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 sign of the continuing economic crisis in the state, the city of Port Huron’s city manager, Bruce Brown, is floating a proposal to eliminate the city’s police department.
The Port Huron Times Herald reports:
Brown tells the Times Herald that the idea is being studied but will not be followed through if it does not save more than $1 million, results in layoffs or would result in a decrease in police services in the city of about 33,000 people. Right now, the city spends $7 million annually to run its department.
Under the proposal, law enforcement responsibilities would be shifted to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department.
The decision on the fate of the agency will come in mid-February, Brown says.
As the state’s economy has continued to be anemic, lawmakers forced by a Constitutional amendment to produce balanced budgets each year have cut local revenue sharing percentages, squeezing local government entities.
The idea of eliminating police services is not new in the state. Ingham County eliminated rural patrols due to budget shortfalls. County residents in rural areas were asked to approve a special assessment for sheriff’s department to continue rural patrols in November, but only one township approved the increase in taxes. Since then, the sheriff’s department has said response time by the department in those rural areas can be delayed by hours.
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