In brief: Child welfare cases resolved, team says

PHOENIX – A team created after officials in Arizona discovered that thousands of abuse and neglect reports weren’t investigated announced Thursday that it has closed all the cases and removed nearly 600 children from caregivers.

The announcement marked a major milestone in the revitalization of the state’s child welfare efforts. It came 10 months after the state’s Child Protective Services agency was rocked by the discovery that workers had for several years been improperly marking some calls to a hotline as not worthy of being investigated. The scandal surfaced last November and led to the demise of the agency and creation of the Department of Child Safety, which focuses solely on that mission.

The discovery of the 6,600 uninvestigated cases was a major embarrassment for Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who had championed efforts to deal with large backlogs at the department. She responded angrily, creating the team that resolved the cases while calling for the creation of a new and much better funded department.

‘Angry employee’ shot after stabbings

MOORE, Okla. – An “angry employee” at a food distribution center in suburban Oklahoma City stabbed two women, killing one of them, Thursday before an off-duty law enforcement officer shot him, police said.

Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis told reporters at the scene that the man attacked the first two people he encountered at Vaughan Foods in Moore before the off-duty officer who was working at the business shot him. The surviving victim and the suspected assailant were both hospitalized.

The motive for the attack was unclear.

“The victims had no relationship to the suspect. He is just an angry employee that acted out,” Lewis said.

Police were called about 4:15 p.m. to reports of a fight inside Vaughan Foods and while en route, officers were told that there had been a shooting, Lewis said.

“When officers arrived they approached the business as an active shooter situation. Once they entered the business they found a female deceased of stab wounds and they had a male with multiple gunshot wounds,” Lewis said.

Detroit officials to regain control

DETROIT – The Detroit City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a plan to return oversight of daily operations to elected officials while retaining the city’s state-appointed emergency manager to oversee bankruptcy matters until they are resolved.

Kevyn Orr, who was appointed by the state in March 2013 to manage Detroit’s troubled finances and who took the city into the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, said Thursday that Detroit is “more than ready for the change.”

“This is really a good day for the city,” he said before signing Order 42, which transfers power back to the council and Mayor Mike Duggan.

When Orr took over, the city was all but broke.

Detroit’s population had dropped by more than a quarter-million since 2000. Tax revenue was not enough to cover spending and the city’s bills. There was no money to pay off $5.7 billion in retiree health care obligations or $3.5 billion in pension liabilities.