Three students killed in US high school shooting: police

WASHINGTON - A 15-year-old student allegedly opened fire at a high school in rural Michigan on Tuesday, killing three other students before being taken into custody, police said.

Six others, including one teacher, were wounded in the attack, which took place shortly after noon at Oxford High School, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

A second-year student was taken into custody and a handgun was seized, but there was no immediate explanation for what prompted the attack in Oxford, a small town about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Detroit.

"There was no resistance during the arrest and the suspect has asked for a lawyer and has not made any statements as to a motive," the sheriff's office said.

"It's a very tragic situation," Undersheriff Michael McCabe told reporters.

"We have three deceased victims right now, who are all believed to be students," he said.

"We have lots of upset parents," he said.

Police said they received more than 100 911 emergency calls shortly after noon, and that the shooter unleashed 15-20 shots over about five minutes from a semi-automatic handgun with more than one magazine.

The suspect was taken into custody within five minutes of the first 911 call, they said.

President Joe Biden was informed of the shooting during a visit to Minnesota.

"My heart goes out to the families enduring the unimaginable grief," he said.

"You know, that whole community has to be just in a state of shock right now."

Elissa Slotkin, who represents the district north of Detroit in the US House of Representatives, said she was "horrified" by the shooting.

"I've been talking with Oxford leaders, parents and students and we are all praying for the health of those injured, and the well-being of all our young people, many of whom are in shock," she said in a statement.

DEADLIEST SCHOOL SHOOTING IN 2021

It was the deadliest school shooting so far this year, according to Everytown For Gun Safety, a group which keeps statistics of mass shootings and lobbies for gun control.

Before Tuesday's incident, there had been 138 shootings in schools across the United States in 2021, according to figures provided by Everytown. In those incidents, 26 resulted in fatalities, though no more than two each time.

The deadliest school shootings in US history were the April 2007 attack at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, which saw 33 killed, including the shooter, followed by the December 2012 attack on the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 28 dead, including 20 children and the shooter.

In February 2018, a former student with an AR-15 assault rifle opened fire in his former high school in Parkland, Florida, killing 17, in the deadliest-ever high school shooting.

Agence France-Presse

11 days after fuming about a coughing passenger, a bus driver died from the coronavirus

Jason Hargrove was furious.

A woman on his bus had just coughed four or five times, unguarded. He went on Facebook and vented his anger, cursing at times. In a video posted on March 21, he railed against the disrespect that he said passengers like her had shown workers like him who were trying to make Detroit run in the midst of a pandemic.


“We’re out here as public workers, doing our job, trying to make an honest living to take care of our families,” he said. “But for you to get on the bus, and stand on the bus, and cough several times without covering up your mouth, and you know that we’re in the middle of a pandemic, that lets me know that some folks don’t care.”

On Wednesday, a week and a half after recording the video outside his bus, Hargrove, a 50-year-old, married father of six, died from complications of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to his union and city officials.

Hargrove’s video has since been viewed more than half a million times, and has resonated as a reminder of the dangers that transit employees and other blue-collar workers face as they suddenly find themselves on the front lines of the coronavirus.

“He knew his life was being put in jeopardy — even though he was going to work for the citizens of Detroit every day — by somebody who just didn’t care, somebody who didn’t take this seriously,” Mayor Mike Duggan told reporters on Thursday. “And now he’s gone.”

Duggan said he thought of Hargrove and other workers who put themselves at risk whenever he saw people violating social distancing rules.

“You’re putting really good people like Jason Hargrove’s lives on the line,” he said. “I hope the people in this city and in this country will watch his video and listen to his words, because it’s a message this country needs to hear.”

Detroit, which has endured population loss and the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation, has become a coronavirus hot spot, with more than 3,900 cases and nearly 130 deaths as of Saturday afternoon, according to the city Health Department.

City officials said they were not sure when Hargrove contracted the virus.

But even before his death, Detroit’s bus drivers had complained that the city was not doing enough to protect them, said Glenn Tolbert, the president of the local transit workers’ union, who himself tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday. Tolbert said on Saturday that 200 of the union’s 525 members were in quarantine.

“The fear is real, and this virus is real, and the closer it hits to home, it just makes it more real,” Tolbert said.

On March 17, Detroit’s bus drivers refused to go to work until the city acted.

The same day, Duggan announced several changes to protect the drivers, including waiving fares; requiring passengers to use only the rear doors; and making sure drivers had gloves, masks and disinfecting wipes. The city also stepped up the cleaning and sanitizing of buses, according to John Roach, a city spokesman.

Detroit has also reached an agreement with the Greektown Casino-Hotel to provide rooms for bus drivers who are worried about infecting family members at home, Roach said.

In his video, Hargrove said the woman who coughed on his bus without covering her mouth showed that some people were not taking the virus seriously.

“It’s folks dying out here,” he said, adding that he felt violated both for himself and for other passengers who were on the bus.

Hargrove had been a bus driver since October 2016 and was an active member of the union, Tolbert said. On his Facebook page, Hargrove had posted a photo of himself wearing a mask on his bus with the captions “#ICannotStayHome” and “I’mOnTheRoad4U.”

“He was frustrated, but he was a professional guy to the end,” Tolbert said.

“I just don’t want his death to be in vain,” he added. “I want us to get through this thing, and I want the transit operators around the world to be recognized as first responders and given the necessary equipment.”

2020 The New York Times Company

Ford, VW call off joint auto show appearance to announce alliance

DETROIT -- The Detroit auto show was abuzz over what Ford and Volkswagen would announce Tuesday, after the car giants called off a joint appearance during which they were widely expected to announce an alliance.

The two car giants have been in discussions for more than 6 months over a partnership to develop self-driving and electric technologies. But a source close to the talks told AFP that they had so far only produced a deal over commercial vehicles.

A highly-anticipated announcement at the US's premiere auto show in the Motor City was called off late Monday, and the two sides planned a conference call with reporters instead for the following morning.

"We don't have enough details yet to go out in front of more than 500 journalists, so we decided to call it off," Ford spokesman Mark Truby told AFP.

Earlier in the day, Ford Chairman Bill Ford had told reporters that discussions were going well but that they would have "more to say later this week."

Both Ford and Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess appeared optimistic about a potential partnership.

"Volkswagen is a really big car company worldwide... but we are not as big in small commercial vehicles," Diess told the Detroit Free Press newspaper.

"So we decided to join forces there. And we will become very, very competitive together in this segment -- which consists of small commercial vans and small and midsize pickup trucks."

TRUCKS AND SPORTS CARS

Aside from the abrupt cancellation by Ford and VW, the show began as scripted, with SUVs, trucks and sports cars center stage, with extra showmanship to pump up the excitement despite fewer carmakers and more uncertainty this year.

Automakers have all but abandoned compact cars and sedans, an ever-shrinking portion of the North American market, as evidenced by what models were on display.

Trucks, SUVs and high-performance vehicles dominated the new debuts. Volkswagen was among the few exceptions with a new Passat sedan.

For the first time, Ford publicly displayed a redesigned Explorer SUV, including a hybrid version, which first debuted in Detroit on Friday.

Fiat Chrysler unveiled redesigns of larger models of its popular Ram truck.

For those looking for an alternative, carmakers were emphasizing sporty cars and nostalgic pasts -- largely eschewing the traditional sedan in favor of flashier options.

With a flair of showmanship that included virtual-reality goggles and a sports car levitating down from the ceiling, Ford revealed a high-powered version of the Mustang called the Shelby GT500 -- boasting of more than 700 horsepower.

A practically jubilant Akio Toyoda introduced a refresh of his beloved sports car Supra, which Toyota stopped producing 17 years ago.

Toyoda trotted out Spanish racecar driver Fernando Alonso to attest to the car's racing authenticity with an everyman appeal.

"It's like a race car you can drive quite comfortably every day," Alonso said during a scripted presentation.

FUTURE 'LESS POSITIVE'

Aside from VW, German carmakers abandoned the Detroit show this year, amid competition from events in New York, Miami and Las Vegas where increasingly tech-centered car announcements were presented.

Hoping to revitalize the show, organizers were holding the event for the last time in January and will move to June next year to allow for outdoor activities such as test drives.

For the industry at large, the hope was that bigger and more profitable SUVs and trucks would help weather economic storms -- whether from tariffs or fewer consumers buying cars due to rising prices, higher interest rates or a lagging world economy.

Analysts predicted slowing sales in 2019, following a decade of growth.

The Detroit show was also clouded by uncertainty in US trade policy.

Beijing and Washington remained locked in a trade war that could escalate as soon as next month, when the Commerce Department is expected to deliver a report on possible new auto tariffs.

Analysts predict rapid contraction in the auto industry should more tariffs take effect.

"Tariffs would be devastating to the entire industry," said Robert Carter, chief of Toyota's North American sales, adding that vehicle prices would increase and suppress sales.

"Not only would it affect the Toyota brand, it's going to affect every brand in the industry, every car in the industry."

The president of Chinese automaker GAC, Yu Jun, said the ongoing trade war had delayed the company's entry into the US market from 2019 to the first half of 2020.

"We have postponed our plans due to the recent development on trade. We're making steady progress towards it," Yu said, according to a company interpreter.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Detroit auto show, and industry, prepare for transition

DETROIT -- The auto industry gathered in Detroit on Sunday, on the eve of the last winter edition of North America's premiere auto show, as carmakers grapple with a contracting market and uncertainty in the year ahead.

Concerns over the health of the global economy and a US-China trade war loomed over the North American International Auto Show, as it prepared to open Monday with the first five days dedicated to the media and industry insiders. The show opens to the general public on Jan. 19.

While a number of major announcements were expected -- including an anticipated strategic alliance between Ford and Volkswagen -- there will be fewer automakers and new car unveilings, making it more subdued.

"This is a transition year for the Detroit show," said analyst Michelle Krebs of Autotrader. "It's kind of emblematic of where the industry is. We're in a transition in the industry."

After a 10-year boom, analysts expect North American auto sales to contract in 2019, as consumers face pressures and carmakers grapple with multiple uncertainties.

Rising interest rates and car prices have squeezed car buyers, and fewer of them are able to afford increasingly pricey, technology-heavy cars.

Kelley Blue Book predicted the average new-car price was up about three percent in 2018 to more than $36,000.

TARIFFS CAUSE UNCERTAINTY

Meanwhile, tariffs on imported steel and aluminum products and a potentially intensifying trade dispute between the Donald Trump administration and Beijing has automakers spooked, analysts said.

"Tariffs already had an impact in 2018," said Cox Automotive chief analyst Jonathan Smoke, adding that 47 percent of the vehicles sold in the US in 2018 were imported.

"We believe about 2 percent of today's prices are because of the tariffs that were already implemented."

The US is considering additional tariffs of 25 percent. Should it announce such a move by the February 17 deadline, it could have a substantial impact on the industry and stock markets, Smoke said.

"We believe that they are likely to move forward with some form of that tariff, because it becomes then a lever for them to force... further negotiations."

Should tariffs raise car prices further, analysts said it could substantially depress the new car market. Consumers would flock to relatively cheaper used cars, which are in ample supply.

A growing number of lightly-used, tech-heavy vehicles leased during the sales boom of the last few years are being returned to dealerships.

The auto dealers association, which organizes the show, also was contending with the uncertainty of the show's very relevance. Almost all German carmakers abandoned the show this year, as more and more important announcements are made at other gatherings.

Next year, the Detroit show will move from January, when it has been held for some 40 years, to June.

GOODBYE WINTER

Organizers hope the summer weather will allow for outdoor events that allow attendees to try out the new cars and technologies on display.

"It's run out of gas now," said Krebs. "June could be a rebirth for the show."

Among the few notable unveilings this year will be from Ford, which is expected to display a redesigned Explorer SUV and a more powerful version of its iconic Mustang sports car under the name Shelby GT500.

SUVs and trucks will once again be the highlight, a symptom of North American consumers' shift away from sedans and small cars. Trucks and SUVs made up a majority of new purchases in the US last year.

"The SUVs have become cars with SUV bodies sitting on top of them," said Karl Brauer of Kelly Blue Book.

Detroit's big three automakers have been ending production of almost all of their sedans and small cars, succumbing to the pressure of falling demand.

To hedge against the threat of a global economic downturn, GM has announced plans to close underutilized US plants that made smaller, less profitable vehicles.

Ford planned similar cost-cutting moves in Europe.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Detroit readies for Aretha Franklin tribute concert

DETROIT -- Aretha Franklin's casket is to lie in repose at her father's church on Thursday ahead of a tribute concert in her hometown Detroit and what will be a "jubilant" star-studded funeral on Friday.

Thousands of fans paid their respects at the open, golden casket of the US music icon and "Queen of Soul," who lay in state at the Charles H. Wright Museum for African American History on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The 76-year-old singer, beloved by millions around the world, died of cancer on August 16, closing the curtain on a glittering six-decade career that made her one of America's most celebrated artists.

On the second night of the public viewing, a huge queue of young and old, from babies in strollers to elderly women leaning on crutches and sitting in wheelchairs, snaked half a mile to file past her coffin.

An estimated 15,000 people came on Tuesday with a bigger crowd on Wednesday, one museum official told AFP. On Tuesday, she was dressed in a red dress with matching stilettos and on Wednesday in blue. 

The funeral parlor have reportedly said Franklin will be dressed differently for each of the four days of celebration, which continues on Thursday with her coffin lying in repose at her father's New Bethel Baptist Church, where she hosted dinners and recorded an album.

In the evening a free concert honoring Franklin's life is to kick off at 6pm at the Chene Park Amphitheatre, an outdoor riverfront arena in downtown Detroit that has 5,000 seats and 1,000 lawn spaces.

Headliners include Gladys Knight, The Four Tops, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Angela Davis and Angie Stone. Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, is included in the line-up.

Joy, laughter

On Friday, former president Bill Clinton and Smokey Robinson are among those due to address her six-hour, invitation-only funeral with musical tributes coming from Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande.

"I think it's going to be a very upbeat service. I think it's going to be a very jubilant service," said Bishop Charles Ellis, pastor at the Greater Grace Temple where the funeral is being held.

"I think it's going to be a time of sadness, a time of joy, a time of laughter, there's going to be some dancing," he told AFP. "It's going to be all about her and the way she blessed us with her gospel music."

The gospel, soul and R&B star influenced generations of female singers from the late Whitney Houston to Beyonce with unforgettable hits including "Respect" (1967), "Natural Woman" (1968) and "I Say a Little Prayer" (1968).

"I think this is really doing her really good," said nurse Tremaine Townsend, 38, among the thousands who filed past Franklin's casket on Wednesday, thrilled by the four-day celebration.

"The city of Detroit loved her, this was her home and I think they're really showing her the love that she deserved," she said.

'Touched so many hearts'

Franklin is considered royalty in her Michigan hometown. The atmosphere outside the museum was festive, her music blaring out of loudspeakers as people danced and volunteers handed out water.

Franklin won 18 Grammy awards and provided a soundtrack to the civil rights movement, singing to raise money for the cause and uplifting activists with her phenomenal voice and upbeat anthems.

Her signature song, "Respect" -- recorded as a feminist anthem -- became a rallying cry as African Americans rose up nationwide in the 1960s to fight peacefully for racial equality.

"Everybody is just so thrilled when they go in and come out," said Evelyn Couch, 65, a retired social worker who is handicapped, and who traveled 60 kilometers with her family.

"I guess she touched so many hearts, you see people crying, you see people just smiling and singing her songs."

The daughter of a prominent Baptist preacher and civil rights activist father, Franklin sang at the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the inaugurations of presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

She was awarded America's highest civilian honor by George W. Bush and tops Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest singers of all time.

Married and divorced twice, and the mother of four, she will be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, alongside her father and siblings.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Queen of Soul' Aretha Franklin dies at 76

NEW YORK  - Aretha Franklin, the preacher's daughter whose powerful voice made her the long-reigning "Queen of Soul" with such hit songs as "Respect" and "Chain of Fools," died on Thursday at the age of 76, officials said.

Franklin, who won 18 Grammys and had some 25 gold records, died at her home in Detroit, according to one of her publicists. She had been battling advanced pancreatic cancer, and her family had asked for prayers.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said few people in the city's history had been as universally loved or had left as indelible a mark as Franklin, describing her as a "performer without peers."

"Throughout her extraordinary life and career, she earned the love - and yes, the respect - of millions of people, not just for herself and for women everywhere, but for the city she loved so dearly and called home," Duggan said in a statement.

Franklin's father was a Baptist preacher in Detroit, and the gospel singing she heard in his church was her musical foundation. She created a uniquely emotional and powerful voice that put her at the forefront of 1960s soul music along with Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett.

Franklin sang at the funeral of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, as well as at the presidential inaugurations of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. In 1987 she became the first woman voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2010 Rolling Stone magazine named her the No. 1 singer of the rock era.

After recording and touring as a young gospel singer, Franklin's career took a secular turn in 1961 when she signed with Columbia Records. She had only modest success with Columbia, which had trouble classifying her style and tried to steer her toward pop.

But when she switched to Atlantic Records in the mid-1960s, producer Jerry Wexler knew just what to do with Franklin, putting her powerful voice in a setting that combined gospel, soul and rock and made her a superstar by letting "the lady wail." As Franklin put it in her autobiography, she "Aretha-ized" the music.

STRING OF HITS

Franklin's heyday extended into the early 1970s as she dominated the music charts with "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," "Baby, I Love You," "Chain of Fools," "Think," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "Do-Right Woman" and "Respect," a cover of a Redding tune that became a song of empowerment during the civil rights era.

Franklin's popularity would fade but she had a revival in the mid-1980s with songs such as "Freeway of Love," a duet with George Michael named "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves," "Who's Zoomin' Who?" and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

Along the way Franklin inspired a generation of singers.

"Pop music today is rich with glorious gospel voices and women singers in the mold cast by Aretha," the late Wexler said in his autobiography. "... Aretha became a model for people like Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston... The list of her disciples is long."

Franklin was known to be shy, moody, imperious and difficult. She often did not get along with other women singers, including her sisters, could be quick to fire underlings and was erratic when it came to showing up for concerts and appointments.

Franklin often demanded she be paid in cash before performing and took her status as musical royalty seriously. In 2008 Beyonce introduced Tina Turner as "the queen" at the Grammy Awards ceremony, which Franklin decried as "a cheap shot" at her.

PREACHER'S DAUGHTER

Franklin was born March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Detroit. Her father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, was respected as a civil rights leader, an early advocate of "black pride" and a friend of King.

The Reverend Franklin was a charismatic figure but had also been arrested for drug possession and, under unexplained circumstances, his wife left him and their five children when Aretha was six. Four years later, Franklin's mother died and Aretha avoided discussing her parents publicly.

Franklin started touring as part of her father's gospel show as a teenager and got a musical education from gospel greats of the time - the Staple Singers, the Soul Stirrers, James Cleveland and The Mighty Clouds of Joy.

She also came to know jazz and R&B greats invited to the family home - Cooke, Art Tatum, Dinah Washington, Fats Domino and Bobby Bland.

By 17, she had given birth to two children and later had two other sons. First married to Ted White, who became her manager and publicly abused her, Franklin later married actor Glynn Turman in 1978 but they divorced in 1984.

Franklin, who was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, was the subject of a singing tribute at the February 2011 Grammy Awards ceremony and a Carnegie Hall tribute concert in early 2017. She did not attend either.

Franklin did not perform regularly for many years, partly because of an aversion to flying after a rough trip in 1982. Instead, she traveled in a customized bus. She often had to cancel shows for health reasons.

In February 2017, she said she would keep recording but retire from touring after a limited run of concerts marking a new album that year, "A Brand New Me," which featured her doing some of her biggest hits with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

She performed "Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center Honors in December 2015 in a tribute to songwriter Carole King, who wrote the song. Her last live performance was Nov. 7, 2017, for the Elton John AIDS Foundation gala.

"I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now," Franklin told a Detroit television interviewer in 2017. "I'll be pretty much satisfied, but I'm not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn't be good either."

President George W. Bush presented Franklin the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Queen of Soul' Aretha Franklin gravely ill: report

CHICAGO -- Singer Aretha Franklin, a multiple Grammy award-winner star whose legacy stretches back decades, is gravely ill and surrounded by relatives, a reporter and family friend wrote on his website Monday.

The 76 year-old "Queen of Soul" Franklin, known for hits such as "Respect" (1967) and "I Say a Little Prayer" (1968), "is gravely ill in Detroit. The family is asking for prayers and privacy," wrote Roger Friedman on the Showbiz 411 website.

Franklin, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, last performed in November 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York. 

Her final public performance was in Philadelphia in August 2017. 

"It was a miraculous show as Aretha was already then fighting exhaustion and dehydration," Friedman wrote, describing the Philadelphia performance.

Throughout her lengthy career Franklin accumulated 18 Grammy awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement.

Franklin's hits include "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (1968), "Day Dreaming" (1972), "Jump to It" (1982), "Freeway of Love" (1985), and "A Rose Is Still A Rose," (1998).

In 1987, she became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"I Knew You Were Waiting for Me," a duet she sang with the late British singer George Michael, was one of her Grammy-winning hits.

In 2005, Franklin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the highest award for an American civilian -- by then-president George W. Bush.

And in January 2009, Franklin sang at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Why Detroit raced to file bankruptcy

DETROIT - Detroit's historic municipal bankruptcy filing on Thursday came less than 10 minutes before lawyers for the city's pension funds and retirees had rushed to another court to try to block it.

The bare bones bankruptcy petition, which came at 4:06:22 p.m., blindsided everyone in the room, according to two lawyers who were in state court in Lansing, Michigan, at the time. Even the lawyer representing the governor and the judge were caught unaware.

"I think everybody was surprised," said Bill Wertheimer, an attorney for a group of current and retired Detroit city workers who filed a lawsuit early this month to try to block any bankruptcy.

"The attorney general, he claimed to know nothing about it, like he was deaf, dumb and blind," said Wertheimer, who is paid by the United Auto Workers. "The judge was clearly taken aback."

The largest-ever municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history puts at risk the future of retiree pension and health benefits for thousands of city workers.(Full Story)

Although city retirement benefits are enshrined in Michigan's constitution, Kevyn Orr, the city's state-appointed emergency manager, outlined a plan for creditors that would include significant cuts in pension payments.

In a bid to safeguard the benefits of Detroit retirees, workers and pension funds filed lawsuits challenging the authority of Republican Governor Rick Snyder to authorize a bankruptcy proceeding.

Even after the bankruptcy filing had popped up on a federal court website, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina still issued a temporary restraining order on any further action by Snyder and Orr in the bankruptcy case pending a hearing, according to a copy of the order obtained by Reuters.

That hearing could come as soon as Friday, according to Aquilina's law clerk.

In the hours following the bankruptcy filing, officials for the UAW and other unions said Snyder and Orr had falsely conveyed the impression a filing would not come soon. UAW general counsel Michael Nicholson said papers filed in Ingham court earlier in the week suggested bankruptcy was not imminent.

In that filing on Monday, the state had said an effort to prevent a bankruptcy filing was "premature, overbroad and constitutionally infirm." The state added that concerns a bankruptcy could wipe out their pensions were "not ripe" and based on events "that may or may not occur."

"The bottom line is the governor is being duplicitous," Nicholson said. "You can prove that by looking at what they filed at court."

Orr disagreed with the assessment, telling reporters during a press conference Thursday that he had negotiated "in good faith."

"Quite frankly, I’ve bent over backward in the past three plus months to, as I said initially in this very room (on my) first day, to offer an olive branch, to reach out to constituencies," Orr told reporters Thursday.

Under a 2012 Michigan law, the governor must approve a Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filing for a local government if that move is recommended by the state-appointed emergency manager running that government.

A hearing had been scheduled on Monday in Ingham County Circuit Court on the city workers' and retirees' challenge.

But attorneys for the Detroit's pension funds caught wind of a possible bankruptcy filing and on Wednesday sued Snyder and Orr to prevent them from filing for bankruptcy protection. They asked Judge Aquilina for an emergency hearing Thursday afternoon, Nicholson said.

The judge granted the order barring Snyder from authorizing or supporting the bankruptcy -- but it came minutes after the bankruptcy was filed.

"At the same time, we have Detroit having filed for bankruptcy," Wertheimer said. "Almost simultaneously we have a state court judge issuing an order telling the governor not to authorize the bankruptcy and not to do anything to support anything that is filed."

The state court order may be too late, according to W. Clark Watson, an attorney at Balch & Bingham LLP, who co-wrote a municipal bankruptcy guide for public finance attorneys.

"I think that a state court order enjoining the proceedings in a federal bankruptcy court would be extraordinary, at best," Watson said, adding that federal bankruptcy would trump state law.

He added that Detroit's Thursday filing likely came down to "a race to the courthouse" as the city initially filed only a petition that lacked the reams of documents that usually accompany a filing on the day it reaches court.

"That is not necessarily any disadvantage to the city; just not the orderly process that its lawyers would have otherwise preferred," Watson said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Jessica Sanchez nears deal to join cast of ‘Glee’

She has yet to launch her recording debut, but already the hits keep on coming for Jessica Sanchez.

After high-profile performances in the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight and Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the “American Idol” Season 11 runner-up has been tapped to join the cast of the Fox hit show “Glee”, a report by tvline.com, confirmed by the Hollywood Reporter, said on Friday.

Representatives for Jessica are reportedly close to signing a deal with “Glee” producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the singer to appear midway through Season 4 of the musical comedy-drama series.

Details of her character are still under wraps, but the reports say “a multi-episode arc” is being written for the lissome 16-year-old known for her big soulful voice.

Jessica would be the latest high-profile addition to the show after Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Hudson, who will both appear in multiple episodes.

She would also be the second Filipina to join the “Glee” cast. Charice played the recurring role of exchange student Sunshine Corazon during Season 2 but did not return for Season 3.

Jessica is currently preparing for the “American Idol” concert tour, which will kick off on July 7 in Detroit and head over to Manila on September 21.

source: interaksyon.com

US columnist, author Jeffrey Zaslow dies in car crash

DETROIT -- Jeffrey Zaslow, co-author of the best-seller "The Last Lecture" and award-winning Wall Street Journal columnist, was killed on Friday in a car crash in Michigan, the newspaper said.

Zaslow, 53, who was married to Detroit news anchor Sherry Margolis, had been in Petoskey, Michigan, on Thursday night for a book promotion and was driving back toward the Detroit area when the crash happened.

"Jeff's writing, for the Journal and in his books, has been a source of inspiration for many people around the world, and his journalistic life has been a source of inspiration for all journalists," Journal editor Robert Thomson said in a message to staff on Friday.

Antrim County Sheriff Daniel Bean released few details of the accident, reporting that a passenger car had lost control on a snow-covered road and slid into the path of a tractor-trailer, and that the car's driver died on impact.

Zaslow collaborated with former US Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband last year on a memoir about her path to recovery from a gunshot wound to the head suffered when a man opened fire at a constituent event in Tucson, Arizona, in January 2011, killing six people and wounding 12.

He also co-authored a book, "Highest Duty," with US Airways Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who landed an airliner in the Hudson River after its engines were knocked out on takeoff with all passengers and crew rescued.

But Zaslow may be remembered most for "The Last Lecture," a New York Times best-seller that grew out of Carnegie Mellon computer science professor Randy Pausch's speech on death and living as he faced terminal cancer in 2007.

Zaslow, who is survived by his wife and three daughters, was promoting his latest book on Thursday night, "The Magic Room: A Story About the Love We Wish for Our Daughters."

source: interaksyon.com