The Ludington father of a baby who has been missing since late June is facing reduced charges in her disappearance. A judge on Wednesday dismissed a kidnapping charge filed against 21-year-old Sean Phillips. He's jailed on $250,000 bond, and scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on charges of parental kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. Phillips now faces up to 15 years in prison instead of a possible life sentence.

A Vicksburg man is facing prison time after admitting he sent Internet and text messages to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl seeking sex. Christopher Sparks, 27, entered a guilty plea Monday to charges including accosting children for immoral purposes, and using a computer to commit a crime. Wyoming Police arrested Sparks at a park on June 6. They said he had arranged to meet a teenage girl at the park for sex, after meeting her through online social networking sites. Officers said Sparks switched to text messages to set up the meeting spot.

One of Michigan's top Republicans in the 1990s is allowed to continue getting his $79,000 a year state pension regardless of the outcome of his trial on sex charges involving children. Documents obtained under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act state Phillip Arthurhultz has a monthly pension benefit of $6,620, or $79,440 annually, from his 15 years representing the Muskegon area, according to The Associated Press.

Authorities are investigating claims that thousands of dollars are missing from T-shirt sales to benefit a foundation that was created to honor a Michigan basketball player who died in March. The Allegan County Sheriff's Department said its investigation could be completed in a few days. More than 1,000 T-shirts were sold with assurances that money would go to Wes Leonard's family or the Wes Leonard Heart Team foundation.

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced arson charges against a Muskegon landlord. Gerald Singer is also charged with insurance fraud and filing false federal income tax returns. Singer is charged with allegedly causing nine fires dating back to 1993, including a house he owned in Grand Haven's Olde Towne neighborhood. The indictment alleges he had legal interest in the following properties destroyed by fire: March 1, 1993; 530 Elliott St. in Grand Haven July 23, 1995; 2809 Hoyt in Muskegon Heights

A state corrections officer was allegedly caught during a traffic stop with heroin and tobacco that investigators believe he was planning to smuggle into a prison in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where he worked. The Michigan Department of Corrections said the 17-year veteran of the department was arrested Wednesday in Mackinac County. The arrest was part of an investigation that involved the Michigan State Police and the Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Three people were taken by ambulance to the hospital after a rear-end accident at a Robinson Township intersection about 11:30 a.m. Thursday. A car with a woman and two young children inside was slowing to make a turn onto southbound 120th Avenue from M-45 when it was hit in the rear by a car driven by a young female, said Robinson Township Fire Chief Paul VanVelzen. The young woman said she was looking at an ambulance broken down on the side of the road, and didn't notice the other car slowing in front of her, VanVelzen said.