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.
People who question the actions and authority of Detroit police officers have been charged with made-up crimes, according to two federal lawsuits filed yesterday by the Michigan Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the
Detroit News reports.
In one of the ACLU examples cited by the News, a member of Vegan Outreach was ordered to stop distributing leaflets about animal cruelty on a public sidewalk outside Comerica Park. When the activist asked to see the ordinance against leafleting, he was issued a ticket for refusing to comply with an “order to stop” and interfering with pedestrian traffic.
In another case, a man who was questioned by police as he used his laptop in his parked car asked police what “probable cause” they had to stop and question him and was told that they had grounds to do so because he was parked in “a well known drug zone.” This man was issued a ticket for loitering in a known drug area — a crime that is no longer on the books.
The ACLU says that police retaliation cases mostly go unnoticed because people don’t have the resources to fight back. The civil rights group says it is seeking an acknowledgment by police that it is unconstitutional to retaliate against people who question police activities.
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