Mich. lawmakers look into state's actions before boy's death

LANSING (AP) - A state Senate panel will hold a hearing about child-welfare workers' actions before a 9-year-old boy was killed by his father in a rural county northeast of Grand Rapids.

Nicholas Braman died in October after his father, Oliver Braman, used a combination of an over-the-counter pain medication and carbon monoxide gas to kill his new wife, the boy and himself.

The state later issued a report saying state workers in Montcalm and Saginaw counties should have done more before the boy's death.

Caseworkers previously had intervened to protect Nicholas Braman's older siblings from child abuse inflicted by their father.

But Nicholas Braman continued living with his dad after saying he hadn't been abused.

The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.