TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalMichigan AG: I'll move to shut oil pipeline if talks fail
Michigan's attorney general pledged Monday to move to shut down an oil pipeline in the Great Lakes if the governor doesn't find a "swift and straightforward" resolution to the contentious issue.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last month halted state agencies' work to facilitate construction of a tunnel beneath the lakebed to house a new segment of Line 5 in the channel where Lakes Huron and Michigan meet, pointing to a legal opinion from Attorney General Dana Nessel while citing concerns that her Republican predecessor's plan would keep the existing 66-year-old pipeline in the water too long. But the Democrat said this month she was open to still building the tunnel . Her administration is in talks with pipeline owner and operator Enbridge.
"I respect the Governor's effort to find a swift and straightforward resolution to this issue, but if unsuccessful I will use every resource available to our office to shut down Line 5 to protect our Great Lakes," Nessel, a Democrat who promised during her campaign to close the pipeline, said in a short statement.
A spokeswoman later said while Nessel was reluctant to impose a specific deadline on Whitmer's efforts with Enbridge, she was hopeful that the governor by June 1 would have a plan for decommissioning Line 5.
Read more: https://www.macombdaily.com/news/michigan-ag-i-ll-move-to-shut-oil-pipeline-if/article_e14623e2-6b3f-11e9-a1b0-870997e7847b.html
Hazel Park investigating white nationalist fliers found in neighborhood
Hazel Park officials are investigating dozens of white nationalist fliers discovered in a neighborhood.
City Manager Ed Klobucher said his office heard from some residents Monday who live on Madge Avenue.
“There could be more streets involved, but we don’t know that yet,” he said. “Basically, someone went up and down the street and threw the fliers in the street.”
Hazel Park Police Chief Brian Buchholz said no residents directly contacted police about the incident, but there was talk about the incident on a local community Facebook page.
Read more: https://www.macombdaily.com/news/state/hazel-park-investigating-white-nationalist-fliers-found-in-neighborhood/article_14403a31-3cd8-51ee-b39c-c57256a3791a.html
Schumer says Trump not doing enough to protect 2020 election
Washington – Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says President Donald Trump is not doing enough to protect the 2020 election in light of special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.
In a letter to colleagues Tuesday, Schumer said Congress needs to “fill the vacuum” on election security.
He says the Senate should provide additional resources to beef up state and federal election systems and impose sanctions on Russia or others engaged in “malign activities” to interfere.
Schumer notes that the FBI has called the 2018 election a “dress rehearsal” for the next election. He says senators need a classified briefing to hear directly from the FBI, Homeland Security and others “on what, if any, actions are underway” to protect the vote.
Read more: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/30/congress-election-security/39426355/
Betsy DeVos' brother, Erik Prince, could face criminal investigation
WASHINGTON – The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says Michigan's Erik Prince — Betsy DeVos' brother — needs to be investigated to determine whether he lied to Congress over a meeting with a Russian financier.
Speaking at a Washington Post Live event on Tuesday, Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the committee will make a criminal referral to the Justice Department about the possibility that Prince gave the panel false testimony.
Prince, a former Navy SEAL who grew up in west Michigan and went on to found the security company Blackwater, was mentioned prominently in the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in regards to a meeting he had with a prominent Russian financier with close ties to Vladimir Putin just before President Donald Trump took office.
Prince, who was close to the Trump campaign and adviser Steve Bannon, told congressional investigators that the meeting in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev was a random meeting and not arranged at the request of Trump's transition team.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/30/erik-prince-betsy-devos-mueller-report/3625518002/
Ex-state candidate in Oakland County gets probation for embezzling $149K
A candidate from Oakland County for a Michigan House seat last fall has been sentenced to probation and community service for embezzling.
The sentencing came after Jennifer Suidan pleaded no contest last month to embezzling $100,000 or more from the campaign funds of Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner. Under the law, a no-contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea.
Suidan could have received a prison term of as many as 20 years. Instead, she is to serve five years probation and perform 100 hours of community service, write apology letters and pay back more than $140,000 in stolen funds, according to the sentence pronounced Tuesday by Oakland Circuit Judge Nanci Grant and detailed in court records.
What drew widespread attention to the case was that Democratic Party officials were powerless to force Suidan to withdraw from November’s election. Instead, her name remained on the ballots for the 39th House District – comprising Commerce Township, part of West Bloomfield, the city of Wixom and the village of Wolverine Lake – because the crime came to light too late to remove her name, election officials said at the time.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2019/04/30/oakland-county-ex-state-house-candidate-sentenced-embezzling-michigan/3634039002/
Detroit Teachers To Protest Added Unpaid Days To School Calendar
Detroit teachers plan to protest next month's school board meeting over added work days proposed by Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and approved by the board.
The Detroit Federation of Teachers has voted unanimously to oppose the new school calendar, according to The Detroit News. At issue are five additional professional development days, a pre-Labor Day start and three fewer days of winter break. The 2019-20 calendar includes two instructional days beyond what the state requires, the paper says.
[Ben Royal, a DPSCD teacher and union member,] said changes in the calendar were made around scheduling standardized tests, which "have no educational value."
Royal said teachers are calling on Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and the school district's board to rescind the new calendar and reinstate provisions of previous calendars, which had students begin school after Labor Day, provided a full week off in February and scheduled spring break after the Easter holiday.
Read more: http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/22222/detroit_teachers_to_protest_added_unpaid_days_to_school_calendar
Michigan Republicans appeal gerrymandering ruling. What you need to know.
As promised, Michigan Republicans filed a notice of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a bombshell ruling that the state’s political districts were illegally gerrymandered and must be redrawn in time for 2020 elections.
The short filing Tuesday includes no legal arguments, which will be filed separately. Republicans are also expected to ask that the lower court’s ruling be stayed, or delayed, until the high court decides similar cases involving redistricting disputes in Maryland and North Carolina.
Amber McCann, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said arguments in support of a stay will be included when the request is filed in court.
Signing on to the appeals were the Republican-controlled Michigan Senate and GOP Sens. Jim Stamas of Midland, Ken Horn of Frankenmuth, and Lana Theis of Brighton; and House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, state Rep. Aaron Miller, R-Sturgis, and Michigan’s Republican congressional delegation, according to federal court records.
Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/public-sector/michigan-republicans-appeal-gerrymandering-ruling-what-you-need-know
Ohio State researchers to study how social media affects democracy
Researchers at Ohio State University will be among the first to examine private Facebook data to study the effect of social media on democracy.
The university is among 12 recipients of research grants from Social Science One and the Social Science Research Council, Facebook and Ohio State announced Monday.
Ohio State’s research team will focus on “problematic” sharing on Facebook. They’ll use the data to examine behaviors that “may pose harmful influences on what people learn about science, politics and their community,” Ohio State said in a news release Monday.
“We know that rumors and misinformation spread on social media platforms like Facebook can undermine citizens’ ability to make thoughtful decisions that affect their lives,” Kelly Garrett, associate professor of communication at Ohio State and principal investigator for the project, said in the release. “But we can’t stem these problematic behaviors if we don’t understand them. That’s what this study is all about.”
Read more: https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190429/ohio-state-researchers-to-study-how-social-media-affects-democracy
(Columbus Dispatch)
Feds confirm a compromised email resulted in $1.75M hack at Brunswick's St. Ambrose Catholic Parish
BRUNSWICK, Ohio -- The FBI confirmed Tuesday that St. Ambrose Catholic Parish in Brunswick lost $1.75 million through an email scam whose origin was a compromised business email.
The church released a letter Saturday acknowledging the missing money, but the federal agency remained mum about its investigation until Tuesday when it confirmed that hackers tricked the church into believing that the construction firm hired to repair the church had changed its bank account. The church wired the money to a fraudulent bank account, Father Bob Stec said in his letter.
The FBI, which is working in conjunction with investigators with the Brunswick Police Department, are still investigating and have made no arrest in the case as of Tuesday afternoon. FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said she could not provide any additional information about the case.
The FBI says the church fell victim to what it calls a “business email compromise,” or a BEC, where scammers spoof email accounts and websites, utilize phishing emails that appear to come from trusted sources and malware to gain access to the company’s networks and obtain sensitive billing information.
Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/crime/2019/04/feds-confirm-a-compromised-email-resulted-in-175-million-hack-at-brunswicks-st-ambrose-catholic-parish.html
North Royalton woman sentenced to prison for embezzling $1.1 million from company
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A North Royalton woman who embezzled $1.1 million from her former employer was sentenced Tuesday to more than three years in federal prison.
Tammy Lacqua, 54, took money from C.C. Mitchell Supply Company in Broadview Heights between December 2013 and March 2017, while working as the appliance distributor’s chief financial officer.
She transferred money from the business’ operating account to her credit cards 71 times, forged company owner Jerry Mitchell’s signature on checks and embezzled money through other unauthorized transactions.
Lacqua pleaded guilty in January to six counts of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko imposed the 41-month sentence and ordered her to pay back the money she stole.
Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/2019/04/north-royalton-woman-sentenced-to-prison-for-embezzling-11-million-from-company.html
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