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.
Kent County Clerk Mary Hollinrake says fees passed attached to the concealed weapons permit law aren’t enough to cover the expenses of issuing the permits.
According to a story in The Grand Rapids Press, the Republican clerk says state law only allows the county to keep $41 of the $105 in processing fees, but it costs the county $66 to process each permit. The result? A net loss of $60,000 for the county.
“This is an unfunded mandate for an unnecessary service,” Hollinrake said.
And while some Kent County lawmakers said they were willing to look at the issue, and address it legislatively if need be, Rep. David Agema, R-Grandville, challenged the claim by Hollindrake.
“Did it cause them to hire more people or just make them a little more busy?” he said. “If they weren’t doing that, what would they be doing? Would they be sitting there and doing nothing?”
Hollinrake said the cost of the permit issuance process includes fingerprinting the applicant, background checks and a meeting of a specially created board, which includes a county attorney and some one from the clerk’s office to approve or reject the application.
The $60,000 shortfall adds to the estimated $1.1 million budget hole Kent county is expecting this year.
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