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 chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR MI) has written a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking for an investigation into whether Pittsfield Township violated the First Amendment rights by rejecting a Muslim group’s application to build a Muslim private school.
The Michigan Islamic Academy applied to have a piece of property they own rezoned so they could build a Muslim school on the property and the Pittsfield Township Planning Commission rejected that request. The letter alleges that opponents of the rezoning made “derogatory comments … regarding the religious practice of Muslims” along with their concerns about traffic and neighborhood harmony.
CAIR-MI Executive Direcor Dawud Walid asked the DOJ to monitor a planning commission meeting on Aug. 4, when they are expected to formally reject the request for rezoning. Walid says that a final rejection may violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLIUPA).
RLUIPA requires that local zoning boards grant exceptions for religious organizations unless they can demonstrate that their refusal serves a compelling governmental interest. Even if the DOJ does not monitor or investigate, the law gives the MIA standing to file a court challenge to the rejection of their application.
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