Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was told he will be charged in the Flint water scandal, according to the Associated Press (AP).
In 2015, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Flint pediatrician and founder of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, uncovered dangerous amounts of lead in Flint children’s blood levels after Flint’s water source was switched from Detroit's system to the Flint River, a move proposed under the Snyder administration. As a result, a disproportionate amount of Black residents living in the area were forced to live with discolored, lead-concentrated water, unhealthy to bathe in or to drink. Hanna-Attisha could not be reached in time of publication.
Snyder, along with former health department director Nick Lyon and others from the Snyder administration, face charges with specific language that continues to remain unknown to the public at this time, according to AP.
Randall Levine, an attorney for Rich Baird who served as an adviser to Snyder during the crisis, said in a statement that Baird will be facing charges.
"At this time, we have not been made aware of what the charges are, or how they are related to his position with former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s administration," Levine said.
Courtney Watkins, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, said in an email to The State News that she’s currently not in a position to comment on the investigation, but that “they are working diligently.” More information, she said, would follow.
In a statement from Progress Michigan, a media outlet for Michigan’s progressive community, Executive Director Lonnie Scott said, “It's about ... time. Justice for the people of Flint is long overdue."
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