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.
With the Sept. 31 deadline for completion of the next fiscal year budget looming, the Michigan Senate passed a series of budget bills on Tuesday. The Detroit Free Press reports:
The Senate today approved final budgets for corrections, and the Department of Community Health, which includes the rising cost of Medicaid.
The Senate also approved next year’s budget for the Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth…
The $14 billion community health budget — $2.4 billion from state tax dollars, the rest federal money — relies heavily on federal stimulus money that presumably will end in 2011. It restores funding for adult dental and podiatry services under Medicaid, and lessens a proposed $50 million cut in mental health services to a $1 million cut.
The state general fund portion will rise by $271 million over this year, due in part to more demand for Medicaid as the state’s recession continues to leave more people out of work.
The budget also avoids a 4% cut in Medicaid reimbursements to some physicians and hospitals.
Those bills now go to the House for consideration. Both chambers still have to vote on a proposal to encourage early retirement for public employees and make changes in health care and pension provisions for those employees. That proposal would be similar to a plan passed last year for public school employees.
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