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.
Peace activists in Michigan are promoting Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich’s plan for a federal Department of Peace. Although the Ohio congressman will not be campaigning in Michigan, and his prospects in the January primary are slim, supporters believe his peace plan has merit, and some think keeping the candidate’s central campaign issue alive will increase his success in the Michigan primary.
Team leaders in each of Michigan’s 15 congressional districts are coordinating a campaign to win support for legislation that would create a cabinet-level Department of Peace and Non-Violence. The new department would advise the president and military on peacemaking techniques and work domestically to develop methods for teaching violence prevention to schoolchildren and rehabilitating the prison population.
The proposed department would have a budget equal to 2 percent of the U.S. defense budget.
In Michigan, Detroit, Hamtramck, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Manistee, Traverse City, and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians have endorsed resolutions in favor of the legislation.
“We tell our kids that we take their safety seriously but the only plan that we have is to build more prisons. We teach them to hide under their desks and lock down the schools,” said Kristen Jongen, who led the successful effort to win an endorsement from the Traverse City commission this month.
“We know how to dismantle gang violence and how to stop domestic violence. This would build a hub to gather and distribute information on programs that work,” Jongen said, “A lot of people are rallying and protesting — this is a legislative way out, something institutional that shows that government is serious.”
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