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.
DETROIT — The FBI has offered Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers a plea deal involving her apparent connection to the Synagro Technologies sludge scandal according to published reports Tuesday afternoon. Conyers, who is married to U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., is suspected of being “Council member A,” a figure investigators say accepted money for a vote to approve the $1.2 billion sewage disposal contract between Synagro and the city.
In 2007, the city council voted 5-4 to approve the contract with Texas-based Synagro. Conyers, who was initially opposed to the contract, changed her vote last minute and was the deciding vote in approving the contract. Earlier this year, Synagro’s Michigan vice president, James R. Rosendall Jr., pleaded guilty to counts of bribery connected with the contract. On Monday, Synagro consultant Rayford Jackson pleaded guilty of giving a Detroit city council member money in exchange for a favorable vote.
Conyers has insisted that she is not involved in the scandal but did not immediately refuse a plea deal Tuesday afternoon. Her lawyer has declined to comment on the plea bargain.
The Detroit News is now reporting that multiple sources have confirmed Conyers is considering the plea bargain that the feds have offered.
While Conyers is not named in the FBI investigation, her aide, political consultant Sam Riddle, is mentioned as a possible enabler of the bribery. According to court documents, Riddle asked Synagro officials for money in exchange for Monica Conyers’ vote which was needed to approve the contract, The Flint Journal reports.
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