In a statement announcing its refusal to bargain a labor deal with the athletes, the school was adamant that it believes "athletes in the Ivy League are not employees."

Given Dartmouth's decades-long commitment to athletics as an extension of our academic mission, we believe the regional director has made an extraordinary mistake in finding these students are employees," the school said in its statement, which called the players "students whose educational program includes athletics."

"From a procedural standpoint, if the full NLRB refuses to overturn the regional director's decision, Dartmouth's only remaining option to challenge this legal error is to engage in a technical refusal to bargain, an unprecedented step in our long history of labor negotiations," the school said. "This will likely result in SEIU Local 560 filing an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, which we would appeal. This is the only lever Dartmouth has to get this matter reviewed by a federal court."

A federal judge has found the city of Flint in contempt of court for missing deadlines for lead water line replacement and related work in the aftermath of the Michigan city's water crisis.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson found the city in civil contempt for violating a February 2023 court order. The order arose from a 2017 settlement of the lawsuit under which the city pledged to replace lead pipes that carry drinking water.

The city had agreed to replace the pipes by early 2020 but still has not completed that work, according to a news release Wednesday from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Also, homeowners are waiting, in some cases for years, for the city to repair property damage such as damaged curbs, sidewalks, and lawns caused by the lead line replacement, the NRDC said.

"The city has failed to abide by the court’s orders in several respects, and ... it has no good reason for its failures," Lawson wrote in an order issued late Tuesday.

Brookline, Mass. — A Massachusetts town that adopted an unusual ordinance banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born in the 21st century is being looked at as a possible model for other cities and towns hoping to further clamp down on cigarettes and tobacco products.

The bylaw — the first of its kind in the country — was adopted by Brookline in 2020 and last week was upheld by the state’s highest court, opening the door for other communities to adopt similar bans that will, decades from now, eventually bar all future generations from buying tobacco.

The rule, which bans the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2000, went into effect in 2021 in the town of about 60,000 next to Boston.

An undocumented immigrant from Mexico has been charged in a federal criminal complaint with stealing $700,000 in cash from a west Michigan casino last year, officials said.

Jesus Gaytan-Garcia, 43, was arrested last week and is accused of participating in a scheme to steal money from the Four Winds Casino in Hartford on July 30, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten said in a statement Wednesday. The casino is owned and operated by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians

Investigators allege he was part of a scheme to steal money from the casino in which someone pretending to be the tribal chairman called it and said he needed money for an urgent payment.

An employee who was duped by the claim collected $700,000 in cash, left the casino, took it to a Gary, Indiana, gas station and gave it to two unknown individuals, authorities said.

General Motors has a problem at Factory Zero, its electric vehicle plant, that Detroit fire officials and local union leaders want fixed.

Since last summer, there have been eight incidents at the plant prompting GM to call the Detroit Fire Department, said Dennis Hunter, Detroit's chief of fire prevention. Hunter did not provide details of the incidents, but indicated many of them were fires.

One of them, as the Detroit Free Press reported on Dec. 19, was a three-alarm fire that warranted an evacuation of the building and a halt to production that day of the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV, and Silverado EV work trucks. According to the incident report obtained by the Detroit Free Press through a state Freedom of Information Act request, there were 22 fire trucks and 88 firefighters at the scene, many of whom were exposed to "the tremendous hazards of a toxic environment."

There were no serious injuries from fires at the factory, Hunter said. But two of the fires caused a total of more than $1 million in damages, according to two incident reports the Free Press obtained.

NEW YORK - Police have made a new arrest in connection with last month's attack on NYPD officers in Times Square.

In addition, one of the men previously charged and released has now been rearrested for an alleged robbery.

Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, was accused of grabbing one officer and kicking another in the Jan. 27 Times Square assault on officers in Times Square. Police said he is part of a group that shoplifted at a Macy's in Queens and assaulted an employee Tuesday.

Two other men previously charged in the Times Square case are now in ICE custody, according to a law enforcement source. They were taken into while officers were executing an arrest warrant for an unnamed person in the case, who will be arraigned later Wednesday.

Pontiac (Michigan) — A district court judge Wednesday denied a pair of dueling $6,500 small claims petitions that centered around a transgender woman's attempt to get her surgically removed testicles back after they were kept for months in her ex-boyfriend's refrigerator.

During a contentious small claims hearing in Pontiac's 50th District Court, Judge Jeremy Bowie ruled "it's a wash" after hearing testimony from Brianna Kingsley, 40, and her 37-year-old ex, William Wojciechowski.

Kingsley filed a handwritten small claims petition in August claiming Wojciechowski "retains possession of my surgically extracted testicles, preserved in (a) Mason jar, kept in (the) fridge next to the eggs. Demand immediate return of my human remains specimen and damages of $6,500."

Wojciechowski filed a counterclaim seeking $6,500 in damages because he said he had been "humiliated" by coverage of the case by "worldwide news outlets."

A third woman has been sentenced to prison in connection with a retail theft incident at Ulta Beauty in Green Oak Township about a year ago.

Joya Omega Williams, 37, of Detroit, was sentenced to 12-40 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections on Thursday, Feb. 1, in Livingston County 44th Circuit Court before Chief Judge Michael Hatty. Williams receives credit for 384 days served in jail. She must also pay roughly $9,200 in restitution.

Williams was one of five women charged in connection with the incident. Tirezah Scott was sentenced to 17-40 years in prison in December. Shanel Webster was sentenced to 25-60 years in prison on Jan. 4. The two final defendants, Laronda Chase and Kari Williams, are scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, Feb. 8.

Joya Williams pled guilty in December to one count of conducting criminal enterprises, two counts of first-degree retail fraud, two counts of organized retail crime and one count of concealing stolen property less than $20,000. Williams was charged as a fourth offense habitual offender.

STURGIS — An Amish horse and buggy was recovered shortly after being reported stolen from the Sturgis Walmart parking lot Saturday.

The Sturgis Department of Public Safety was dispatched at approximately 5:30 p.m. to Walmart at 1500 S. Centerville Road on a report of a stolen Amish horse and buggy.

According to the report, the victims had gone into Walmart to shop. A truck driver parked nearby said he saw a woman take the horse and buggy from the parking lot. Police later in the evening located the horse and wagon parked in the 1200 block of East Chicago Road, and made contact with the suspect at a local motel. The 31-year-old woman, whom police reported having contact with earlier in the day, was arrested without incident and lodged at the St. Joseph County Jail. Her name was not immediately released, pending arraignment on charges of larceny and larceny of livestock.