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.
The Bay City Times is reporting that 17-year-old Cassandra Morris has dropped out of Ogemaw Heights schools because of bullying based on her sexual orientation.
Morris came out to her friends and family last year, which resulted in a series of escalating bullying incidents, including a July incident in which her tires were slashed, sausage was spread throughout her car and an explicit message was scrawled on the car. Police interviewed two people in connection with the incident, but have made no arrests.
The final straw for Morris was Oct. 1 when she says she was the victim of an unprovoked attack. She says she fought back against her attacker to protect herself. But school officials tell the Bay City Times that their policies require them to suspend any student involved in a fight that throws a punch.
The district is defending its bulling policies. District Superintendent David Martsen had this to say to the paper:
“Our high school takes bullying very seriously,” said Marsten. “We do follow up on issues and seek what remedies to put into place.
“Do we have bullying? Yes, we do. Are there consequences for bullying? Yes, there are.”
Marsten said there is a program set up at Ogemaw Heights called “Mean Girls” that deals specifically with bullying within the female population.
“We do teach tolerance for differences (in students),” said Marsten.
Morris will attend Delta Community College to get her GED and begin college classes in January, the paper reports.
The story hits as a national movement arises to addressing bullying and what activists have called an “epidemic” of suicides related to bullying.
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