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.
State Sen. Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba) said he would like to see a private prison company such as The GEO Group take over Camp Manistique, a 264 bed minimum security state prison that was closed amidst a budget shortfall in 2007.
Caspersontold the Escanaba Daily Press that the state of Michigan has not followed through on promises to explore other use for the prisons and new job possibilities for the 47 people who worked there.
Following the closure, various government officials tried to restore hope in the community, which struggled with the loss of revenue. Feasibility studies were done by both state (a $100,000 Regional Jail Feasibility and Facility Re-use Study completed on behalf of the MDOC by the U.P. Council on Area Progress (UPCAP) was released in Nov. 2010) and private organizations, and various ideas for use of the camp surfaced. Among the ideas were possible conversions to: a facility to house Guantanamo Bay detainees; a Central Upper Peninsula Planning and Development (CUPPAD) invasive species lab; a county jail; a regional jail; or a district energy plant. Four years later, the camp remains vacant.
Casperson said that Florida-based private prison contractor The GEO Group’s deal to house up to 2,850 California prisoners at its North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin has inspired him to look into whether the company may be interested in developing operations at Camp Manistique.
“We are bringing the pieces of the puzzle together so that a pitch can be made,” Casperson said. “We want to be prepared to help them (GEO) get ready to go if they like the pitch.”
Casperson told the Press that former prison camp has not been maintained and would require around $60 million in renovations before it could be used again.
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