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.
Since Sam Riddle proved himself incapable of taking a strong hint from the judge in his criminal trial to stop talking about the trial on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, Judge Avern Cohn got serious on Monday and issued a gag order — but even the gag order has a gag order. The Detroit News reports:
A federal judge issued a gag order Monday in a criminal case against political consultant Sam Riddle, though the order itself was placed under seal and not immediately made public…
A person familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn issued a sealed gag order Monday in response to a motion made Friday — also placed under seal — by federal prosecutors concerned about Riddle’s running commentary about the bribery case on social networking sites.
So not only can Riddle not talk about the case, he can’t talk about why he can’t talk about the case. Riddle says he’ll comply with whatever the court says, but also said, “I will not have my First Amendment rights abridged.” He could presumably appeal the gag order to a higher court, but that might anger Judge Cohn even more than he already is at Riddle’s loquacious nature.
Cohn advised Riddle a couple weeks ago to “keep his fingers off a keyboard as well as his mouth closed” about the case. Riddle is facing bribery and extortion charges stemming from the Synagro sludge contract scandal that has already brought down former Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers, the wife of Rep. John Conyers of Detroit.
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