Rewind the news, week of August 5, 2026
The Lansing School Board has appointed Jessica Benavides as superintendent. Benavides has served as interim superintendent since earlier this year. She worked almost her entire career as a LSD employee and was appointed to the new role of first deputy superintendent about a year ago. Then-Superintendent Ben Shuldiner announced last November that he was leaving for the same job in Seattle. He departed earlier this year and Benavides was appointed interim. She was paid around $179,000 previously and in a statement the district said her new salary will be $280,900 and the contract runs through June 30, 2029. “Jessica Benavides has earned the confidence of the Board of Education through nearly three decades of dedicated service to the Lansing School District and our community,” said Guillermo Lopez, president of the Lansing School District Board of Education, in a statement. “She is a collaborative, student-centered leader who understands our district and our vision for the future.” Benavides said in a statement that she is honored by the Board’s confidence and eager to continue serving the students, staff, families and community of Lansing. “Lansing is my home, and it has been the privilege of my career to serve this community for nearly three decades.”
Michigan’s National Guard’s annual training exercise, Northern Strike, is bringing 9,000 soldiers and others from three dozen states and five countries to train out of Camp Grayling and other northern Michigan areas. Residents around Camp Grayling, Alpena and Battle Creek should expect to see more than usual military traffic on roads and in the air. People all over the Lower Peninsula could see more military aircraft than usual. The training exercise lasts through Aug. 14.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported on Monday that two people have died amid the ongoing Cyclospora outbreak. The state is reporting more than 11,000 infections attributed to the parasite, which can cause extreme diarrhea but is generally not life-threatening. “Death resulting from cyclosporiasis is uncommon in the United States,” according to a statement from the MDHHS. “Two deaths have been identified as part of the cyclosporiasis outbreak affecting Michigan. According to medical records, both individuals had significant underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by cyclosporiasis and dehydration.” Some of the highest per-capita rates of Cyclospora have been reported in mid-Michigan, with Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties all significantly above the state average of 1 per thousand residents.
Planned Parenthood of Michigan announced that they have permanently closed the Lansing, Livonia and Warren locations following a loss of federal funding. The closures will leave Lansing patients with the nearest options being in Flint, more than an hour’s drive from Lansing or even further in Grand Rapids or Ann Arbor. Patients can get virtual care for birth control refills and consultations, emergency contraception, gender-affirming hormone therapy, medication abortion, sexually transmitted infection screening and treatment options. Patients will need to arrange in-person visits for procedural abortion care, IUD implant placements and removals, physical exams and Pap tests and injections that are not self-administered. The three locations did not perform procedural abortions. PPMI cited a $4.2 million decline in reimbursement and funding due to federal policy changes. “It was compounded by closing fiscal year ’26 with an unsustainable $5.6 million in uncompensated and undercompensated care,” the organization said in a statement. “To protect our network from ongoing political attacks from Washington, we are consolidating physical resources at regional hubs while expanding our virtual care capabilities to serve patients wherever they are in Michigan.”
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“Across the industry, these escalating costs are making traditional safety-net operating models increasingly difficult to maintain,” the statement continued. Active prescriptions with PPMI remain in effect. Chief medical officer, Dr. Kate Starr said, in a statement to City Pulse, “Our highest priority is continuity of care for our patients. Many services provided in Lansing are available through our statewide Virtual Health Center, which already serves more than 10,000 patients each year and offers patients health care of the highest standard. For over six years, our statewide Virtual Health Center has been serving patients with or without insurance, connecting them to care wherever they live in Michigan. When a patient needs in-person care, our team is working with them to identify the appropriate option and help identify continued care based on the services they need. We are not asking patients to figure out that transition on their own. For Michiganders who face transportation and cost barriers, transportation assistance might be available. We encourage anyone with concerns about getting to an appointment to call 800-230-PLAN (7526) to discuss the transportation assistance that we offer that may be available to them.”
Maliki Pendergrass was sentenced last week for his role in the death of a four-year-old girl who found an unsecured firearm and fatally shot herself. The child died in January. Pendergrass pleaded guilty in June to a firearm violation resulting in a death, possession of a firearm by a felon, felony firearm and a habitual offender third offense enhancement. He was sentenced last week to an effective 14- to 30-year sentence with no jail credit, according to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office. Pendergrass was on parole at the time and if the Department of Corrections issues a prison sentence for that parole violation, that sentence would be served first.
East Lansing Police said they are conducting an internal investigation into an arrest made by officers this weekend. The city’s announcement follows the release, on social media, of a video showing an arrest. “The video that is circulating does not capture the entire incident,” the city said in a statement. The video shows officers surrounding a woman who is screaming, face down on the ground in East Lansing. One officer appears to close a fist and strike her in the back more than once. One officer has been placed on paid administrative leave, according to a statement from police. Anyone with additional videos or other information can reach out to the police department and Captain Adrian Ojerio at aojerio@cityofeastlansing.com.
Tyler Cameron Reck of DeWitt, 24, was arraigned last Thursday in 55th District Court on two counts each of reckless driving causing death and moving violation causing death in a May 26 incident on U.S. 127, near West Holt Rd. in Alaiedon Township. He was driving a Ford Edge crossover SUV and going more than 86 mph right before he lost control and his vehicle struck construction workers Bruce Wagner, 51, and Steve Spenle, 49, both of Mason, on the northbound side shoulder of the freeway. The felony charges carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison upon conviction. Wagner and Spenle were part of a rolling pothole repair crew working along the side of the highway for the Michigan Department of Transportation. Reck was also critically injured in the collision.