching classes at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.
This will be the 96th year that musicians from the orchestra lead classes and rehearse
side-by-side with students. This year -- music director Jader Bignamini will also conduct
Interlochens World Youth Symphony Orchestra during a performance.
During the trip -- the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will also perform at Interlochens
iconic Kresge (krezz-gee) Auditorium.