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.
U.S. Rep. John Conyers got involved in the controversy over thousands of untested rape kits discovered in the Detroit crime lab after it was shut down in 2008, calling for legislation and funding to clear the backlog. The Detroit Free Press reports:
Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, said Detroit police acknowledged there were about 5,800 untested rape kits, most pertaining to cases where there was a known suspect but no charges were pressed, a guilty plea was obtained or a prosecutor declined to proceed with the case.
But he urged that Detroit follow New York City’s lead and test all rape kits collected by the police.
“Testing a rape kit can identify the attacker, confirm that a suspect had sexual contact with a victim, or corroborate the victim’s account of the sexual assault,” Conyers said. “And it can help exonerate innocent people.”
Legislation has been proposed to encourage police to test more of the rape kits they receive and provide additional funding to do so. Conyers, meanwhile, said there may be ways in which private labs can work with public ones to reduce the backlog.
Federal funding would be a huge help in getting that done given the budgetary situation in both the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan, where the other state crime labs are already underfunded and overworked because of the closure of the Detroit lab.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter