Detroit: Woman sues Wayne State Univ and Salvation Army
DETROIT (AP) — A Farmington Hills woman who says she was called a “beached whale” and prevented from earning a master’s degree in social work because she was unmarried and pregnant has filed a federal lawsuit against Wayne State University and The Salvation Army.
The Detroit News says the suit filed last week by Tina Varlesi claims university officials and the Salvation Army violated Title IX by discriminating against her, telling her to “wear baggy clothes” and dropping her from an internship program.
The suit claims Varlesi had a 3.96 grade point average when supervisors dismissed her, saying she failed 53 of 54 categories.
Her lawyer, Deborah Gordon, said Varlesi has been denied admittance into other programs because of the dismissal.
Wayne State and Salvation Army officials declined comment to the News.
North Carolina: Bragg soldier wants statement withheld from case
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — A Michigan soldier accused of murdering his brother-in-law wants a statement he made to military investigators kept out of his court case.
WRAL-TV reports that defense lawyers for 26-year-old Detroit native Spc. Eric A. Mead argued Tuesday in a military court that Mead’s statement is inadmissible.
The lawyers say Mead asked for legal representation after he was arrested, but gave the statement to Army investigators before a lawyer was present.
The judge didn’t immediately rule on the motion Tuesday.
Mead faces charges from a May 9 incident in which Mead’s brother-in-law, Stephen Harris, was killed. Mead’s wife was also hurt.
Detroit: Jury awards $50,000 in Mich. prison bias case
DETROIT (AP) — A jury has awarded $50,000 to a Michigan prison employee who says he was a victim of gender discrimination when he wasn’t allowed to supervise women.
William Reese says he wanted to be a work-crew supervisor at Camp White Lake in Oakland County, leading female prisoners as they performed public works. Reese was told it was a job for a woman because the inmates were female.
The Corrections Department says it wasn’t illegal discrimination, but a federal jury this week disagreed after a four-day trial and awarded $50,000 for emotional distress.
Reese lawyer Robert Kent-Bryant says he asked for a fair award, not a specific amount.
It’s not known whether the state will appeal the verdict. Reese now works for the Corrections Department at a prison in the Thumb.
Lansing: New wind turbines will be produced, used in Michigan
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — One of Michigan’s major utility companies has agreed to buy electricity produced by wind turbines that will be manufactured in Saginaw and installed in the Upper Peninsula, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday.
Consumers Energy Co. in Jackson has signed an agreement with Heritage Sustainable Energy of Traverse City to buy the power. The turbines will be built by Northern Power Systems with help from 75 Michigan-based suppliers and installed in Delta County in the Upper Peninsula.
The project was prompted by a 2008 Michigan law that requires 10 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2015, a requirement many other states share.
Granholm, who supported the requirement, said Michigan could be on the brink of becoming the wind turbine supplier to the entire Upper Midwest for electrical utilities that want to get power from the wind as well as coal, natural gas and nuclear power.
Heritage plans to set up a wind farm in Missaukee and Osceola counties in the northern Lower Peninsula as well as Delta County.
Consumers Power President and Chief Executive John Russell said 5 percent of the utility’s power now comes from renewable resources for its 1.8 million electrical customers, an amount that’s being steadily increased. The company also expects to get wind-generated power from the Thumb area and, by 2012, from a wind project in Mason County along Lake Michigan.
