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.
Republican Senate Majority leader Mike Bishop called a county clerk effort to help student voters “illegal” and is asking the Attorney General’s office to determine if it should be blocked, the Grand Rapids Press reports.
State law requires that first-time voters who registered by mail present an ID before voting — a hardship for students who may need to travel long distances to present an ID to the clerk in their home district.
In an effort to make voting easier, county clerks have temporarily deputized one another so that first-time voters who registered by mail can show an ID and apply for an absentee ballot at the local clerk’s office.
In an interview with Michigan Messenger earlier this week, Ingham County Clerk Mike Bryanton said new voters who want to take advantage of the clerks program should visit their local clerk as soon as possible.
Bryanton also criticized Senate Republicans for failing to make voting easier.
“(The) existing law disenfranchises students by creating obstacles to them being able to participate in the process,” Bryanton said, adding that legislation designed to eliminate these obstacles stalled in the Republican-led Senate.
“Senate Republicans don’t want to increase turnout for that segment of the population,” he said. “They seem to want to limit the turnout. They think that the smaller the turnout, the better it is for their side.”
The county clerk program is non-partisan and is supported by the state’s Republican secretary of state, Terri Lynn Land.
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