Michigan
Pharmacist charged in U.S. meningitis outbreak agrees to plea no contest Michigan case
![Pharmacist charged in U.S. meningitis outbreak agrees to plea no contest Michigan case Pharmacist charged in U.S. meningitis outbreak agrees to plea no contest Michigan case](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/05/20/16dd09e3-a162-461f-ba56-a3e5fab1a9b0/thumbnail/1200x630/95f292f369a52c261ce47c7c3239fbf4/ap17262753307830.jpg?v=d8f7565ef3e8b72561ee316b5993cbf9)
A Massachusetts pharmacist charged with murder in the deaths of 11 Michigan residents from a 2012 U.S. meningitis outbreak has agreed to plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter, according to an email sent to families and obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
Johanna Delp of the state attorney general’s office said in the email that the deal with Glenn Chin calls for a 7 1/2-year prison sentence, with credit for his current longer sentence for federal crimes.
She said Chin will appear in Livingston County court next Thursday. Thus, a trial planned for November will be postponed.
Michigan is the only state to charge Chin and Barry Cadden, an executive at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, for deaths related to the outbreak.
More than 700 people in 20 states were sickened with fungal meningitis or other debilitating illnesses, and dozens died as a result of tainted steroids shipped to pain clinics, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Investigators said the laboratory’s “clean room,” where steroids were prepared, was rife with mold, insects, and cracks. Chin supervised production.
Following a 2017 trial in Boston, Chin is currently serving a 10 1/2-year federal sentence for racketeering, fraud, and other crimes connected to the outbreak. Because of the credit for his federal sentence, Chin is unlikely to serve additional time in Michigan’s custody.
“I am truly sorry that this ever occurred,” Chin, now 56, said in the Boston court.
A phone message and emails seeking comment from Chin’s attorney weren’t immediately returned Friday.
Cadden, 57, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in Michigan earlier this year and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Second-degree murder charges were dropped.
Cadden’s state sentence is running concurrently with his 14 1/2-year federal sentence, and he has been getting credit for time in custody since 2018.
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Michigan
How to get Michigan State football season tickets; single games available too
Michigan State fans can get season tickets to watch Jonathan Smith guide a new era of Spartans football.
Stubhub and Vivid Seats have season tickets starting around $449.
The Spartans will host Florida Atlantic Owls, A&M Panthers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Iowa Hawkeyes, Indiana Hoosiers, Purdue Boilermakers and Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Regular season single-game tickets for the Spartans are available at SeatGeek, Stubhub, Vivid Seats and Ticketmaster starting at $36.
Spartans will have away games against Maryland Terrapins, Boston College Eagles, Oregan Ducks, Michigan Wolverines and Illinois Fighting Illini.
Season tickets are available for all home games at Stubhub and Vivid Seats.
Find tickets to all home games:
Florida Atlantic Owls at Michigan State Spartans, Friday, Aug. 30 (Rescheduled from Aug 31), Spartan Stadium-MI
SeatGeek
Stubhub
Vivid Seats
Ticketmaster
Prairie View A&M Panthers at Michigan State Spartans, Saturday, September 14, Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI
SeatGeek
Stubhub
Vivid Seats
Ticketmaster
Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan State Spartans, Saturday, September 28, Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI
SeatGeek
Stubhub
Vivid Seats
Ticketmaster
Iowa Hawkeyes at Michigan State Spartans, Saturday October 19, Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI
SeatGeek
Stubhub
Vivid Seats
Ticketmaster
Indiana Hoosiers at Michigan State Spartans Saturday November 2, Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI
SeatGeek
Stubhub
Vivid Seats
Ticketmaster
Purdue Boilermakers at Michigan State Spartans, Friday, November 22, Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI
SeatGeek
Stubhub
Vivid Seats
Ticketmaster
Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Michigan State Spartans Saturday, November 30, Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI
SeatGeek
Stubhub
Vivid Seats
Ticketmaster
Michigan
Severe t-storms in Michigan today? Timing of 2 lines of storms should be on our side
![Severe t-storms in Michigan today? Timing of 2 lines of storms should be on our side Severe t-storms in Michigan today? Timing of 2 lines of storms should be on our side](https://www.mlive.com/resizer/v2/RNKRVIJUNVGIFLFZKJR2TYGJHQ.png?auth=f80b23da40ff56a8ecb57ad87093cf9730a29c351c26e213bf7c76734534a5ba&width=1280&quality=90)
There is a chance of severe thunderstorms today over Lower Michigan. The timing of two lines of thunderstorms should minimize the threat to just an isolated coverage on severe storms. Let’s get updated on when and where strong thunderstorms are possible.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) just sent us their tweaked severe weather forecast at 9:00 a.m. for today. They didn’t increase the likelihood of severe storms, but they did move the area northeast to cover more of Lower Michigan.
SPC doesn’t give us a chance of tornadoes today, but here are the severe wind gust and large hail forecast areas. The brown signifies the lowest chance of severe weather that is put into a forecast, five percent. This doesn’t mean severe thunderstorms won’t happen. It just means they will likely be isolated if severe storms do occur.
All of Lower Michigan except the northeast corner has a chance for a quick severe thunderstorm today or this evening.
Severe wind gust possibility area in brown for Friday, August 16, 2024.NOAA
The hail forecast doesn’t cover as much area. This is because any hail will need the heat of the afternoon to form. This should show you were the strongest storms are expected this afternoon- in Wisconsin and Illinois and just entering western Lower Michigan.
One inch diameter hail possibility area in brown for Friday, August 16, 2024.NOAA
The radar forecast gives you a good idea of the storm picture this afternoon and tonight. There seem to be two lines of thunderstorms probably developing.
The timing will be on our side for not having very strong severe thunderstorms. Thunderstorms weaken for a few hours around the middle of the day. The storms then strengthen during the late afternoon and evening. Finally the storms usually weaken after sunset and through the night.
Radar forecast from noon today, August 16 to 2 a.m. Saturday, August 17NOAA
The two lines of storms will both happen during the weakening time for thunderstorms. The first line of thunderstorms will be moving through central Lower Michigan and into northeast Lower Michigan now through early afternoon. This area of rain has a few isolated thunderstorms that are already below severe limits. The midday weakening of storms should keep these in check.
The second line of storms will develop in Wisconsin and Illinois late this afternoon. Those storms will likely become severe to the west of us. Those storms move into Michigan late in the evening and overnight. Look at the radar forecast above. You see the severe storms to our west weaken in the middle of the night as they move into Michigan.
Here’s the always updated radar to track the areas of thunderstorms.
![](https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/CENTGRLAKES_loop.gif)
So keep the thought in your mind of a thunderstorm briefly becoming severe this afternoon or evening. It shouldn’t be widespread severe weather, but I’ll keep an eye on it for us.
We then transition to cooler spurts of downpours for the weekend.
Michigan
Prominent 2020 election denier seeks GOP nod for Michigan Supreme Court race
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Donald Trump ally who faces felony charges of trying to illegally access and tamper with voting machines is seeking the Republican nomination for the highest court in Michigan, an epicenter of efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In June, attorney Matthew DePerno announced his intent to run for the state Supreme Court, almost one year after he was charged and arraigned.
Delegates will vote on nominees Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Michigan GOP party convention for two state Supreme Court seats in a battleground state where the court has the potential final say in Michigan election matters.
Michigan Supreme Court races are officially nonpartisan — meaning candidates appear on the ballot without party labels — but candidates are nominated at party conventions. Democratic-backed justices currently hold a 4-3 majority. Republican nominees would have to win both seats to take back majority control while Democrats stand to gain a 5-2 favorability.
DePerno rose to prominence for pushing false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Trump. He unsuccessfully ran for Michigan attorney general in 2022 and lost a bid to be the GOP state party chair in 2023.
DePerno was named as a “prime instigator” in the voting machine tampering case. Five vote tabulators were illegally taken from three Michigan counties and brought to a hotel room, according to documents released in 2022 by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office. Investigators found the tabulators were broken into and “tests” were performed on the equipment.
He was charged with undue possession of a voting machine and conspiracy. A state judge has ruled it is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, to take a machine without a court order or permission directly from the secretary of state’s office.
DePerno’s case has not gone to trial and he has denied wrongdoing. He also faces a separate complaint from the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission, threatening his law license, over accused attorney misconduct when he represented a former state lawmaker.
DePerno in a phone interview said both the felony charges and the attorney misconduct allegations are politically motivated.
Michigan is just one of at least three states where prosecutors say people breached election systems while embracing and spreading Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
DePerno is seeking nomination to run for a partial-term seat currently held by Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after a Democratic-backed justice announced she was resigning by the end of 2022 with six years left in her term.
Bolden is seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat she was appointed to in January 2023. She is the first Black woman to sit on the state’s highest bench and would be the first elected if successful in November.
Republican-backed conservative Justice David Viviano announced in March that he would not seek reelection, opening another seat.
The Democratic Party is holding its own convention the same day as the GOP, Aug. 24.
Campaign finance reports showed an astounding gap between candidates seeking Democratic and Republican nominations and a serious lack of fundraising on DePerno’s part.
Bolden, seeking the Democratic party’s backing, has raised more than $1.1 million dollars as of Aug. 8th, while DePerno has only raised $136, according to the most recent campaign finance reports.
DePerno has focused on shoring up delegate support, not fundraising and expressed confidence that he can out-fundraise Bolden if nominated for the general election, citing his own name recognition, he said.
“I don’t think the other candidates in my race can raise any money in the general election,” he said.
DePerno’s Republican competitors at the party convention include Detroit attorney Alexandria Taylor and Circuit Court Judge Patrick O’Grady. Both have outraised DePerno so far by thousands of dollars according to campaign filings.
State Court of Appeals Judge Mark Boonstra and state Rep. Andrew Fink are competing for the Republican nomination for Viviano’s seat. Boonstra was endorsed by Trump in May. On the Democratic side, University of Michigan Law School professor Kimberly Ann Thomas is seeking nomination for the opening.
Michigan’s Democratic Party executive committee has endorsed Bolden and Thomas and they face no nominating challengers.
Thomas reported raising over $826,603 as of Aug. 8 in recent campaign filings, hundreds of thousands more than Fink and Boonstra.
State Supreme Court races have taken on new meaning in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, shifting abortion policy to the states. Millions of dollars were spent in hotly contested races in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2023. Supreme Court races in Ohio and Montana are expected to be heated because of potential rulings on abortion.
“Michigan is one of only two state Supreme Courts in the country that could flip to a conservative majority this cycle — putting abortion access, unions and workers, and our very democracy at risk,” Lavora Barnes, the Michigan Democratic Party chair, said in a statement.
Republicans in the state have framed the race as a fight to stop government overreach while Democrats say it’s a fight to preserve reproductive rights.
“We continue to respect the laws that are in place in Michigan here,” Republican party executive director Tyson Shepard said. “We’re tired from the fearmongering from the left.”
___
Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.
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