THE LATEST TOP HEADLINES

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BY GARY ANDERSON

 CCCN Staff Writer

FLINT (CCN) — At long last, will Flint City Council members decide on a new President?

City Clerk Davina Donahue's agenda for Monday night's (Feb. 24, 2025) meeting says she will call the meeting to order for the purpose of doing exactly that in accordance Section 3-201 (B) of the Flint City Charter. 

This section requires that the City Clerk presides until a new President is named on the first Monday meeting every November.

Donahue has not been presiding due to a legal opinion by Lansing law firm Clark Hill to let former President Dr. Ladel Lewis continue running meetings until a 4-4 deadlock can be broken on who replaces her.

Four of the city council members have stood firmly behind 7th Ward City Councilwoman Candice Mushatt in hundreds of deadlocked votes. The other four have split their votes between 9th Ward City Councilman Jonathan Jarrett and 5th Ward City Councilwoman Jerri Winfrey-Carter.

It's not known if a compromise has been reached between council members.

The leadership under Dr. Lewis has led to chaos, according to the side supporting Jarrett or Carter. the other part of the faction opposing Mayor Sheldon Neeley's four strong supporters include Councilman Don Pfeiffer in the 8th Ward and Councilwoman Tonya Burns in the 5th Ward.

Firmly behind Councilwoman Mushatt have been Neeley supporters 2nd Ward Councilwoman Dr. Lewis, 4th Ward Councilwoman Judy Priestly and 1st Ward Councilman Leon El-Amin.

Dr. Lewis has been accused of illegally removing council members and audience members while often losing control of meetings.

The late Eric Mays was elected President after the 2022 general election, then Allie Herkenroder took over in 2023 but she subsequently resigned from the council and Dr. Lewis was chose in 2024.

The 4-4 deadlock on the council was created by the death of 3rd Ward Councilman Quincy Murphy on Sept. 29 last year.

Murphy was a strong supporter of Mayor Neeley's agenda.

BY GARY ANDERSON

 CCCN Staff Writer

FLINT (CCN) — A couple of appointments are the only items on the agenda for Monday night's (Feb. 24, 2025) meeting of the City of Flint's Special Affairs Committee meeting.

Flint City Councilwoman Dr. Ladel Lewis, who represents the 2nd Ward, wants Peggy Stribling re-appointed to the City-Wide Advisory Council when her current terms expires at the end of this month. 

Stribling will continue to represent the 2nd Ward from March 1, 2025 until Feb. 28, 2028, if re-appointed by the city council.

Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley has an item on the agenda to appoint Rodrick Green as the 3rd Ward representative on the Flint Planning Commission.

The 3rd Ward seat on the city council has been vacant since the death of Quincy Murphy on Sept. 29. The Flint City Charter calls for a replacement to be named within 30 days, but the council has been deadlocked in a 4-4 tie over who to appoint. 

That's why no name was brought forth to pick an individual to serve for the next term on the Flint Planning Commission which will be from March 1, 2025 until Feb. 28, 2028. The seat is currently vacant.

Green works as a Title One Para-professional at Holmes Middle School and Holmes Stem Academy in the Flint school district. He has coached youth teams at Holmes, Flint Hamady and McMonagle Elementary School.

Stribling retired after 35 years with the General Motors Parts Service Operations in Grand Blanc. She has done community work during her retirement years with the Blue Badge police program, a Flint Planning Commission special project, as Home Care Coordinator for nearly three years at Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation and on Mayor Neeley's AARPA Community Advisory Committee that evaluated where to spend about $100 million in federal funds that came to the city after COVID.

If approved, both resolutions will move forward to the Flint City Council for possible action.

  (CCN) — Flint Powers Catholic Athletic Director Mike Watson has offered up a forfeit victory instead of going to Frankenmuth for a varsity football game on Friday night (Sept. 28, 2024)

Watson notified Frankenmuth officials that Powers has low numbers and injury problems. 

Powers was beaten 61-6 last week by Freeland on its home turf at Flint's Atwood Stadium when three more players went down with injuries to join others already on the sidelines.

Powers was beaten 49-7 a week earlier by Ovid-Elsie.

Frankenmuth is undefeated at 4-0 and ranked No. 3 in the state in Division 5.

Powers opened strong by beating Essexville Garber 30-20 and Flint Southwestern 56-8.

At 2-2, there's still hope for the Chargers to produce their first winning season since 2019. 

But moving up JV players to the varsity just to play made no sense to AD Watson or new Coach Jeremy Freeman who took over the Powers program after leaving Flint Kearsley this season.

 (CCN) — Gary Lee's Flint Hamady varsity football team tries to get back on track Friday night (Sept. 7, 2024) on its home turf against arch rival Flint Southwestern Academy. 

Kick-off is schedule for 7 pm.

The Hawks were idle last week after a 49-12 loss at home against Muskegon Mona Shores.

Lee's Hamady squad opened with victories at home of 32-16 over Detroit East English and 60-0 over Detroit Mumford.

The Hawks went the independent route this season to play stronger competition after being rejected to join the Metro League. They won six  Genesee Area Conference title in the last seven years with mostly blowout victories.

Hamady lost 45-7 to eventual Division 5 state champion Corunna a year ago after posting a perfect 8-0 regular season. The Hawks have made the state playoffs eight times in the last nine years under Lee's leadership. They also had a perfect regular season in 2018 when going 9-0.

Friday's opponent, Flint Southwestern Academy's Jaguars, has lost three straight since opening the season with a 22-14 overtime triumph over Burton Bentley at the Vehicle City Gridiron Classic at Kettering University's historic Atwood Stadium in Flint. The Jaguars, who are under the leadership of new Head Coach Chrishaun Verdun, then lost 56-0 at Pinconning, 56-0 to Flint Powers Catholic in another battle on Atwood's turf and 45-6 to Saginaw United.

Coach Verdun can take a big step forward with trying to turn the program around by winning on enemy Hamady's turf Friday night. There has been lots of losing in the last 13 seasons of prep football at Flint Southwestern. Teams there have turned in records of 1-8 in 2009, followed by records of 0-9, 2-7, 2-7, 2-7, 4-5, 1-8, 1-8, 3-6, 1-8, 1-8, 2-7, 2-7 and 0-9. A 59-0 loss at home to Hamady was part of last season's 0-9 campaign.

It was 67-0 for Hamady in 2022 after the Hwawks rolled 45-0 in 2021, 56-18 in 2019 and 43-6 in 2018 when the series began between the two Flint schools. 

 (CCN) — Flint Carman-Ainsworth's varsity football team is home Friday night (Sept. 7, 2024) to try for its first victory of the 2024 season.

The Cavaliers face Bay City Western in a non-conference battle. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 pm.

The Warriors play in the Saginaw Valley Conference's North Division while Flint Carman-AInsworth plays in the South Division.

Coach Dajuan Massey's Cavaliers are looking to rebound from last week's 36-8 loss to Lapeer in the home opener. It dropped them to 0-2 in Saginaw Valley Conference South Division play where they lost their 2024 debut 35-14 at Grand Blanc. The Cavs are 0-4 overall.

They lost non-conference contests 44-16 at Gladwin and 31-12 at Holt.

After winning 20-0 on opening night in non-conference play at Holly, Bay City Western was routed 40-6 at Petoskey in another non-conference game before Midland Dow opened Saginaw Valley Conference North Division play with a 44-9 romp in Bay City. The Warriors then lost 3-2 at home to Midland to spoil their homecoming festivities.

Flint Carman-Ainsworth will celebrate its homecoming next week. The 7 pm opponent next Friday is state-ranked Saginaw Heritage. The Hawks are No. 8 in Division 2 despite losing their first two Valley games on the road at Grand Blanc and Davison who are both Division 1 powers.

A parade is scheduled along with the 1st Annual Carman-Ainsworth Charge On! It will be a 5k run and walk event on Sept. 28. The Cavalier Homecoming 5k run/walk is an event for all ages and abilities to kick off homecoming week with a scenic loop through the Fair Mott Park and Dye Meadows subdivisions with a finishing stretch through the Carman-Ainsworth High School campus. Each participant will receive a t-shirt and medal with all proceeds from the race going to the CAHS Student Council program. 

FLINT (CCN) — A $10 million grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation will help re-open the shuttered old Beecher High School building.

The announcement was made via a post on the Mott Foundation's web site.

“The Mott Foundation wants to help young people in our community succeed in school and life, and we continue to look for ways to reach and support them — no matter where they attend school,” said Ridgway White, President & CEO of the Mott Foundation. “This is a great opportunity to help one of our local school districts improve outcomes and strengthen the educational ecosystem in our community.”

The Beecher district’s shuttered its old high school building in 2004 to address a significant fiscal deficit and relocated all high school students to the middle school building, where it has since operated both schools in the same space. The fully renovated high school building will feature 20 classrooms with innovative spaces that could serve up to 500 students. There are currently about 250 high school students enrolled in the Beecher district.

The old high school building has about 49,000 square feet of room inside it.

The renovation is estimated to cost about $18 million and will include: demolishing small buildings on the site; replacing the roof, windows, flooring and doors; and relocating the gym and cafeteria. The building also will receive a new entrance and HVAC system, as well as new lockers. All that is according to Richard Klee who just retired after serving as Beecher superintendent since July 2021. He said the district has achieved financial stabilization, allowing it to develop a vision for both enhanced facilities and academic offerings that will better meet the needs of today’s students and families.

“This is about more than just a new building for our students,” Klee said. “The new high school and a re-imagined curriculum will create an opportunity for students to focus on career pathways and the soft skills required to advance in the world of work beyond graduation.”

 Klee said the new curriculum will include early access to career and technical education and precollege programming while offering other programming in fine arts and performing arts, health care, as well as in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

Klee noted that the comprehensive high school model also will include community education and afterschool programming, and the district plans to increase social work support and enhance social-emotional programming.

In addition to the Mott Foundation, the state of Michigan and local philanthropist Matt Rizik have contributed significant support to the renovation project. Rizik, a Flint area native and chief executive officer at Detroit-based ROCK which serves the Dan Gilbert family and its companies, kicked off a capital campaign for the new high school in 2022 with a personal donation and then publicly rallied more support for the project.

“Ever since I had the privilege of meeting the students and families of Beecher High, my passion for this project has only grown,” Rizik said. “The Beecher community is rich in resilience and resourcefulness, but like so many, it has needed meaningful investment to unlock its full potential. In just the short time I’ve been working with the school, I’ve witnessed the students’ passion for learning and their drive to succeed. The Mott Foundation’s grant will provide the students with the environment they deserve to build a strong foundation for lifelong success.”

Work to renovate the school already has begun, and the district hopes to welcome ninth through 12th grade students to the building by early 2026.

“As a 1983 Beecher High School graduate, I’m proud to see that a piece of Beecher’s history is being restored and will soon be a welcoming place for students once again,” said Marvin Smoot who is Presiden to the Beecher Board of Education. 

He added: “Our students and the community deserve to be proud of what this district has to offer, and I’m excited for the future. We will continue to work together with teachers, staff and the community to focus on great outcomes for our kids.”

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is a photo of the old Beecher High School building.

BY MELISSA MARTIN

 CCCN Staff Writer

MUNDY TWP. (CCN) — A man's controversial death reported exclusively by CCN on its Metro Flint News/Talk Radio and at theDailyGazette.net last month has led to at least one public official taking notice.

In fact, Mundy Township Trustee Kyle Ward made a  motion Monday night (Jan. 13, 2025) to end his township's contract with Medstar.

Trustee Leah Davis supported the motion but the board voted it down 5-to-2.

Supervisor Jennifer Arrand Stainton made an alternative motion approved 7-0 to re-visit the issue in February.

Medstar serves multiple communities across the Metro Flint regional area that have exclusive contracts with the company for ambulance service.

 Medstar's web site describes the ambulance serve as "southeast Michigan’s largest and most integrated EMS and mobile health provider .. serving more than 190,000 patients annually throughout Bay, Clinton, Eaton, Genesee, Ingham, Lapeer, Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties."

A request for comment from Medstar has not yet been responded to by any company officials.

Mundy Township has been using Medstar since May 2022 when CEO Kolby Miller gave board members a "guarantee" that they would respond within nine minutes at least 90 percent of the time.

“When you staff on a demand model, you place your vehicles where the highest probability of a call is going to be for a safe response and during the peak times, we staff for peak volume," CEO MIller had told Mundy Township board members prior to winning the contract. 

Miller said at the time that she was aware that concerns had been raised in Genesee County about potential lawsuits, liability issues, or longer response times in the case that an ambulance from another company might be closer to the 911 call. “I think that when you design vehicles so that you’re preventing 35 and 40- and 50-minute response times that some of the periphery in the county is seeing, and managing all of the response times, you ultimately improve the response time for the system. Rather than just focusing on a 45 second or 50 second difference between one or two of the individual calls and using that as some sort of scare tactic.”

Trustee Ward stressed that if another ambulance is closer to a 911 call, it should be sent out to save lives.

The case reported by CCN involved a Grand Blanc man who needed an ambulance but one wasn't available because of fears of not getting paid in Flint where his vehicle accident occurred. The man was transported to the hospital via a private vehicle and died.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is a photo of Mundy Township Trustee Kyle Ward.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

MUNDY TWP. (CCN) — Newly-elected Mundy Township Supervisor Jennifer Arrand Stainton flexed her political muscle today (Jan. 27, 2025) by adding some power to her team.

She has made it clear she's unhappy with Township Attorney Jack Belzer and Township Manager Chad Young but she has stopped short of saying they will be fired.

Dave Huffman isn't so shy about his feelings on the subject. The Morning Gazette Radio Show reported today on Metro Flint News/Talk Radio that Huffman would be sworn in soon as Stainton's new Deputy Supervisor and he said: "They elected Jennifer by a big margin and if anybody left over from the old administration doesn't realize it, the people have spoken." 

The Daily Gazette has learned that Huffman took his official oath at about 1 pm.

The agenda for a 7 pm meeting tonight of the Mundy Township Board of Trustees has "Introduction of Dave Huffman" listed under comments by Supervisor Stainton.

She could not be reached for comment.

State law permits Township Supervisors to appoint a Deputy Supervisor.

Township Clerks must be notified of this and Mundy Township Clerk Cory Bostwick has not yet responded to a request for a comment.

State law says a Deputy Supervisor can be paid from the Supervisor's salary or be an unpaid volunteer if Supervisor Stainton is unable to get four votes to set a salary for Huffman.

Supervisor Stainton won by more than 500 votes in November on an agenda to stop the proposed advanced manufacturing site from going in on the so-called Mega Site that consists of more than 1,300 acres bordered by Linden Road, Elms Road, Maple Road and Jennings Road. Governor Gretchen Whitmer allowed the Flint & Genesee Group's Flint & Genesee Economic Alliance to get $269 million in state taxpayer funding without a business plan or a buyer to build a plant there to support her push for electric vehicles. 

Two others she endorsed for Trustee also won at the ballot box — incumbent board member Kyle Ward and newcomers Leah Davis and Zack Sack. All three are Republicans and Stainton is believed to be the first Republican Supervisor elected since the township was organized in 1837.

New Treasurer Danelle Barker, a former Chair of the Mundy Township Planning Commission, is also a Republican.

"With five Republicans on the new board, maybe it's time the county party needs to step up and explain to these elected officials how they need to support their Republican administration of the newly-elected Supervisor voters put in," Huffman said about opposition he says Supervisor Stainton is facing from inside Mundy Township Hall. 

She told The Morning Gazette Radio Show last month that Township Manager Young took the office of old Supervisor Tonya Ketzler and erected a new sign above the door while also taking the Supervisor's Secretary for himself and appointing himself to boards around the county to represent the county. A special meeting was also called after Stainton spoke at a Flint City Council meeting and Young accused of her "representing Mundy Township there with no board authority to do so."

Stainton also claimed Township Attorney Belzer told her she couldn't do it.

She contacted attorney Paul Scott and Belzer reacted to his call with Scott at the next board meeting to admit the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution allows anyone free speech.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mundy Township Clerk Cory Bostwick responded after the story above was published. She said she swore in no Deputy Supervisor but said the Supervisor has the authority to appoint a Deputy Supervisor.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Dave Huffman being sworn in as Deputy Supervisor in Mundy Township

  (CCN) — Genesee's varsity football team goes to Burton next Friday night (Oct. 4, 2024) to take on the first place Bentley Bulldogs in Genesee Area Conference (GAC) action. 

The kick-off is scheduled for 7 pm.

Genesee collected a forfeit victory this week ago over Flint International Academy to go to 2-2 in GAC. The Wolves are 3-2 overall in this year's return to 11-man football play.

Flint International Academy is also making a return to 11-man football this season and was forced to forfeit due to injuries leaving the roster without enough players to compete.

Bentley is 2-0 so far in GAC play with of 34-6 over Flint Beecher and 35-0 over Flint International Academy. The Bulldogs lost their non-conference opener 22-15 to Flint Southwestern in the Vehicle City Gridiron Classic at Kettering University's historic Atwood Stadium in Flint. They then lost 48-18 last week at Whitmore Lake in another non-conference contest. Bentley goes to Bendle for a battle of Burton Friday night (Sept. 27, 2024).

Genesee's 2-0 GAC record trails only Burton Atherton which is off to a 3-0 start in GAC play. Atherton is idle from GAC action this week with a non-conference trip to Holton on tap.