I cannot imagine kissing my child goodbye in the morning and then finding out six hours later that I will never see my child again. Unfortunately that is what three sets of parents are facing this evening after the shooting at Oxford High School. Sending your child off to attend school should not be something that a parent should have to worry about. Unfortunately, it is something that is becoming and more common in our country. Fifty years ago, an active shooter was unimaginable in a school. Now it has become so common that students, teachers, principals, and staff take annual active shooting training as a precaution to save lives. No community or school district is immune to this. It can happen anywhere or anytime. At what point are we going to say enough is a enough and do something to prevent it, or are we just going to accept it as a way of life in the twenty-first century?
Per the Detroit News, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh could potentially receive nearly $3.5 million in incentive bonuses – he already earned $500,000 for winning the outright Big Ten East title – but plans to return whatever he receives to the athletic department. “Sarah and I were talking about it last night,” Harbaugh said Monday night on Inside Michigan Football, “and we decided that any bonus money that I am to receive through this season will be redirected to reimburse UM athletic department employees who have stayed while taking a voluntary or mandatory pay reduction during the last 18 months during the pandemic.”
There was some positive movement recently in the politically motivated charges against former DHHS director Nick Lyon and others in the Flint water crisis. Here are excerpts from articles written by M-Live reporter Ron Fongers.
Flint water prosecutors have been ordered to use a taint team to filter out attorney- client privileged documents before they are used in cases against nine individuals charged with crimes tied to the crisis. Genesee Circuit Judge Elizabeth A. Kelly made the ruling in a Nov. 19 order, saying prosecutors can resume discovery in the cases only after such a document review team is in place, something attorneys for those charged in the cases have said should have happened without court intervention.
A taint team is a group of prosecutors and agents that is not connected to a criminal investigation and that reviews seized materials to determine whether the information is privileged and should be withheld from prosecutors. Flint prosecutors from the Michigan Office of Attorney General have acknowledged they did not use such a team before disseminating documents during discovery in the water crisis criminal cases.
In October, Kelly had paused discovery in the cases before deciding whether to issue a protective order to stop water prosecutors from reviewing or using the documents in any way. Her decision this month continues that order until the prosecutors have established the taint team but denies the request from former Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon to seek discovery into prosecutor’s seizure, review and production of privileged documents.
Two assistant attorneys general warned earlier this year that privileged information was improperly in the hands of Flint water prosecutors and was being shared with other attorneys involved in the pending criminal cases against former Gov. Rick Snyder and eight others. Emails obtained by MLive-The Flint Journal show that Richard Kuhl, an assistant attorney general not involved in the prosecutions, wrote to Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud in April, warning that documents obtained in response to search warrants executed in state offices “likely contain thousands of privileged communications between assistant attorneys general and their client agencies” and should be returned. Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy are leading the Flint water prosecution team.
That same month, Margaret Bettenhausen, another assistant attorney general not involved in the Flint prosecutions, wrote to lawyers representing current and former state employees charged with crimes in the water cases, asking them to “destroy or return” any potentially privileged documents they received from Hammoud’s team during discovery.
The email from Kuhl appears to have been forwarded to Attorney General Dana Nessel and could bolster concerns repeatedly voiced by attorneys for Snyder and others, who say that prosecutors have improperly handled discovery in the water cases by failing to use a “taint team” to weed out documents that should be protected by the attorney-client privilege.
The Detroit Tigers are making a big splash in the free agent market with the signing of a 6-year $140 million contract with shortstop Javier Baez. This is a big deal for the Tigers and their fans. Over the last three years Baez has led baseball with the most runs saved by a shortstop, while the Tigers were the worst in baseball for the least runs saved at shortstop during the same period. In a addition, Baez hits for power and is one of the top hitters in baseball as it relates to exit speed on balls in play. Once again, AJ Hinch’s influence is all over the Tigers with this signing. The future looks bright for the Tigers.
A big congratulations to my daughter Katy and her husband Brad as they closed today on their new house in Green Oak Township in the Brighton School District. It has been a long time coming as they have lived in an apartment for the last 9 months with their three children. They have a long way to go to be settled into the house, but tonight they will be sleeping in the house in their own rooms in their own beds. My grandkids were beyond excited when I left there this evening.
I saw an interesting stat today which really shows how much Michigan’s offense dominated OSU in the second half of Saturday’s game. In the five drives that Michigan had in the second half, four ended in touchdowns and the fifth ended the game as the clock ran out. Most amazing is that Michigan never faced a third down in the four second-half drives. That is a dominating offensive performance.
After MSU signed head football coach Mel Tucker to a 10-year $95 million contract, I said it would be the start of a nuclear arms type race as it relates to football coaches’ salaries. It didn’t take long for the arms race to kick into high gear. Penn State extended the contract of head coach James Franklin to a 10-year $75 million deal. Yesterday LSU lured Brian Kelly from Notre Dame with a 10-year $95 million contract, even though Notre Dame is still in the hunt for a playoff birth this year. Kentucky is in the process of extending head coach Mark Stoops contract as a way to keep him from leaving for another position. It is reported by ESPN that Stoop’s new contract will have automatic contract extensions assuming a certain number of wins each season. As I said last week, Mel Tucker within one year, Mel Tucker will not even be in the top 10 highest paid college football coaches.
It is “Giving Tuesday”. If you haven’t given to your favorite charity, please do so. Your support is needed now more than ever.
Stay Safe. Social Distance. Wear your mask when indoors in public places. Schedule your vaccine and booster.
Orchid of the Day: Jim Harbaugh for donating his bonus money back to employees in the athletic department who took pay cuts do to the impact Covid-19 had on the department’s revenue.
Onion of the Day: Brian Kelly for leaving Notre Dame while the players he recruited and have coached are fighting for a birth in this year’s playoff. Where is the loyalty and commitment to the players who committed to you?
Another Onion of the Day: To those who vandalized Congresswomen Debbie Dingell’s office.
Quote of the Day: “I have dinner and drinks frequently with one of the grandmothers sitting in here, holding her daughter, because her 17-year-old daughter is lying on a concrete floor in a school with a bullet wound in her head. I watched my parents die. I watched my grandparents die. But to watch the mother of a child who was killed in a school shooting is totally ludicrous. As resilient as we are, this is a terrible, terrible, terrible loss of three lives.” Oxford Township Supervisor Jack Curtis