Shooting suspect caught at airport • Democrats regain control of MI government • $25M Ann Arbor school deficit

WEDNESDAY NEWS HIT - A suspect accused of shooting five people over a parking spot argument last month is now in custody.

When Daymond Hunter, 32, landed at Detroit Metro Airport from Tennesee last week, police were waiting for him. Tips led police to him.

"He walked out, and he put his head down the minute he saw the officers," Asst. Detroit Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald said. "I hope it's a wake-up call for those that want to do something similar."

Police said Hunter was involved in an argument at Chicago Blu'z Bar & Grill on March 29. He left the club but later returned with a gun and started shooting. Five people were hurt, including one of his own friends.

"Very lucky it's only five, That could've been 10, could've been 12," Fitzgerald said.

Multiple factors to blame for $25M Ann Arbor schools deficit 

Several factors are to blame for a $25 million budget deficit that will lead to Ann Arbor Public Schools layoffs.

Among the reasons for the shortfall - a clerical mistake of $14 million, more than 11,000 students who left the district, and higher operating costs.

These factors were all discussed during a community meeting Tuesday. The district is hosting these meetings as it shares information about the shortfall and works on a plan for balancing the budget. 

"We have authorized a third party review so that we can hopefully get some additional context for that," said Interim AAPS Superintendent Jazz Parks. "We were not the ones who were there for those decisions, so it does take a review – not being a part of those budget conversations."

The idea of selling one of AAPS' buildings has also been floated around.

"First, we are getting input from our staff, from our families, from our students," Parks said.

Democrats regain full control of state government

Democrats won back a majority in the Michigan House and restored their party’s full control of state government Tuesday thanks to victories in two special elections.

Mai Xiong won the special election in the 13th District, which covers Warren and part of Detroit, while Peter Herzberg won in the 25th District, which contains the cities of Wayne and Westland. Both candidates were favorites in the heavily Democratic districts.

The lower chamber has been tied 54-54 between Democratic and Republican lawmakers since November, when two Democratic representatives vacated their seats after winning mayoral races in their hometowns.

Democrats flipped both chambers in the 2022 midterms while maintaining control of the governor’s office to win a trifecta for the first time in 40 years. They moved quickly to roll back decades of Republican measures and implement the party’s agenda in their first year, including overhauling the state’s gun laws.

Lee Chatfield charged with embezzlement 

Former Michigan Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield and his wife Stephanie were charged this week in a scheme of alleged self-enrichment against state, campaign, and non-profit funds. 

Attorney General Dana Nessel accused Lee of "rampant and flagrant misuse" of political nonprofit funds when she announced the 13 charges against him and two against Stephanie. 

Chatfield is alleged to have illegally converted to his own personal use funds from the 501(c)(4) Peninsula Fund, his own electoral political action committees, The Chatfield Majority Fund and The Chatfield Majority Fund 2, and the state budget of the Michigan House of Representatives.

Among the allegations leveled include lavish vacation trips while using the Peninsula Fund, as well as for personal credit card expenses.

"Our investigation has uncovered evidence that Lee Chatfield used various different schemes to embezzle, steal, and convert both private and public monies to fund a lavish lifestyle that his state salary could not possibly afford," said Nessel.

Severe weather outlook

Thunderstorms this afternoon will bring strong winds and potentially large hail.

Two rounds of unsettled weather are expected with it kicking off early in the morning, but it is the second wave of around rush hour that will have a better chance to pack a punch.

There will be a few hours of dry and potentially sunny hours in between. That usually helps juice up the atmosphere and helps fuel the storms for later. The line of stronger storms will arrive between 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The main concerns with this line of storms will be damaging winds, hail and an isolated tornado. Temperatures during the day will also be above the seasonal high by 10 degrees with most spots in the mid to upper 60s.

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Daily Forecast

The nice stretch of weather comes to an end today.

What else we're watching

1. John Hreno, a former Clinton Township police officer, is facing charges after he allegedly misused the Law Enforcement Information Network by looking for information for personal use.
2. Home values in Detroit — especially for Black residents — have increased by billions of dollars in the years following the city’s exit from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
3. For at least two more weeks the historic Roosevelt School building will stand in Keego Harbor.
4. A Detroit woman is headed to prison for shooting at federal agents during a 2021 raid. Gloria Bush fired at DEA agents as they tried to get into her home.
5. With April being designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a special event was held at one of Michigan's leading organizations dedicated to helping survivors. Learn more here.

Supreme Court appears split over obstruction law used to charge Trump, Jan. 6 rioters

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case that could impact the prosecutions of hundreds of Jan. 6 participants, as well as former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 criminal case.

The case, Fischer v. United States, centers around a federal statute that prosecutors across the country have used to charge Jan. 6 defendants. The 2002 law, 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c), prohibits the obstruction of congressional proceedings — in this case, the certification of the 2020 election.

The Department of Justice said more than 350 defendants have been charged under the statute with corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding. People convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding under 1512(c) face up to 20 years in prison.

The petitioner, Joseph Fischer, brought the case to the Supreme Court following a U.S. Court of Appeals decision to reinstate an obstruction charge against him that had been dismissed by a D.C. District Court judge.