I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick could face more embarrassing revelations today, as a Wayne County judge rules on whether to release the document that prompted the mayor’s $8.4 million settlement last year in a police whistle-blower lawsuit.
The 18-page document, recovered from a lawyer’s computer, sparked the deal to hide text messages that revealed an affair between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. In addition to highlighting the explicit sexual banter between the two, the document includes quotations from the text messages showing that the mayor and Beatty lied under oath during the trial last summer; other quotes refer to the firing of then-Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown.The document, a motion seeking attorney’s fees, could become important evidence. Kilpatrick and Beatty are charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office and conspiracy as a result of their conduct in the case.
Wayne Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. ordered lawyers in a Detroit Free Press Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to appear in court this morning to discuss the document, the paper reported today. A forensic technician recovered it Monday from a computer at the Royal Oak law firm of Mike Stefani, who represented the three whistle-blowing cops and who approved its release.
The document’s release may also reveal whether Stefani, who authored it, improperly pressured the city to settle.
Stefani gave the document to Kilpatrick attorney Samuel McCargo, who called the mayor after reading it. The mayor then authorized an immediate settlement in the case, an abrupt turnaround from his previous vow to appeal the verdict that found for the three cops.
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