GOOGLE-MICHIGAN
Granholm to Calif., asks Google for fast network
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The office of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm says she's meeting in California with Google officials to encourage them to test their new ultra-high-speed fiber network in her state. Google has asked communities to submit proposals by March 26 to host the Google fiber network. It says it plans to announce winners by the end of the year. Google is based in Mountain View, Calif., Granholm's office issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying she was meeting with company officials in California. Google's experimental fiber-optic networks would deliver data at 1 gigabit per second to homes and businesses. That's about 50 to 300 times faster than the DSL, cable and fiber-optic networks that connect most U.S. homes to the Internet today.
EDUCATION FUNDING
Voters may get chance to weigh in on Mich. schools
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - One of the Michigan House's leading Democrats says voters might be asked to weigh in on the state's school funding problems as early as August. Rep. Tim Melton of Auburn Hills said Wednesday at an education town hall meeting that a proposal to increase school funding would be tied to cost-cutting measures. Those could include proposals aimed at saving money in the school health care and retirement systems, along with other changes. The specific changes that might be offered in a ballot proposal have not yet been determined. Depending on the proposal's final form, it may require approval by two-thirds of both the Democrat-led House and Republican-led Senate to make the ballot. Melton is chairman of the House Education Committee.
DETROIT CORRUPTION-CONYERS
Ex-Detroit councilwoman gets 37 months in prison
DETROIT (AP) - A federal judge has denied ex-Detroit councilwoman Monica Conyers' request to withdraw her guilty plea in a corruption case and sentenced her to three years and one month in prison. As guards cleared the courtroom, Conyers yelled that she planned to appeal. She suggested she was the victim of "badgering" last summer when she acknowledged a conspiracy to take bribes for her support of a Houston company seeking a sludge contract. But U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn says her plea deal was voluntary. Conyers is the wife of Democratic Detroit congressman John Conyers. She quit her council seat after pleading guilty last June. The government urged the judge to consider other alleged crimes Wednesday. Prosecutors say Conyers and an aide collected $69,500 from people seeking help from the city. Her lawyer denied it.
ACTIVIST KILLED-MICH
Deliberations are next for jury in 2 Mich. deaths /p>
CCORUNNA, Mich. (AP) - Jurors have heard closing arguments in the trial of a man who admits killing an abortion protester and a businessman in a small Michigan community. Defense lawyer Robert Ashley told jurors that Harlan Drake has been mentally ill since his truck slammed into a car in Iowa in 2004. Prosecutors contend that he knew exactly what he was doing when he shot two men in Owosso last September. James Pouillon was killed while protesting abortion outside Owosso High School. Businessman Mike Fuoss was fatally shot the same morning. Prosecutors say Drake held grudges against the men. Jury deliberations will start Thursday at the Shiawassee County courthouse in Corunna, west of Flint.
CHILD'S BODY-LANDFILL br> Police end landfill search for 2-year-old's body
BBYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Police and the FBI have ended their search of a western Michigan landfill for the body of a missing 2-year-old girl. About 20 law enforcement officials began searching the South Kent Landfill on Monday for remains of Jozlynn Martinez. But WWMT-TV says investigators called off the search Wednesday after failing to find the body. Jeffrey Malmberg has told investigators he killed Jozlynn Feb. 22, then put her body in a plastic bag and into a trash container. The 40-year-old is the boyfriend of the girl's 21-year-old mother. He's charged with second-degree murder. The site is in Kent County's Byron Township, about 10 miles south of Grand Rapids. --- Information from: WWMT-TV, http://www.wwmt.com
SEX OFFENDER-PAROLE REVERSED br> Mich. parole board reverses sex offender's release
MONROE, Mich. (AP) - A convicted sex offender's scheduled prison release has been reversed after a prosecutor's objections. The Blade of Toledo, Ohio, says ex-Lambertville, Mich., resident Rex Layman will spend two more years in prison. The 61-year-old has served about 12 years of the 8- to 30-year sentence for the 1997 sexual abuse of two 8-year-old girls. Monroe County Prosecutor William Nichols objected to a three-member parole board panel's decision to grant Layman's release. The full 15-member Parole and Commutation Board reversed that ruling. Defense attorney Stuart Friedman tells The Associated Press he's looking into potential challenges to the decision and says Layman has done "everything expected of him" to earn release.
BRIDAL STORE MELEE
3 in court after brawl over wedding gown gripe
LLATHRUP VILLAGE, Mich. (AP) - Three Detroit-area relatives of an unhappy bride-to-be have appeared in court on assault charges. The pretrial hearing was Wednesday for Thamir Mikhail and Nashwan Petros of Sterling Heights and Nameer Kastaw of Warren. They're charged in a March 2 melee involving First Lady Bridal Shop owner Hekmat Putruss, his wife Salwa and son Pierre. The Detroit News says the judge ordered them to return April 7 for a final pretrial hearing. Putruss says a customer became belligerent and called relatives after Putruss refused to alter a dress. Surveillance video shows three men entering the Lathrup Village store and attacking the Putrusses. Defense lawyer Doraid Markus he says the tape doesn't tell the full story. --- Information from: The Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com
FUEL CELLS-PENTAGON br> Pentagon gives Mich. company $2.9M fuel cell deal
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - Michigan-based Adaptive Materials Inc. says it has received a $2.9 million Pentagon contract to develop a 300-watt fuel cell system. The Ann Arbor company says the deal announced Wednesday could lead to the sale of more than 100 fuel cells at a total value of $5 million if several options are exercised. Adaptive Materials makes solid oxide fuel cells. It says they "will provide a lightweight, portable power and energy resource that soldiers can use to charge battery-powered devices in the field." The company says the fuel cell systems are able to charge up to six batteries at the same time. In December, the company got a $3 million Air Force contract for 60-watt fuel cells.
GMAC-OVERSIGHT
Watchdog: GMAC bailout could cost taxpayers $6.3B
WASHINGTON (AP) - A new watchdog report says the Treasury Department sank billions into auto finance giant GMAC without an exit strategy or proof the company was viable - a decision that could cost taxpayers $6.3 billion. The report is to be released Thursday by the Congressional Oversight Panel overseeing the $700 billion financial bailout that Congress passed in October 2008. The government said the $17.2 billion GMAC bailout was a necessary step to save troubled automakers General Motors and Chrysler. GMAC provides critical financing to auto dealers, who borrow to finance their fleets until the cars can be sold to consumers. Yet GMAC faced far fewer conditions than the bailed-out automakers, the report says.
BARAGA SAINTHOOD
Church takes step toward canonizing Baraga
MMARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) - The Catholic Church is taking a step toward canonizing Bishop Frederic Baraga, who converted Indians in the upper Great Lakes region to Christianity in the 1800s. The Catholic Diocese of Marquette announced an investigation Wednesday of whether a possible medical miracle in 2006 should be attributed to Baraga's intercession. Bishop Alexander K. Sample tells The Mining Journal of Marquette if a tribunal verifies the miracle, Bishop will get the title "Blessed." To be declared a saint, he'd have to be credited with a second posthumous miracle. Baraga is known as the "snowshoe priest." He spent 23 years among Indians and settlers on Lakes Michigan and Superior and became the Marquette diocese's first bishop in 1857. --- Information from: The Mining Journal, http://www.miningjournal.net
