Rewind: News from the last 7 days

The City of Lansing and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 421 reached a deal that will reduce health care costs for retirees, which had risen from $500 to $900 a month. The union filed a grievance alleging the city misinterpreted a 2013 contract in its legal review this year and withdrew its endorsement of Mayor Andy Schor for this year’s mayoral race. Schor said the rising costs affected 65 employees who retired between 2014 and 2021 under a contract that required them to pay all costs over the state-mandated hard cap. The new deal, retroactive to July 1, will limit annual health care increases for retirees to 5% of the total cost.

Lansing officials are investigating how artist P.B. Yanna obtained access to the city’s fire station at Shiawassee Street and Grand Avenue on Aug. 31 to record a music video. She then posted her performance, which took place on the roof of the station, to her Instagram and Facebook accounts. An anonymous letter sent to the Lansing City Council and City Pulse alleges she may have violated workplace safety rules and regulations with the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Yanna told WLNS News that she did the shoot in cooperation with Fire Department officials, whom she did not name. City spokesman Scott Bean said Mayor Schor is also working to create an executive order to prevent such use of city facilities in the future.

Al Wilson is the new executive editor of the Lansing State Journal, replacing Stephanie Angel, who has retired after 12 years in the position. Angel spent 27 of her 35 years in journalism at the LSJ. She also served as editor of the Journal’s Greater Lansing Woman monthly magazine. Wilson had been the senior local news editor since 2022 and spent most of his 35 years in journalism at the LSJ and Lansing Community Newspapers.

James D. Smiertka, 79, who served as Lansing’s city attorney under four different mayors, died Aug. 22 in Grand Rapids. He was appointed twice to lead the City Attorney’s Office, first by then-Mayor David Hollister in 1994. He continued under Hollister’s successor, Tony Benavides, until 2004. Then Smiertka returned in 2016 under then-Mayor Virg Bernero and continued under Mayor Schor until retiring last year. He practiced law for more than 50 years in both the public and private sectors.

The Lansing Branch of the NAACP condemned the City of East Lansing’s proposed changes to Ordinance No. 1533, saying it significantly reduces the power of the city’s Independent Police Oversight Commission, jeopardizing the safety and well-being of its citizens. A press release stated the changes would remove the commission’s right to investigate or contribute to any disciplinary action until the Police Department has concluded its own investigations of citizens’ complaints of possible malfeasance of officers. Citizens complained that officers used “excessive force” when dealing with students of color, including pepper-spraying them and visitors, during MSU’s welcome week in August.

Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced Christopher Palazzolo of Williamston, 44, to 40 to 80 years in prison for torture and domestic violence in the 2021 death of his wife, Elise Palazzolo. A medical examiner said she died from an overdose of prescription drugs but was unable to determine the manner of her death. A jury convicted Palazzolo in July after a lengthy investigation uncovered years of physical and psychological abuse.

Meridian Township Police said they have identified Sean Patrick McNulty as a suspect in a 1994 home invasion and sexual assault cold case and tied him to crimes in multiple states. Forensic evidence linked him to that case, but the investigation remained cold until DNA evidence was matched to samples from cases in Birmingham, Michigan, and Columbus, Ohio, in 2005, leading to a joint investigation by police. McNulty, a native of Ventura, California, died by suicide in 1997 after being charged in connection with a home invasion and sexual assault in Bloomington, Indiana.

Public Safety

A pickup truck struck a man Monday in the 800 block of Washington Avenue near Malcolm X Street. Lansing Fire Department medics transported him to a hospital, where he was in critical condition. … Lansing police responding to a call on the 6200 block of South Cedar Street found a 34-year-old man with a stab wound to the abdomen and arrested two individuals. The stabbing victim is in critical but stable condition. … The Ingham County Sheriff’s Office identified a man who died after crashing his vehicle into a tree near Webberville as Josiah Rettig, 40, of Gregory. The Sept. 1 crash followed reports of an intoxicated man driving recklessly and waving a firearm on the 300 block of West Grand River Avenue.