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.
Michigan Messenger reporter Ed Brayton has filed suit in the federal district court of Washington, D.C., to force the Bush administration to reveal how much money negotiated settlements with a trade dispute will cost the country.
Brayton filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), seeking details of a settlement it reached with the European Union (EU) and other countries after the World Trade Organization ruled a U.S. law prevented access to online gambling sites not located in the United States. The settlement could cost the U.S. billions of dollars. A settlement with Antigua announced the day before the USTR announced the trade deal with the EU and other countries, cost the U.S. $21 million dollars in trade concessions. The agreements with the EU and other countries could include tariffs on certain products being shipped into those countries.
The office denied Brayton’s request for details of the deal, citing national security interests.
Brayton filed an administrative appeal, but again the USTR upheld the denial of the information, citing national security.
“The public has a right to know what the administration is doing in their name,” Brayton said of the lawsuit. “We are talking probably billions, maybe tens of billions, of dollars of trade barriers being authorized by our government. They are not even willing to say which industries they are selling out in order to continue going after online gambling.”
Bonnie I. Robin-Vergeer, a Public Citizen attorney who is representing Brayton, added: “Americans have a right to know what kinds of trade concessions the U.S. government is granting other countries, especially when those deals have a significant impact on domestic policy and may be worth billions of dollars. The Bush administration’s decision to withhold the agreement under the Freedom of Information Act has more to do with its desire to prevent public and congressional scrutiny of the settlement before it is enshrined in a new [World Trade Organization] schedule than it does with national security. FOIA requires the agreement’s release.” Public Citizen is a national nonprofit public interest group.
In addition to the lawsuit, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) sent a letter to the USTR demanding the release of the information as well.
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