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.
In her weekly radio address, Gov. Jennifer Granholm argued that the cuts in local revenue sharing in the state’s most recent budget are negatively impacting fire and police protection around the state and jeopardizing public safety as a result.
“Police officers and fire fighters are being laid off or open positions are left unfilled,” Granholm said. “Other essential services are at risk as well. The reason why is that just like state government, cities, townships and villages are hurting financially and receiving fewer revenue sharing funds.”
Granholm continued:
“To attract and retain residents, communities have to be able to provide police and fire protection, and good roads, water and sewer systems and other essential services. This is an economic development issue as well. For Michigan communities to be attractive to businesses, local governments must be able to provide essential services…
“To keep police officers and fire fighters on the job protecting our communities, I ask that you contact your legislators in Lansing and urge them to support restoring revenue sharing funds. This week, I also went to Washington, D.C. to ask for federal funds to help keep the jobs of police officers, fire fighters and teachers. Times are tough, and cutbacks in government spending are necessary. But we can’t afford further erosion in essential services like police and fire protection.”
The governor has proposed a number of niche taxes to boost state revenue, which would help restore at least some of those cuts in local revenue sharing and keep police and fire departments from making such deep cuts. So far, however, the Republican-controlled state Senate has refused to pass any legislation to boost revenue.
Gov. Granholm will be holding regional meetings with local leaders this week in Grand Rapids, Flint and Southgate to discuss the budget crisis and how it is impacting local communities. You can listen to the weekly radio address by clicking here.
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