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.
Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon made official on Sunday what everyone has assumed to be the case for weeks, that he will indeed make a run for the Democratic nomination for governor. In a press release, Dillon laid out his priorities:
• Requiring public utilities to generate a significant percentage of power from renewable sources – as a result thousands of new jobs will be created.
• Increase the Research and Development tax credit to help businesses create new products
• Increase funding for the No Worker Left Behind program, which has helped more than 25,000 Michigan workers
• Restore the Michigan Promise Scholarship Program
• Fund Pre-Kindergarten Education to invest for Michigan children in danger of falling behind
Unfortunately, he’s still running away from the need to raise new revenues. The press release claimed that Dillon would pay for his plan by “bringing greater efficiency to state government, including reforming the state’s purchasing process and consolidating the health plans of Michigan’s public workers.”
When politicians say they’re going to save billions of dollars by making government “more efficient” it always reminds me of the claim we hear from at least one candidate for the presidency every four years, that they will save money by ending “waste, fraud and abuse.”
Yes, there are studies that indicate that ending waste, fraud and abuse and bringing greater efficiency to government can hypothetically save large amounts of money. But can anyone actually think of a time when any politician actually did it at any level of government? I can’t either.
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