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 ACLU sent letters to public schools around the country, including Rochester High School in Michigan, demanding that they change the filters on their computers to stop preventing students from accessing LGBT websites.
This is not about pornographic sites of any kind, it’s about sites for organizations like the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, which sponsors Gay-Straight Alliance clubs that are present in thousands of schools around the country.
Nick Rinehart of Rochester High School is one of the students who has been blocked from accessing such sites while at school.
“I couldn’t believe my school would block access to perfectly legitimate websites just because they were about LGBT issues,” said Rinehart, who tried to look up information about Gay-Straight Alliances. “It’s not fair for the school to try to keep students in the dark about LGBT resources.”
“The use of internet filtering tools to censor websites that advocate for the fair treatment of LGBT people is wrong and illegal,” said Jay Kaplan, ACLU of Michigan LGBT Project staff attorney. “Many of these websites provide much needed support and resources for LGBT youth during a critical time in their lives. By blocking LGBT websites, schools are sending a terrible message to students that LGBT voices are to be ignored and silenced.”
The ACLU has given the schools until April 4 to respond to their letter. The letter to Rochester schools can be seen here.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter