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.
Lawyers for Michigan State University and the State News student newspaper sparred before the Michigan Supreme Court Tuesday morning over how to interpret a part of the state Freedom of Information Act regarding invasion of privacy.
The case stems from a Feb. 23, 2006, incident at an MSU residence hall. Three people invaded a dorm room brandishing a gun, doused the occupant of the room with gasoline and threatened to set the person on fire.
The incident led to the arrest of three men, one of them a student at MSU. Charges against one of the non-students were dropped. The other two men have been convicted on charges stemming from the assault incident.
A month after the incident, the State News filed an FOIA request with MSU police, seeking a copy of the police report. The MSU administration denied the request, citing the law’s privacy exemption. The exemption allows withholding of “information of a personal nature if public disclosure of the information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual’s privacy.”
The State News filed a lawsuit in May 2006 in Ingham County Circuit Court.
MSU’s attorney, Theresa Kelley, argued that the exemption gave the university grounds to withhold the report.
“MSU’s police incident report contains personally identifying sensitive information about people, MSU students, in their private lives,” she said. “The very fact of being involved in an alleged crime is personal in nature.”
The attorney for the State News, Hershel Fink, countered that argument.
“If MSU’s position were to be followed, the public would be deprived of all information about crime in their community. It’s a preposterous, ridiculous extreme position,” Fink told the justices.
A decision is expected before the court term ends July 31.
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