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A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 7 april 2022
Detroit is largest city to challenge 2020 census numbers

city’s population at 670,052 two dozen cities and coun- — also known as group
residents. A drop of 31,000 ties that have challenged quarters —- were among
residents would be “re- their census figures so far. the most difficult people
ally implausible,” Jeffrey States and municipalities to count during the 2020
Morenoff, a University of have until the middle of census since students on
Michigan sociology profes- next year to appeal their campus were sent home
sor who helped conduct a figures through the Census when the pandemic be-
study on the undercount Bureau’s Count Question gan in the U.S. in March
for the city, said when the Resolution operation. Chal- 2020, and prisons and nurs-
report was released in De- lenges are rarely successful, ing homes went into lock-
cember. but the outcome could de- downs against the spread
Detroit is no stranger to termine whether the cities of the coronavirus.
census challenges. Then- and counties get their fair Because of the difficulties
Fishermen move their boat up the Detroit River in Detroit, as fog Mayor Coleman Young share when it comes to the in counting these residents,
covers the Windsor, Ontario skyline Wednesday, March 16, 2022. sued after the 1990 census, distribution of $1.5 trillion in the Census Bureau last
Associated Press
and the numbers were lat- annual federal funding. month created a separate
By MIKE SCHNEIDER and occupied homes in 10 De- er adjusted. In Detroit’s case, Duggan program for challenges of
COREY WILLIAMS troit neighborhoods may Even though the overall said that federal funding group quarter counts.
Associated Press have been undercounted. U.S. population was missed for the city tied to the 2010 Leaders of municipalities
DETROIT (AP) — Majority- Detroit filed its challenge by a small percentage, census in the previous de- making the challenges said
Black Detroit has become late last week, according 0.24%, during a once-a- cade exceeded $37 billion. an incorrect count could
the largest U.S. city to chal- to the U.S. Census Bureau. decade head count chal- “A roughly 8% undercount cost them state and feder-
lenge its figures from the In a letter to the Census lenged by the pandemic, of Detroit’s population in al grants. Mayor Joe Sparks
2020 census following a na- Bureau, Mayor Michael natural disasters and po- the 2020 census creates of Bennett, Iowa, said he
tional head count in which Duggan said insufficient litical interference from disastrous financial conse- is worried that the town
the U.S. Census Bureau ac- resources and not enough the Trump administration, quences for the City,” Dug- won’t get money for two
knowledges that a higher census takers were devot- some minority groups were gan said. emergency power gen-
percentage of African ed to the count in Detroit, overlooked at greater The overwhelmingly majori- erators from the Federal
Americans were under- resulting in an undercount rates than the previous de- ty of the municipalities chal- Emergency Management
counted than last decade, of unoccupied homes that cade. The Black popula- lenging their census figures Agency if its census num-
according to the U.S. Cen- could amount to tens of tion was undercounted by are small towns, with more bers aren’t corrected.
sus Bureau. thousand of residents be- 3.3%, those who identified than half of them coming The town’s population went
Leaders of Michigan’s larg- ing overlooked. as some other race had a from the rural South. About from 405 in 2010 to 347 in
est city, which is more than “The Census Bureau now 4.3% undercount, almost half a dozen have said in 2020, “and that is very hard
three-quarters Black, had has an obligation to set 5% of the Hispanic popula- their challenges that pris- for me to believe,” Sparks
questioned the results of the record straight,” Dug- tion was missed and more ons in their communities said.
the 2020 census since last gan said. The 2020 census than 5.6% of American In- were overlooked during “The reduced population
December when they re- data showed Detroit with dians living on reservations the count. numbers will affect Bennett
leased a report suggesting 639,111 residents, while es- were undercounted. Residents of prisons, nursing residents adversely,” he
that more than 8% of the timates from 2019 put the Detroit is among almost homes and college dorms said.q

Ex-sheriff bribery gets 10 years; already has life for rapes

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A for- steer profits from a $1 mil-
mer Louisiana sheriff was lion work-release contract
sentenced Wednesday to to himself, his family and
10 years in prison for a fed- two of his top deputies.
eral bribery conviction, to His sworn statement in fed-
be served at the same as eral court said he hid the
his four life sentences for deputies' involvement in
earlier convictions for rap- the scheme.
ing boys. One man who pleaded
U.S. District Judge Jane guilty in the federal case
Triche Milazzo also ordered told the state court jury that
Rodney J. "Jack" Strain to Strain molested him when
pay a $10,000 fine, federal he was a child, gave him
prosecutors said in a news a job when he was deeply
release Wednesday. in debt and later pressured
Strain pleaded guilty to him to join the work-release
one of 16 federal charges scheme.
against him on Dec. 1, 2021, Strain was sentenced in
and prosecutors dropped February on the state
the others. charges. Judge Bruce A.
The plea came weeks af- Simpson added 30 years
ter a St. Tammany Parish Former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain, center, walks into the parish courthouse before the for crimes against two of
jury convicted Strain on start of closing arguments in his trial on multiple counts of sex crimes in Covington, La., on Nov. 8, Strain's relatives and or-
eight charges including 2021. dered him to pay $30,000 in
four counts of aggravated Associated Press fines and nearly $28,000 for
rape against children less which carries an automatic Strain, who served five 2015 election, admitted us- the costs of his prosecution,
than 13 years old — a crime life sentence. terms before losing the ing his authority as sheriff to news agencies reported.q