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.
After nearly three weeks of using a procedural trick to keep six budget bills already passed by both houses of the state legislature from being sent to Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Senate Majority Leader finally transmitted those bills to the governor’s desk for a signature or veto on Tuesday.
Along with those bills, Bishop also sent a letter (PDF) to the governor warning her not to veto them in the hope of forcing the Senate to pass a tax increase to lessen the cuts:
“Do not veto portions of these budgets with expectation that money will be reappropriated at a later date. There is not sufficient support in the Senate Republican caucus for tax increases, and for you to think otherwise is a mistake.”
The two continue to trade barbs over Granholm’s line-item veto of $54 million in funding for the highest-spending school districts in the state, with Bishop saying the veto “clearly was done to get a reaction from the Legislature” and calling the move “extortion.”
Granholm, on the other hand, said her veto was necessary and “reflected what I was supposed to do, which is to sign a balanced budget.”
But the governor likely is trying to force the Senate’s hand in raising revenue to make up for those K-12 cuts. The additional cuts to the 39 high-spending districts includes a $3 million cut for Troy Public Schools; that city is represented in the Senate by a Republican, John Pappageorge. Other schools in his district that will take a big hit include Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills.
The West Bloomfield, Walled Lake, Northville and Novi school districts would also face the loss of more than $10 million collectively as a result of the veto. Those school districts are also represented by a Republican, Nancy Cassis. Clearly this move ups the pressure on those Republican Senators to do something to restore those cuts — and the only option is some sort of revenue increase.
And with the Republicans only holding a slim margin in the Senate, getting one or two of them to change sides may be all the governor needs to break the logjam over revenue increases.
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