Family questions bus driver's crash record • Oxford parents call for change • Jacob Hills' killer sentenced

THURSDAY NEWS HIT - A family is questioning how a bus driver who hit and killed their loved one was still on the job after more than a dozen crashes, including another fatality.

Geraldine Johnson was fired by the Detroit Department of Transportation after fatally running over 67-year-old Janice Bauer as she crossed the street with a walk signal in Downtown Detroit during the summer of 2023. This fatal crash was far from being Johnson's first driving incident.

"(It's) Ms. Johnson, again," one officer can be heard saying on the body camera after the crash over the summer. "You know how many times she hit somebody and kill somebody?"

In 2015, Johnson also hit and killed a passenger, Joey Davis, as he left the bus to get his bike off the rack in the front.

"At first. …you would think it's just a distracted bus driver, but our investigation has revealed it's way deeper than that," attorney Heather Atnip said. "I am concerned that there may be other bus drivers on the road right now, similarly situated, and there may be future victims."

After the 2015 crash, personnel records show that Johnson took about two years off on medical. According to a clause in her contract, an employee off the job for 18 months or more cannot be disciplined, and their record is wiped clean.

Bauer's family is now suing.

Oxford parents call for change on anniversary of shooting

The day before the two-year anniversary of the fatal Oxford High School shooting, parents attended a roundtable where they called for change.

"Federally, I'd love to see some real action as far as gun control, like real, solid background checks and maybe banning certain weapons that don't make sense for regular people to have," parent Michelle McClellan said.

The school shooter's father is accused of buying the then-15-year-old boy the gun used days before the shooting. On Nov. 30, 2021, that teen walked into the school and shot 11 people, killing four.

"I hope that people are able to learn from this and understand that for those of us who have entrenched ourselves in this movement, we recognize that it is very complex, yet we are very dedicated to finding solutions," parent Emily Busch said.

Oxford schools are closed Thursday for Wildcat Remembrance Day.

Man sentenced to life without parole for murder of Jacob Hills

A man who murdered an 18-year-old man last summer and then stole the victim's gun will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Avion Sanders, 24, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole for killing Jacob Hills. A jury found him guilty of murder and weapons charges last month. He's currently in prison for resisting police in 2020.

Sanders, of Westland, murdered Hills, who was from Grand Blanc, in July 2022. A search that led to Hills' body began after his vehicle was found abandoned in Dearborn Heights on July 25, 2022.

Police in Dearborn Heights were contacted and a missing persons report was filed. Shortly after, police said Hills' father received an anonymous call that said his son was in a basement on Warren in Detroit.

"I pray that you are given no sympathy or mercy from anyone and that you suffer for the rest of your existence," Hills' father, Terrance Quaine Jr., said to Sanders during his sentencing. "I don’t even know where to start to tell the court the impact that the senseless brutal death Jacob has had."

Detroit unveils first wireless charging road in US

 The country's first wireless charging road that will energize electric vehicles without stopping has opened in Detroit.

The inductive-charging road spans a quarter mile on 14th Street, near Michigan Central and the city's mobility district. The officials overseeing the project called it the "future of roads."

Specialized coils were laid down beneath the asphalt of the street that can charge vehicles as they travel over it. It's the latest example of driving technology that officials had hoped would be created out of Michigan Central's mobility district.

"If it was easy, it would have already been done," said Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison.

Inside Blue Cross Blue Shield tentative deal 

A tentative deal between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and the UAW includes wage increases and job security for workers.

The deal on the table would improve pay, benefits, and job security for UAW-represented employees at BCBSM and Blue Care Network of Michigan – including thousands of dollars in ratification and inflation bonuses, and a dramatic reduction in the time required to reach the maximum pay level, from 22 years to just five.

"At the end of this contract, anybody with 5 years should be at top rate. That is phenomenal," said Tina Gates, president of UAW Local 1781.. "This is historic for any union member regardless of what union you belong to. This is historic for us, the people that do the labor,"

Throughout the strike that lasted for more than 70 days, the union workers have marched under scorching sun, heavy rain, and, more recently, harsh cold and snowfall. Now, the strike is on pause while members at four local UAW offices in Detroit, Lansing, and Grand Rapids vote on the deal. 

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Daily Forecast

Thursday is a bit warmer.

What else we're watching

1. A Detroit gas station clerk acted in self-defense when he shot and killed a teen over the weekend, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said. The clerk shot a 17-year-old at the gas station in the 9100 block of Dearborn Street.
2. A mother will stand trial after her young son wandered away from his Clinton Township home and froze to death earlier this year. Derricka Fleming, 25, is facing involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from the Jan. 23 death of her 5-year-old son.
3. Automated license plate readers are coming to Monroe County. Four cameras were mounted on poles at the intersection of Sterns and Secor Roads in Bedford Township.
4. During a mental health crisis, free assistance can now arrive at your doorstep – as a dozen mobile crisis units are being rolled out in Wayne County to help anyone in need. 
5. It's almost the weekend - find plans here.

Israel releases more prisoners after Hamas frees 16 hostages amid Gaza truce

Israel released another group of Palestinian prisoners early Thursday in exchange for 16 hostages freed hours earlier by the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza. The releases came on the sixth day of a temporary truce in the Israel-Hamas war.

The latest swap for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel under the Gaza truce comes as international mediators raced to seal another extension to allow further exchanges and prolong the halt of Israel’s air and ground offensive.

A bus carrying some of the Palestinian detainees was seen arriving in the West Bank city of Ramallah before dawn. Most prominent among those freed was Ahed Tamimi, a 22-year-old activist who gained worldwide fame in 2017 after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral on social media.

Israeli troops arrested her at her West Bank home on Nov. 6 for "inciting to terrorism" on her Instagram account. Her mother said Tamimi’s account had been hacked.

Read more here.