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.
Ask the average Detroiter where they think city money is being misspent and they’ll be quick to bring up shady contracts. It seems like accepted street knowledge that city and school officials are involved in iffy deals with contractors.
So it’s not surprising a wire tap of city officials tipped off the feds that they were cutting deals to take bribes from contractors. The investigation involves Detroit City Council members and executives of Synagro Technologies, a national waste disposal and recycling company.
The Detroit Free Press reported Saturday that Synagro vice president James Rosendall of Grand Rapids will plead guilty Tuesday in federal court to conspiring to bribe Detroit public officials. He faces a 5-year felony.
Rosedale lobbied the City of Detroit for a $47 million a year contract with Synagro Technologies for sludge hauling. Feds placed a high tech camera in Rosendall’s car and caught bribe transactions on tape.
In November 2007 the Synagro contract passed city council with a 5-4 vote. Monica Conyers, who at first opposed cast the deciding, vote for the deal.
Conyers has said she was told that she was not the target of the investigation.
Interim Mayor Kenneth Cockrel, who was City council president at the time of the vote, voted against the Synagro deal. But his chief of staff John Clark was caught on tape in the car with Rosendall.
Many Detroiters believe more of these types of investigations are needed to probe other city departments to make sure money goes where it should and that crooked city officials aren’t stealing city money. With all the perceived corruption in Detroit’s government, it seems like a hot target for multiple investigations on the state and federal level.
The next step should be combing over the actions of Detroit Public School board and tracking down DPS-related contracts. There may be a lot of dirt to dig, especially with a $400 million dollar hole in the DPS budget.
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