A woman crashed her car into a tree along Interstate 94.
Photo courtesy Tammy Mills
Captain Chris Smith of the Chelsea Area Fire Authority said the woman was stuck inside the vehicle and it took about half an hour to safely remove her.
The woman was taken to the University of Michigan Emergency Room.
It is unknown what caused the car to leave the freeway. Further details were not immediately available.
A 22-year-old Superior Township man faces a sentence of up to life in prison after a jury found him guilty on torture and child abuse charges last week.
Harvey Wince
Courtesy of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office
Harvey Wince was convicted during his second trial in the case, stemming from an April 1, 2012, incident in which he severely burned a 3-year-old boy, according to the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office. Wince was originally tried in the case in November 2012, but a hung jury demanded a retrial.
The trial concluded on Thursday, resulting in a conviction on first-degree child abuse and torture charges, Sgt. Geoffrey Fox said Monday.
“The motives for Wince’s actions are unknown,” Fox said in a statement.
On April 1, 2012, Wince was watching the boy at a home in the 8900 block of MacArthur Boulevard in Superior Township. Wince’s 17-year-old girlfriend was usually the primary babysitter for the boy but had other plans that day, so the boy was left in Wince’s care.
During the evening, the simple babysitting job took a violent turn. Fox said in a statement Wince intentionally placed the boy in scalding hot bath water and held him there, causing severe burns. Investigators estimated the water was between 120 and 125 degrees.
Investigators said Wince held the boy in the water for at least one minute. At a preliminary exam, the boy's mother testified that the boy’s skin was falling off due to the severity of the burns.
The boy had to be treated at the University of Michigan Hospital’s intensive care burn unit from April 1 until May 21 last year, records show. Officials said burns covered 18 percent of the boy’s body.
The boy also suffered significant bruising all over his body and a lacerated liver due to blunt force trauma during the time Wince was watching him. Wince admitted to biting the child on the arm, Fox said.
Wince told police he put the boy in the bathtub with an ankle-deep amount of lukewarm water and went to play the video game “Call of Duty.” Returning to the bathroom later to check on the boy, he found him standing in the bathroom with “soggy” skin, according to Wince’s police statement. He said the boy likely turned the hot water on himself.
Wince was charged and arraigned in the case on April 4, 2012. The case originally went to trial but ended in a hung jury on Nov. 5.
James Fifelski, Wince’s attorney, was not immediately available for comment Monday morning.
Wince is held at the Washtenaw County Jail on a $50,000 cash or surety bond. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in the case at 1:30 p.m. April 22 by Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Darlene O’Brien, according to jail records.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on both the torture and first-degree child abuse charges.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
A former tennis pro accused of fraudulently bringing four children from the African nation of Togo to the U.S. and forcing them to work as slaves in his home in Ypsilanti was sentenced Monday to more than 11 years in federal prison.
Jean-Claude Toviave
Jean-Claude Toviave, who didn't apologize when provided the opportunity to speak at his sentencing hearing in Detroit, also was ordered to pay two of the children $60,000 each.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow to sentence Toviave to the maximum sentence within the guidelines, and he did, handling down a 135-month sentence, with credit for about two years of time served.
"I can't get a read on you," Tarnow told Toviave. "I can't tell if you understand what you did was really wrong."
The four children emigrated from Togo in 2006 with fraudulent immigration paperwork that listed them as being Toviave's biological children, which they are not.
The victims said Toviave beat them with toilet plungers, broomsticks and electrical cords and starved them if they didn't follow his orders. They were forced to vacuum, iron, cook, clean and shine shoes at the home in Ypsilanti for nearly five years until January 2011.
Toviave, who worked as a janitor at the University of Michigan and as a part-time tennis instructor at the Huron Valley Tennis Club, was arrested when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided his home in May 2011.
Two of the victims were in the courtroom during sentencing, but declined to speak.
Victim statements were entered into the record, however, and one was read aloud by a representative.
"The physical torture, beating me and starving me, you inflicted was so painful that I prayed at night that God would either help me to be free or allow your assaults to kill me," wrote the unnamed victim. "The pain is something I will never forget. In the midst of your verbal and physical assaults, you worked the four of us to death."
A jury convicted Toviave of four counts of forced labor in October. He previously pleaded guilty to fraud and misuse of visas, mail fraud and harboring aliens.
Defense lawyer Randall Roberts, who asked Tarnow to sentence his client to four years, said the judge's sentence "was as tough as it comes."
University of Michigan students traverse campus.
Joseph Tobianski | AnnArbor.com
The high court has agreed to hear a case arguing the legality of a 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment that bans consideration of race in admissions by Michigan's 15 public universities.
In an 8-7 decision late last year, a federal appellate court upheld a Sixth Circuit court's July 2011 decision to strike down the amendment, known as Proposal 2 or the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, because it presents an undue burden to proponents of affirmative action who would have to mount a long, expensive campaign to amend the constitution.
The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
AP photo
Experts believe that by taking up the Michigan ban, the Supreme Court is looking to take a broader stance on affirmative action.
While university administrators publicly support affirmative action —U-M President Mary Sue Coleman has said she is a "huge believer in affirmative action"— the school hasn't offered a stance on Proposal; instead Coleman said she is adopting a "wait and see" attitude as litigation continues.
It's unclear whether the university will offer support the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action's case, led by attorney George Washington, now that it is before the Supreme Court.
"We've been watching it," U-M spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald said of the case, adding that the school's no-stance policy has not changed.
Washington assisted the university's legal team before the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger in 2002 when it argued in favor of the school's consideration of race in admissions. In that landmark case, the court found that U-M could work toward achieving diversity in admissions, but that the school's existing policy considered race too heavily.
As the university redrafted its affirmative action policies, opponents mounted a campaign to ban affirmative action among Michigan's 15 public universities. The result was Proposal 2, and since it took effect in 2006 U-M hasn't used affirmative action in admissions.
Diversity in the school's student body has clearly suffered. Currently, underrepresented minorities make up 10 percent of the freshmen class, a 0.5 percent decrease from 2011 and a 0.6 percent decrease from 2010.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the number of blacks enrolled as freshmen at U-M dropped nearly 15 percent from 2006 to 2010. Black enrollment at the law school fell 28 percent from 2006 to 2011.
"These laws have driven down black and latino enrollment," Washington, the attorney that will represent affirmative action proponents before the Supreme Court when it hears the Michigan case in the fall, said in an interview. "It damages the minority.... It's a disaster, we want them to reverse the law."
Washington said that while Schuette filed the appeal, his legal team encouraged the Supreme Court to take up the case. Washington thinks the court will find in his favor, thus setting a national precedent that affirmative action proponents have been seeking for years.
For his part, Schuette has expressed confidence that the Supreme Court will uphold the ban.
"The Michigan Constitution exemplifies the fundamental premise of what America is all about: equal opportunity under the law for all citizens," he said in a statement released Monday. "Entrance to our great colleges and universities must be based upon merit, and I remain optimistic moving forward in our fight for equality, fairness and rule of law at our nation’s highest court."
In 2011, 33 percent of U-M freshmen said they supported affirmative action policies. That same year, 42 percent of college freshmen throughout the nation supported weighted admissions policies, according to an annual freshman survey conducted jointly by the University of California's Cooperative Institutional Research Program and U-M.
Washington criticized U-M for not publicly supporting a repeal of the state's affirmative acton ban.
"Their position so far has been to be neutral," he said. "They just say 'Whatever the courts decide,' which we think is wrong."
Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.
A 54-year-old Ypsilanti man faces a preliminary examination Tuesday on charges he broke into a woman’s house, raped her and physically assaulted her.
Derrick King
Courtesy of WCSO
Ypsilanti police Detective Sgt. Tom Eberts said Derrick King used a key sometime after midnight on Feb. 3 to enter the home of a woman he had dated. Eberts said King used to live at the residence in the 700 block of Washtenaw Avenue.
Eberts said King grabbed the woman’s phone away from her as she tried to call police and prevented her from leaving.
“He kept her there during the night and sexually assaulted her and physically assaulted her,” Eberts said.
King is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and a charge each of first-degree home invasion, intimidating a witness, interfering with electronic communications and domestic violence, court records show.
A preliminary exam is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the 14A-1 District Court in Pittsfield Township. King is held at the Washtenaw County Jail on a $50,000 cash or surety bond.
Eberts said there was a prior history of domestic abuse in the relationship, which had been taking place for the last three years.
The criminal warrant was approved against King on Feb. 12, but he wasn’t arraigned on charges until March 13. Eberts said he was arrested after contact with Ann Arbor police the day before his arraignment.
The woman refused medical treatment, Eberts said.
King has a long criminal history, dating back to a shoplifting conviction in 1990. In addition, he’s been convicted of delivery/manufacture of a narcotic less than 50 grams in 1992, first-degree retail fraud in 1993, two counts of armed robbery in 1993 and two1993 convictions of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, state records show.
He was in prison from Aug. 1993 until Oct. 2011 on the 1993 convictions, which all stem from an incident on April 23, 1993,, records show. He was sentenced to from 17 to 32 years in prison for those convictions.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
A company is considering drilling oil wells in northern Washtenaw County's Northfield Township, according to township officials.
The company has hired Bishop Land Services of Mesick to execute land contracts, obtain permits and conduct initial seismic tests.
A pump jack at an oil well in Saline Township operated by Paxton Resources. Representatives from a different company are seeking land leases for oil exploration in Northfield Township.
Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com file photo
The police department issued the notice because they had received concerned calls from Northfield Township residents regarding the house calls in light of a rash of recent break-ins in the area.
Bishop Land Services would not reveal their client company due to contractual obligations.
Oil wells continue to be drilled in Saline Township by Paxton Resources LLC of Gaylord. The company has obtained permits for at least two new wells in the township this year.
Further information was not immediately available.
Washtenaw County's western neighbor, Jackson County, has the highest oil production in the state, closely followed by Lenawee County.
A boom in natural gas production has yet to be seen in Michigan, Crain's Detroit Business reported.
Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from City Administrator Steve Powers.
The city of Ann Arbor failed to meet conditions of a grant agreement for demolition of six boarded-up houses on North Main Street, and the $96,000 award has been rescinded, a spokeswoman for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority said.
Katie Bach, media affairs manager for MSHDA, on Monday provided a more detailed explanation of the issues surrounding the Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant and why it went unused.
Mayor John Hieftje put the blame on MSHDA last week when asked why the houses weren't taken down by a March 15 deadline to qualify for demolition grant funding.
Cars travel past the boarded-up houses on North Main Street in Ann Arbor on Thursday afternoon. They were supposed to be demolished by March 15.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
According to a timeline provided by MSHDA, the city was awarded a $116,000 increase on Sept. 28 to a previous grant, bringing the total award to $966,000.
From the additional NSP funds, $20,000 was for demolition of blighted structures located at 512 Felch and $96,000 was for the houses at 720-735 N. Main.
According to the grant conditions, all funds had to be spent by March 15 and no NSP funds would be available for expenses incurred after March 15.
All invoicing had to be submitted to MSHDA by April 15, and only work completed prior to March 15 would be reimbursed with NSP funds, according to the agreement.
MSDHA's timeline shows the grant was decreased by $20,000 on Nov. 20 after it was decided NSP funds wouldn't be used for the demolition of 512 Felch.
And after the March 15 deadline lapsed and the North Main houses had not been demolished, MSHDA took back the other $96,000 on March 18.
"The problem was that the city's procured contractor could not actually complete the demolitions within the NSP1 expenditure timeframe of March 15," Bach said.
City Administrator Steve Powers said the city did not overlook the March 15 deadline. He said staff made a judgment call that the demolition work would not be completed by the NSP deadline.
"I have asked staff for a recommendation on using MSHDA funds or the city's dangerous building fund," Powers wrote in an email on Monday.
Bach said the city still could have elected to proceed with the demolitions and finance any costs incurred before March 15 with NSP funds and any costs incurred after March 15 with a different funding source. She said the city shouldn't have been waiting for a check from MSDHA.
"NSP1 funds are not advanced, but instead are reimbursed on an invoice basis," she said, adding the city would not have received a check prior to the work actually taking place.
Bach said last week Ann Arbor still might be able to demolish the homes with NSP funds, because there will be a reallocation window opening soon, and the city can reapply.
"There are no guarantees, though, because it is a competitive process," she said.
Hieftje said if the issue doesn't get resolved soon, the city will just go ahead with demolishing the houses using its own money.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.
Within 11 minutes Monday, three Ann Arbor area crashes sent three people to the hospital, all in stable condition.
First, at 2:42 p.m. Monday, emergency crews were sent to a head-on collision at Jackson Road and Wagner Road. Ann Arbor police Lt. Jim Baird said three cars were involved in a crash.
Huron Valley Ambulance spokeswoman Joyce Williams said at least two vehicles hit in a head-on collision. There were four people who needed to be treated by HVA personnel but only one person had to be taken to the University of Michigan Hospital emergency room in stable condition.
Two minutes after that crash was reported, a two-car crash at Packard Road and Easy Street was reported. Williams said one person was taken to University of Michigan Hospital emergency room at 3:15 p.m. in stable condition.
At 2:53 p.m. Monday, a car struck a bicyclist at South University Avenue and State Street in downtown Ann Arbor. Williams said the bicyclist was taken to the University of Michigan Hospital emergency room at 3:16 p.m. in stable condition.
Ann Arbor police were not immediately available to provide more information on the crashes Monday afternoon, but officials said details could be available later in the day.
Check back to AnnArbor.com for any further developments in these crashes.
AnnArbor.com reporter Kody Klein contributed to this report.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
An 18-year-old Ann Arbor man is charged with shooting an 18-year-old man in the shoulder Sunday morning while he was free on bond in a separate case, court records show.
Torrey Juide
Courtesy of WCSO
Torrey Juide is charged with assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to court records. He was arraigned Monday at the Washtenaw County Jail, where he was held as of 3 p.m. Monday.
Juide is charged with shooting an 18-year-old Ypsilanti man once in the shoulder sometime before 1:58 a.m. Sunday in the 3500 block of South State Street. Ann Arbor police Detective Bill Stanford said the two teens knew each other and had previous confrontations.
“It was a drive-by type shooting,” Stanford said. “There were multiple witnesses and a distinct vehicle involved. We tracked the vehicle to Tecumseh and were able to make the arrest.”
Juide and an 18-year-old woman were arrested Sunday in Tecumseh by Ann Arbor police investigators, with the assistance of the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office and the Tecumseh police.
Stanford said he was told Juide’s bond was set at $50,000 cash. There was no record of the bond available from jail records Monday afternoon. The 18-year-old woman who was also arrested in the case was not charged, Stanford said.
Officials from the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office were not immediately available to comment on the decision to not charge the woman.
The incident came a little more than a month after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace.
Juide was charged with possession of a billy club and carrying a concealed weapon earlier this year. Detective Chris Fitzpatrick, of the Ann Arbor Police Department, said the charges stemmed from a December incident.
“It was a suspicious subjects call, a possible drug dealing complaint,” Fitzpatrick said. “Officers came across him and he had a billy club in the car and it was his.”
Magistrate Thomas Truesdell, records show, arraigned Juide on the charges on Jan. 15. Truesdell gave him a $10,000 personal recognizance bond, allowing him to leave the jail for free.
On Feb. 21, Juide pleaded guilty to an added third count of disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor, records show. In exchange, the felony charges of possession of a billy club and carrying a concealed weapon were dismissed.
He was scheduled to be sentenced in the case on April 19, according to court records.
The allegations against Juide will surely raise more questions about the amount of bond given to accused criminals, who then go on to be charged in other crimes while their cases are pending.
In the last two weeks, Javare Holmes was arrested and charged with 11 felonies — all committed while he was free on bond from a May 2012 case. The news that Holmes was able to leave jail and allegedly commit more crimes upset many members of the community.
Juide graduated from Skyline High School in June 2012 and is a former member of the school’s varsity football team.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
A laptop, a GPS unit, two purses and a book bag were stolen in two separate incidents from vehicles parked in lot at Eastern Michigan University's Rynearson Stadium during this past weekend.
An unknown suspect smashed the window of a vehicle and stole a GPS unit and two purses between 1 and 3:20 p.m. on Saturday.
The following day, someone stole a laptop and a book bag from a vehicle that was left unlocked. This incident was reported at 3:09 p.m.
EMU Police Chief Bob Heighes, said the victims were non-students who parked their vehicles in the lot during baseball games they were attending at the stadium.
No estimate of the stolen property's value was available and there are no suspects at this time.
Kody Klein is an intern for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at kklein@mlive.com
Three days before Michigan's controversial right-to-work law is set to take effect, the city of Ann Arbor has struck a deal on a new contract with its largest labor union.
The Ann Arbor City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve a new collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME Local 369 and its roughly 270 members.
The contract is effective as of Monday and runs through Dec. 31, 2017.
Because the contract starts before the new state law takes effect, the city's AFSCME union won't face the consequences of right-to-work for more than four and a half years.
The vote on the new contract was 9-0 with Council Members Christopher Taylor and Mike Anglin absent.
John Hieftje
The city's human resources department recommended approval of the new AFSCME contract, which was renegotiated early and supersedes a contract set to expire on Dec. 31, 2013.
The new contract includes wage increases of 1 percent in January 2014, 0.5 percent in July 2014, 1.5 percent in January 2015, 1 percent in January 2016 and 1 percent in January 2017.
It also includes a revised wage table with lower step increases for new hires effective Jan. 1, 2015.
The union also has agreed to have its newly hired employees participate in any alternate retirement plan the City Council might approve. That's targeted for July 2014, according to the city's human resources director.
AFSCME new hires would move to the alternate pension plan at the same time that nonunion new hires move to such a plan. That could be a defined contribution plan or a hybrid plan.
"I think this is an important step forward," said Council Member Jane Lumm, who said she's particularly pleased about the promise of pension plan changes. "That is significant."
Lumm said it's a fundamental responsibility of the city to provide services effectively and efficiently and moving away from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan is more sustainable.
"It is nice to see there's an option to do that in this contract," agreed Mayor John Hieftje, who said that's something the city has been looking at for years.
Council Member Sumi Kailasapathy, D-1st Ward, asked if the city could be penalized by the state for doing an end run around right-to-work. Hieftje said the city's not crossing any lines.
Last week, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners also took steps to beat right-to-work, approving 10-year contracts with five of the county's unions.
The city's new contract with AFSCME includes a decrease in personal time for employees on alternate shifts, full participation in the city's wellness incentive program, certain cost contributions related to arbitrations and grievances, as well as other operational changes.
The negotiated agreement also includes AFSCME's acceptance of a change in the city's pension board composition, which was approved by city voters in November 2011.
The new pension board makeup includes five appointed citizen trustees, one trustee elected by fire members, one trustee elected by police members, one trustee elected by general city members and the city's chief financial officer. The city administrator was removed.
Under the new agreement, AFSCME will have 30 days to provide candidates and input to the mayor before a citizen trustee is nominated to serve on the pension board.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.
Ann Arbor juniors Stina Perkins, left, and Hannah Clague stand in their magnet classroom at Skyline High School Monday morning. The girls had a research paper they wrote last year inspire a new bill to save arts education funding that was introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives earlier this month.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
Rep. Douglas Geiss, a Democrat from Taylor, introduced a bill on March 12 in the Michigan House of Representatives that would create a fundraising license plate to support the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
The legislation was the work of Skyline High School's now-juniors Hannah Clague and Stina Perkins, as well as former Skyline student and current Rudolf Steiner junior Sophie Kendall. While the three girls did not write the actual bill that was proposed, it was inspired by a paper they crafted last year as part of Skyline's Communication, Media and Public Policy magnet.
Lead teacher Pat Jenkins said during the students' first class as sophomores in the magnet, Introduction to Public Policy, the kids are required to brainstorm a policy issue they would like to know more about. Then they complete a policy analysis and research solutions and resolutions that are employed in other places, she said.
For the three girls, arts fundraising was a no brainer.
They have watched as programs in the arts — dance, choir, theater, band and orchestra — continuously were placed on the chopping block not only in districts across Michigan, but in their own district, as schools face budget cuts, declining enrollment and decreased funding from the state.
"I have played classical guitar since I was 4 and it's something that has lead me to excel throughout my school career and has been really influential in what I achieve as a student today," said Perkins of her passion for arts education. "There's tons of research about how participating in (the arts) spurs cognitive develop from a young age."
Aside from playing guitar, Perkins also is a writer. Clague is an aspiring singer and dancer, and Kendall draws and paints.
Clague's father, Mark, is a music professor at the University of Michigan and it was his connection to a former student, Timothy Michling, who works in Geiss' office, that led to the Ann Arbor students presenting their proposal for the license plate to the legislator.
Michling is the primary oboist for the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and Geiss is a huge supporter of the arts and music education as his wife plays the violin, said Michling. He said Mark Clague mentioned the girls' proposal to him and he mentioned it to Geiss.
"From Detroit to the Upper Peninsula, Michigan is home to some of the world's greatest institutions of music, art, history and culture," Geiss said. "While difficult economic circumstances have required that equally difficult funding decisions be made at the state level, it is truly unfortunate that Michigan — historically known for its creative edge — has become so disinvested in its artistic and cultural heritage."
He said the license plate would give people a visible symbol for their support of the arts, while guaranteeing access to arts and cultural programming to communities throughout Michigan.
House Bill 4407 has bipartisan support and was co-sponsored by four Democrats, including Rep. Jeff Irwin from Ann Arbor, and three Republicans.
Perkins said the girls based their proposal on a similar bill in the state of California, which they discovered in their research also has experienced significant cuts to K-12 arts programs. Michling added there also are arts license plates in Nevada, Texas, Tennessee, Indiana and North and South Carolina.
Perkins said the California license plate fundraiser was wildly successful and the money from the plates generated nearly 60 percent of the state's arts education budget.
If House Bill 4407 passes, the idea would be to launch a "huge crusade" to save arts education in Michigan and to advertise the effort on a broad scale, Perkins said. She added the California bill was promoted and backed by numerous celebrities, including the cast of "Glee."
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will take up the bill, the Secretary of State's Office would issue the license plates and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs would funnel the money through grants to local school districts.
According to the State Department's website, it currently offers fundraising license plates for Michigan's 15 public universities, as well as nine special causes, including: the Boy Scouts of America, Children's Trust Fund, lighthouse preservation, veterans memorial, water quality and disaster relief through the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army. Purchasing a special fundraising plate costs an extra $10.
Perkins said she never imagined her and her classmates' proposal would go so far.
"There are lots of causes competing out there, but I think there is interest in this one," she said, adding the process has taught her a lot about the State Legislature, public policy and the power of a small grassroots group of people.
"It was definitely encouraging. We learned in our government class that the most influential thing to a person sitting in public office is the heartfelt letters from their communities. And we got to see firsthand how that works."
Pat Jenkins
From AAPS
"I am thrilled," Jenkins said of Clague, Kendall and Perkins' paper becoming the inspiration for this bill. "High school students today, I don't think the public is aware of how awesome they are. If you give them the tools and have high expectations, they really do soar."
She said in her Skyline magnet program, she teaches, but she also does a great deal of facilitating.
"It's real world here and if you want to change the world, you can. And that's so true in terms of the impact these girls are having."
Clague and Perkins encouraged community members to get involved in helping this bill pass and to write their legislators and the governor to share their opinions on the bill.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
The Saline Area Schools Board of Education will evaluate Superintendent Scot Graden's performance and discuss changing pay-to-participate fees for athletics Tuesday.
Saline Superintendent Scot Graden gives a budget presentation in this 2011 file photo. The school board will conduct his quarterly evaluation Tuesday night and discuss pay-to-participate fees for athletics in preparation for the fiscal year 2014 budget.
Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com file photo
Saline conducts quarterly reviews of its superintendent. The board generally releases a statement after the evaluation.
In November, Graden was given a performance rating of "effective" on a scale from "ineffective" to "highly effective." School board members also discussed Graden's salary and contract length at that time. They directed Saline's human resources department to research the superintendent compensation packages of other comparable school districts and to prepare a market analysis for the board.
Graden earns an annual salary of $125,000 and a total compensation package worth $188,578. The package includes a $34,244 pension, $6,000 travel allowance, $6,500 other allowance and $19,828 in insurance benefits, according to a recent statewide superintendent database.
Saline is the second-largest school district in Washtenaw County, behind Ann Arbor, with approximately 5,330 students. Graden's base salary is the fourth lowest in the county.
The discussion about athletics and activity pay-to-participate fees will take place as the district prepares to address its budget woes for fiscal year 2014, according to a story by the Saline Post.
The Post writes Saline officials project to lose $187,000 in per-pupil funding for the 2013-14 academic year as the result of a state funding cut for Gov. Rick Snyder's "best practice" incentives.
Officials also estimate the district's enrollment will decline by 70 students, which would cost the district another $517,000, the Post article says.
Saline Area Schools play-to-participate fees are $325 per student at the high school this year. This is a one-time payment and then students may take part in as many sports and clubs as they would like.
Saline's participation fee is one of the highest in the county. Chelsea School District recently eliminated its pay-to-play fee, while Dexter Community Schools raised its fees to $250 for the first sport, $150 for the second sport and $100 for the third sport. Ann Arbor charges high school students $150 for the first sport and $75 for each sport after that.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
An apartment where a plexi-glass front window once bulged due to heat from a nearby car fire has been rehabbed at the former Riley Court Apartment Complex, now called MeadowRidge Apartments.
Tom Perkins | For AnnArbor.com
The raw sewage that once took up a parking spot in front of the MeadowRidge Apartments in Ypsilanti Township has been hosed away.
The pipe that spewed the sewage has been repaired, and the litany of code violations ranging from serious safety hazards to cosmetic issues at the property, 2532 E. Michigan Ave., also have all been addressed.
Complex owner Stewart Beal fired the management team, a source of many tenant complaints, and now oversees the 30-unit property himself. The complex was previously known as Riley Court.
Building officials have applauded the turnaround at the complex that has troubled the township for decades and called it one of the largest rehabilitation of a property they have seen.
“This is the most encompassing enforcement that has occurred at this property. Through tenant complaints, the tenacity of (code inspector) Bill Elling, unparalleled photo documentation and attorney pressure, this property looks the best it has in some time,” Township Building Director Ron Fulton said. “Obviously this is a victory for the owner, the township and, most importantly, the tenants.”
Beal said he invested around $50,000 to bring the property up to code.
The township charged in court documents filed last September that the complex was riddled with safety hazards and a range of code violations.
An official described the plumbing in some of the units as “wacky”. In one unit, bathtub water that was turned on with a pair of pliers shot into a neighbor’s wall.
Sewage was seen in September outside residents' apartments at MeadowRidge.
Tom Perkins | AnnArbor.com file photo
An extension cord plugged into the wall in the bedroom ran through the wall where the water was shooting. That cord led to a basement crawl space, where it was spliced into another cord that led to the hot water heater, which created a serious fire hazard.
Additionally, the large front window to the apartment was a plexiglass sheet that had been partially melted when a car was set on fire in the parking lot about 10 feet away.
Other problems included mold, flooded crawl spaces, serious electrical hazards, serious fire hazards, windows that didn’t fit, broken plumbing, broken windows, trash littering the property, rotting door and window frames, windows nailed shut, non-functioning fire alarms, general exterior decay, broken plumbing fixtures, broken heaters and more, officials said.
“We went through unit by unit and verified that everything was repaired,” Fulton said.
Beal said he is pleased that the property is now up to code, but he said didn’t believe there were safety issues and said the bulk of his renovation expense was related to replacing windows.
“I would certainly deny there was anything unsafe on the property at any time. You caught us on a bad day,” he said, referring to an AnnArbor.com reporter's tour of the property with building officials in September. “But we went above and beyond by investing $50,000 in the property.
“It was a pleasant process. Ron Fulton and Bill Elling are good to work with. I’m glad work got done to their satisfaction.”
The property also had been a crime hot spot, but law enforcement officials say crime has also dropped.
Through the first eight months of last year, the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office had responded to 96 calls at Riley Court. Police said had responded to calls at 24 of the 30 units.
Included in property's rap sheet is arson, sexual assault, felony warrant arrests, armed assault, animal complaints, disorderly persons, prostitution, narcotics possession, narcotics distribution, shots fired complaints and noise complaints. The sheriff’s department also has recovered stolen cars from other jurisdictions and accompanied the township officials to enforce ordinance violations.
Tom Perkins is a freelance reporter. Reach the AnnArbor.com news desk at news@annarbor.com.
The University of Michigan has one of the largest college endowments in the country and it's often academically-ranked as a top public university.
U-M's chief investment officer Erik Lundberg says it's no coincidence that the school performs well both financially and academically.
"It helps to have an endowment to do [academic] things and do them excellently," said Lundberg, a 14-year veteran of the university. "If you look at the highest ranking universities they all have big endowments. I think there's a relationship there."
Lundberg visited U-M's faculty senate advisory committee on university affairs Monday afternoon to talk about the endowment. He explained, in general terms, the workings of U-M's investment office at the corner of Huron and Main streets in Ann Arbor and tried to lift the veil on an endowment that, in fiscal 2011-12, was valued at $7.7 billion.
Here's 10 things you should know about U-M's growing endowment:
University of Michigan has a $7.7 billion endowment.
Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com
2) The endowment has grown significantly during the past 25 years. In 1988, the endowment totaled about $300 million. By 1994 it was $1 billion, in 2000 it was $3.5 billion and in 2005 it was $4.9 billion.
3) In 2012, the endowment was ranked the seventh-largest of any university in the country and second-largest among public universities. In 1999 the university's endowment was ranked 17th-largest among universities and in 1991 the endowment was ranked 27th. The University of Texas system is the only public institution that has a larger endowment than U-M.
4) The endowment is made up of approximately 7,600 separate funds managed, as Lundberg puts it, "like a big mutual fund."
"They all pool together in one vehicle," he said. "Everybody gets exposure to the same investment."
Many of the funds have been earmarked for specific uses by donors. Examples include program support —the school's philosophy library operates through an endowed fund gifted by a donor— scholarships and professorships.
Erik Lundberg
Booth file photo
5) While the university is meticulous in how it invests its money, it's equally as disciplined in how it spends endowment returns.
"The point of having an endowment is not to grow it, it's to spend it," Lundberg said Monday.
Endowment distributions are capped at 4.5 percent of the endowment value, averaged over a seven-year period. In 2012 the university distributed $270 million from the endowment, up $4 million from the year before.
The university had been tapping into the endowment at a rate of 5 percent, but lowered that rate to 4.5 percent in 2010.
6) The endowment lost 0.5 percent of its value in 2012. The average investment return over the past five years has been 2.5 percent and over the past decade the return averaged 9.6 percent.
7) The university doesn't let social or political factors influence its investments.
"The regents have said the investments should be done based on the merit of return," Lundberg said. "We try to be blind to [social factors]."
At recent Board of Regents meetings, students and citizens have urged the university to stop investing in fossil fuels and HEI Hotels. Regents haven't publicly responded to the concerns.
Historically, interventions by regents have been limited. In the late 1970s regents disinvested in funds related to South Africa and in the early 2000s the board voted to disinvest in tobacco companies.
8) Donors are more generous when the endowment performs well. When Lundberg was recruited to the university in 1999, endowments returns had been lackluster and, for many years, were below their peer average. The effect, he said, was apparent among donors, who "weren't so excited" because many felt "they could do better on their own."
As the endowment performs well, donors feel comfortable that their gifts are well stewarded, Lundberg said.
9) The university's investment office was established in 1999 and now has a staff of 13 investors who oversee the school's financial assets and develop investment strategies, which focus heavily on longterm commitments and diversification.
"A lot of strategies take many years [to] pay off," Lundberg said Monday.
Separate from the investment office, the university has an investment accounting manager with a staff of about three people, according to Lundberg. They're tasked with keeping track of U-M investments and reporting their success to the school's chief financial officer, Timothy Slottow.
10) The school's endowment is placed in a mix of traditional and alternative investments. Here's a breakdown:
- Natural resources: 9.3 percent
- Real estate: 15 percent
- Venture Capital: 11.5 percent
- Private Equity: 15.4 percent
- Cash: 2.8 percent
- Absolute Return: 15.5 percent
- Fixed Income: 8.6 percent
- Non-U.S. Equity:12.7 percent
- U.S. Equity: 9.2 percent
Correction: U-M does not plan to revert endowment distributions to 5 percent. Distributions will remain at 4.5 percent.
Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.
Ann Arbor City Council members held the last of a series of budget work sessions Monday night, and they now await the city administrator's recommended budget in April.
A number of capital projects are being removed from the two-year budget plan in an effort to close the gap between revenues and expenditures starting July 1.
Tom Crawford, the city's chief financial officer, provided an overview of some of the changes, noting hundreds of thousands of dollars in planned fire station upgrades are being pushed back, with the exception of the addition of separate female showers and locker rooms.
Tom Crawford, the city's chief financial officer, appears before council members at a recent meeting.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
Mayor John Hieftje said as long as the council chambers is safe, it's fine, though he would like to see improved accommodations for people with disabilities.
"About the only change I've seen in it is we painted these panels up here," he said, pointing toward the ceiling after the meeting. "But we still have two-by-fours holding up the counters, at least back where the mayor sits, but it's perfectly adequate for us to continue to use."
The city also has modified its assumptions regarding the future of city-owned property at 415 W. Washington, where the city hopes to establish a greenway park.
The city's Capital Improvement Plan had assumed a $650,000 cost for the re-use of the deteriorated building there as a community arts center, and now the city assumes it will be demolished.
"That is a reduction of about $350,000," Crawford said.
About $500,000 worth of concrete repairs that were planned for Superior Dam in 2014-15 also are being pushed back another year.
Train station design delayed
City Administrator Steve Powers confirmed Monday night a $2.6 million line item for final design of a new train station, possibly on Fuller Road, is being pushed back one year to fiscal year 2015-16.
That brought smiles to the faces of at least two councils members who have questioned the project: Jane Lumm and Stephen Kunselman.
Both said they were ready to bring forward budget amendments to halt the design if it showed up in the administrator's budget next month, so they're glad to know it won't be there.
"Hearing this is certainly good news," Lumm said, adding she's also glad to see hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to city hall removed for now.
Crawford said the city decided it can delay doing a $200,000 primary chiller replacement inside city hall in 2014-15, since the city is spending $175,000 to add a secondary chiller in 2013-14 anyway. If the primary chiller fails, he said, the new secondary chiller can kick in.
Hieftje, who has been a major proponent of building a new train station on Fuller Road, said he's not disappointed to see the final design delayed a year.
"The federal wheels turn slowly, and frankly I think it's not a bad thing to happen," he said. "One of the things I've thought about for a very long time is it's sometimes hard for people to visualize how robust service is going to be with Amtrak going over 100 mph with brand-new trains, really reducing the transit times and providing a dependable trip east to west, and getting rid of the roadblocks."
As more time passes, Hieftje said, the increased demand for service will be more apparent. He said he's heard from Amtrak that ridership could double.
"Which would completely overwhelm our current station," he said.
Closing fire stations vs. adding firefighters
Even though Hieftje and a number of council members have voiced opposition to closing fire stations, it's an idea that doesn't seem to go away.
Included in the council's meeting packet was a five-page memo from Powers indicating it's an option he's still considering.
City Administrator Steve Powers
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
Given current staffing levels, Fire Chief Chuck Hubbard favors the switch to three stations, which would ensure a minimum of four firefighters on duty at each station. That would help make sure four firefighters arrive on scene together, which is preferred when responding to fires.
But instead of closing stations, Hubbard has said he'd rather increase staffing levels and have four firefighters on duty at each of the five existing stations.
According to Powers' memo, the fire department would need to hire 12 more firefighters to achieve that. The department has 86 full-time employees now.
The cost of those 12 firefighters for the first year would be $936,963, plus a $121,536 one-time cost for equipment. Year 2 costs would be $991,518, growing to $1,048,751 by Year 5.
Powers said he's confident in those numbers, which clash with projections Hubbard provided last year. Hubbard said last March it would take hiring at least 30 more firefighters at a cost of $3 million a year to increase the daily staffing levels from three to four firefighters at each substation.
Hieftje and Powers both expressed a desire for greater collaboration with surrounding fire departments during Monday's meeting. Hieftje said he's working with Yousef Rabhi, the new chairman of the county board, to resurrect the Washtenaw Metro Alliance to take a closer look at that.
"I'm confident we're going to be in good shape keeping the stations we have, but there's a great deal of promise in further collaboration with other departments in moving toward regionalization," Hieftje said. "I think we can both save money for taxpayers and provide better fire services."
Lumm said she's ready to propose an increase in police and fire staffing for next year if she doesn't like what she sees in the administrator's budget.
"My expectation is that council's goals for public safety will be reflected in the budget," she said. "And when you establish priorities, you do more of something and less of something else."
Lumm doesn't support closing fire stations.
"I know we don't have adequate staffing at all the stations, obviously," she said. "But when the locations were established decades ago, they were strategically placed. It's a big leap to walk away from that and conclude that we can close some of these."
Fall leaf pickup and holiday trees
Lumm said she's planning to bring forward amendments to restore fall leaf pickup and holiday tree collection services if they're not included in the administrator's budget.
Council Member Jane Lumm
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
Lumm, who fought unsuccessfully to restore those services last year, said she can't understand how in a general fund budget totaling more than $80 million the city can't find at least $26,000.
She believes it would be less costly for city residents and would leave a smaller carbon footprint if the city's trucks go around and pick up holiday trees, instead of having thousands of residents individually haul their trees out to the city's drop-off station on Ellsworth Road.
"I thought about that when we dropped ours off and there was the mountain of trees, and I thought, 'OK, each one of these is a car coming out here,' " she said.
"And as we've seen with the limb/tree debris cleanup after this last storm, that's a really nice thing that the city's doing," she said. "A lot of neighborhoods would appreciate this service."
Hieftje, who supported eliminating fall leaf pickup and holiday tree collections in 2010, said he's happy to talk about restoring such services if Lumm can find the money in the budget. But he guessed only half the residents in Ann Arbor have holiday trees, and if they're able to go out and pick them up in the first place, he said, it seems they should be able to haul them away on their own.
New budget forecast
Crawford provided council members with a revised general fund forecast, showing a slightly more positive outlook than before.
"We completed our revised tax estimates for the year and have about $190,000 in additional general fund revenues we anticipate, so that was good news," he said.
Crawford said the 15th District Court also revised its budget and now expects $220,000 in additional revenue, while court expenses have gone down $60,000.
If every remaining budget request is granted, the general fund would operate at a $275,000 deficit in the coming year, which means city officials still have some tough decisions to make.
Mayor John Hieftje chats with Council Member Sally Hart Petersen, D-2nd Ward, before the start of a meeting.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
The city still is projecting $82.3 million in recurring revenues and $80.8 million in baseline recurring expenses for next year. That leaves a $1.48 million surplus to start in the general fund.
From there, city officials are considering $231,000 worth of additional recurring funding requests (down from $698,000 a month ago). Additionally, city officials are considering $1.5 million in one-time expenses (down from $1.7 million a month ago).
The projections for the second year of the two-year budget plan show the city operating at a $1.75 million deficit if every remaining budget request is funded.
If the city ran those deficits, it still would have uncommitted cash reserves totaling nearly $12.1 million two years from now, which is considered within acceptable range.
The council also was presented with a budget plan from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority at Monday's meeting.
DDA officials said there are no downtown parking rate increases planned in the next year, but there is more parking coming online with the opening of the new First and Washington garage. As a result, parking revenues are budgeted to jump from $18.1 million to $19.3 million in the next year.
The DDA's budget shows significantly lower tax revenues than city officials anticipate based on new downtown developments coming onto the tax rolls.
One chart city officials referenced shows DDA tax captures growing as high as $4.8 million in 2014-15, which Kunselman and Council Member Sumi Kailasapathy want to scale back.
The City Council is expected to hold public hearings on May 6 and vote on a final budget at its May 20 meeting. The administrator's budget is due by April 15.
The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority's projections for the next two years.
Ann Arbor DDA
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.
A woman returned to her home in Ypsilanti Monday afternoon and found a person standing near her open apartment door, police said.
Ypsilanti police responded at 6:30 p.m. Monday to the 500 block of Emmet Street to investigate a report of a home invasion. The woman told police she came back to her apartment and saw a person standing near the door, which was open.
The suspect then fled the area and nothing was reported stolen, police said.
There was no suspect description released by police Tuesday morning.
Anyone with information on this incident is encouraged to call the Ypsilanti police at 734-483-9510.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Judge Darlene O'Brien rescheduled the final pretrial for a 34-year-old Ypsilanti Township man accused of murdering a 29-year-old Superior Township to May 20.
Leonard Ware
Courtesy of WCSO
"In a case of this magnitude, you want to have all the information that's been gathered," Taylor said.
Ware is charged with open murder, carrying a concealed weapon, being a felon in possession of a firearm and being in possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Taylor said that the tests will determine whether saliva found on a cigarette and a water bottle matches Ware's DNA. Witnesses said they saw the suspect smoking a cigarette and drinking water behind a tree while he waited for Allen to appear.
Witnesses testified they saw Ware and Allen walking on opposite sides of Grove Street when Ware allegedly shot Allen twice, causing him to fall to the ground. At that point, they said Ware ran to Allen and allegedly shot him at least three more times, until he was dead.
If convicted, Ware could face life in prison. He is being held without bond at Washtenaw County Jail.
His trial was scheduled for April 15, but was rescheduled for June 10.
Kody Klein is an intern for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at kklein@mlive.com
Michigan State Police troopers are investigating reports of shots being fired at multiple vehicles in the Manchester area Monday evening, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Sgt. Mike Garland said troopers took the reports about the shots about 6 p.m. Monday in the area between Manchester and Saline. Garland said more information was not available Tuesday morning.
It’s unclear at this point if more information will be released Tuesday. State police could not immediately reach detectives in the case to provide more information.
No injuries have been reported in the cases and initial information from Monday evening indicated a green vehicle might have been involved in the shootings.
Garland encouraged anyone who has information about the incidents to call the Michigan State Police Brighton Post at (810) 227-1051.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Michigan's attorney general is seeking a criminal investigation into the deaths of 17 residents from contaminated steroids supplied by a Massachusetts pharmaceutical company.
Vials of an injectable steroid manufactured by the New England Compounding Center linked with a nationwide outbreak of rare fungal meningitis.
AP photo
Three residents died after being treated in Indiana, so Michigan's death toll also has been reported at 17.
A grand jury can compel testimony under oath, while state investigators don't have that power.
Schuette says there is probable cause to believe crimes were committed in Genesee, Grand Traverse, Livingston and Macomb counties — which have private clinics that administered the steroids.
