Rewind: News from the last 7 days

Fatal shootings in Lansing have dropped 47% in the 20 months, Ingham County prosecutor John Dewane said. He cited 18 fatal shootings in 2023 through August 2024, compared to 34 in the same period in 2021-‘22. Non-fatal shootings fell 4% from 128 to 123. Overall, shootings dropped 13% drop from 141 to 162. Among the reasons, Dewane cited the work of Advanced Peace Lansing, which started two years ago, and a policy change in his office target violent and gun-related. More details are available at https://advancepeacelansingingham.org/statistics/.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Lakewood High School for Emily Root and her daughters, Amalia and Shiloh, killed in a crash Thursday near Grand Ledge. The Roots’ van was driven through a stop sign at Cochran Road and Mt. Hope Highway, where a semi-truck hit it. The truck’s driver and a third child, Kylie, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Emily Root was the hospitality manager at Woldumar Nature Center in Delta Township; her husband, Kyle, is a firefighter for the Lake Odessa Fire Department. The department set up a fund for the Root family at Union Bank locations. There is also a Venmo link, https/venmo.com/u/firedepartmentrootfamily (code 1402), and Risen Bread Bakery has started a gofundme account.

Jack Lipton, former MSU Faculty Senate head, is suing the Board of Trustees, alleging members Dennis Denno and Rema Vassar engaged in vindictive actions against him after he made comments critical of the board, the Chronicle for Higher Education reported. The suit, filed Tuesday, accuses the board of violating Lipton’s First Amendment rights and seeks Vassar and Denno’s resignation from the board, an order banning further retaliation and an unspecified amount of money for damages. “Vassar and Denno began encouraging MSU student groups to label Dr. Lipton a racist (and) publicly attack him in the media,” it says.

Moving the downtown Lansing branch and executive offices of the Capital Area District Libraries is under “active consideration” because of in part the cost of maintaining its 60-year-old building on Capitol Avenue, a CADL official told City Pulse. The official did not indicate where or when that might happen. CADL rents the building from the Lansing School District. Superintendent Ben Shuldiner said the district would try to keep the building in use should CADL move out. One source said that CADL has received a bid for property on Wood Street in Lansing Township, where CADL does not have a presence. Lansing Mayor Andy Schor said it’s “important” to maintain library services downtown.

The Lansing School District’s recently opened Newcomer Center held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday. Eighty foreign-born pupils are enrolled in special programs in then former church building in south Lansing. More than 2,000 of the district’s 10,000 pupils come from 72 countries and collectively speak 55 languages. The center is intended to bolster the district’s efforts to help them adapt to life in their new country.

Ingham County 30th Circuit Chief Judge Joyce Draganchuk, 68, announced her retirement, effective Dec. 31, after two decades on the bench and 37 years as a public servant. She wants to spend more time with her husband, who retired 17 years ago. She will leave the bench two years into her fourth six-year fourth term. The governor will pick a successor until someone is elected. Draganchuk served in the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office for 16 years, first as an assistant prosecutor, then as chief assistant prosecutor for three years until she was elected judge in 2004. She was appointed chief judge in 2021 and reappointed in 2023.

The 300-plus-unit Woodside Meadows Apartments in Lansing, previously known as Sycamore Townhomes, has been placed under the control of a court-appointed receiver after more than two years of negotiations, settlement agreements and lower court actions failed to prompt the repair of dozens of uninhabitable units. Rawley Van Fossen, head of Lansing’s Economic Development and Planning Department, said the receiver “will work hard to bring other vacant units online safely.” Attorney John Polderman, of the Southfield-based Stevenson & Bullock law firm, will run the apartment complex operations until he or the city opts to end the receivership.

The NAACP Lansing denounced “racist rhetoric” by an East Lansing police officer toward another officer while at the scene of a home alarm in August and demanded swift disciplinary action. The statement came after the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission moved to file a complaint against an officer over the comments. It’s unclear what steps the city will take regarding the commission’s motion.

Public safety
Lansing police arrested an unidentified 25-year-old male Monday in connection with a shooting that day on the north side. A 30-year-old man had been found shot in the abdomen on the 300 block of West Cesar Chavez Avenue and treated for non-life-threatening wounds.