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 Michigan Legislative Black Caucus is working with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit), and others on a lawsuit to challenge Michigan’s Emergency Manager law.
Rep. Fred Durhal (D-Detroit), chairman of the caucus, said last night that the group expects to challenge the law in federal court within a few weeks.
The Emergency Manager law, also known as Public Act 4, violates the voting rights of people in Michigan, he said, and runs afoul of Constitutional provisions against enacting laws to violate contracts.
Durhal said the group also expects to file suit in state court for violations of the Home Rule Act which empowers communities to elect their local governments.
Conyers is the only member of Michigan’s Congressional delegation to publicly criticize the law.
In a statement last month he said that allowing Emergency Managers to dissolve local governments, “implicitly targets minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn, without providing meaningful support for improved economic opportunity.”
Conyers called the bill an opportunistic Republican power grab aimed at crushing workers rights.
Durhal said that he expects the group will ask the court for an injunction on the law.
“If we are going to stop the travesty caused by this law,” he said, “we need to start with Benton Harbor.”
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