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 Detroit Free Press revealed on Saturday that Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson is only paying $68 a year in property taxes on her home because for the last decade the city has believed it to be an empty lot. This is compared to neighboring houses that have property tax bills ranging from around $2,100 to over $6,400.
Watson said she was unaware of the discrepancy until the Free Press contacted her. She said the change came before she was elected to City Council — and without her involvement.
“I pay the taxes. All I know is I had a big drop when my house got hit hard by a tornado,” she said. “We had great damage.”
Watson said she could not recall the specific date the tornado hit, saying it might have been 2002, or perhaps 1993.
But according to the Free Press, Watson “acknowledged, however, that she never reported the incident” and “said she never questioned why her taxes dropped — or why they didn’t increase after she repaired her home.”
On Sunday, during a press conference defending her low tax payments, Watson made some eyebrow-raising statements, like claiming that she’s the victim of a smear campaign because she’s just such a good person:
“I’ve been a target of a smear campaign,” Watson told reporters from other news media outlets gathered outside her west-side home Sunday.
When asked why anyone would want to smear her, Watson replied: “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and I don’t sleep around. It’s an election year. I’ll let you figure it out.”
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