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 — Mayoral contender Tom Barrow wants the state to investigate his opponent, incumbent Dave Bing, in a case that may involve questionable campaign finance methods.
After The Michigan Citizen published a report showing that the Bing campaign received $38,475 in loans from a company that does not exist in state records, Barrow wrote a letter to Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land requesting an investigation in Bing campaign funding.
The Michigan Citizen reports that the Bing campaign received a loan from a company named Bing Holdings LLC. But according to the report, there is no Bing Holdings LLC, just a Bing Holdings Inc. The report quotes a staffer in the secretary of State’s office saying that it is illegal in Michigan for a campaign to receive funding from a holding company.
Barrow, who is not favored to win in November’s municipal election, is looking for ways to gain leverage on Bing, who took more than 70 percent of the vote in the August primary. Bing has refused to debate Barrow in this election.
In a letter sent to Land Monday morning, Barrow wrote:
It is imperative that an investigation be initiated immediately as the illegal generation and acceptance of unlawful campaign contributions in the hundreds of thousands of dollars may cause for a potential case of an “aggrieved” campaign in the upcoming election; and will have a direct effect on the conduct of the current election campaign culminating on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.
But Barrow himself is no stranger to elections and investigations. The accountant unsuccessfully challenged former Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young twice before: once in 1985 and again in 1989. In 1993 Barrow was convicted of tax fraud by a federal jury and served 18 months in prison. Barrow fought the conviction and still claims that the incidence was a mistake made by the Internal Revenue Service. His latest attempt to overturn the 1993 conviction was denied Thursday by U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood, wife of former mayoral candidate Nick Hood III, according to a report in the Detroit News.
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