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.
A federal court in Detroit has granted a preliminary injunction against the SMART bus system, ordering them to allow an anti-Muslim advertisement to be placed on buses pending the outcome of a full trial on the issue.
The suit was filed by the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center, founded by Domino’s magnate Tom Monaghan, on behalf of anti-Muslim group Freedom Defensive Initiative, founded by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, after SMART rejected their application to place the ad on buses in the metro Detroit area.
The ad says: “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get Answers!” It also contains the website address for the organization.
Ironically, an earlier ad placed on SMART buses by the Detroit Coalition of Reason, a collection of atheist, freethinker and humanist groups, was a key factor in the ruling. That ad said: “Don’t believe in God? You’re not alone.”
The judge’s ruling was almost inevitable. SMART is a government agency that has allowed other groups to place controversial political and religious ads on their buses. It cannot, under numerous precedents, reject an ad based on its political or religious viewpoint or content.
You can read the full ruling here.
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