Rewind: News from the last 7 days

Terry Brunk, a Lansing native and professional wrestling star known as “Sabu,” has died at 60. The announcement released by Elite Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment did not disclose the cause and time of his death. Brunk, a 1982 graduate of Sexton High School, was a Extreme Championship Wrestling triple crown champion who competed till last month. Sabu was the nephew of 2007 WWE Hall of Fame inductee Edward Farhat, known as The Original Sheik. Farhat, also a Lansing native who lived in Williamston, died at 78 in 2003.

Eaton County District Court has charged four individuals in the death of Gregory Brian Pennington, 42, of Nashville. Officials found Pennington’s remains April 29 in Chester Township. The court charged Bradley Lance, 25, with one count each of second-degree murder, torture, felony firearm possession and removing a dead body without a medical examiner’s permission. The court also charged Lucas Forquer, 47, Jenelle Mello, 46, and William Chaney, 40, with one count of torture. Officials have not elaborated on why they filed torture charges.

MSU has lost nearly $6.5 million in guaranteed federal funding for 18 research projects due to cuts by the Trump administration related to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, the Lansing State Journal reported. The university said most of the projects had something to do with a “protected class or characteristic” and fit new guidelines for termination. All of the projects followed previous guidelines about content and scope, and the National Science Foundation had previously approved them for funding and support.

MSU will form a Collaborative Advisory Board to review how it handles sexual assault and domestic violence on campus, with its members including Rachael Denhollander, Trinea Gonczar and Sterling Riethman. They are among the hundreds of women and girls Larry Nassar abused during his time at the university. Rebecca Campbell, an MSU professor who specializes in how systems respond to sexual assault, and Andrea Munford, the lead detective on the Nassar case, will join them. The board will oversee an outside firm’s independent review of university policies, practices and responses to relationship violence and sexual misconduct.

The Lansing School District Board of Education is accepting applications to replace Keturah Bouyer, who resigned May 8. Applications can be submitted to board President Robin Moore by Google Form at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjJdRRwWVnsaylga0e9ZAepqkd3ozYR1Py928QOBjCexvBKA/viewform or by email to robin.more@lansingschools.net The deadline is 6 p.m. Thursday, May 15. The board has 30 days to fill the vacancy. LSD communications manager Ryan Guilding said Bouyer is relocating after a family member took an out-of-state job.

The Jefferson County Board of Education in Louisville, Kentucky, has selected Lansing School District Superintendent Ben Shuldiner as one of two finalists for its superintendent vacancy. Jefferson County Public Schools is the largest district in the state, with 97,000 students. It’s the second time this year that Shuldiner has been a candidate for a superintendent job in a large, metropolitan school district. The other was Clark County (Las Vegas), after he was identified by the same search firm, Hazard Young Attea & Associates. The board scheduled a final round of interviews and Q&A sessions with staff and community members for Tuesday, May 20.

Eaton County voters rejected a two-mill, countywide tax proposal May 6, 57% to 43%. The county intended to use it to fund Sheriff’s Office road patrols and staff, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and facilities and services for Animal Control. The county previously had to cut public safety services and public hours at administrative offices, necessitating the proposal. Officials are preparing additional cuts to address $1 million-plus budget shortfall, including eliminating police road patrols, the county’s contract with Delta Township for police service and possibly layoffs beyond the Sheriff’s Office.

Public safety
Michigan State Police are investigating the death of a 74-year-old Okemos man, found Tuesday near a dumpster behind the Mulliken Roadhouse on Grand Ledge Highway in Eaton County. The MSP told the Lansing State Journal that the death “appears to be a suicide” but is not ruling anything out. … Lansing police are investigating the death of an infant after responding to a call Monday at a home on the 200 block of Dunlap Street on the south side in a detached garage where two adults were alsoliving where the child had stopped breathing. Police initially said there were no signs of foul play but later issued a search warrant.