January 21, 2021 By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com
The Livingston County Veterans Services Committee is pursuing a new site to hopefully relocate its offices and better serve local veterans.
The Committee met virtually Wednesday evening and discussed priorities for 2021, which includes signing a lease for a new office by the end of February. Also at play are $104,215 in grant funds that were awarded in 2020 by the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency for office relocation and expansion. Those funds must be expended by April 30th or could be forfeited. The grant is to be utilized solely for the goal of enhancing and improving county veteran service operations to connect veterans with their benefits. Director Mary Durst commented that she felt it was best to go ahead and pick a good spot and hope it works out, otherwise there is high risk of losing that money.
January 13, 2021 By Jon King / jking@whmi.com
An effort has again been denied to dismiss murder charges against two men charged for their roles in a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
On Monday, Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hatty denied motions filed by lawyers for Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin to reverse the decision of 53rd District Court Judge Shauna Murphy who determined in August there was enough evidence to bind the pair over for trial on 11 counts each of second degree murder.
The ruling means that both Cadden and Chinn will stand trial in Livingston County on the charges following a previous ruling by Hatty denying a motion to move the trial elsewhere. They were charged with Second Degree Murder in 2019 by the Michigan Attorney Generalâs Office for their roles in running the New England Compounding Center.