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ELECTION 2022-MICHIGAN GOVERNOR

2 Republicans exhaust appeals, won’t be on Michigan ballot

DETROIT (AP) — Two candidates for Michigan governor have lost their final appeals and will remain off the ballot in the Republican primary. The state Supreme Court was the last stop for Perry Johnson and Michael Markey. They were doomed by forged signatures on their petitions, apparently created by paid circulators without knowledge of the candidates. After state officials scratched those signatures, the candidates didn’t have enough valid ones to reach the threshold of 15,000. Detroit’s former police chief, James Craig, is in the same category. But the Supreme Court told him to take his appeal first to the Michigan appeals court. Craig, too, is likely to remain off the ballot.

AP-US-FCA-EMISSIONS-SCAM

FCA US pleads guilty to cheating in diesel emission tests

DETROIT (AP) — FCA US has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a scheme to deceive regulators about diesel emission systems on 101,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500 trucks. FCA agreed to pay a $96.1 million fine and give up an additional $203.5 million. Engineers were accused of using software tricks and taking other steps to meet U.S. emission standards while marketing the vehicles as “clean EcoDiesel.” The vehicles were diesel Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500 trucks from the 2014, 2015 and 2016 model years. FCA US was formerly known as Chrysler Group and now is part of Stellantis.

SENIOR HOUSING-DEATH

Senior living center loses appeal over woman’s death

OXFORD, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court has reinstated a lawsuit against a senior living center where an 89-year-old woman was locked out in cold weather and died a few weeks later. The court says Independence Village in Oxford had a duty to provide reasonable care. The case will return to Oakland County court. Virginia Kermath was wearing only a nightgown when she apparently walked out a side door without her keys in December 2013. Hypothermia and frostbite contributed to her eventual death. Lower courts said the harm to Kermath wasn’t foreseeable by Independence Village. But the Supreme Court disagreed. But the Supreme Court says a buzzer or cameras would have been a minimal burden to help people who get locked out.

CORPSE-FOUND-BOYFRIEND-CHARGED

Michigan man faces trial in girlfriend’s killing, mutilation

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit man accused of fatally strangling his girlfriend and living with her mutilated corpse for more than seven months has been ordered to stand trial in the killing. The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens reports 38-year-old Matthew Lewinski was bound over to Macomb County Circuit Court on Thursday on charges of first-degree murder, mutilation of a corpse and concealment of a corpse. Lewinski is charged in the death of Courtney “Jerri” Winters. Lewinski was taken to a hospital on July 26, 2021, after he was found wandering in his underwear near his Clinton Township home. Winters’ body was found the next day in Lewinski’s basement. Lewinski’s defense attorney, Elisha Oakes, says Friday she had no comment on her client being ordered to trial.

AP-US-ELECTION-2022-MICHIGAN-GOVERNOR

Ex-Detroit top cop loses bid to get on ballot for governor

DETROIT (AP) — A judge has declined to put a former Detroit police chief on the Republican ballot for Michigan governor. James Craig is the third candidate to lose a court challenge after state election staff said campaign petitions were marred by fraudulent signatures. It’s a remarkable setback for Craig, who has high name recognition in southeastern Michigan. A judge says she must abide by a Michigan appeals court decision released Wednesday that kept two other Republicans off the Aug. 2 ballot. They didn’t meet the 15,000-signature threshold because of fraudulent signatures on petitions. The appeals court says state election staff didn’t have to go line by line.

AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-GOVERNMENT-AID

Local governments turn away $73M of federal pandemic aid

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Local governments across the U.S. have turned down a potential total of $73 million in federal pandemic relief funds. An Associated Press analysis found that 1,468 smaller cities, towns, villages and counties effectively said “no” to their share of the American Rescue Plan. Some local officials told the AP they had no need for the money. Others said they didn’t want the hassle of dealing with the federal government. Some expressed political opposition to the relief package enacted last year by the Democratic-led Congress and President Joe Biden. The rejected money amounts to a small percentage of the $350 billion of government aid.

AP-US-FORD-FACTORY-JOBS

Ford plans to add 6,200 jobs in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri

AVON LAKE, Ohio (AP) — Ford will add 6,200 factory jobs in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio as it prepares to build more electric vehicles and roll out two redesigned combustion-engine models. The company says it will invest $3.7 billion in the three states, and it will convert about 3,000 temporary workers to full-time status with benefits. A factory near Cleveland will be expanded so it can build an unidentified new electric commercial vehicle, with 1,800 new jobs. A plant in Claycomo, Missouri, near Kansas City, that makes big electric and combustion-engine vans will get a third shift of 1,100 workers. And in Michigan, the company will add 2,000 jobs at three assembly plants as well as another 1,200 at other facilities.

AP-US-MED-MELATONIN-KIDS

Melatonin poisoning reports are up in kids, study says

NEW YORK (AP) — A new study is drawing attention to a rise in poisonings in children involving the sleep aid melatonin. Last year, U.S. poison control centers received more than 52,000 calls of children consuming worrisome amounts of melatonin. That’s a six-fold increase in what was reported about a decade earlier. Most such poisonings are children ages 5 and younger, who accidentally got into bottles of melatonin. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the study Thursday. The Michigan pediatrician who was the lead author says parents might think of melatonin as a vitamin, but she says it really belongs in the medicine cabinet.