Rewind: News from the last 7 days

Over 300 attended a two-hour “empty chair” town hall event organized for Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, Saturday. Indivisible Michigan 7, a 7th Congressional District branch of the national progressive political organization Indivisible, sponsored it. Barrett was invited but attended a basketball game at MSU’s nearby Breslin Center, a brief walk from the Wilson Hall event at Wilson Hall. Beforehand, Barrett issued a media statement defending his efforts for constituents and referred to “agitators” at other House members’ town halls. The day before, about 200 picketed Barrett’s downtown Lansing office to demand he attend town halls in Greater Lansing inperson, which he has declined to do. Another, sponsored by groups including the NAACP, is scheduled for April 22.

The Lansing Art Gallery and Education Center announced that it will close at the end of April and will host a closing reception April 3 to celebrate its 60 years. For more, see page 14.

Michigan Avenue will close between Leslie and Lathrop streets, starting Friday as Phase 4 of the $14 million Michigan Avenue Rehabilitation Project begins. The city of Lansing expects the closure to last until early July. As was the case last year, multiple detours will be available. The city delayed the project this week from Monday due to frost laws still in effect on the roads the contractor uses to transport materials. The city has scheduled another phase starting in July for the stretch from Lathrop to University of Michigan Health-Sparrow. The last phase, in front of the hospital, is set to set for the fall.

Deputy Chief Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Bill Crino urged a jury Tuesday to hold Rachel and Joshua Piland accountable for their daughter Abigail’s 2017 death after their refusal to seek medical care for her, the Lansing State Journal reported. The Pilands testified they believed their sick newborn was healing and didn’t consider treatment because of their religious beliefs. Abigail died fewer than 72 hours after birth, the result of a treatable condition known as hemolytic disease of the newborn. Two other children were born to the couple since she died who suffered from the same disease, but the state took the children shortly after birth to a hospital for lifesaving treatment.

Raequan Brown of Lansing, 28, was found dead by a hunter in a wooded area near Cochran Road and Eaton Highway in Oneida Township. Lansing police reported him missing Feb. 28. State troopers recovered the body after the hunter’s report. Police are investigating Brown’s death as a homicide and have asked anyone with information to contact the Lansing Police Department at (517) 483-4600 or through a private message on its Facebook page.

The Eaton County Sheriff’s Office has opened a homicide investigation after it identified skeletal remains found from a fire last month as Lance Pollo, 38, of Lansing. Sheriff’s deputies and the Windsor Township Fire Department had responded to a structure fire Feb. 10 in the 10000 block of East Vermontville Highways The Sheriff’s Office worked with a medical examiner at UM-Sparrow and the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division to identify Pollo and determine he was shot and killed. He has served three stints in different jails for various crimes since 2018. Ingham County Jail released him Feb. 1. The public can submit tips anonymously via a crime tip line at (517) 543-5433 or email crimetips@eatoncounty.org.

Officials from Delta Township, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, Capital Area MichiganWorks!, Lansing Community College, Lansing Board of Water & Light and the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce are asking the Michigan Strategic Fund board and Lansing City Council to transfer $186 million in state and local incentives they approved to LG Energy Solution for what was originally a joint venture with General Motors. Officials expect LG Energy Solution to become the sole owner of the $2.6 billion, 2.8 million-square-foot electric vehicle battery plant after GM announced plans to sell back its investment in the plant. The Michigan Strategic Fund board approved incentives for the project in early 2022 and approved amendments transferring those incentives to LG Energy Solution.

One man died and another was injured after a crash into the Grand River near the dead end of Jolly Highway in Eaton County. First responders reported a damaged guardrail and a car underwater 200 feet from shore. Eaton County Sheriff’s deputies rescued a man trying to swim to shore. The other man, 39, was found deceased in about 10 feet of water near the vehicle after a search by a dive team, officers from several units and a drone. The Sheriff’s Office believes alcohol was a factor in the crash.