Rewind: News from the last 7 days

The Ingham Community Health Centers’ board is considering layoffs and site closures after officials reported a potential $4.5 million deficit. The board, scheduled to meet Aug. 8, oversees 13 sites that provide healthcare services to more than 19,000 people. An agreement with the county, required for federal funding important to keeping the centers open, expired last month. The most significant cost-cutting proposal — laying off 25 full- and part-time employees and closing five clinics — would save just $3.3 million.

Tom Perez (right), director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and former labor secretary, and Lansing Mayor Andy Schor toured the old Walter French Jr. High School Tuesday. The school, more recently known as the Walter French Academy, at Mt. Hope Avenue and Cedar Street, is being converted into a multi-family affordable housing development by Capital Area Housing Partnership. Afterward, Perez attended a roundtable at Oak Park YMCA with area agencies and organizations that have benefited from the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan Act.

Danelle Hovenkamp, a former Lansing School District special ed teacher, has sued the district, claiming it has failed to consistently implement accommodations for students with learning disabilities. She named the district, its board and Everett High School’s principal, Amy Boyles, as defendants, filed in Ingham County Circuit Court. Hovenkamp, who worked for the district for six years, also alleged the district violated the Whistleblowers’ Protection Act when it retaliated against her for filing complaints with the U.S. Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights.

Dr. Howard Brody, director of the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences at Michigan State University from 1985 to 2000, died at his home in Knoxville, Tenn., on July 22. Brody was a family practice physician and MSU professor for more than 20 years. He researched and wrote extensively on end-of-life care, the placebo effect, the pharmaceutical industry and other topics related to medical ethics. Brody also wrote a health column for City Pulse during its first decade in the 2000s. He left MSU in 2006 to be director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston until he retired in 2016. He was 75.

Lansing Community College Professor Jonathan Ten Brink, 42, was placed on administrative leave after being charged with child sexual abuse. He was arrested July 17 in a sting involving the Lansing Police Department and the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office. He was arraigned July 18 and pleaded not guilty to one count each of child sexually abusive activity and accosting a minor for immoral purposes and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime. Ten Brink was program faculty chair of LCC’s music program. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 8.

The Lansing School District announced a plan Thursday to keep all four of its certified, full-time librarians, in addition to its high school librarians and 20 instructional assistants. The Board of Education will consider it Thursday (Aug. 1). The previous plan recommended removing two of the four full-time librarian positions and hiring 34 assistants, but the plan received strong community pushback at a July 18 board meeting at Eastern High School.

Potter Park Zoo announced Tuesday on its blog and social media accounts the hatching of two Megellanic penguin chicks, born July 16 and 19. The births marked the second straight successful breeding for penguin parents Jayde and Skipper. Lead bird keeper Jake Brodie said it was the first time in more than 10 years that two eggs have hatched at the zoo. The chicks are off exhibit until they reach the next stage of development. Sweeney, their chick that hatched last year, still resides at the zoo.

Public safety

A motorcyclist was critically injured in a crash with a sedan Sunday night at the intersection of Grand River Avenue and Howard Street in Frandor. The motorcyclist, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown from his bike and taken to U-M Health-Sparrow Hospital. ... Lansing police are investigating the placement of a handwritten paper sign reading “So the Democrats can cheat” placed on a ballot dropbox at the Foster Community Center Thursday. Clerk Chris Swope said it was the first incident of its sort in Lansing. The city has video of the sign being attached to the box.