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 House Judiciary Indigent Defense Subcommittee began holding hearings on Tuesday on proposed legislation (PDF) to improve Michigan’s public defender system. The bill would create a seven-member public defender commission to oversee an overhaul of the state’s public defender system, which studies show is broken to the point of being a constitutional violation.
The commission would be empowered to set up a new system, dividing the state into no more than four regions. Each region would then oversee the contracting and assignment of public defenders within the region as the courts request them in each individual case. The commission would also appoint a new Chief Public Defender for the state to administer the program.
The bill also requires that the commission establish statewide standards for the qualification and training of public defenders and establish standards governing case loads, access to paralegal and investigative services, monitoring and review, rules of conduct and continuing education.
The legislation also creates a public defender fund as a separate fund within the Department of the Treasury to be used solely for the operation of the public defender system. The funding would come from a proposed 5% fee on all bail amounts and a $135 fee for all adult defendants placed on probation in the state.
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