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.
LANSING — State Rep. Rick Jones, a Republican from Grand Ledge who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, told Michigan Messenger this morning that although a Democratic-sponsored bill package aimed to strengthen the state’s bias crime laws may have enough votes to pass out of committee and likely the full House, it will die in the GOP-controlled Senate without significant changes.
The main point of contention is the legislative package’s specific enumerated classes, where it would be illegal to target a person because of their real or perceived involvement in any of a variety of protected classes, such as sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran’s status, race and religion.
In a note that Jones handed to Michigan Messenger during unrelated Judiciary Committee proceedings, the former Eaton County sheriff said:
I have told the bill’s sponsor that if he changes the bill to this [stripping of enumeration from the bill] — I will support it and I can deliver bi-partisan support. And it should also pass the Senate. It’s more important to change the law than to make political statements that go nowhere.
Interested advocacy organizations, including the Triangle Foundation, said that they expected that a move would be made to strip enumeration from the legislation. It wasn’t clear, though, who would make such a move until Jones made his thoughts known to Michigan Messenger this morning. But it is still expected that the bill package will pass the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote.
With reporting by Michigan Messenger’s Todd A. Heywood.
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