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.
Two Lenawee County communities have joined the ranks of dozens of other municipalities around the state that are wrestling with the state’s medical marijuana law, according to reports in the Adrian Daily Telegram.
In Tecumseh, the city council and planning commission were briefed Monday night about the law and the difficulty it created in terms of attempting to create regulations related to medical marijuana.
“It is quite controversial and there is confusion over just what the law means,” [City Manager Kevin] Welch said. “Our goal is to show how confusing this is and how little direction we have been given.”
Officials were told they had three options in relation to the law. They could ban the growing of the medicinal plant, create an ordinance or do nothing. Officials said the first option would inevitably lead to a lawsuit.
The ACLU is currently litigating against several municipalities that created bans. In addition, Bloomfield Township is being sued by medical marijuana patients over its ordinance which prohibits growing marijuana in the township and requires patients to register with the police.
Officials also warned that creating an ordinance could lead to a lawsuit as well.
It was also clear that Tecumseh officials were not pleased with the law, which they said was a move to legalize marijuana altogether.
“This comes to us as a law, not through legislation, but through a referendum,” councilman Larry Van Alstine said. “This referendum was carefully worded to tie the hands of law enforcement.”
Van Alstine is the former chief of police in Tecumseh and Lenawee County undersheriff. He said the proponents of the medical marijuana law are using this as a start to complete legalization.
“It’s a shame the electorate fell for this scam,” he said.
In neighboring Adrian, the council passed a moratorium on medical pot dispensaries in the city Monday night. The moratorium is a 120 day freeze while the city commission wrestles with regulations for the businesses.
The city already has two dispensaries, and some on the commission worried about the situation.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me how you can tell somebody you can’t do this if we already have two in town,” [Commissioner Michael] Osborne said after the meeting.
Osburne was the lone dissenting voice on the commission, which voted 5-1 to approve the moratorium.
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