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.
LANSING — A committee made up of members of the Michigan House and Senate voted to eliminated the Michigan Promise Scholarships on Wednesday on a 4-2 vote. Sen. Jim Barcia of Bay City and Rep. Joan Bauer of Lansing, both Democrats, cast the the two votes to continue the scholarship program.
The move comes less than 24 hours after students and lawmakers rallied on the steps of the State Capitol demanding lawmakers to “keep their promise” to Michigan’s high school graduates. The program was created to reward students who excelled on standardized testing by offering a scholarship of up to $4000. That money is parceled out in $500 increments. An estimated 96,000 Michigan students received the scholarship currently.
“We’re not happy,” said Mitchell Rivard, president of the Michigan State University College Democrats and one of the organizers of Tuesday’s rally. “They are damning these kids out of an education. It’s ridiculous. To think these people we instill our trust in think they can balance this budget on the backs of our students.”
Rivard said the fight to save the scholarship was not over, as the approved bill has to be voted on by both the House and the Senate. And in the event the budget ax can’t be stopped there, Rivard said his group and students from around the state would calling Gov. Jennifer Granholm to ask her to veto legislation which did not fund the scholarship.
The Republican-controlled Senate has already passed one bill which eliminated the scholarship, while the House, which is controlled by Democrats, has not taken up the issue yet. Both houses are working to close a budget gap of about $2.8 billion.
“It doesn’t mean it is over. We are not throwing in the towel,” said Rivard. “We are not advocating for a reduction, we are advocating to keep the promise we made to the students in 2006. You cannot go back on your promise.”
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