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 Standish City Council unanimously approved a resolution targeting President Barack Obama and federal authorities with one message: Send us your prisoners.
The city is staring down the short end of a deadline imposed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who has ordered the maximum security prison in this tiny town in Arenac County to shut down at the end of October. Officials from the town of 1,200 residents say the loss of the 350 jobs provided by the prison, as well as the sewer and water bills that were expected to keep the city’s water system functional, would economically devastate the community here.
So, the council passed a resolution on Monday telling the Obama administration to please send them prisoners, any prisoners, even the terror suspects from Guantanamo Bay, just keep the prison open. The resolution passed Monday night was originally slated for a vote weeks ago, but was tabled while city officials awaited word from the feds. No word came, but the council also used the time to expand the language to include all federal prisoners, not just those from Gitmo, Politico reports.
The concept of moving Gitmo prisoners north has been bouncing around since August, with a slight bump in speculation when Fox News wrongly reported the prison had dropped off the most favored list late in Sept. But evidently, according to Politico, Standish is the last prison option standing.
The other option, Fort Levenworth, KS, has been opposed as a location almost from the moment it was announced.
Granholm had tried to sell the service of state corrections officers and the facility in Standish to California to ease its prison overpopulation crisis, only to find out California didn’t have the money. She has said if she can’t have California’s prisoners, she will take Gitmo’s, as long as security concerns are addressed.
Congressman Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, is vying for the GOP’s nomination for governor in 2010, and he has strongly opposed moving Gitmo prisoners to Michigan.
Obama has made moving prisoner from Guantanamo a goal to complete before the end of the year. But in testimony before a state house committee hearing in August, state and city officials speculated that any move to federalize the prison would result in a need to expand security zones as well as do other construction before the feds take over.
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