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Southwest Michigan Today: Tuesday August 21, 2018

WMUK

WMU Trustees approve a three year contract with workers represented by AFSCME. Kalamazoo City Commissioners decline to act on proposed ordinance changes regulating sleeping in city parks. The Director of Michigan's Health and Human Services Department will stand trial over charges related to the Flint water crisis. 

Western Michigan University Trustees have approved a new three year contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union. AFSCME Local 1668 and Chapter 25 represent 418 members who work in building maintenance, custodial, dining, landscaping and other services.The contract calls for raises of up to 2.5 percent each year depending on position and current pay grade level. Western trustees approved the new contract by conference call during a special meeting Monday.

(Kalamazoo Gazette) Kalamazoo City Commissioners have chosen not to act on proposed changes to ordinances governing homeless people sleeping in city parks. The Kalamazoo Gazette says the proposal would have reduced the penalties for sleeping in the park during certain hours, but new restrictions would also have been imposed. The commission chose not to act on the proposal after several hours of complaints that the changes would drive homeless people from Bronson Park. Critics also said that homeless shelters are not open to everyone, and that Kalamazoo needs more affordable housing.

(WDET) The head of Michigan’s Health Department will stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter connected to the water crisis in Flint. The charges against Nick Lyon stem from an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease some experts link to Flint’s tainted water supply. Prosecutors say Lyon failed to warn the public about an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease even though he knew it was happening and that contributed to the deaths of two elderly men from the Flint area. Defense attorneys say Lyon relied on experts who never recommended issuing a warning…and that prosecutors have not directly connected the fatalities to Legionnaires’ disease. If convicted Lyon could face as much as 30 years in prison.

(WCMU) There will be no grand jury investigation into Attorney General Bill Schuette. The Ingham County Circuit Court issued an order Monday declining to convene an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by the Attorney General. Former Wayne County Executive Bob Ficano, who petitioned for an investigation, said questions around Schuette’s use of staff to help sell his personal real estate should be answered before the November election. In a written statement a spokesperson for Schuette said quote “From the beginning this was a politically-motivated attack on the Attorney General with no merit, and the Ingham County judges saw through the charade.”