Amanda Clayton, a 25-year-old lottery winner from Lincoln Park, Mich., is facing felony charges after failing to report her winnings to the Department of Human Services, according to news reports.

Controversy has surrounded Clayton ever since a local news station reported that she was still using her Bridge Card even after she won a $1 million jackpot in the Michigan Lottery in October 2011.

Clayton was unemployed at the time of her win, but collected more than $500,000 from the winnings and purchased a new house and car with part of the earnings.

Prosecutors said Clayton did not report her changes in income to the government, and allegedly collected about $5,475 in food and medical benefits she would have not have been eligible for otherwise.

Clayton was arrested on felony fraud charges Monday and is now headed to district court.

Legislation recently was signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder to block lottery winners from getting benefits from the government and prevent actions such as Clayton’s from repeating.

A Lansing 15-year-old’s entire future is on the line as he awaits a sentence that could send him to prison for life on first degree murder charges.

In February, Lansing resident Charles Lewis Jr. was convicted of first degree murder for the 2010 homicide of 19-year-old Lansing resident Shayla Johnson, along with his father and six other adults, according to a Lansing State Journal report.

Lewis was 13 at the time of the murder.

Lewis was designated as an adult in the case, even though the trial is listed in juvenile court in official court documents.

Lewis’ sentence was held to a later date to review further testimony given by psychologists and juvenile court officials, according to news reports.

Because of the nature of the case, Lewis could be sentenced as an adult, a juvenile or a blended sentence. He would be held in juvenile detention until he reaches legal age and have is case re-reviewed.
If tried as an adult, Michigan law requires that Lewis be given a life sentence without parole.

Lewis’ sentencing likely will come back before the court April 10.

A 19-year-old DeWitt, Mich. man who had been missing for about two weeks was reunited with family members Monday in California, according to a Facebook page dedicated to his safe return.

Matt Hygh, a freshman at San Diego Christian College and a graduate of DeWitt High School, was reported missing March 13 in California.
In response, family members created a Facebook page and Twitter feed to raise awareness and promote the search. More than 3,000 people joined the Facebook page during the time Hygh was missing.

On Monday, Hygh called his father’s cell phone after a young man encouraged Hygh to reconnect with his family.

The Lansing State Journal reported Hygh had decided to take a spiritual journey and “disconnect from society” by traveling throughout California and living out of his 2000 Hyundai.

Hygh made this decision without telling anyone, sparking the search for him and motivating his father to travel to California to look for him.

Members of the family noted on the Facebook page that they were happy to be reunited with Hygh and were thankful for the time and effort friends, relatives, law enforcement and concerned strangers spent in search of him.

An East Lansing man who was frustrated with the way two East Lansing police officers handled the killing of a wounded deer on a roadway said his story was blown out of proportion and claimed he only wanted to address an issue, not make a fuss.

Michael Malott, an East Lansing resident, was passing by with his autistic child on Abbot Road when officers fired shots at a wounded deer near the roadway.

Malott initially threatened to file a formal complaint with the department because he was concerned about the safety of his child, fearing the shots that were fired were in too-close proximity to driving passerby and could have ricocheted to hit surrounding passerby.

Although he initially was very upset with the situation, Malott said he merely wanted to raise an issue and make sure the officers were doing their jobs appropriately, not cause a stir.
“I just thought that it was a very intense situation for us,” Malott said. “It’s a small thing that was brought up because it concerned me.”

A statement released by the East Lansing Police Department to the Lansing State Journal said the officers obtained permission from their supervisor to shoot the wounded deer in that location and maintained that the public was not in danger at any time during the incident.

The statement said the deer was trying to get up and move into the roadway, causing a potential risk for oncoming traffic, and said all pedestrians in the area were asked to move prior to the shooting.

Malott said he has discussed the situation with police officers and will not file a formal complaint, but believes the situation is being handled appropriately by officers at this time.

Although most students have been focused on the sun rays coming from the sky, information seekers throughout the country have been celebrating the process of bringing facts to light with Sunshine Week.

Initially founded by the American Society of News Editors in 2005, the purpose of Sunshine Week, held March 11-17, is to bring attention to the information members of the general public should have access to in local, state and national government entities.

The issue is still relevant in the eyes of many of Sunshine Week’s supporters because a large amount of potentially damning information still could be hidden from the public light.

One way for those interested in finding out more about government is through the Freedom of Information Act.

In Michigan, the Freedom of Information Act allows for all records from state or local authority, with the exception of some personal information and investigative processes, open to disclosure.

Any member of the public can submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act — it is not limited to reporters, lawyers or to any specific professions.

Under the act, the agency on the receiving end of the request has five business days to respond, after which it could ask for an extension, charge various fees associated with obtaining the information or deny the request based on various aspects of the law.

According to a March 11 article published in the Detroit Free Press, several topics of potential interest to the Michigan public are not easily accessible — including criminal history lookups from the Department of Corrections’ Offender Tracking Information System and misuse of the Law Enforcement Information Network by Michigan law enforcement officers to obtain material for “settling scores.”

For those who support an open government, Sunshine Week serves to continue to promote free and easily accessible public information.

In a 6-3 decision handed down Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court determined investigators are not required to read Miranda rights to inmates during some jailhouse interrogations.

The decision was made concerning Michigan prison inmate Randall Fields, who confessed to sexually assaulting a minor during an interview conducted while he was serving a 45-day sentence for disorderly conduct.

After being sentenced 10-15 years in prison for criminal sexual assault, Fields appealed the use of his confession in the case, claiming he was not read Miranda rights before the prison interview.

Miranda rights, which stem from a 1966 court decision on the case of Ernesto Miranda, require law enforcement officers to tell suspects they have the right to remain silent and can have a lawyer represent them in court.

According to court documents, Fields was told several times that he was allowed to leave and return to his cell. Although Fields stated that he no longer wanted to talk to the investigators, he never asked to go back to his cell.

The majority opinion, led by Justice Samuel Alito, held that “custody” as defined by the Miranda decision does not apply in situations such as Fields’, determining mere imprisonment was not enough to qualify a suspect for that purpose.

Justice Ruth Ginsburg and two other justices said in their dissenting opinion that the decision could limit the rights of prisoners and keep them from being adequately informed of their rights.

Fields’ appeal was denied with the ruling and he will serve the sentence he initially was prescribed.

An initiative rolled out by Attorney General Bill Schuette last month could put more police in Michigan’s streets.

On Jan. 25, Schuette announced a public safety legislative initiative to disperse 1,000 new police officers throughout the state during a two-year time span.

In a conference call, Schuette said the paychecks of the new officers could be funded by about $140 million of the state’s budget surplus throughout the course of two years.

Schuette also called for a change to state policy for those convicted of four or more felony crimes, proposing a minimum 25-year sentence for such criminals.

The move was in part spurred by the fact that several Michigan cities have been pegged as some of the most dangerous in the U.S., including Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and Saginaw, Schuette said.

However, the plan would focus on the entirety of Michigan — not just those cities prone to violent crime, he said.

Although the plan still is in its preliminary stages, the plan could help local municipalities such as East Lansing.

East Lansing police Capt. Bill Mitchell said he hopes the city’s public safety department will benefit if Schuette’s proposal comes to fruition.

Because of budget cuts, Mitchell said the city has had to stretch dollars and consolidate positions to make ends meet.

Additional police officers, even if it were only one or two, would go a long way to bolstering public safety in the area, he said.

Round, amazed eyes of a 6-year-old girl — that’s what comes to mind when people ask me if I’m related to George “Bugs” Moran.

Bugs Moran, the infamous 1920s Chicago gangster known for his rivalry with Al Capone and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, is not someone you’d want to be related to. Known for many deaths and tactics that scared Capone, Bugs was one of the worst criminals in Chicago — not to mention one of the bloodiest.

However, when as a 6-year-old girl I was told I shared a last name with a famous gangster, I didn’t understand evil. I only understood that one of those flashy gangsters in the movies might be related to me. I felt famous, and I liked it.

It all started with the story of how my parents met.

When my mother first got a job in Washington, D.C., a friend back home in Omaha, Neb., said she should give his old pal Bugsy a call. My father, like so many Morans, has always suffered from being associated with the gangster. A friend in high school made the connection, and unfortunately the name “Bugs” morphed into “Bugsy” and several friends never let it go. So when my mother called asking for “Bugsy” at the apartment where my dad and a roommate lived, she was turned down. His roommate had never made the connection and simply knew my father as Mike.

Lucky for me, they finally got in touch. But not so luckily, the story confused me into thinking I was related to someone cool. For years, when people asked if I was related to the gangster I would say all Moran’s were probably related.

After finally doing some digging as pre-teen, I realized how un-cool the first “Bugs” had truly been.

Since then, I’ve been embarrassed by how much I used to love saying I might be related to him. Today, when people ask if I’m related to “Bugs,” I feel like the silly little girl with big, amazed eyes all over again.

Truthfully, I have no relation to George “Bugs” Moran. The gangster was born Adelard Cunin and took the name after several run-ins with the law under previous aliases.

However, for a long time we didn’t know. While living in Chicago, my grandfather frequented bars “Bugs” was supposed to have attended and met several individuals who claimed to know him. He found that they most likely weren’t related.

My uncle investigated our genealogies in search of the same answer, and to his content, found confirmation we aren’t related.

Still, I probably always will face the question of our potential relation when Valentine’s Day rolls around.

I both love and hate being asked about my relation to the Chicago gangster. I hate that people will believe we are related, but I love that the question reminds me of “Bugsy” Moran — my dad.

While my dad may hate the origins of the name Bugsy, I’ll always be thankful for the conversation starter when my mother finally got a hold of him. That conversation starter led to my family.

The University of Michigan Health System is under investigation from the Department of Education and nonprofit health care accrediting organization the Joint Commission after a child pornography incident went unreported for six months.

According to The Michigan Daily, U-M’s newspaper, a flash drive belonging to medical resident Stephen Jenson that contained sexually explicit material was found by a female resident of the health system in May 2011.

Jenson was arrested on charges of possessing child pornography in December 2011. Court records showed that U-M officials waited until November 2011 to report the incident to police.

U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald told the Daily that the case initially was dismissed by university officials because of lack of evidence, but was reopened in November and investigated further.

Fitzgerald said no formal complaint against the U-M’s health system has yet been filed.

Officials from the Joint Commission and the Department of Education were vague as to what the investigations would consist of, but the examination is related to the health system’s delayed response to the child pornography claims.

The commission has not yet found the health system at fault, but a spokesman said the establishment could be subject to unannounced site evaluations and re-evaluations for accreditation or certification in the future.

A Kansas college student was in for a powdery surprise when she first opened a textbook purchased from Amazon.com.

Sophia Stockton, a junior at Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan., found a bag of cocaine upon cracking open her newly-purchased textbook “Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives and Issues,” according to an International Business Times report.

Stockton feared the bag of white powder was anthrax and took it to local police, who tested the powder and confirmed it was cocaine.

Police estimated the bag held about $400 worth of cocaine.

Stockton told local news media she contacted Amazon to make them aware of the situation but had not heard a response.

She said it was likely not the fault of Amazon itself, but probably was leftover from the former owner.

Local police said they are looking into where the cocaine could have come from.

Somewhere in the world, an unknown suspect likely is kicking him or herself for giving Stockton a better deal than she asked for.