Rewind: News Highlights From The Last 7 Days

The Lansing City Council voted Monday to accept separate $40 million grants for a new city hall and New Vision Lansing, a $228 million, three-building proposal from the Gentilozzi family. However, a tie vote rejected the administration’s plan to buy the old Masonic Temple building on Capital Avenue from the Boji Group for $3.65 million for a new city hall. Opponents said they wanted more time for consideration, pointing out that the state grant is good until September 2027.

A major reconstruction of 3.7 miles of I-496 began Monday from Lansing to north of Mason. The work will include realigning and widening the freeway, reconfiguring interchanges and improving 18 bridges to ease congestion and improve safety, the Michigan Department of Transportation said. Drivers will have two northbound lanes and one southbound lane in the morning, then the reverse in the afternoon. Drivers heading south on U.S. 127 should be prepared for slow traffic and backups south of I-496.

Okemos School District students, staff and faculty have been told to drink water only from filtered bottle-filling stations in all its buildings after elevated lead levels were found in Chippewa Middle School water. The test results reported in the letter to parents came from the Environmental Resources Group. Elevated levels were also detected at Okemos Montessori school in October.

Brenda Tracy, anti-sexual violence activist and rape survivor, is seeking damages from MSU for more than $75 million for herself and her nonprofit for claims that include breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. The filings in the Michigan Claims Court allege former MSU football coach Mel Tucker’s sexual harassment and subsequent threats damaged her reputation.

The Mason School District has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of sex discrimination and indifference to sexual misconduct after it reinstated a student following a reported sexual assault. The district’s attorney argued the suit did not meet the requirements to make a Title IX complaint and should also be dismissed because of governmental immunity. The suit alleges that the boy’s parents, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum and her husband, conspired with the district to reinstate their son.

Jeffrey Cason, 17, was charged as an adult and arraigned Friday on charges including assault with intent to murder from a March 5 shooting in Lansing. The wounded unnamed victim drove to a Quality Dairy store on South Cedar Street. The hospitalized victim was reported to be in stable condition. A hearing on whether Cason should stand trial is tentatively set for March 21.

The state has awarded six Lansing-area marijuana businesses grants of $16,129 each as part of a statewide social equity program: Lansing’s Biobizz, Capital City, Carbidex, Jartnick Consulting and Smart Meds plus 120 West in Laingsburg. Statewide, 62 licensees received $1 million in grants through a program established in 2018 after voters legalized recreational marijuana use.

Michigan Can Lines LLC will open this year in Charlotte in the old Owens-Brockway plant, which once employed nearly 300 people. The 650,000-square-foot facility at 500 E. Packard Highway will manufacture aluminum drink cans and employ as many as 150. Owens-Brockway made glass containers there for 40 years before closing in 2010. In 2019, 500 Packard Highway LLC bought the property for just over $3.1 million.

Davion Davis, 20, was convicted Friday of first-degree murder and other charges in the 2022 shooting of Elijah Brooks in a Lansing apartment building. He was acquitted on a second count of assault to murder. Sentencing is set for June 5. The murder charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, although Davis was 18 at the time of the crime and Michigan courts have held that automatic life sentences for people who were 18 when they committed a crime are unconstitutional.

Public Safety:

An unidentified man died and two other people were rescued after their 2012 Lincoln MKZ went into the Grand River Saturday, off Jolly Road near Williams Road in Lansing. Police said the crash appears to be alcohol-related. … A March 6 fire at the former Genesee Street School in Lansing that caused an estimated $200,000 in damages is under investigation. There were no injuries, and no cause was released. … A freight train hit the back end of a car at Hosmer and Euclid streets in Lansing on Monday. The driver, apparently uninjured, fled the scene on foot. The train was not damaged.