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.
Clinton Township officials are accusing the Metro Detroit Freedom Coalition, a Tea Party group, of misrepresenting itself in order to schedule a Sunday Tea Party Express rally there.
The Macomb Daily reports that officials from the Metro Detroit Freedom Coalition are being accused of renting two areas of the township’s Civic Center park on Sunday by being “less than truthful.” The paper reports the group allegedly rented a gazebo by claiming it was for a wedding party, under-reporting the estimated number of attendees and allowing vendors to sell items without vendor licensing.
The Daily says the group originally reserved the gazebo in the park, but was told it was only for weddings. As a result, another member of the group reserved the gazebo for wedding pictures.
Metro Detroit Freedom Coalition denies the allegation:
On April 5, Ruth Kade of Grosse Pointe Woods, a Tea Party supporter, signed a rental agreement for the gazebo for “picture taking” purposes and paying a $30 fee.
Kade said there was a communication mix-up because the group wanted to use the gazebo section for rally photo ops and extra parking. “At no time did we say we were having a wedding,” she said.
In addition, when the group applied for the use of the park itself, it allegedly said the estimated crowd would be 150. Organizers from the group say they wrote 1,500 people and blamed the error on the township. The crowd was actually an estimated 3,000 people.
That error, whether clerical or the result of deliberate misinformation, as the Township alleges, resulted in chaos surrounding parking in the area. In order to deal with that, police had to call in additional officers on overtime to help control the congestion and parking issues, the Township says.
The township says the group also failed to get the proper permits for vendors. The Tea Party Express officially offered CDs and t-shirts for sale at Tea Party Express events across the state last weekend. And at least one “official sponsor” was on hand in Lansing selling merchandise, including a “straight pride” t-shirt.
As a result of all the allegations, Township officials say they are adding up the extra costs that grew out of the event, and are considering billing the Metro Detroit Freedom Coalition.
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