The Associated Press

A northern Michigan judge says a group opposed to a major wind farm near Lake Michigan can take its arguments to court.

A church on Detroit's west side has become a community developer by building 90 homes over four years and injecting pride and optimism in the neighborhood.

The last batch of new tenants moved in this month. The Rev. Oscar King III says stable housing is crucial if Detroit wants to recover. The homes are near his Northwest Unity Baptist Church.

The Detroit Free Press says there were more than 800 applicants for the homes, mostly two-story colonials. The renters include professionals, low-income families and even the homeless. Jack Bostic Jr. says homes are more important than a church having a fancy place to worship. He says his neighborhood looks like any suburb.

Janet Norfleet says her children pick up trash on their block, a habit that others are following.

Detroit police say three of four women recently found dead in car trunks had promoted themselves as escorts through a website.

Police Chief Ralph Godbee talked to reporters Monday, a day after the burned bodies of two women were discovered in a trunk on Detroit's east side. On Dec. 19, the bodies of two other women were also found in a car trunk.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has made improving the state's bottom line his top priority.
    

During his first year in office, the GOP governor has shaved billions of dollars off future health care and retirement commitments, scaled back tax breaks for retirees and low-income workers, ended welfare benefits for 11,000 families and reduced both the state budget and business taxes.
    

The police chief at Eastern Michigan University has died in a suicide. The Washtenaw County sheriff's office says Greg O'Dell was found dead Friday just west of Ann Arbor. He was 54 years old.
    

O'Dell had recently returned to Ypsilanti as EMU's police chief after three months as public safety chief at the University of Michigan. He said he wanted to return to a job he loved.
    

EMU President Susan Martin says the campus is "shocked and saddened" by O'Dell's death. He was in law enforcement for 30 years, much of it with Ann Arbor police.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan lawmakers plan to make another attempt at passing legislation that could prompt insurance coverage for certain autism treatments in 2012.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville said Thursday that new legislation related to autism coverage is expected early next year.

It's likely the plan will differ in some ways from previous proposals that would have mandated insurers to offer coverage for autism treatments. Those measures were opposed by business and insurance groups that say mandating coverage would raise the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance.

Supporters of an insurance mandate say it would save Michigan money in the long run while helping families with autistic children.

Previous bills that would have mandated insurance companies to offer the coverage died in the Legislature, most recently last year in the Republican-led Senate.

TOKYO (AP) - Toyota says it aims to sell 8.48 million vehicles next year as it attempts a comeback from a year battered by the March disaster in Japan and the flooding in Thailand.

Toyota said in a release Thursday that its target for calendar 2012, which does not include group companies, would represent 20 percent growth from its global sales this year.

The manufacturer behind the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models said it plans to sell 8.95 million vehicles around the world in 2013.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The Michigan Supreme Court plans to hear a case over whether the state-appointed emergency manager for the Detroit Public Schools should be removed from office.

The court announced in an order Wednesday it would hear the case brought by Robert Davis, which was rejected by the state Court of Appeals. It says oral arguments are planned and briefs from those
involved are due within 42 days.

Davis argues that the office of emergency manager should be declared vacant because Roy Roberts didn't immediately take the oath of office earlier this year.

Roberts later took the oath.

The district said in a statement that Roberts "continues to work on the hard daily tasks of strengthening educational opportunities for Detroit students and righting Detroit Public Schools finances."

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - The cash-strapped city of Pontiac is moving forward with plans to sell a number of properties, listing sites such as police and fire stations as possibilities.

The Detroit Free Press reports Wednesday that city hall, a golf course and cemeteries also are on the list for possible sale. State-appointed emergency financial manager Lou Schimmel says he wants the option to sell them if needed.

The city has said that the cemeteries, however, can't be sold without a change in state law. And the newspaper reports that city officials aren't prepared to immediately turn over the keys to city hall or its police or fire facilities.

The Pontiac police department closed this summer.

Other sites on the list include parking lots, community centers, a library and two landfills.

DETROIT (AP) - Two former union officials have been sentenced to prison for threatening to prolong a strike against General Motors for personal gain.

Donny Douglas and Jay Campbell had been placed on probation, but the light punishments were overturned by an appeals court.

Douglas got 18 months in prison Monday while Campbell received a year and a day. They had been accused of threatening to extend a three-month strike at the Pontiac truck factory in 1997 unless a
friend and family member were hired for $150,000 jobs.

Prosecutors say it was akin to public corruption.

The appeals court overturned the original sentences because a judge failed to consider the financial loss suffered by GM when the two people were hired and many UAW members filed grievances.

ADRIAN, Mich. (AP) - Adrian College says it recently received a $20 million gift that's the largest in its history.

The private college about 60 miles southwest of Detroit said in a statement Monday that the bequest is from the estate of Willard M. Cornelius Sr., who served as a member of the school's board of trustees from 1931 to 1948.

According to the school, Cornelius was an early innovator in rustproofing for the automotive industry. The money will be used to help students with tuition as well as support renovation to the college's science and business buildings.

Adrian College President Jeffrey Docking says the "benefits of this tremendous gift are difficult to quantify."

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - AAA Michigan says gasoline prices are down about 13 cents per gallon during the past week to a statewide average of $3.20.

The auto club says Monday the average is about 20 cents per gallon higher than last year at this time.

Of the cities it surveys, AAA Michigan says the cheapest price for self-serve unleaded fuel is in the Saginaw and Bay City areas, where it's $3.10 a gallon. The highest average can be found in the Marquette area at $3.30.

Dearborn-based AAA Michigan surveys 2,800 Michigan gas stations daily.

A newspaper reports a tiger cub exhibit has closed at a Grand Rapids mall after public complaints and a planned protest. The Grand Rapids Press reported Friday that mall officials canceled the touring display that allows shoppers to play with and be photographed with the cubs for a price.

Sarah Hale tells the newspaper she had planned a protest for Saturday against the exhibit but called it off.

A newspaper says there were more than 31,000 homeless students in Michigan schools last year, an increase of more than 300 percent since 2007. Experts tell the Detroit Free Press that the reason appears to be home foreclosures across the state. In the past, schools typically heard different reasons, such as fire or domestic abuse.

Kids with no permanent address are living with relatives or friends or at shelters and motels. Nicole Larabee and her 14-year-old son have bounced from house to house in Livonia, including one with fleas. She had a $12-an-hour job but quit in 2010 for another job that fell through.

Larabee and 14-year-old son Matt are living in a friend's basement. Matt says it's hard to relax "unless you have your own place."

ST. JOSEPH -- City officials are hoping to have coyotes roaming near downtown trapped and released into the wild.

The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph reports two coyotes were sighted last week.

A business called Awesome Critter Gitters is being paid $25 per day by the city.  Owner Jim Sheffield says he will release the coyotes onto private land once they are captured.

Sheffield says his company typically euthanizes captured coyotes.

Coyotes are considered nuisances in a number of urban areas across Michigan, although they are not generally considered a threat to humans. They do prey on smaller animals, including pets.

Grosse Pointe Shores officials have said coyotes that wander too close to the Detroit suburb may have to be shot.  Bloomfield Hills ordered rifles with scopes and silencers in recent years to kill coyotes.