Journalist, lawyer remembered for effort to open government
Journalist and First Amendment attorney Jane Briggs-Bunting died this week at age 70, having fought cancer.
A resident of the Rochester area, she worked in many roles at Oakland University as well as at Michigan State University.
The OaklandPostOnline.com reported she died Tuesday after a seven-year fight against neuroendocrine cancer.
The longtime professor and department head was a member of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. She also was a lawyer, allowing her to lead fights against efforts to hide governmental actions.
“Jane was a fierce advocate for accountable and open government and inspired many with her life’s work,” said Michel Reitz, president of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government (MiCOG). “We at MiCOG are grateful for her vision in founding an organization that could champion government transparency. Readers around the state knew her from her op-eds and frequent comments defending open government.
“She was a dear friend, and we will miss her.”
She regularly advocated for stronger sunshine laws and for strengthening the Freedom of Information Act.
Before assuming professorship and director roles at Oakland University, she was a reporter for the Detroit Free Press and contributing writer for Life and People magazines.
Read more her full career at TheOaklandPostOnline.com.
ALPENA» A dry winter and recent sunny skies have led to a rash of recent brush fires around the state, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says.
Since Friday, the agency has responded to at least 40 such fires in the state, said Don Klingler, DNR resource protection manager for the Lower Peninsula.
A fast-moving grass fire Monday burned 86 acres in northeast Michigan’s Alcona County, The Alpena News reported.
Roger MacNeill, a forest fire officer at the Lincoln DNR office, said the fire jumped a drainage ditch and the Black River.
“When you have 20-foot flame lengths and debris flying in the air, it just flies over the river and lands on the ground and starts it on fire,” MacNeill said.
Grass fires have been rampant in Michigan this spring, with about 20 burning at once on Monday, including one that burned 600 acres in Manistee, MacNeill said.
SUMMIT TOWNSHIP » A 4-year-old child reported missing by his family died after he somehow landed in a water-filled ditch near his northern Michigan home, police said Wednesday.
The autistic boy’s death on Tuesday “doesn’t appear to be suspicious in nature,” state police said.
The boy was reported missing that same day from his home in Summit Township, south of Ludington, in Mason County.
He was pronounced dead at a Grand Rapids hospital. “Troopers, Mason County sheriff’s department and family searched the area and located the child, unresponsive, in a water-filled drainage ditch near the residence,” state police said.