Detroit Free Press

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (AP) - A clerk at a Detroit-area gas station says a robber smashed a juice bottle to lure another employee out of his safety enclosure, where a second robber shot him to death. The shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday at a Citgo station in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park. Police say they're seeking public help in solving the killing. Mohamad Bazzi tells the Detroit Free Press ( http://on.freep.com/wIrxj4 ) the slain employee was 59-year-old Hassan A. Hussein.

DETROIT (AP) - A jury has awarded $705,000 to a nursing home manager who was fired in 2009 after cooperating with a state investigation of patient mistreatment. The Detroit Free Press reports the Wayne County Circuit Court jury on Thursday awarded the damages to 52-year-old Elizabeth Williamson of Roseville. Williamson's lawyer Robert Fetter describes her as a hero who cooperated with state investigators about violations at Omni Continuing Care in Detroit.

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) - A Michigan man with bladder cancer who suffered a rough pat-down by a Detroit airport security agent last fall says it's happened again. A screener's aggressive pat-down in November caused the lid of Thomas Sawyer's urostomy bag to loosen, spilling urine on his shirt and pants. Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole called Sawyer to apologize. Now, Sawyer says on July 14, a screener at Detroit Metropolitan Airport disregarded his warning that he had a urostomy bag beneath his untucked shirt.

HAZEL PARK, Mich. (AP) - Oakland County prosecutors helped release a doctor from prison after a woman who had accused him of sexual assault was secretly recorded saying she had lied. The Detroit Free Press (http://bit.ly/qybkE4) says Dr. Labeed Nouri spent more than three years in jail and prison for assaulting a woman who worked in his Hazel Park office. But the case took a dramatic turn when the woman's boyfriend said they had lied about her sexual past.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Critics of Gov. Rick Snyder's call for more money to fix Michigan's ailing roads and bridges are pointing to the state's highway weight limit as the problem. The Detroit Free Press reports ( http://on.freep.com/140jruA ) Tuesday that Michigan has the highest maximum truck weight in the nation at 164,000 pounds. In his third State of the State address last week, Gov. Snyder asked lawmakers for an additional $1.2 billion a year to fund Michigan's transportation system.

DETROIT (AP) - Researchers say they have enough evidence to partially excavate the site of a Lake Michigan shipwreck to determine if it's the Griffin, which sank loaded with furs in 1679. The Detroit Free Press reports (http://on.freep.com/sextEf) Monday that sonar scans and lake-bottom profiling showed something consistent with a vessel. Researcher Ken Vrana of the Center for Maritime and Underwater Resource Management says there's no "smoking gun" but the site warrants excavation.

HELL, Mich. (AP) - A parade of hearses in the Michigan community of Hell was part of an attempt to make the record books. The Detroit Free Press reports ( http://bit.ly/puT7ma ) organizers of Saturday's gathering said 51 hearses were part of the procession about 45 miles west of Detroit. The Hell-based car club called Just Hearse 'N Around said it needed at least 50 hearses to qualify for a new Guinness World Records category of "Largest Parade of Hearses.

RIVERVIEW, Mich. (AP) - Tips are being sought for information about the death of a suburban Detroit man whose body was found by an excavator driver at a southeast Michigan landfill. Crime Stoppers of Michigan is offering a reward for information about the death of 29-year-old Derek Golden of Grosse Pointe Park. The Detroit Free Press reports ( http://on.freep.com/14Q94M8 ) Golden disappeared Dec. 9 and his black 2006 Subaru Tribeca was found on Detroit's east side.

MELVINDALE, Mich. (AP) - A biracial mother in the Detroit area says her son was given a writing assignment that required him to pretend he's a slave. Jessica Gibson tells the Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/zTJfOg) that the assignment was given last month at Strong Middle School in Melvindale but her son, Taylan, hid it from her. She says it required the 11-year-old sixth-grader to describe the plantation and life as a slave. Gibson says the assignment "really disturbed" her and embarrassed her son. The teacher, Michelle Angileri, told the Free Press she wasn't allowed to make any statement.

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) - Dearborn Heights police say two armed men cut the power to a home, forced their way inside and fatally shot a man in front of his wife and children. The Detroit Free Press reports ( http://j.mp/pdIdWT ) that the attack happened about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday. Police Capt. Jeff Seipenko says someone in the house dialed 911 during the robbery and left the line open, leading police to send officers to the scene. He says the robbers fled before police arrived.

RIVERVIEW, Mich. (AP) - Tips are being sought for information about the death of a suburban Detroit man whose body was found by an excavator driver at a southeast Michigan landfill. Crime Stoppers of Michigan is offering a reward for information about the death of 29-year-old Derek Golden of Grosse Pointe Park. The Detroit Free Press reports ( http://on.freep.com/14Q94M8 ) Golden disappeared Dec. 9 and his black 2006 Subaru Tribeca was found on Detroit's east side.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Critics of Gov. Rick Snyder's call for more money to fix Michigan's ailing roads and bridges are pointing to the state's highway weight limit as the problem. The Detroit Free Press reports ( http://on.freep.com/140jruA ) Tuesday that Michigan has the highest maximum truck weight in the nation at 164,000 pounds. In his third State of the State address last week, Gov. Snyder asked lawmakers for an additional $1.2 billion a year to fund Michigan's transportation system.

DETROIT (AP) - The bodies of two women discovered buried in woods on the west side of Detroit are likely the remains of two housemates who witnesses claim were forced into a car trunk at gunpoint nearly a month ago, police said. Abreeya Brown, 18, and Ashley Conaway, 21, were abducted Feb. 28 by two armed men outside their home in the nearby enclave of Hamtramck, according to Brown's stepfather. Charles McGinnis told police he exchanged gunfire with the captors before they drove away.

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - A Detroit-area doctor accused of misdiagnosing epilepsy in hundreds of children has agreed to pay a $10,000 penalty and have his future work reviewed by another doctor. Dr. Yasser Awaad signed the agreement this week with state regulators in a deal that allows him to keep his medical license. He'll be on probation for at least one year, the Detroit Free Press reported ( http://on.freep.com/A6KO9Q ) Friday. A lawsuit is pending against Awaad, a resident of West Bloomfield Township, and Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn.

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (AP) - A clerk at a Detroit-area gas station says a robber smashed a juice bottle to lure another employee out of his safety enclosure, where a second robber shot him to death. The shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday at a Citgo station in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park. Police say they're seeking public help in solving the killing. Mohamad Bazzi tells the Detroit Free Press ( http://on.freep.com/wIrxj4 ) the slain employee was 59-year-old Hassan A. Hussein.

MELVINDALE, Mich. (AP) - A biracial mother in the Detroit area says her son was given a writing assignment that required him to pretend he's a slave. Jessica Gibson tells the Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/zTJfOg) that the assignment was given last month at Strong Middle School in Melvindale but her son, Taylan, hid it from her. She says it required the 11-year-old sixth-grader to describe the plantation and life as a slave. Gibson says the assignment "really disturbed" her and embarrassed her son. The teacher, Michelle Angileri, told the Free Press she wasn't allowed to make any statement.

NOVI, Mich. (AP) - A woman says she accidentally placed about $700 in Christmas gifts into a stranger's car after a key opened the vehicle's trunk in suburban Detroit. Linda Gipson of Ypsilanti tells the Detroit Free Press and AnnArbor.com she discovered the mistake Thursday after leaving Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi. The 49-year-old says she put bags into the trunk of a car identical to her daughter's 2003 silver Ford Focus, and then returned to shop. She says she was surprised when she returned to find the vehicle gone and her daughter's car nearby.

DETROIT (AP) - Researchers say they have enough evidence to partially excavate the site of a Lake Michigan shipwreck to determine if it's the Griffin, which sank loaded with furs in 1679. The Detroit Free Press reports (http://on.freep.com/sextEf) Monday that sonar scans and lake-bottom profiling showed something consistent with a vessel. Researcher Ken Vrana of the Center for Maritime and Underwater Resource Management says there's no "smoking gun" but the site warrants excavation.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A newspaper says its analysis has found that Michigan's nursing homes perform slightly better than average on a federal rating system. The Detroit Free Press reported Sunday ( http://on.freep.com/uTtSgU ) that it examined data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It says inspectors issued about 4,000 citations against 425 Michigan nursing homes in 2010. The most common violation was for failing to prevent dangers that can cause accidents, found at 63 percent of the homes.

HELL, Mich. (AP) - A parade of hearses in the Michigan community of Hell was part of an attempt to make the record books. The Detroit Free Press reports ( http://bit.ly/puT7ma ) organizers of Saturday's gathering said 51 hearses were part of the procession about 45 miles west of Detroit. The Hell-based car club called Just Hearse 'N Around said it needed at least 50 hearses to qualify for a new Guinness World Records category of "Largest Parade of Hearses.