Morning Briefing Oct. 9, 2021: Oakland University notifies students of reported sexual assault, heavy downpours cause major flooding in Orion Township, US and Taliban to hold first talks since Afghanistan withdrawal

Here are this morning’s top stories

Oakland University notifies students of reported sexual assault, says suspect’s description matches 2019 incident

Oakland University is notifying the community about an attempted sexual assault it learned about this month.

The university sent out an alert to students stating the assault happened back in May. However, the victim reported it in October.

“Initially, when you see a notification like that, it’s pretty scary,” said Liv Murphy.

Murphy, a junior at Oakland University, said the email definitely got her attention.

On Friday, the university released information to students about the sexual assault.

“It was reported to the Oakland University Police Department that an attempted sexual assault reported today, Friday, October 8, took place on campus in May of this year,” read the news release.


Heavy downpours cause major flooding in Orion Township

Neighbors say it’s as if a rain cloud parked itself over Orion Township and just wouldn’t go away.

“Our engineers said anywhere between 6 to 8 inches of rain fell for about an hour so there’s no storm drainage system that can handle that volume of water,” said Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett.

It didn’t affect the entire township, rather the south end starting at Stadium Drive and extending toward the Auburn Hills border. Neighbors in the Stonegate subdivision couldn’t believe their eyes as a rushing waterfall took over Dutton Road and crashed into several homes caving in basement windows.

“I’ve never seen it like this,” said Mike Tesch.

Tesch and several other neighbors tried to clear the drains but even when clear, it couldn’t handle the volume of water. Neighbors put up a makeshift dam to try and prevent further flooding in the neighborhood.

M-24 North was shutdown for hours at Scripps Road as water completely submerged the road.

Barnett said the full scope of the damage is not yet clear. He will likely be asking the governor for disaster assistance.


US, Taliban to hold first talks since Afghanistan withdrawal

Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives are to hold talks Saturday and Sunday about containing extremist groups in Afghanistan and easing the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country, officials from both sides said.

It’s the first such meeting since U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in late August, ending a 20-year military presence there, and the Taliban’s rise to power in the nation. The talks are to take place in Doha, the capital of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who is based in Doha, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the talks will also revisit the peace agreement the Taliban signed with Washington in 2020. The agreement had paved the way for the final U.S. withdrawal.

“Yes there is a meeting . . . about bilateral relations and implementation of the Doha agreement,” said Shaheen. “It covers various topics.”

Terrorism will also feature in the talks, said a second official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.


🎃 Detroit Harvestfest taking over Dequindre Cut this weekend


Weather: Brighter Saturday with isolated showers and storms possible


COVID in Michigan 🦠

Michigan reported 8,413 new cases of COVID-19 and 83 virus-related deaths Friday -- an average of 4,206.5 cases over the past two days.

Friday’s update brings the total number of confirmed COVID cases in Michigan to 1,055,424, including 21,314 deaths. These numbers are up from 1,047,011 cases and 21,231 deaths, as of Wednesday.

The deaths announced Friday includes 40 deaths identified during a Vital Records review

Testing has increased to around 30,000 diagnostic tests reported per day on average, with the 7-day positive rate at 11.18% as of Thursday, slightly lower than the previous week due to the increasing test volume. Hospitalizations have been steadily increasing for several weeks.

The state’s 7-day moving average for daily cases was 3,542 on Friday -- the highest it has been since early May. The 7-day death average was 35 on Friday. The state’s fatality rate is 2.0%. The state also reports “active cases,” which were listed at 104,300 on Friday.

Michigan has reported more than 10 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered as of Wednesday, with 68.4% of 16+ residents having received at least one dose while 59.5% of 16+ residents are considered fully vaccinated.

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 48.5 million cases have been reported in the U.S., with more than 703,000 deaths reported from the virus. Globally, more than 6.3 billion vaccine doses have been administered, including more than 395 million doses in the U.S. alone.

Michigan COVID: Here’s what to know Oct. 9, 2021

Here’s a look at more of the data:


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