(WXYZ) — Hey, you're busy — we get it.
We know a lot happens throughout the week, and you may not catch all of our stories here at WXYZ. So we've decided to gather the most talked-about stories from the past week all in one place that you can check out during your free time over the weekend.
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Here are the buzz-worthy stories from the week of Nov. 18:
'A lot of devastation.' Community steps in to help those impacted by condo explosion
The explosion of a condo complex in Orion Township on Tuesday dominating headlines for several days across metro Detroit. Thankfully, no one was killed, but two people were critically injured and nearly two dozen units were impacted.
A local church opened its doors to welcome those in who were impacted, offering food, water and a place to sleep.
It's where we found 74-year-old Ross Flore. His home was damaged in the blast.
"My bedroom and my son's bedroom are on the other side so that's what took the direct brunt of the explosion," said Flore.
He said Tuesday's explosion at the condos is like nothing he's ever experienced before. But what he was most worried about was his cat, Snickers.
She was found by firefighters in a pile of rubble, unharmed, the morning after the explosion.
We were there as they were reunited.
'A sense of hope': Howell Nature Center rehab clinic to reopen after support pours in
Last week, we brought you the story of the financial struggles that plagued the Howell Nature Center after they say donations drastically decreased.
However, after our story aired, the nonprofit said they have raised $90,000 of their $100,000 goal by the end of the year.
The nature center said it was a perfect storm of rising costs, decreasing donations and fewer schools and groups taking field trips that led to the struggle.
They closed their Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic that takes in 2,000 injured animals a year in October due to the strain. By Friday, the nonprofit saw a significant increase in donations.
“Friday alone brought in $48,000... I still get chills just saying that right now," Howell Nature Center CEO Tina Bruce said. “And it took 824 people to get us there.”
As a thank you, the nature center is opening to the public Saturday with no admission fees. They are now looking at rehiring staff and getting critical operations back up and running. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic will reopen by the end of this week.
Living organ donors to receive $10,000 tax credit under new law
A new Michigan law is providing a tax credit of up to $10,000 to living organ donors. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2025.
David Galbenski, a liver transplant recipient, shared his story of survival with 7 News Detroit.
"In 2013, I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis, which has no known treatment until you enter end-stage liver disease," he explained.
Galbenski said when he entered end-stage liver disease, he became eligible for a transplant and a miracle happened in 2019 with the help of a living organ donor.
"I was the grateful recipient of a living donor, living transplant when my brother-in-law Mark Dybis gave me a portion of his liver to save my life," he said.
A bill sponsored by state Rep. Felicia Brabec recently became law, allowing living organ donors to receive up to a $10,000 tax credit for donating an organ. The money aims to reimburse donors for out-of-pocket expenses.
"Lost wages, travel and lodging expenses and child care expenses," Galbenski explained.
He said he received his transplant at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital. Galbenski and other advocates for the new law say the hope is to double or triple the number of living organ donors in Michigan.
Float designed by middle school student for Detroit's Thanksgiving Day parade revealed
Some Detroit students were honored for their creativity, continuing 33 years of tradition during the unveiling of this year’s float for The Skillman Foundation.
This year's theme is "We are better together."
Ten-year-old Harmony Henry's drawing was chosen out of the hundreds of submissions to be the winner of this year's competition. She said that is the meaning behind her drawing.
“I was like, oh my gosh, woah. My mom was jumping up and down. She was like ‘you earned it, you earned it.’ But I was really excited and proud of me, myself and I.” Harmony said.
Angelique Power, president and CEO of the Skillman Foundation, said it's not easy to choose a winner, but Harmony's drawing checked all their boxes.
“All the different types of people working together to make the world better, not people who were like each other, but specifically people who were different,” Powers said.
The late Brian Barczyk’s dream of opening aquarium, LegaSea, nears completion
Lori Barczyk, whose late husband Brian shared his story with us last year at 'The Reptarium' in Utica — an interactive reptile zoo that he founded, said Brian's dream of building the Legasea Aquarium and the Reptarium expansion is taking shape.
"And the only way that’s possible, honestly, is with the amazing crew that I have behind me," Lori said, getting emotional thinking about it. "It’s a hundred percent a team effort.”
She's grateful for all the support and donations to reach their goal, as she continues to raise awareness about wildlife and pancreatic cancer.
"If there’s one thing you want people to know about pancreatic cancer, what would it be?" our Aliia SMith asked her.
"It’s a hard one because by the time you normally find out, it’s too late. So, I would say, if there’s any chance of anything, early screening," Lori responded.
Brian did not have family history when he was diagnosed in February 2023. But his family found out this year, he was not alone.
“Brian’s Uncle actually passed away in June from pancreatic cancer," Lori said. “He was diagnosed, and within two months he passed away.”
With family history, you can ask for genetic testing, counseling and early screening.
Abuse allegations detailed in federal investigation at Pontiac General Hospital
A patient died while restrained. Others say they were assaulted and abused by staff.
Those are just some of the allegations surfacing in a federal report that led to a local psychiatric hospital losing its Medicare and Medicaid funding.
“I think about it every single day — every day,” Bri Jackson said about the way she says she was treated when she was held for nine days inside Pontiac General Hospital.
Bri says after she lost her job and her health insurance in 2022, she ran out of her anti-depressant medication. When she qualified for Medicaid, she went to a family doctor to try to get her medication refilled. Jackson says she was not suicidal but says that request for medication turned into her being hospitalized against her will.
“I just wanted to get help. And what I got was not help. I was not helped,” Jackson said.
Earlier this year, the 7 Investigators first showed you how other psychiatric patients alleged they were held against their will, not provided any therapy inside the hospital and some of them alleged they experienced abuse.
Lakeshia says she became her daughter’s legal guardian after the 23-year-old was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In January of 2022, Lakeshia says she had to take her daughter to a local emergency room during a depressive episode. She then got transferred to Pontiac General Hospital.
“My daughter was there for nearly a week without Pontiac General making contact with me, without even so much as a phone call,” Lakeshia said.
Lakeshia says when her daughter was able to call, she got terrible news.
“She was crying, crying. I’m like what’s wrong? She said they just jumped on me,” Lakeshia said. “I said who jumped on you? And she says an employee.”
Lakeshia filed a police report about the incident with Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that the hospital’s participation in the Medicare program will be terminated on Nov. 24, 2024.
That means they won’t be able to get reimbursed for Medicare or Medicaid patients.
“I'm happy that the spotlight is on them and there are going to be consequences and they can stop doing what they're doing to people,” Jackson said.
Records obtained by the 7 Investigators give us some insight as to why the feds are doing this.
In early April, CMS records show that a 41-year-old male patient was restrained after he started “swinging at staff.” The patient fell “prone to the floor” and staff kept him in that position. The records show one mental health tech used his knee, elbow and chest to keep the patient restrained.
The patient stopped moving, but it took staff several minutes to start CPR and even longer to bring a crash cart with a working defibrillator to the patient. Records show the defibrillator was not used for at least 13 minutes. The patient was pronounced dead after EMS transported him to a separate hospital.
Other findings by CMS investigators include staff punching a patient and hazardous items left accessible to developmentally delayed patients in a janitor’s closet.
CMS isn’t the only agency investigating Pontiac General.
“It started following your reporting, Heather, that we opened a project into looking into Pontiac General, Stonecrest Center and Harbor Oaks. That project is related to mental health treatment at those facilities and whether proper protocol is being followed for involuntary treatment and the quality of treatment there. We've been to all three facilities in person in the past six months, including Pontiac General, and we continue to receive calls on those issues and actively investigate them,” said Simon Zagata, director of the Community and Institutional Rights Team at Disability Rights Michigan.
Zagata says he’s saddened to hear a patient died after being improperly restrained.
“The way the restraint was done was contrary to how you're supposed to do a restraint based on the standards. Michigan has standards for how a restraint is conducted in a mental health facility and the fact that this restraint was prone — so the patient was face down and had somebody’s elbow, chest, knee on that patient's back for an extended period of time — that is not how a restraint is supposed to occur. So to hear that someone died because this protocol was not followed, it's sad and quite frankly, it makes me angry," Zagata said.
Zagata says he’s relieved to know CMS is taking action.
“I was really happy to see those enforcement powers used in a situation where it's pretty clear that patients are not getting appropriate treatment and patients are getting abused,” Zagata said. “No money, but especially federal money, should be going to pay for treatment that results in that. We're also very concerned and keeping an eye on how the transition happens for people in that community and people receiving treatment there to make sure that they have a place to go to receive high quality treatment.”
In their notice to the state for laying off employees, the hospital owner indicated they expect to get their contract with Medicare reinstated, but it’s not clear if or when that will happen. Pontiac General Hospital is privately owned. It's CEO is Sanyam Sharma, who has not returned calls and emails asking for comment.
In the meantime, the Oakland Community Health Network had a contract that allowed Pontiac General to bill Medicaid $950 a day for their psychiatric patients. They are now in the process of terminating that contract as well.
A spokeswoman for the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network did not respond to questions about whether they are revoking their contract with Pontiac General.
DPD pulls 30 officers off the street over inactive, lapsed law enforcement licenses
At least thirty Detroit police officers have been taken off the street after the department discovered they were working without active law enforcement licenses.
The officers affected are from all across the department, including homicide, road patrol and the special victims unit, which investigates child abuse, domestic violence and sex crimes.
“As of this morning, their guns and badges were taken from them,” said Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald. “They’ll be on administrative duty until we get this cleared up, hopefully as soon as possible.”
In a statement released Thursday, MCOLES said they show 32 Detroit officers without an active license.
DPD first got wind that there was a problem about two months ago, when they discovered one of their officers didn’t have an active license with MCOLES, the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards.
The discovery triggered a broader audit that discovered three more officers with lapsed or inactive licenses, and has now ballooned to 30.
“That is a big problem,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re working through the list, we’re trying to figure out what’s needed, where we need to get the documentation necessary.”
The problem appears to only affect officers who previously worked for DPD, left to join another department and later returned.
Officials say the that the department’s human resources or recruiting divisions are likely responsible for what they’re calling an error in paperwork that led to the officers removal.
According to MCOLES, the officers "were hired between November 2019 and August of 2024. Initial indications suggest DPD did not request reactivation of these officer’s law enforcement licenses when they were hired or rehired. The investigation is ongoing and at this point involves at least 32 officers."
“It’s very shocking,” said Commissioner Ricardo Moore, who oversees the department as a member of the Board of Police Commissioners. “I think that our personnel director needs to answer a couple questions to the board.”
Before the officers will be returned to active status, MCOLES says they need to be subjected to a background check to ensure that while they were away from the department, they didn’t encounter any problems.
"On a case-by-case basis the Commission will review the status of affected officer to determine if they are eligible for reactivation of their law enforcement licenses. The Commission collaborating with DPD to audit its entire roster and ensure all officers are actively licensed," said MCOLES Executive Director Tim Bourgeois.
“By all accounts, they’re all just outstanding officers,” Fitzgerald said. “They come to work every day, they do their job.”
While working to bring the officers back into active status, the department is also trying to wrap its arms around whether the license issues might cause problems in court.
Right now, they believe that so long as the unlicensed officers were working with a partner whose license was active, any arrests they made would be legal.
“We’re still on solid grounds there, I believe,” Fitzgerald said. “But again we’ll let the attorneys figure that one out.”
A spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s office confirms they were first told about the unlicensed officers today and had no comment.
