Rewind

News Highlights from the Last 7 Days: Oct. 19th

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Heading into the final three weeks of the campaign, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s war chest has quite a bit more in it than Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett’s. As reported by the Detroit Free Press and according to recently filed campaign finance reports in the 7th Congressional district race, Slotkin had close to $4 million on hand on Sept. 30, compared to around $120,000 for Barrett. During the quarter, she raised $1.9 million, for nearly $9 million total this election cycle. Barrett, meanwhile, reported raising $670,195 for the three-month period and about $2 million for the cycle through his main campaign committee and a separate fund.  

An Eaton County judge who supervises the county’s sobriety treatment court appears to have a personal relationship with a convicted felon whose record includes three intoxicated driving convictions. As reported by the Lansing State Journal, Timothy Pitcher III, 32, was found on June 26 in a vehicle parked in the driveway of District Judge Julie O’Neill’s Charlotte-area home with an open alcohol container. Michigan State Police troopers were investigating threats he was accused of making against an ex-wife in Lansing earlier that day, according to a police report. Pitcher’s ex-wife told police Pitcher was staying with his girlfriend, O’Neill, in Charlotte. Police located O’Neill’s address before finding Pitcher in the driveway of the home, according to a police report. 

Prolific audiobook narrator Dick Hill, who narrated more than 1,000 audiobooks during a lengthy career, has died. Hill, 74, died Oct. 4, months after choosing to forgo an aggressive form of chemotherapy, a decision he shared publicly. Hill’s rich baritone was the voice behind more than 1,000 books, including Jack Reacher and Harry Bosch novels, and gave life to works from authors such as Dave Barry, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Dean Koontz, Pat Conroy and Nora Roberts. He was also a fixture on the Greater Lansing theater scene. 

Well-known conservative commentator Candace Owens attacked the “trans agenda,” “climate alarmism” and higher education during a recent speech at Michigan State University that drew hundreds of spectators and student protesters. As reported by the Lansing State Journal, Owens spoke as part of Turning Point USA’s Live Free tour, a series of events that brings conservative figures to university campuses. Hundreds of spectators lined up hours before the event started, and some were turned away when the hall ran out of space. While Owens had supporters, including some students, protests from MSU community members began in tandem with the event. About 20 protesters inside the lecture hall interrupted Owens minutes into her appearance, but attendees quickly drowned then out. The protesters were removed by police after about two minutes of chanting. 

Lansing police recently released video footage from an incident where Lansing officers fatally shot a 31-year-old man outside of a residence near Interstate 496. Terrence Robinson died from gunshot wounds Oct. 4 after an encounter with police outside a home in the 2000 block of West Malcolm X Street. “What we are showing you today is meant to provide a level of transparency that both allows the community to better understand the deadly encounter faced by the officers, the witnesses and the citizens on Oct. 4, while at the same time not impeding the Michigan State police investigation,” Police Chief Ellery Sosebee said in a video voiceover. Sosebee identified the two officers who fired their weapons as Dan Salinaz and Nicholas Zuber, who have two and eight years of experience, respectively. In accordance with LPD’s policy, the officers were placed on paid leave pending an investigation into the shooting. 

A former Capital Area Transit Authority bus driver recently convicted on sexual assault charges in Lansing went on to work for the Ann Arbor public transit system despite the charges, the man’s attorney alleged. The 59-year-old public bus driver, Magdi Mustafa Yousif, will spend 16 to 24 months in a Michigan prison for a 2014 sexual assault against a then-20-year-old female passenger. Yousif worked for TheRIDE, Ann Arbor’s public transit authority, from 2015 until Oct. 5, when he was sentenced. At sentencing, County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina called him a predator and his crimes “heinous.” A spokesman for TheRIDE disputed the attorney’s claim that CATA and TheRIDE officials had discussed the charges before he was hired in Ann Arbor. “TheRide hired Mr. Yousif prior to criminal charges being filed,” TheRIDE spokesperson wrote by email. “All new hires undergo a criminal background check. No criminal charges or convictions were attributable to Mr. Yousif at the time of hire.” All routes for TheRIDE go through the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor campus.

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