State Roundup

Sterling Heights
Teacher claims someone killed his 700,000 bees
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit man told police someone sprayed his backyard bee colonies with pesticide, killing all roughly 700,000 of the insects and destroying their honey.
Timothy Fitch said Tuesday that the destruction took place sometime between Jan. 15 and March 8 outside his home in Sterling Heights,” The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens reports. He estimated the cost of the loss at more than $14,000.
“They didn’t bother anybody,” said Fitch, a Grosse Pointe middle school teacher. “The neighbors had no problem with them and grandkids, my kids, everybody played in the backyard and the bees didn’t bother anyone.”
Fitch, who spent several years researching honeybees before keeping them as a hobby, said he doesn’t know whether he’ll resume beekeeping.
The bee colonies typically survive year round, even during the freezing temperatures of a Michigan winter, Fitch said. He told police, however, that the seven wooden towers that housed the bee colonies are now worthless, since they’re contaminated with a pesticide.
Police are actively investigating, Sterling Heights Lt. Luke Riley said. They’re seeking tips from the public in the case.

Suttons Bay
Regulators: Some Michigan bus routes must end
SUTTONS BAY, Mich. (AP) — Federal regulators have ordered a halt to public bus routes that some students in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula take to and from school.
The Federal Transit Administration says the Bay Area Transportation Authority needs to cease several routes because they violate regulations intended to prevent unfair competition between federally funded public transit and private school bus operators.
The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports the routes serve about half of 600 students enrolled in Suttons Bay Public Schools.
BATA routes have saved Suttons Bay schools roughly $1 million since 2010, allowing the district to retain teachers and keep class sizes from rising. The district began paying BATA about $128,000 annually for 400 bus passes at the start of the 2010 school year.
The routes drew scrutiny from a school bus organization.

Lansing
Program aims to aid neighborhoods near downtowns
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan State Housing Development Authority is accepting applications for a new program aimed at improving neighborhoods near downtowns and other business districts.
The state authority says it will take applications until March 22 from neighborhood associations within a half-mile of a downtown or approved commercial district. The program called MI Neighborhood provides no direct money but offers technical assistance and guidance about available resources.
Officials say goals include increasing the taxable value of homes and resident volunteer hours, and decreasing crime, foreclosure rates and vacancies.

Pittsfield Twp.
Mental exam set for man charged in shooting spree 
PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A man who authorities say fired shots at motorists along a highway near Ann Arbor is due back in court in April after being ordered to undergo a competency evaluation.
Charges against 28-year-old Elmore Ray include four counts of attempted murder. AnnArbor.com reports his lawyers on Tuesday requested the exam.
A competency hearing is April 30.
Police in Washtenaw County’s Pittsfield Township responded Feb. 27 to a wooded area near U.S. 23 after a 911 caller reported a man dressed in a black trench coat was standing near a bridge and shooting at traffic.
Police say they spotted Ray walking nearby and took him into custody. They tracked his footprints in the snow and found a sawed-off shotgun.
No injuries were reported, and police say no vehicles were struck.

Lansing
Bill requires drug tests for adult welfare recipients
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan lawmakers are planning to consider a bill that would require welfare applicants and recipients to pass drug tests.
Republican-sponsored legislation considered Wednesday by a House committee would establish a program of suspicion-based substance abuse screening and testing for Family Independence Program applicants and recipients who are at least 18 years old.
A similar bill won approval last year in the House but died in the Senate.
Michigan briefly ran a pilot program to drug test welfare recipients in 1999.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued, and a federal appeals court affirmed a lower court’s order halting the program. Part of the legal challenge was based on the claim that constitutional rights were violated because testing was done without “individualized suspicion.”i