State Roundup

Detroit Detroit police quarterly report: Homicides rise DETROIT (AP) -- The Detroit Police Department says a quarterly report on crime in the city found that homicides and nonfatal shootings rose while several other crimes fell. The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News report the information was released Tuesday at a forum at Charity Lutheran Church. The preliminary statistics compare numbers between the first quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2010. Police say there have been seven more homicides in the first three months of 2011, up from up from about 60 in the year-ago period. There have been 91 through April 17, up from 79 during the year-ago period. Nonfatal shootings rose to 232 during the quarter from 200. The department says robberies, burglaries, assaults and rapes all were lower than during the first quarter of 2010. Ann Arbor Police: Man ran over, killed 4 ducklings in parking lot ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- An Ann Arbor man has been charged with a felony after authorities say he deliberately ran over and killed four ducklings with a Hummer in a fast food restaurant parking lot. AnnArbor.com and the Detroit Free Press report 19-year-old Dillon Pearce was charged Tuesday in 15th District Court in Ann Arbor with one count of killing/torturing animals. During his arraignment, he told the court he planned to hire a private lawyer. The court says Wednesday morning he had no attorney on record yet. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for May 4. Ann Arbor police say he ran over four of at least eight ducklings a McDonald's parking lot on Monday evening. He was arrested at a nearby gas station. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison. Coldwater City council repeals sign ban following lawsuit COLDWATER, Mich. (AP) -- The Coldwater City Council has repealed its ban on signs in a public park as part of an effort to settle a federal lawsuit by a group called Common Sense Patriots. The Daily Reporter reported Tuesday that City Attorney John Hutchinson says the ordinance was aimed at unattended signs but lacked that specific language. The group had said Coldwater's policy at Four Corners Park violates the First Amendment. It was adopted in a 5-4 council vote last fall. The Common Sense Patriots is part of the national tea party movement. It holds events at the park, sometimes drawing more than 200 people. The group's signs include one that says: "Born Free ... Taxed to Death." Coldwater is 70 miles southwest of Lansing. Pontiac Mom arrested after daughter's tip gets jail time PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) -- A 49-year-old Southfield woman who was arrested after police say her 9-year-old daughter slipped a note to a bank teller asking for help has been sentenced to six months in jail. Latanya Evans told an Oakland County Circuit Court judge Tuesday she is working to stay sober and was pleased with her daughter's actions. Evans also got three years of probation. She earlier pleaded no contest to operating a vehicle while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license. Evans was arrested Feb. 18 after police say the girl gave the teller at the Bank of America branch in the Detroit suburb of Southfield the note saying her mother had been drinking. The Oakland Press reports Evans' blood alcohol level was 0.25 percent, more than three times Michigan's legal limit. Published: Thu, Apr 28, 2011