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 — Detroit Public Schools’ Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb will keep control of district finances for an additional year, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced at an appearance with Bobb this morning.
Bobb, appointed by Granholm in March to oversee the school district’s budget crisis, said he wants to use the extra time to create savings and accountability methods that will outlast his tenure, according to a Detroit Free Press report.
School board members, who have been entrenched in a power struggle with Bobb over academics and who disagree with him on a major ballot proposal, aren’t thrilled with Granholm’s decision.
“All these school cuts across the state show that [Granholm] doesn’t care about the children of Michigan or the children of Detroit. So I’m not impressed,” Detroit Board of Education member Marie Thornton told Michigan Messenger. “It’s the school district that pays his salary. Not her.”
Since Bobb has signed on for another year, Thornton said she hopes he’ll continue to build on the positive things he’s done for the public schools.
“I like the fact that he has accepted our information so he can uncover fraud mismanagement and waste,” she said. “But if he’s gonna be around another year he needs to stop hiring outside contractors,” she said, referring to Bobb’s controversial move to hire private advisers to district schools. “He needs to truly reduce the deficit.”
Although Thornton speculated on what he should do, she said she has no insight on what his plans are for the next year because Bobb does not communicate with the board.
“He’s not speaking to board members. He’s doing his own thing,” she said. “He’s not a team player.”
Thornton noted that ultimately the decisions Bobb makes in Detroit won’t affect him or his family since he lives in Washington, D.C., where he previously served as the city administration, deputy mayor and school board president.
“He’s signing a document that he’s gonna be here another year but you have to weigh the fact that he’s getting on a plane. He’s leaving.”
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