State Roundup

Detroit Woman reportedly uses truck to trash front of home DETROIT (AP) -- A woman reportedly in a dispute with her landlord reportedly used a truck and heavy-duty chain to tear down the front of a Detroit home. The Detroit News and TV stations WDIV, WJBK and WXYZ report that neighbors say the front of the home was sheared off early Tuesday. On Tuesday afternoon, the front of the home rested askew on the front lawn and the inside of the living room was visible. There were holes in a wall and broken windows on the side. Furniture and siding lay scattered on the driveway next to the home. Traverse City Authorities searching for Michigan girl find body TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- A body believed to be that of a Traverse City teenager who went missing in early June has been found hidden in a sand pile outside a city building on the eve of her 17th birthday, authorities said. The body was found Tuesday evening outside a Traverse City public works building after a 17-year-old boy told investigators he killed Carly Lewis, Traverse City Police Capt. Brian Heffner told the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Authorities were working to confirm the identity of the body, WWMT and WWTV-WWUP reported. The 17-year-old boy was arrested and jailed on suspicion of murder, the newspaper reported. His name wasn't immediately released. The teen agreed to a polygraph examination at a Michigan State Police facility in Grayling and later told police he had killed Lewis, Heffner said, A person who answered the telephone at the Traverse City police department early Wednesday says no one was immediately available to discuss the case. A news conference was planned for later Wednesday morning. Police had said the girl was considered an endangered missing person. She was last seen the evening of June 2 after she left a friend's home. Her disappearance sparked a search that reached to communities around the northern Lower Peninsula city. Heffner said investigators believe Lewis died the evening that she disappeared, and that no one else was involved. Family and friends embraced her mother, Susie Lewis, Tuesday evening outside her home. Her daughter's 17th birthday was to be Wednesday. She said she took some relief from the knowledge that her daughter likely died the same night she disappeared. "This is the only good thing, that she didn't suffer for all these days," Susie Lewis said. Dearborn Court order allows Christian leaflets at Arab fest DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- A Detroit federal judge has signed an order allowing Christian evangelists to work the sidewalks of a popular Arab-American festival in Dearborn. The three-day festival starts Friday in the heavily Arab Detroit suburb. Christian activists led by a California pastor like to attend the festival to try to convert Muslims. A federal appeals court in May said Dearborn couldn't prohibit the evangelists from passing leaflets on sidewalks inside the festival boundaries. The court found that past restrictions violated free-speech rights. Judge Paul Borman signed an order Tuesday reinforcing the decision by the appeals court. He says it applies to city officials, Dearborn police, festival organizers and the Wayne County sheriff's office. Detroit City's suit against monitor moves to U.S. court DETROIT (AP) -- The city of Detroit's lawsuit seeking to recoup more than $10 million it spent on a federal monitor who had an intimate relationship with then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has shifted to federal court. Detroit first sued May 13 in Wayne County Circuit. The suit said that Sheryl Robinson Wood and her employers improperly charged the city for millions of dollars because she wasn't independent, professional and unbiased in her job monitoring changes at the Detroit police department. Wood quit the job after text messages revealed the relationship with Kilpatrick, who was mayor until he resigned in scandal in 2008. He's now in prison. On Tuesday, the case was transferred to U.S. District Court in Detroit. Wood's lawyer Vincent Cohen Jr. said previously that she did her job conscientiously. Lansing Governor opposes any municipal bankruptcies LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday that he is not going to let Detroit or any other Michigan city go into bankruptcy. Snyder told reporters the state is prepared to work with financially troubled school districts and local governments to help them work their way back to solvency. "There are a number of steps we can do," he said. "We are going to continue to work with all of the municipalities in a positive way and partner with them because we want them to succeed on their own." Snyder said he is not keen on having financial managers step in, either. "To the degree that we need an emergency manager, we'll work through that," he said. He said his administration is going to "work hard" to make sure an emergency manager isn't needed in Detroit. He added that "bankruptcy shouldn't be on the table." Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and the City Council are locking horns over a spending plan as the city works to eliminate a $155 million deficit in the fiscal year that starts July 1. Pontiac's financial manager has said the city could face bankruptcy. Detroit Lawyer wants airline attack trial delayed DETROIT (AP) -- An attorney asked Tuesday for a new trial date in the case of a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane. The deadline to challenge evidence is June 24, and a trial for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is scheduled Oct. 4. Attorney Anthony Chambers said he wants both dates to change because he just received more evidence from prosecutors on June 1. "It is clear that the government has had this information for some time, yet they decided to release the documents to standby counsel with less than a month left until the motion-cutoff date," Chambers wrote. He didn't describe the evidence. "It is unreasonable, in the exercise of due diligence, to expect adequate preparation for trial within the given time frame in light of the untimely new discovery that was recently provided," Chambers said. "... Failure to allow this adjournment may result in a miscarriage of justice." Chambers also said he has been unable to meet with Abdulmutallab because of another trial in the Virgin Islands. An email left by The Associated Press with the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit was not immediately returned. Abdulmutallab is charged with trying to blow up a plane as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day 2009. Eleven crew members and 279 passengers were aboard. Published: Thu, Jun 16, 2011