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.
Gannett Newspapers, which own Michigan papers including the Lansing State Journal, The Detroit Free Press and the Battle Creek Enquirer, cut its Michigan workforce.
In a story yesterday, the Enquirer announced a cut of one-half of its workforce with 50 of its 105 employees receiving pink slips. The cuts came in the paper’s production/printing departments and news room. The printing activities will be transferred to Lansing.
Additionally, Lansing State Journal Executive Editor Mickey Hirten confirmed in a phone call today that the Journal was preparing to make a cut of 10 percent of its workforce. The newspaper currently has an employee base of 403, meaning layoffs for as many as 40 people are expected by the close of business today.
Hirten declined to discuss the layoffs further, saying they were not “finalized” as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. He said there would be a story in the Journal’s Thursday edition about the layoffs. Hirten said the cuts were authorized by Gannett’s corporate headquarters.
The cuts are part of a massive layoff that the newspaper giant, which owns USA Today and nearly 90 other daily papers, first announced in October. GannettBlog, an online site that tracks the actions of the company, says that this week’s cuts hit 655 workers company-wide and that “the final tally could run into the thousands.”
This action from Gannett comes on the heels of similar layoffs and cost-cutting by Newhouse, which owns the Grand Rapids Press, Kalamazoo Gazette, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Flint Journal, Bay City Times, Muskegon Chronicle and Saginaw News.
(Michigan Messenger’s Ed Brayton contributed to this story.)
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