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.
In a city accustomed to bare knuckles political fights, no issue is more divisive at the moment than the question of who should control the Detroit Public Schools. The city’s school board and emergency financial manager Robert Bobb have been busy suing each other in court, and now some are demanding that the entire board be disbanded and control handed over to Mayor David Bing.
The divisive nature of that suggestion came to the fore at a Detroit City Council meeting on Tuesday, the Detroit News reports:
Last week, the council refused requests by a coalition to put the mayoral control issue on the November ballot, prompting 200 people to show up at today’s meeting.
The Change for Better Schools group wants to disband the 11-member school board and give power over the 87,000-student district to Mayor Dave Bing. The group has been running radio ads asking residents to pressure the council to reconsider before its July 30 recess.
Earlier in the meeting, tensions grew high enough that Pugh had to call for a recess at about 1 p.m. after Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown told school board member Reverend David Murray that he and controversial former school board president Otis Mathis “are the face of the school board.” That caused a commotion in the 13th floor auditorium, as some began chanting, “Gary Brown has got to go.”
Mathis resigned a few weeks ago after being accused of fondling and exposing himself during a meeting with the Detroit school superintendent. Mayor Dave Bing has advocated a takeover of the school system, but his aides say he wants to put the question on the ballot to make sure he has public support for doing so.
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