eden wells

After three years, the criminal probe into the Flint water crisis is back to square one.

Two employees at the state Department of Environmental Quality have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors related to the Flint water crisis. 

Michael Prysby and Steven Busch have also agreed to testify against others in the cases. The two men are the fifth and sixth people to agree to deals rather than go to trial on charges related to involvement in the Flint water crisis. 

They pleaded no contest to misdemeanors in exchange for prosecutors dropping felony charges that include tampering with water monitoring reports. 

Flint’s mayor is dumbfounded by a decision to offer a new state job to one of the defendants in the Flint water crisis criminal investigation.

A judge is scheduled to decide this week if another state official will face trial on charges related to the Flint water crisis. 

Dr. Eden Wells is Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive. She’s facing charges of involuntary manslaughter, obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer, all in connection with the state’s handling of Flint’s tainted tap water.

Judge William Crawford spent months listening as prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over evidence and testimony presented during Well’s preliminary hearing.

A key figure in exposing Flint’s water crisis vigorously defended one of the state officials criminally charged in the crisis in a Genesee County courtroom Tuesday.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha’s research revealed elevated blood lead levels in Flint children in 2015. The study came after residents had complained for more than a year about the quality of the city’s water after its source was switched to the Flint River. 

But state officials initially attacked the study and tried to dismiss it.

A disagreement between Flint water crisis researchers is escalating.

Virginia Tech Professor Marc Edwards has filed a complaint against a Wayne State University professor over claims he’s made about research into a deadly Legionella outbreak in Genesee County.

Gov. Rick Snyder has appointed a top state official criminally charged in the Flint water crisis investigation to head a new council tasked with improving Michigan’s response to emerging public health threats.

Dr. Eden Wells is Michgan’s chief medical executive.   

Wells will be in court tomorrow for a hearing on charges of obstruction of justice and lying to an officer in connection to the Flint water crisis. Prosecutors say an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter will also likely be added.

A judge is considering whether to allow testimony that could link state health director Nick Lyon to an effort to limit a study into a deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak.

Lyon is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office.  

Wayne State University environmental engineering professor Shawn McElmurry was part of a team studying the legionella outbreak in Genesee County from 2014 through 2015.   

A top state health department official listened as a county health department worker testified in court Tuesday about state agencies blocking a Legionnaires Disease outbreak investigation. 

James Henry testified he started working on Flint’s water problems on his first day at the Genesee County Health Department in the fall of 2014. The outbreak killed at least 12 people from 2014 through the end of 2015. 

Testifying in court today, the daughter of a man who died of Legionnaires' disease in 2015 testified she was not made aware of a deadly outbreak that was underway in Genesee County at the time.

Mary Anne Tribble says her elderly father led an active life, despite some health issues. But his health deteriorated quickly in June of 2015, following a trip to Flint’s McLaren Hospital. Tribble says she and other family members were with him when he died.

“That’s when we found out he had Legionella,” Tribble told the judge.

Another top state official is scheduled to appear in a courtroom in Flint Monday in connection with that city’s tainted tap water crisis.

Court hearings resume next month for state officials criminally charged in the Flint water crisis.

Nick Lyon’s preliminary exam is scheduled to continue the day after Halloween.   Lyon is the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.    He’s charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a man who died of Legionnaires Disease. 

A top state official will face new charges in the Flint water crisis.

Dr. Eden Wells is Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive. She was already charged with obstruction of justice and lying to a police office.

Special Counsel Todd Flood announced in court this morning that he plans to file involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office charges against Wells.

“Based on new review of other documents and testimony that came out last week, we believe that discovery put us in this place,” says Flood.

Michigan’s top doctor, Eden Wells, will be in a Flint courtroom Monday.  The hearing will determine whether she'll go to trial on charges related to the Flint water crisis.

Dr. Wells is Chief Medical Executive in the state health department.

Wells is charged with “obstruction of justice” and “lying to an officer” in connection with a Legionnaires' disease outbreak during Flint’s tap water crisis.

Wells allegedly lied when she claimed she had no knowledge of the outbreak until September 2015, when she actually was aware of it six months earlier.

More charges may be coming in the Flint water investigation.

Special Counsel Todd Flood hinted at the possibility of new charges during a hearing for a defendant facing an involuntary manslaughter charge in connection with a fatal Legionnaires' disease case.  

Defense attorneys oppose a move by prosecutors to consolidate Flint water crisis criminal cases.

Michigan's Chief Medical Executive, Dr. Eden Wells, is charged with “obstruction of justice” and “lying to an officer” in connection with a Legionnaires' Disease outbreak during Flint’s tap water crisis.  She made a brief appearance in court today in Flint.   

During the hearing, prosecutors raised the potential of consolidating all the ongoing criminal cases in the Flint water probe into one court. Currently, the 13 cases are spread among several different judges in 67th district court. 

Health officials are concerned about a growing outbreak of Hepatitis-A in southeast Michigan.

Hepatitis A is a viral disease that attacks the liver.     It’s not usually fatal.  But two of the 107 patients recorded in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties since last August have died. 

“We do think that there are various pockets of this Hepatitis A,” says Dr. Eden Wells, the chief medical executive with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, “We’re not sure what’s driving it, but it is contagious.”

State health officials are warning Michiganders headed south on vacation this winter to be aware that Zika is still a major health threat.

The mosquito-borne virus can cause serious birth defects.  The Centers for Disease Control reports people have been infected in Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico, as well as the Caribbean and South America.

Dr. Eden Wells is Michigan’s chief medical executive. She’s concerned travelers may be less worried because Zika has not been in the news very much lately.

The Michigan State University College of Human Medicine is getting a $500,000 grant from the state to develop a registry of Flint residents exposed to the city’s tainted drinking water.

The grant is coming from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. 

Dr. Eden Wells, Michigan's chief medical executive, says while children’s exposure to lead in the water is a primary concern, the registry will follow other health issues as well.

State health officials have asked for help from the Centers for Disease Control to investigate shigella outbreaks in Saginaw and Genesee Counties.

Shigella is a highly infectious bacteria that causes gastro-intestinal illness. 

According to Dr. Eden Wells, Michigan's Chief Medical Executive, the State Epidemiologist made the request last Friday. The CDC investigative team arrived today to map the bacteria's spread, and to look into possible risk factors and causes.

An outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness  is easing in Genesee and Saginaw Counties.

Many of the dozens of cases of Shigella occurred in Flint, but peaked weeks ago.

Symptoms include bloody diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain.  More than a dozen people have been hospitalized, but there have been no fatalities.  

Dr. Eden Wells is the state’s chief medical executive. She says it’s not clear if people’s reluctance to use Flint water for basic hygiene is a factor.

Expanded Medicaid coverage starts in Flint today.

The expanded Medicaid coverage was approved in response to the Flint water crisis.

Medicaid will cover Flint residents up to 21 years old and pregnant women. 

Dr. Eden Wells, Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive, says they’ve been “waiting for this day for a long time.”

“This city’s residents have been exposed to lead in their water,” says Wells, “This requires long-term access to good, comprehensive primary and specialty healthcare.”