The Associated Press

ADRIAN, Mich. (AP) - Police in southern Michigan say crews are responding to a chemical release and people nearby are being asked to stay in their homes as a precaution.

No injuries were reported Friday morning in Adrian, about 60 miles southwest of Detroit. Police say there's no immediate threat to the public.

Police say in a statement that a barrel containing 30 to 35 gallons of nitric acid was letting off gas after reacting with a small amount of sodium hydroxide.

Roads nearby are closed and the fire department is asking residents and others within one-tenth of a mile of the area to stay where they are. Police say that could last until 1 p.m.

The Lenawee County hazardous materials team is on the scene along with the county's emergency management office.

DETROIT (AP) -  After a five-month trial, jurors have the corruption case of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

But the judge says formal deliberations won't start until Tuesday, at the jury's request. Monday is a public holiday

Prosecutor Mark Chutkow had the final word, giving a blistering rebuttal to the closing remarks of defense lawyers. He says Kilpatrick engaged in "breathtaking" corruption that robbed Detroiters of honest government.

Kilpatrick, his father Bernard and construction contractor Bobby Ferguson are accused of widespread corruption through bribery and extortion. The Kilpatricks are also charged with tax crimes.

The prosecutor displayed a chart to show jurors the large spikes in cash deposits when Kilpatrick was mayor. Chutkow called it a "tidal wave of green."

Kwame Kilpatrick's lawyer says his client got cash gifts from supporters.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The Michigan Department of Transportation and Amtrak are saying full speed ahead on expanding the state's high-speed train service.

Amtrak will take over maintenance on the former Norfolk Southern Railway route used by Amtrak's Wolverine Service and Blue Water trains Feb. 16.

MDOT purchased 135 miles of the railroad last year.

MDOT says this will allow track improvements to begin to bring more areas high-speed train service. The department says improvements may begin as early as this spring.

Amtrak trains currently reach 110 mph along an 80-mile stretch between Porter, Ind. and Kalamazoo. The expansion of the high-speed service is expected to start between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek and head eastward.

MDOT and Amtrak say the goal is to get passengers between Chicago and Detroit in about 5 hours.

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - A judge says Pontiac's state-appointed emergency financial manager violated the Open Meetings Act in making changes to the city's retiree pension board.

The Oakland Press of Pontiac and the Detroit Free Press report Oakland County Circuit Judge Rae Lee Chabot on Wednesday ruled against Lou Schimmel, who last year cut the pension board from 11 members to five amid concerns about spending.

Chabot says the change "looks like a dictatorship."

Schimmel says he disagrees with the judge's order but he'll comply with the directive. He's working to fix the finances of the cash-strapped city.

The preliminary injunction comes in a lawsuit filed by the City of Pontiac Retired Employees Association. The board is scheduled to meet this month.

   Pontiac's finances have been under state supervision since 2009.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - An Ingham County judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Michigan's right-to-work law.

The Lansing State Journal reports that Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina rejected the suit on Monday because it should have been filed directly with the state Court of Appeals.

She didn't rule on the underlying legal challenge.

The right-to-work law takes effect in late March and makes it illegal to require financial support of a union as a condition of employment.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan's House Education committee chairwoman is calling on a state department to rescind its complaint over the use of American Indian mascots in schools.

Alto Republican Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons released a statement Monday criticizing the Michigan Department of Civil Rights for taking its complaint to the federal level.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Labor unions are asking a federal judge in Detroit to block part of Michigan's right-to-work law from taking effect in late March.

The lawsuit filed Monday is the second to challenge the law in recent weeks. It prohibits requiring workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan Public Service Commission and Michigan Energy Office officials plan to hold the first of seven forums this week on the state's energy future.

Among those scheduled to speak Thursday in Lansing include representatives of the Michigan Manufacturers Association, Michigan Environmental Council and Citizens Against Rate Excess.

The four-hour public forum called "Readying Michigan to Make Good Energy Decisions" starts at 1 p.m. at the Library of Michigan.

PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) - A $145 million expansion of the Blue Water Bridge customs plaza in Port Huron has been halted due to a lack of federal funding.

The Times-Herald reports that Port Huron city leaders have been told the federal government isn't interested in continuing the project.

The update was given Friday by federal and state officials. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Dennis Counihan says the project is not part of the agency's current five-year plan.

CHICAGO (AP) - An environmental policy group has identified hundreds of Midwest manufacturers that stand to benefit from the web of high-speed rail routes emerging from Chicago.

A report released Friday by the Environmental Law & Policy Center says 460 supply-chain manufacturers in seven Midwest states are poised to reap new business, along with a dozen highly visible companies that make rail cars and locomotives.

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (AP) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will be the keynote speaker at the 2013 Mackinac Policy Conference in May.

The Detroit Regional Chamber's annual conference brings together politicians and business leaders on Mackinac Island. The chamber says Bush will talk about education, immigration and economic growth.

Bush is the son of former President George H.W. Bush and brother of ex-President George W. Bush. He was Florida's Republican governor from 1999 through 2007.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A Michigan lawmaker plans to quickly introduce a bill to legalize medical-marijuana shops after the state Supreme Court said they're not allowed under a 2008 law.

Republican Representative Mike Callton of Nashville, Michigan says he's concerned cancer patients and others won't have access to the drug without dispensaries.

He says many of the state's 125,000 medical-marijuana users can't grow their own and there aren't enough caregivers to grow it for them. Callton says patients will be forced to go underground to find pot.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - The former Ann Arbor headquarters of bookstore chain Borders Group has been sold.

The Ann Arbor office of Colliers International tells The Detroit News that the buyer requested a confidentiality agreement, so no name was publicly disclosed. Colliers International is handling the sale.

The 330,000-square-foot headquarters was listed last year for $6.9 million.

Ever since Michigan voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 2008, confusion over how to implement the practice has reigned. 

In one of the most significant rulings to date, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled today that medical marijuana dispensaries can be shut down as a public nuisance.

Update 4:51 p.m.

MPRN's Jake Neher spoke with Michael Komorn of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.

Komorn said the ruling is a setback, but that it will be up to local communities to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries.

"I don't think, at the end of the day, that communities - and the people that are within the communities that are going to sit on the jury – are going to convict on these," said Komorn.

"The local authorities have made it clear that they don't want to, nor do they care about, this behavior. They don't find it to be a nuisance and it's not important for them to prosecute," he said.

Neher reports that Michigan State Attorney General Bill Schuette says he plans to send a letter to county prosecutors explaining how the ruling empowers them to close the dispensaries.

2:45 p.m.

After the Court of Appeals ruling in this case back in 2011, shutdowns and busts followed.

Now we're reading that some dispensaries are being advised to close their doors by their lawyers.

Emily Monacelli reports for MLive on the Med Joint Community Compassion Center in Kalamazoo County. After the ruling, the Center's founder, Kevin Spitler, said his doors would stay open, but that changed:

But less than an hour later, Spitler said his lawyer had advised him to shut down. He said he did not know how long the dispensary would stay closed.  Spitler has seven employees, including himself, all of whom are registered medical marijuana caregivers, he said. He declined to say how many patients they serve. 

"That means everybody has to go to the streets to get their medicine now," Spitler said of the effect of the Michigan Supreme Court ruling.

12:22 p.m.

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled today on a case heard before the Michigan Court of Appeals in August 2011.

In 2011, the Court of Appeals found that the Mount Pleasant dispensary, Compassionate Apothecary, was a public nuisance and in violation of the public health code, and that the sale of medical marijuana is not protected under the law.

Many dispensaries closed their doors after that ruling, waiting to see how police might respond. Some departments responded with raids and crackdowns, while others allowed the dispensaries to continue.

It remains to be seen what will occur in the wake of this ruling

The justices who signed the majority 4-2 opinion said their reasoning was different, but the conclusion they reached was the same.

From today's Michigan Supreme Court ruling:

Although it did so for a different reason than the one we articulate, the Court of Appeals reached the correct conclusion that defendants  are not entitled to operate a business that facilitates patient-to-patient sales of marijuana.  Because the business model of defendants’ dispensary relies entirely on transactions that do  not comply with the MMMA, defendants are operating their business in “[a] building . . . used for the unlawful . . . keeping for sale . . . or furnishing of any controlled substance,” and plaintiff is entitled to an injunction enjoining the continuing operation of the business because it is a public nuisance.

11:35 a.m.

We will link to the ruling once we have it.

Karen Bouffard writes for the Detroit News that Supreme Court Justices Chief Justice Robert Young Jr. and Justices Markman, Kelly and Zahra ruled that the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 only protects registered caregivers and their patients.

The justices also ruled patient-to-patient transfers of medical marijuana are not legal under the voter-approved law, appearing to contradict a Court of Appeals decision last week that concluded there's nothing illegal about a medical marijuana user providing a small amount of pot to another registered user at no cost.

Here's more on that appeals court ruling. 

10:43 a.m.

DETROIT (AP) - The Michigan Supreme Court says users of medical marijuana can't buy it at pot shops.

The 4-1 decision Friday is the most significant court ruling since voters approved marijuana for certain illnesses in 2008. It means the state's 126,000 approved users must grow their own pot or have a state-licensed caregiver grow it for them.

The state appeals court declared dispensaries illegal in 2011, but enforcement has depended on the attitudes of local authorities. Some communities took a hands-off approach while waiting for the Supreme Court to make the ultimate decision.

The case involves a Mount Pleasant dispensary that allowed medical-marijuana users to sell pot to each other. Owners took as much as a 20 percent cut of each sale. Isabella County shut it down as a public nuisance.

DETROIT (AP) - A judge has refused to dismiss corruption charges against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, clearing a path for the trial's closing arguments Monday.

A request for acquittal before jury deliberations is a standard move in a criminal case but rarely granted. Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds kept the government's case intact Friday, although prosecutors on their own trimmed some of the many charges.