Michigan News -- Dem. gov candidate wants to restructure MI taxes

A veteran Michigan lawmaker running for governor wants to reduce business taxes and swap the state's flat income tax rate for a graduated one.

GOVERNOR'S RACE-TAXES
Dem. gov candidate wants to restructure MI taxes

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A veteran Michigan lawmaker running for governor wants to reduce business taxes and swap the state's flat income tax rate for a graduated one. Democratic state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith also wants to lower the sales tax rate to 5.5 percent and extend it to services. She plans to unveil her plan Tuesday morning at a Capitol news conference. Smith said Monday her plan would update Michigan's "antiquated" tax system and bring in enough money to pay for essential programs and services that now are being cut because of falling revenue. She's one of three Democrats who have announced they're running for governor in 2010. The others are Lt. Gov. John Cherry and former state Rep. John Freeman. Six Republicans also are in the race.

DETROIT SCHOOLS-HEARINGS
Detroit school official: Board member must testify

DETROIT (AP) - The financial manager of the Detroit Public Schools wants a judge to force two developers and a board member to testify at investigative hearings on district real estate deals. Robert Bobb names Anthony Adams and David and Andrew Farbman in a lawsuit filed Monday in Wayne County Circuit Court. Adams is on the school board and was general counsel for the district during a $1.5 billion construction bond issue. The Farbman Group also was involved in deals with the district. Audits show overspending in some deals, including $24.1 million for office space in the Fisher Building in 2002. Attorneys for Adams and the Farbmans have said their clients have not refused to cooperate with Bobb. A former real estate appraiser also is named in the suit.

DETROIT CORRUPTION
Feds praise man facing prison in corruption case

DETROIT (AP) - Federal prosecutors are recommending a maximum prison sentence of 11 months for a sludge-company representative who exposed corruption in Detroit government. Jim Rosendall will stand before a judge Nov. 30 in federal court in Detroit. He worked for Houston-based Synagro (SIHN'-uh-groh) Technologies and helped it win a $47-million-a-year contract to recycle treated waste. Rosendall has admitted approving bribes for Monica Conyers to get her vote on the Detroit City Council in 2007. He cooperated with the FBI's investigation of City Hall corruption. In a court filing, an FBI agent who worked the case considers Rosendall the best cooperating defendant he's ever worked with. In his own filing, Rosendall is hoping for probation from U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn.

SILVERDOME FUTURE
Judge unblocks $583,000 Pontiac Silverdome sale

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - A judge has cleared the way for a Canadian company to pay $583,000 for the Pontiac Silverdome, built for $55.7 million in 1975 to house the NFL's Detroit Lions. The Lions abandoned the 80,300-seat stadium in 2002, when they moved to Detroit's Ford Field. Pontiac has been spending $1.5 million a year to maintain the largely unused stadium. Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Edward Sosnick refused Monday to grant a preliminary injunction to Silver Stallion Corp., which made a $20 million offer for the Silverdome last year. That deal fell through in a dispute over environmental cleanup costs. Sosnick earlier issued a temporary restraining order blocking the sale to Triple Properties Inc. of Toronto.

HAIRDRESSER KILLED
Jackson man sentenced in death of hairdresser

DETROIT (AP) - A Jackson man who testified against two co-defendants in the slaying of a suburban Detroit hairdresser has been sentenced to 28 to 40 years behind bars. Matthew Williamson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 66-year-old Gary Gagnon of Livonia. The 27-year-old Williamson testified last week in the trial that ended with 41-year-old Derek Worthy of Southfield being convicted of second-degree murder and home invasion. A separate jury found 27-year-old Senica Hale of Detroit not guilty. Gagnon's disappearance was discovered when he failed to show for work in March at the Hair Emporium in Allen Park. His home had been burglarized. Gagnon's body was found a week later in a Detroit home. Worthy faces up to life in prison when sentenced on Feb. 8. --- Information from: The Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com

MICHIGAN HUNTER CHARGED
State says hunter threatened Michigan DNR officers

ROSCOMMON, Mich. (AP) - A member of a Roscommon County hunting club is accused of threatening state Department of Natural Resources investigators posing as hunters. The 48-year-old Bay County man is expected to be arraigned Nov. 30 on assault and hunter harassment charges in Roscommon District Court, about 165 miles northwest of Detroit. The DNR said Monday two of its detectives went undercover following complaints from people hunting on state land that they were being threatened. The agency says a man threatened to kill the detectives for being on what he considered his land. Conservation officers later arrested the man, who also was charged with failing to wear hunter orange during firearm deer season and using an improper tree stand.

AFGHANISTAN-MICHIGAN-FRAZIER
Southwest Michigan soldier killed in Afghanistan

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) - A southwest Michigan soldier has been killed in Afghanistan. The U.S. Defense Department announced Monday 25-year-old Army Sgt. Daniel Frazier of St. Joseph died Thursday in Zabul province. Frazier was assigned to the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. The Defense Department says Frazier and 36-year-old Staff Sgt. John Cleaver of Marysville, Wash., died of injuries from a suicide car-bomber attack on their unit. Daniel Frazier was promoted from specialist to sergeant after his death. Frazier's father David Frazier tells WSBT-TV of South Bend, Ind., that Army officials said his son saved many lives during the attack. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Brown Funeral Home in Niles.

SPAM SCAM
Suburban Detroit man gets 4 years in stock scheme

DETROIT (AP) - A federal judge has sentenced a suburban Detroit man described as one of the world's most prolific senders of spam e-mail to more than four years in prison for his role in a 2005 stock-fraud scheme that netted him $2.7 million. Alan Ralsky of Oakland County's West Bloomfield Township pleaded guilty in June to fraud and acknowledged that he sent millions of unsolicited e-mails trying to influence Chinese stock prices. Ralsky told Detroit U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani during Monday's sentencing that he took full responsibility for his crimes. But he said his company specialized in mass Internet mailings, and he entered the business with good intentions.

SWINE FLU-MICHIGAN
Mich. says flu has killed 54 in state since April

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan health officials say influenza has killed 54 people in the state since April 1 and 44 since Sept. 1, when swine flu began gaining steam. The Michigan Community Health Department said Monday that 26,868 flu cases were reported in the state from Nov. 8-14. Since Sept. 1, officials say 1,530 people have been hospitalized in Michigan for the flu. The department says in Michigan, authorities have allocated at least 1.9 million doses of the vaccine for the H1N1 virus, which causes swine flu. That means medical personnel have received permission to receive that number of doses.

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