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.
Hallmark Industrial, the controversial subcontractor working on the Calhoun county oil spill clean up, has been fired by its contractor following an investigation by Michigan Messenger that found the company was busing in undocumented workers to work 12 to 14 hour days, seven days a week for $800 a week.
One of many pictures of the cleanup worksite that show multiple safety violations
The Messenger investigation also discovered what Enbridge Energy Partners — the company responsible for the spill — called safety concerns and violations. Garner Environmental Services Inc., the contractor that hired Hallmark, “made an independent decision to end that contract,” Enbridge spokesperson Terri Larson said Tuesday morning.
“It’s fair to say — and I think it’s fair for people to make the leap — that this was because of allegations related to their business practices,” said Larson.
In addition to the ending of the contract for Hallmark, Messenger’s source said Garner has issued a directive to all contractors that they are forbidden from talking to the media, and that doing so will be grounds for immediate termination. Larson said Garner had said not talking to the media was its corporate policy.
Meanwhile, some workers were left in Battle Creek with an uncertain future in the clean up and unsure if they will receive the pay due them for their work on the Kalamazoo River on Monday — before the contract with Garner was terminated.
Sources say the Hallmark employees have boarded buses and are headed back to Texas.
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