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 ACLU of Michigan says the city of Ferndale will be violating the rights of a church if they deny them permission to feed and house the homeless under local zoning regulations. They’ve sent a letter to the city urging the zoning board to approve a permit allowing the church to operate a homeless shelter on church grounds.
According to a press release from the ACLU, the First Baptist Church of Ferndale has already agreed to limitations on their plans, including no overnight stays at the church. The city had initially agreed to allow the church to provide social services to the homeless under those restrictions, but are currently reconsidering that agreement after complaints from neighbors of the church.
The ACLU says that if the city does not allow the church to serve the poor, that will be a violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which grants exemptions from zoning regulations that pose a “substantial burden” to the free exercise of religion unless the government can show that they have a compelling interest that can only be served by the restrictions in question.
“The First Baptist Church’s desire to use its facilities for charitable services to the homeless and underprivileged is an extension of its religious mission and its deeply held beliefs,” said Michael J. Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan Legal Director. “To interfere with the First Baptist Church’s religious duty, is to deny the church’s fundamental right to freedom of religion.”
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