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.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm said a move by President Bush will help many Michigan families keep their homes. She said this after Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which supporters say will help hundreds of thousands of Americans keep their homes while providing additional support for the struggling national economy.
“This bill will help Michigan homeowners and communities avoid further foreclosures, eliminate blight, and create jobs,” Granholm said. “These new tools will help protect our families from losing their homes in this tough economy.”
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow hailed the bill as a good first step.
The centerpiece of the landmark housing bill is a new federal insurance program to help borrowers with troubled subprime and (hyphen) adjustable-rate mortgages refinance into fixed-rate mortgages.
According to a recent Pew Center Study, more than 91,000 Michigan homeowners had loans in foreclosure or at least 90 days past due at the end of 2007. Experts predict that up to 1.4 million Michigan homes that neighbor a foreclosed home could experience a decrease in property value in 2008-09.
The bill also establishes a new neighborhood stabilization program that designates $3.9 billion in grants to states and local governments. Michigan’s share of those grants could total as much as $168 million.
The grants may be used to rehabilitate or demolish already foreclosed properties and establish land banks and new financial mechanisms for the purchase of foreclosed homes. In Michigan this funding could be used to rehabilitate up to 6,000 properties and create 3,400 jobs. Earlier this month Granholm and 15 other governors sent a letter urging Congress to include this funding in the final legislation.
Additionally, the legislation contains tax incentives, including a one-time $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers, grants to states and cities to manage foreclosed properties, and $180 million for pre-foreclosure counseling programs.
Granholm had joined with her fellow governors, housing advocates and many members of Michigan’s congressional delegation in advocating for the federal bill that Bush has now signed.
The new federal insurance program parallels the Save the Dream program in Michigan, which Granholm signed into law in April to help troubled borrowers refinance into stable, fixed-rate loans through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
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