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.
A neighborhood battle over a billboard for an adult entertainment facility in Detroit has spilled into the state Senate.
A report in the Macomb Daily says Sen. Hunter Tupac, a Detroit Democrat, has introduce legislation which will limit what can appear on billboard advertisements for adult entertainment locations such as bars, ‘gentleman’s clubs,’ and the likes.
Under Hunter’s legislation, the businesses would be limited to providing the name, address, telephone number and hours of operation. The businesses would not be allowed to have images on the billboards.
The legislation is being co-sponsored Detroit Democrat Hansen Clarke.
Neighbors of an area off 8 Mile say the offender in this situation is the Penthouse Gentlemen Club.
“We are fighting to keep our community safe,” said [Mary] Little [former president of the neighborhood group]. “Our neighborhood is turning into a Las Vegas strip and we don’t want it invaded by pictures of women with their breasts hanging out.”
She says her neighborhood has the right not to wake up to “barely dressed woman and condom lined streets.”
But Bradley Shafer, a lawyer for the Association of Club Executives, says the bill is a violation of the business’s First Amendment Rights.
The legislation is also unconstitutional, because it would include existing signs, not just future signs, he said.
“The state is usurping the local function of government” if it passes the bills, said Shafer.
There are actually two pieces of legislation addressing this issue. One piece addresses billboards on state highways, while the second one addresses billboard on other public streets. The highway billboard bill is in the Senate Transportation Committee, while the public streets bill is awaiting action by the full Senate.
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