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Proposal would centralize jury management system while axing local boards

LANSING — House Democrats have reintroduced legislation to alter the state’s jury system by centralizing its management. The proposed changes also would allow people previously convicted of felonies to serve on juries. “The intent is to try to create an opportunity for folks to get a fair and impartial trial,” said Rep. Amos O’Neal, D-Saginaw — one of the sponsors. To create a centralized jury management system — which would be operated by the State Court Administrative Office — the proposal calls for axing a little-known commission in every county: the jury ...

House bill proposes state funds for noise control along highways

LANSING — A new House bill could help reduce traffic noise from Michigan highways. The proposal from Rep. Ron Robinson, R-Utica, would provide state money for noise abatement projects, the first boost in over 17 years. Noise abatement measures used in the past are adding walls and earthen berms, adjusting speed limits and prohibiting certain types of vehicles, according to the Department of Transportation. The Michigan Transportation Fund Act defined how the state distributes money for road maintenance in counties, cities and townships. Robinson’s legislation and a similar ...

U.S. lifts bounties on senior Taliban officials

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. has lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister who also heads a powerful network blamed for bloody attacks against Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government, officials in Kabul said Sunday. Sirajuddin Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, which killed six people, including U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla, no longer appears on the State Department’s Rewards for Justice website. The FBI website on Sunday still featured a wanted poster for him. Interior ...

Kitty Dukakis dies at 88

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — Kitty Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who spoke openly about her struggles with depression and addiction, has died. She was 88. Dukakis died on Friday night surrounded by her family, her son, John Dukakis, said on Saturday by telephone. She fought to make the world better, “sharing her vulnerabilities to help others face theirs,” her family said in a statement. “She was loving, feisty and fun, and had a keen sensitivity to people from all walks of life,” the family said. “She ...

Canadian election all about Trump

TORONTO (AP) — New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Conservative opponent said U.S. President Donald Trump must respect Canada’s sovereignty as they kicked off their election campaigns Sunday against the backdrop of a trade war and annexation threats from Trump. Carney announced there will be a five-week election campaign before the vote on April 28. “We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,” Carney said. “President Trump claims that Canada isn’t a ...

CBS paints Trump as worse than Venezuelan gangs

In the moral battle between President Donald Trump and the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the media have chosen a side. The foreign gangsters are less morally questionable than the president. The Trump administration sent a plane stuffed with alleged Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador, which is apparently more of a crime than whatever the gangsters did in America. There are legal issues here. An Obama-appointed federal judge tried to order Trump not to send the plane. The administration didn’t release their names or their offenses, so some may not be gangsters. The ...