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 the last two months, the Michigan Civil Service Commission has made decisions to stop a three percent State Employee Retirement Contribution and to extend health benefits to other eligible individuals living with state employees. Both of those decision are coming under increasing legislative focus.
Subscription-only Michigan Information and Research Services (MIRS), a daily capitol news source, reports Speaker James ‘Jase’ Bolger is striking out at both decisions, calling them “incredibly irresponsible.”
“The Civil Service Commission needs to stop this irresponsible spending spree of the taxpayers’ money,” said Bolger, R-Marshall. “Last month, commissioners increased health insurance costs exponentially and now they’ve increased them even more. Their inability to deal with reality is flat-out absurd.”
The retirement contribution was part of last year’s budget agreement between the legislature and Gov. Jennifer Granholm. It was a key plank in Granholm’s plan to reduce state employee numbers by offering early outs, and creating the mandatory contribution to retirement programs for those who chose not to accept the early out. Public employee unions filed suit over the contribution. The money continues to be collected, but is being held in an escrow account until the litigation is over.
Last week, Gary Glenn from the American Family Association of Michigan asked Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican and vocal opponent of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, to issue an opinion as to whether the new MCSC OEI program violated the state’s Constitutional amendment banning any formal partnership except a marriage between one man and one woman.
Bolger told MIRS he would work through all available channels — which could include intervention by the AG Schuette, litigation or legislation — to resolve both the OEI package approved by the MCSC in January, and to restore the three percent contribution to the health retirement funds.
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