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.
Oakland County Sheriff and GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Bouchard released a new ad Wednesday calling for Michigan to become a right-to-work state.
Right-to-work states have laws which prevent employers from demanding that employees join unions. These laws prohibit the employers from paying the dues for the union employee from his or her pay check. Twenty-two states have passed such laws.
In the advertisement, titled “Guess,” Bouchard claims the states with right-to-work laws have a lower unemployment rate.
“Their unemployment rate is around eight percent,” Bouchard tells viewers while the number 8.4% flashes on the screen.
What Bouchard doesn’t tell views is that this unemployment number is an average, which actually works out to be 8.445 percent and that 10 of the right-to-work states are in the bottom 25 states for unemployment, with five of those states in the bottom ten, including Nevada which has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 14 percent, according to statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Here’s a break out on the right to work states, their unemployment rate and their rankings (out of 51, including Washington D.C.).
Alabama, 10.8%, 43
Arizona, 9.6%, 33
Arkansas, 7.7%, 17
Florida, 11.7%, 47
Georgia, 10.2%, 36
Idaho, 9 %, 28
Iowa, 6.8%, 9
Kansas, 6.5%, 6
Louisiana, 6.9%, 10
Mississippi, 11.4%, 46
Nebraska, 4.9%, 3
Nevada, 14%, 51
North Carolina, 10.3%, 37
North Dakota, 3.6%, 1
Oklahoma, 6.7%, 8
South Carolina, 11%, 45
South Dakota, 4.6%, 2
Tennessee, 10.4%, 38
Texas, 8.3%, 21
Utah, 7.3%, 16
Virginia, 7.1%, 13
Wyoming, 7%, 12
Bouchard is facing Attorney General Mike Cox, Congressman Pete Hoekstra, State Sen. Tom George, and Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder in the Aug. 3 Republican primary for governor. He is trailing Hoekstra, Cox and Snyder according to a poll released Tuesday.
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