Nolan Out Loud: Bobby, Kwame where s the $
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Bobby Ferguson, the co-conspirator of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, followed his buddy out of federal prison Thursday when Judge Nancy Edmunds released him 13 years early.
Ferguson was serving 21 years for participating in a criminal enterprise to defraud the taxpayers of Detroit. After former President Donald Trump pardoned Kilpatrick, Edmunds must have figured it unfair to keep his stooge locked up.
So both men are now free.
But the $83 million the feds say they stole is still unaccounted for. Is the money in a hiding place where Kilpatrick and Ferguson can access it to resume their once lavish lifestyles?
Credit U.S. Marshal
Associated Press DETROIT (AP) - A Detroit contractor who got millions of dollars of city work through extortion will be released early from prison. Judge Nancy Edmunds is citing Bobby Ferguson s health. But the judge also says it would be unfair to keep Ferguson locked up when former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was released by President Donald Trump. It would be inequitable to require Defendant to complete the lengthy sentence originally imposed while the more culpable co-defendant, who initially received an even lengthier sentence, has been released, Edmunds wrote.
Ferguson has hypertension, high cholesterol, and reduced lung capacity conditions that all put him at greater risk for COVID-19. According to the opinion, Ferguson says he has strong support from his wife and five adult children, and he ll live with his wife upon release.
I m out!, said the person on the other line.
It was Bobby Ferguson, the longtime friend of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick who had just been released from prison 10 years early, thanks to a federal judge who granted him compassionate release.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds concluded it wasn t fair to keep Ferguson locked up given that Kilpatrick was freed after then-President Donald Trump commuted the ex-mayor s 28-year sentence in January. She also took into account Ferguson s health and vulnerability to contracting COVID-19 behind bars, where he had been sentenced to serve 21 years.
Rataj, one of three lawyers who argued for Ferguson s release, said his client was not only thrilled he was humbled.
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Robert Gordon quit as Michigan health director in January on the same day he signed an order allowing restaurants to reopen for indoor dining after a monthslong shutdown following a resurgence of COVID-19.
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THE NEWS: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday announced a plan to tie the lifting of coronavirus pandemic restrictions to Michigan s vaccination rate, meaning in-office work restrictions are likely to ease before the end of May. Under the MI Vacc to Normal plan, all workers can go to their office two weeks after at least 55 percent of the 16-plus population has one shot a rate state officials expect to reach by the end of this week, meaning this first step could be reached before the end of May. After a 70 percent vaccination rate, or approximately 5.67 million adults, the state health department s broad gatherings and face mask orde