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 permit for a controversial petroleum coke-fired power plant planned for Rogers City has come under renewed scrutiny because of reports of a conflict of interest by the chairman of the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners.
The project, backed by the Wolverine Power Cooperative, was originally billed as a 600 mW coal-fired power plant, but developers were recently given tentative permission to burn petroleum coke — a waste product of the oil refinery process that critics say poses greater environmental risks. If the plant is built, it will be the first large new power plant in Michigan in the last 20 years.
Allan Bruder, chairman of the Presque Isle Board of Commissioners received $60,000 from Wolverine during the three years before and during the company’s pursuit of a county special-use permit for the power plant, according to journalist Glenn Puit, who published an in-depth report on the matter today in the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service.
In an Oct. 1st letter, attorney Kristin Houle, acting on behalf of concerned locals, asked the Presque Isle prosecuting attorney for an investigation of Bruder’s apparent conflict. Houle wrote:
Mr. Bruder was an officer and board member of Wolverine at the time he advocated for the Special Use Permit. It is our position that the Chairman has profited from his official position in the County by advocating before the Planning Commission for the Special Use Permit for a company in which he had a direct pecuniary interest. Under Michigan conflict of interest law, the actions of Mr. Bruder nullifies the Planning Commission’s decision to grant the SUP, and the SUP is void as a matter of law.
The Department of Environmental Quality will hold public hearings in Rogers City on Oct. 29 and 30 on a draft permit for the power plant. Information about the project and about the opportunity for public comment is available here.
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