Arts & Entertainment

Watch Focal Point: FBI foils plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer, new businesses open in East Lansing in midst of pandemic, and students are out or work as MSU goes virtual

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On this edition of Focal Point, a look at a busy week in politics. The FBI foils a plan to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the candidates for Vice President debate, the the Libertarian presidential candidate visits Detroit. On campus, over 700 student employees are out of work as COVID-19 continues to spread in Ingham County. But even as the pandemic continues, new businesses come to East Lansing. All that and more on Focal Point.

Public Safety

New technology helps nab child pornographers

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CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE
By ERIC FREEDMAN
LANSING – Massive amounts of electronic data. A worldwide web that stretches, literally, around the globe. A network of purveyors and viewers of child pornography. And grim, grim stories that reflect the high-tech ways that law enforcement agencies investigate such crimes. Using the latest forensics technology, federal and state agencies collaborate on many child exploitation cases through the Michigan Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, according to State Police Detective Sgt.

Business & Economy

Mortgage fraud targeted by prosecutors, new law

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By JENNIFER CHEN
Capital News Service
LANSING – The long arm of justice is eventually nailing some of the scam artists whose mortgage frauds contributed to the national recession, according to the U.S. Attorney’s offices in Detroit and Grand Rapid. Federal court convictions and a new state law are part of the effort to attack mortgage fraud. Michigan had the seventh-highest foreclosure rate among the states in 2010, according to a FBI report. “Mortgage fraud is a serious problem in the state. Every day, scam artists take advantage of people desperate to keep their homes,” said Joy Yearout, deputy director of communications for Attorney Gen. Bill Schuette.