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 Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network has teamed up with the Ad Council to produce a series of public service announcements to address the use of the phrase “that’s so gay,” in youth culture. The phrase is used to describe something the speaker dislikes.
A GLSEN press release said the ads were important because a 2007 school climate study found the following:
*Nearly a third of LGBT students missed school in the past month because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable (more than two-thirds report that they feel unsafe).
*Almost 90% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed at school because of their sexual orientation; almost half were physically harassed at school because of their sexual orientation; also more than half experienced some form of electronic harassment (cyberbullying) in the past year.
*Sexual orientation and gender expression were the most common reasons students were harassed at school.
The ads are placed by the Ad Council as public service announcements, and each station decides whether or not to run the announcement. Mary Lyons of the Ad Council tells Michigan Messenger the PSAs were distributed to 25 Michigan stations, from Alpena to Utica. Lyons said the following television markets have chosen to run the PSAs: Detroit, Travese City-Cadillace, Lansing, Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, and Marquette.
Michigan has been struggling to adopt anti-bullying legislation, in part because conservatives oppose the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression in the proposed law.
To see the ad featuring comedian Wanda Sykes, click here.
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