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.
The University of Michigan Board of Regents is trying a new defense in relation to the state’s Open Meetings Act.
According to a story on AnnArbor.com, the board is arguing in defense of a lawsuit filed in Feb. for an alleged violation of the Open Meetings Act, that the act is Unconstitutional.
A lawsuit was filed against the University in February arguing that a meeting that occurred Feb. 3 violated the law. The meeting was allegedly about a probe by the NCAA into the university’s football program.
The university has acknowledged the meeting occurred, but it refuses to tell the court what the reason for the meeting was. And it went a step further, with attorneys from Butzel Long and the university filing a brief arguing the Open Meetings Act is an “unconstitutional infringement upon the Regents’ autonomy and authority over the general supervision of the University of Michigan.”
The law requires meeting of public bodies to conduct the business of the public in public, by notifying the public of meetings. It also provides specific provisions by which the board can meet in closed session. The university is arguing the Feb. 3 meeting met the standard of attorney client privileged communications.
One might note with some interest the irony in the fact that Butzel Long is also the law firm which runs the Michigan Press Association’s legal hotline. That hotline is designed to assist reporters and editors with Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings Act problems.
U of M is not the only state university that has come under fire for nonpublic meetings. Michigan State University’s board has long been under fire by the university’s student newspaper, the State News, for its regular dinner meetings held the night before a board meeting. During those meetings, trustees discuss the upcoming agenda.
In defense of the practice, Trustee Colleen McNamara told the State News:
“You give yourself a chance to have candid conversations,” Trustee Colleen McNamara was quoted by the State News saying. “It gives me the chance to ask stupid, dumb questions without finding myself quoted in the paper the next day for asking a dumb question.”
U of M doesn’t seem to be a fan of government transparency in any form. As Eartha Jane Melzer reported here just last week, the Michigan Messenger has been in a prolonged battle with the University of Michigan to get documents related to communications between U of M researcher David Garabrant, the university and Dow Chemical. An agreement between the three allows Dow Chemical to review all publications and speaking engagements in which Garabrant would use research materials created by funds from Dow. U of M still has not released those documents, even more than 11 weeks after cashing a Michigan Messenger check to cover expenses related to the documents.
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