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Mayor offers to pay city’s debt out of his own pocket FLINT, Mich. — Mayor Don Williamson publicly renewed his campaign pledge to plug the city’s deficit – currently at $14 million – with money from his own pocket and accused the state of failing to take him up on it. But state Treasurer Jay Rising said the state did not refuse the offer, which he called ‘‘extremely generous.’’ ‘‘We haven’t seen anything in writing, we don’t know any details,’’ Rising said. ‘‘We haven’t been negotiating on it at all.’’ Since 2002, Flint’s finances have been overseen by a financial manager appointed by then-Gov. John Engler. With about 125,000 residents, it is the largest city in Michigan to face a state takeover. Williamson, elected in November and believed to have amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in the auto parts industry, told Flint television station WSMH he had been trying to work behind the scenes to pay the city’s debt. Williamson pledged during his campaign to pay off the deficit.

Handcuffed suspect comandeers police vehicle PHILADELPHIA — Talk about turning tricks and tools of the trade. A prostitution suspect managed to flee in a stolen police van Thursday night, despite being handcuffed at the time. Philadelphia police fasten handcuffs behind suspects’s backs, Detective Debra Kelly said, and it was not immediately clear how the woman managed to get her hands in front. It is possible she got her hands low enough that she could step over them, Kelly said. The suspect then managed to steal the unmarked Dodge Caravan that police were going to use to take her to the station. The woman abandoned the stolen van and remains at large.

Reports from Bruin wire services.