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 fallout from last week’s rally and protest at Congressman Mark Schauer’s Jackson office and an invitation-only discussion with seniors in Delta Township continues.
As reported last week, Jackson County Commissioner Phil Duckham carried a sign with a swastika on it and compared President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler during a protest at Schauer’s office. That move caused outrage in the community, and on Tuesday Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer and Jackson area Jewish leaders held a press conference to call on Duckham to apologize.
The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports Brewer said:
“We, and the citizens of Jackson and this area, are outraged… The type of tactics we saw used by commissioner Duckham were really backfiring.”
Joining Brewer was Steve Berman, co-president of Temple Beth Israel. Berman noted that the rally took place less than a block from the Temple’s cemetery, which has recently been added to the National Registry of Historic Places. Berman told the Citizen Patriot that he did not understand how anyone can compare the slaughter of millions of people with the introduction of legislation.
Duckham for his part is not backing off.
“Was it my best choice to carry the sign — no. In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it,” Duckham said. “But I will stick to my point that I was trying to make.”
Duckham also offered a classic political non-apology at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting.
“Apologize for my views? Never,” Duckham said after the meeting. “But if I offended anyone, I apologize. That was never my intent.”
The Jackson Citizen Patriot was also able to confirm that about 100 of the people participating in Thursday’s rally in support of health care reform came in passenger vans, organized by a union. The Service Employees International Union confirmed Wednesday that it had rented vans to transport supporters of health care from Detroit and Muskegon.
Jackson Police estimated supporters of health care reform number between 400 and 500 people, whereas opponents were numbered at about 100.
In Eaton County, the Republican Sheriff Mike Raines is upset with the freshman Democrat from Battle Creek because he did not seek security support for his invitation-only healthcare conversation at a Delta Township apartment complex for seniors.
Schauer held the event on Thursday morning.
The Lansing State Journal is reporting that Raines is alleging Schauer’s staff misled his office. Raines says Schauer staffers denied that Schauer would be in the county. But Ken Brock, Schauer’s chief of staff, said that is not true. He said Raines emailed the staff from a private email and it ended up in the spam filters of the office.
Raines also said he was upset the health care forum was an invitation-only event.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter