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.
The firing of EPA regional administrator Mary Gade “opens a new chapter” in the investigation of the suppression of a government report on pollution and health, Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak told the Michigan Messenger today.
Mary Gade, the top administrator for EPA’s Midwest region, was removed from office last week in apparent response to her work to hold the Midland-based Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) responsible for dioxin contamination in the Saginaw River watershed.
In January Gade’s office rejected a dioxin cleanup plan proposed by Dow on the grounds that it would not protect human health.
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Stupak is chairman of the House Oversight and Investigations committee that is investigating retaliation against Dr. Christopher DeRosa who raised concerns last summer about the quashing of a Centers for Disease Control report on the health implications of pollution in the Great Lakes Areas of Concern. This report was based on EPA data and focused on pollution issues in the Saginaw River watershed.
In a Feb. 28 letter announcing that investigation, Stupak noted that the authors of the report found a “co-occurrence” of elevated rates of cancer mortality, infant mortality, low birth weight and premature birth, and environmental contamination by hazardous waste including dioxin.
“If the conclusions of this study are accurate and correct, the health of millions of people in the Great Lakes may be at risk,” Stupak wrote.
“As chairman of the Oversight Committee I can say we take very seriously anyone being fired for doing their job,” Stupak said. “How do you go from being a model career employee to five months later being summarily dismissed?”
Stupak’s district borders Midland and the Saginaw Bay.
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