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 owner of a Warren bar is challenging the state’s smoking ban in court.
Boyd Cottrell, owner of Sporty O’Toole’s, has twice been cited by the Macomb County Health Department for violations of the smoking ban, reports the Detroit News. The first time Cottrell was cited, he paid the $100 fine. But the second time he was cited, with a fine of $500, he decided to fight the state’s law.
He is asking a Macomb County judge to toss out the citation and to issue an injunction against the health department preventing it from enforcing the law. He argues the law is unfair because it bans smoking in all indoor eateries and bars as well as patios of such places, while exempting the gambling floor of the state’s casinos.
Cottrell’s attorney, Theodore S. Andris, says he’s urging [Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Edward] Servitto to toss out the fine and prevent the Health Department from enforcing the ban for Cottrell’s bar because it unfairly penalizes his small establishment.
“This is the only state in the union that I can find that gives that kind of bias to the casinos,” he said today. “This law should be looked at again.”
Servitto has adjourned the case until April 18 so he can review arguments submitted by Cottrell and the Michigan Department of Community Health.
The law went into effect nearly a year ago, on May 1, 2010. Since then many bar owners have complained that the smoking ban has hit their bottom line and thinned their wallets.
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