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.
Peter Luke has a post at the MLive blog discussing the possibility that the stimulus package working its way through Congress might be used to fund a major restoration project for the Great Lakes, an issue that President Obama has been a strong advocate of in the past.
A proposed economic stimulus program drafted by Democrats in the U.S. House that started out at $825 billion could zoom north of $1 trillion. There is a long list of regional environmental work that can start right now, a key rationale for spending the money.
With the money and political will apparently in place for 2009, U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, introduced once again legislation that defines the Great Lakes as a treasured national resource. Similar
legislation, co-sponsored by U.S. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, was introduced in the Senate.The biggest piece would commit $20 billion over the next five years for waste and stormwater infrastructure. Michigan’s share under current federal formula say Great Lakes advocates would approach $900 million, creating an estimated 40,000 jobs.
Strengthening the Great Lakes Legacy Act, moreover, would commit $150 million annually to all eight states over the next decade for the cleanup of contaminated sediments in rivers that feed the lakes.
If we’re looking for infrastructure projects to spend money on, waste and stormwater drainage systems and wastewater treatment plants would be a terrific place to start. Municipalities with combined waste and storm drainage systems release millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into Michigan’s rivers and streams every year after big storms, which ultimately ends up polluting the Great Lakes.
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