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.
Years of financial mismanagement and the fact that the city needed emergency assistance to make payroll last week convinced the governor to appoint an emergency manager to take over control of the finances of Benton Harbor, the Herald-Palladium reports.
Granholm’s move comes despite an appeal by the Benton Harbor City Commission which hoped to develop a financial recovery plan without state intervention. A financial manager is expected to be in place by mid April.
According to the Herald-Palladium Benton Harbor commissioners have many explanations for the city’s poor financial situation.
The deindustrialization of America, greedy nonprofit groups, negative coverage by The Herald-Palladium and ousted former City Manager Richard Marsh Jr. — who invited in the fiscal review team that found the city’s money management incompetent — were all blamed for the city’s financial problems. But decades of corrosive poverty and sky-high unemployment were blamed the most for diminishing tax revenue.
In a letter to Benton Harbor Mayor Wilce Cook Granholm outlined the reasons for her decision as:
– A 13.1 percent increase in the city’s general fund deficit for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
– Eight years of tardy audit reports to the state Department of Treasury.
– A steep decline in the city’s money on hand from $1.7 million in 2006 to $315,000 last year.
– An inability to make minimum contributions to city worker pension funds.
– Annual bank overdraft charges of $80,000 to $100,000.
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