March 7, 2019
By Ron Fonger
Flint -- The new woman (click here) in charge of Flint water prosecutions says she needs more time to assess the strength of at least two of the pending criminal cases before she’s prepared to defend them.
Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud told a Genesee district court judge Thursday, March 7, that she’s not ready to press the cases against former emergency manager Darnell Earley or former Flint Department of Public Works Director Howard Croft and won’t be ready by next month either.
“The people are currently evaluating all the evidence in these cases, specifically the defendants that are ... in front of the court today...,” Hammoud said. “We are doing our due diligence in this case ... to evaluate and re-evaluate the evidence in this case and the charges on all defendants.”
Earley, the state-appointed emergency manager in charge of Flint at the start of the city’s water crisis, faces charges of false pretenses, conspiracy to commit false pretenses, willful neglect of duty and misconduct in office....
Yo Yo Ma's Day of Action seems to bring out the character of Flint.
March 4, 2019
By Lauren Rearick
It’s been 1,774 days (click here) since the city of Flint, Michigan, has had drinkable water, and now Jaden Smith is helping residents affected by the crisis.
On Saturday (March 2), the actor’s company, Just Goods, donated a portable water filtration system to Flint’s First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church called the Water Box, which mirrors the system Just uses to bottle its own Just Water, Michigan Live reports. The box was created in collaboration with the church and Smith’s mother, Jada Pinkett-Smith, said she would also be donating a second Water Box to the city.
“We don’t want to disrupt what’s happening with the donation of bottled water to Flint,” Smith told those assembled at the box’s unveiling. “We just want to be the backbone in case something happens to that supply of donated bottled water.”...
March 8, 2019
Flint — At age 5, (click here) Phil Hagerman started stacking soda bottles for 2-cent deposits at the family pharmacy in Flint. While other children watched cartoons on Saturday mornings, the little boy joyfully went to work with his father.
He knew he would become a pharmacist one day.
“I’m kind of a boring guy,” Hagerman said on a snowy afternoon in February. “I’ve lived within 10 miles my entire life, except for college.”
After a stint at Ferris State University just two hours west, Hagerman returned to the bedroom community of Fenton, where everything began. He partnered with his father and built a health care network specializing in complex diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis. Their private company went public and made a fortune.
All those millions? He takes abandoned buildings rich in history and brings them back to life. He invests in young people launching companies. He makes dreams come true.
Others think of him as the angel investor of Flint....
