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.
LANSING — While Gov. Jennifer Granholm mulls over the Michigan State Police budget bill, Lansing area developers Joel Ferguson and Gary Granger are crossing their fingers she will sign the deal because it holds a provision to sell their new downtown building to the state.
The building, going up in downtown Lansing at the corner of Kalamazoo Avenue and Grand Street, has been the focus of a heated battle over the use of state dollars. The project was started under Republican Gov. John Engler, continued, although scaled back, by Democrat Granholm, and approved by various state committees — including one which includes Republican Attorney General Mike Cox, and Republican Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land. The developers would build it, the MSP would lease it, and in 25 years the state would buy it. Everyone was happy.
Well not quite.
Republican Rep. Rick Jones of Grand Ledge made such a fuss about the planned lease, that lawmakers saw fit to authorize a different deal in the current budget waiting for Granholm’s John Hancock. The new deal would have the state lease the building for a year, taking possession in January 2010, then purchase the building outright in 2011, reports the Lansing State Journal.
To make sure there is money available for purchasing the building, the State Strategic Fund has authorized the issuance of $53 million for the building’s purchase. It’s certainly a far cry from the original 25 year lease to own deal. Under that deal the developers would have raked in a cool $45.2 million, estimated of course, in the first 11 years. The thing that is catching lawmaker’s eyes like Jones is that the developers are building the project for only $39 million.
The governor and her team argue the new building is essential because the current headquarters, across the street from Michigan State University, is out of date and falling apart. This new building has been built to MSP and Homeland Security specifications. The current facility is a 70-year-old collection of buildings, which may not even pass code inspections, if anyone could figure out who was supposed to inspect the building in the first place.
So, score one for Jones and his tenacity. Score $14 million for Granger and Ferguson, and an unknown amount of new income tax for the city of Lansing. And some awesome return on investment for bond holding investors.
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