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.
Republican candidate for governor Rick Snyder released his tax returns and charitable contributions from 2007 and 2008 on Friday.
In their joint filings, Snyder and his wife Sue paid $323,036 in 2007 and $189,069 in 2008 federal income tax on an adjusted gross income of $1,309,920 in 2007 and $1,169,028 in 2008. In those same two years, Snyder donated $957,561 to charity, records released by his campaign show. But the campaign says he donated significantly more than this.
Of interest is the fact Snyder donated $10,000 each year to the Ann Arbor teen group Neutral Zone. The organization is one of Michigan’s most active teen organizations, with programs such as arts for youth, leadership skills and mentoring. The organization also runs a program for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.
The group’s annual report for 2009 reports on the LGBT program as such:
Existing programs were incredibly energetic this year. Riot youth, our LGBTQQ [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning] group, just finished a 50 page report compiling 1,200 climate surveys from Ann Arbor Public School teens. They put their findings into a performance, which they have presented to the school administrators, and to the public during Youth Out.
And while state conservatives have knocked Snyder in the past for being too liberal, he is not the only high profile Republican to donate to Neutral Zone. The 2009 annual report shows Ambassador Ronald N. and Eileen Lappin Weiser as contributors to the organization. Weiser is chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
Snyder is squaring off with Attorney General Mike Cox, Congressman Pete Hoekstra, state Sen. Tom George and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard for the Republican party’s nomination for governor. The election is Aug. 3. Polls show Snyder, Cox and Hoekstra locked in a dead heat for the party’s nomination.
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