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.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and U.S. Reps. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and Mike Rogers at the Capitol on Monday. (Photo by Todd A. Heywood/Michigan Messenger)
LANSING — With the foreclosure crisis continuing unabated, auto industry giants dealing with bankruptcies and too many uninsured Americans, around 1,000 people rallied at the state Capitol on Monday to call for decisive action on these issues from the nation’s leaders. The rally, organized by Lansing Mayor Virgil Bernero and civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, featured a crowd of mostly union members from United Auto Workers, United Steel Workers, Michigan Education Association and child care workers.
“We demand better!” said Rev. Jesse Jackson. “We demand an even playing field.”
“Enough is enough!” said U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Lansing. “We’ve had it. This is about our way of life.”
“Today is a day to recommit to a strategy that matters,” the senator continued. “The job won’t be done until we have fair trade in this global economy.”
Organizers of the rally said the country is teetering on the edge because the American middle class is falling behind. They said health care, job outsourcing, mounting education loans and the mortgage crisis are all working together to destroy the middle class.
“It’s a crime it takes a special intervention to help people stay in their homes,” said Lansing Mayor Virgil Bernero.
U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, called on Congress to pass health care reform.
“Enact single-payer health care, House Bill 676, this year!” he said. He also called on those at the rally to join him in a meeting with President Obama. Conyers wanted the crowd to meet with the president in the White House’s Rose Garden.
Jackson called on the crowd to build a movement in the cities most impacted by the bankruptcies of the Chrysler and General Motors, asking people to hold voter registration drives and protests.
“We’re startin’ something new here in Lansing,” Bernero told the crowd.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, a Detroit Democrat; U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Brighton Republican; State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, an East Lansing Democrat; State Rep. Mike Huckleberry, a Greenville Democrat; Michigan State University Board of Trustees Chairman Joel Ferguson were present at the event as well. These elected officials were joined by the mayors of Lansing, Battle Creek, Saginaw, Hamtramck, East Lansing, among other local officials.
Organizers had expected 5,000 to 10,000 people to show up. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing had been scheduled to attend the rally but did not show.
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