The Michigan Messenger

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The Michigan Messenger going forward

By Staff Report | 11.16.11

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 [...]

Colorado-based abstinence program provided false and misleading information to Michigan students

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.16.11

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.

Class action lawsuit filed against MERS over unpaid taxes

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.15.11

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.

Schuette fights important mercury regulations

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By Eartha Jane Melzer | 11.14.11

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.

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State, businesses work to foster green-sector growth

By Howard Lovy | 09.08.09 | 10:47 am

You know all those “green jobs” that are supposed to come to Michigan? Any day now? Well, they’re coming, according to state officials. Really, they are. But, they say, there’s a kind of “chicken and egg” problem going on. The few companies that are creating these green jobs say there are not enough workers around here trained in how to run these new, green industries.

Michigan faces fierce competition in race to be world’s battery capital

By Howard Lovy | 06.23.09 | 10:10 am

Michigan’s optimistic governor should be aware that the state is not only competing with Asia in building a lithium-ion battery infrastructure, but with neighboring states with ambitions just as sweeping. There is, however, one important difference: Michigan, as far as it has fallen from grace as the center of automotive manufacturing, still has further to fall if it is not careful.

Detroit Auto Show: DENSO’s big bright green diversionary machine

By Howard Lovy | 01.22.09 | 8:07 am

It’s much easier to talk about this kind of green at this year’s show than the other kind of green

Will batteries recharge Michigan’s economy?

By Howard Lovy | 01.19.09 | 8:35 am

They will if Congress — and Detroit’s critics — come to understand that the auto industry is infrastructure.

Detroit Auto Show: EcoXperience tiptoes through the dying tulips

By Howard Lovy | 01.14.09 | 4:39 pm

Here’s Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s EcoXperience track in the basement of COBO Hall. (Click to expand the thumbnail picture.) My initial impression? It smells like rotting vegetation down there. In the picture, though, you can see one of the cool little Jetsons’ cars in the background.

Detroit Auto Show: NBC’s Al Roker

By Howard Lovy | 01.13.09 | 10:00 pm

NBC weatherman Al Roker takes a “test drive” of a Ford Shelby Mustang at the Detroit Auto Show. That’s the story. There’s really nothing else that needs to be said here. (Click thumbnail to expand photo.)

RIP internal combustion engine

By Howard Lovy | 01.13.09 | 4:34 pm

Back when I was a copy editor for The Detroit News a decade ago, our ultraconservative editorial page would go on red-faced tirades against then-Vice President Al Gore for his prediction of the end of the internal combustion engine. Today, The Detroit News is on its way out and, well, so is the internal combustion [...]

Who stole the electric car — redux? GM Volt in ’07 and in ’09

By Howard Lovy | 01.13.09 | 4:03 pm

When General Motors unveiled its electric hybrid Chevy Volt an economic epoch ago — at the 2007 North American International Auto Show, what it gave us (PDF 219k) seemed almost too good to be true. GM appeared to “get it” when it came to the new environmental consciousness sweeping popular culture. For the first time, [...]