MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) - An inmate who blames Michigan prison officials for gum disease is getting his day in court.

Jerry Flanory's lawsuit against three people is going to trial Monday in federal court in Marquette. He claims he lost a tooth in 2006 and suffered gum disease because he was denied toothpaste as a punishment for not attending prison classes.

The state says the doomed tooth was already loose and that Flanory had access to plenty of toothpaste.

Flanory's lawsuit alleging cruel punishment was dismissed as frivolous in 2009, but an appeals court reversed that decision. The 60-year-old from Flint was released from prison in 2009 but now is back in. Flanory is serving as his own attorney during the trial.

The city of Flint will soon launch a new crackdown on illegal metal scrappers.

Like many Michigan cities, Flint has been plagued by thieves illegally stripping metal from homes and other sources, and trying to sell the metal to scrap dealers.

Beginning in December, Flint will require people trying to sell scrap metal to get a permit from the city.

“The ultimate objective would be that all communities in Genesee County that have scrap metal yards would be part of the same system,” says Peter Bade,  Flint’s city attorney,  “Obviously, if someone can simply cross jurisdictional lines and sell illegal scrap in a neighboring community it undermines our efforts to stop this problem.”

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) - The U.S. Coast Guard is offering a $1,000 reward for information after someone directed a green laser at one of its helicopters during training off West Michigan.

The Coast Guard said Thursday that the laser was pointed at the helicopter the night of Aug. 17 from near Muskegon at Pioneer Park, where a group of people was seen around a campfire flashing a pattern of light signals. The Coast Guard says the people fled when a boat crew approached them.

No injuries were reported.

The Coast Guard warns that lasers can impair the vision of pilots. Cases of people pointing lasers at planes or helicopters have been reported elsewhere.

Tips in the case may be directed to the Coast Guard.

Michigan’s Department of Human Services is being sued for failing to disclose to parents that their adoptive children had special needs and therefore qualified for federal aid.

David Kallman is an attorney representing 8 families in the case.  He says because they didn’t know their children had disabilities, so they missed a deadline to claim these benefits for their adopted children, and are now struggling with major medical bills.

He says the families love their kids and want to help them.   But the expenses are decimating them.

A spokesman for DHS says they can’t comment on the case, since the suit won’t be filed until tomorrow, but that they investigate all allegations into wrongdoing.

- Chris Edwards, Michigan Radio Newsroom

DETROIT (AP) - The U.S. Labor Department says a Detroit-based bakery chain has agreed to pay $63,000 in back wages to 21 employees whom it wrongly classified as independent contractors.

The agency said Wednesday that its investigation found that Sheila's Bakery LLC committed violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act at its three locations.

The agency says the misclassification of the workers deprived them of federally mandated overtime pay at time-and-a-half when they worked more than 40 hours in a week. Instead, they got a flat hourly rate or a flat weekly salary of $340 to $400.

The government says it loses substantial amounts of income, Social Security and Medicare tax payments because of the misclassification of employees as contractors.