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.
Beginning next year the state will stagger the distribution of food benefits to Michigan’s 1.9 million Bridge card holders in an effort to prevent the food shortages that can result from mass shopping at the beginning of the month.
The demand for food aid in Metro Detroit is outstripping supply. Soup kitchens are rationing portions and food banks are learning to stock peanut butter, crackers and juice as emergency nutrition for people who show up too weak to wait in line for groceries. Yesterday we noted a Michigan State University study that found that [...]
DETROIT — The Motor City has been most famous for its past industrial endeavors. That’s why it’s still a bit surprising to some that within the city limits, there are more than 700 urban farms that yield more than 120 tons of produce each year. When harvest season comes around, the social aspect of urban farming shines through, with farmers coming together to celebrate the season at parties brimming with locally grown food and drink.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture’s food bank program will be cut by 14 percent under a budget approved by a panel of House and Senate negotiators yesterday, AP reports. The Michigan Agriculture Surplus Program pays farmers to harvest, clean, package and ship surplus fruits and vegetables that they donate to Michigan’s needy. It supplied around [...]
The Senate’s proposed budget would cut most of the funds for a state Department of Agriculture program that distributed 5 million pounds of Michigan produce to food banks last year, the Lansing State Journal reports. Statewide food banks have experienced a 30 percent increase in demand this year.
The Michigan Land Bank is offering to lease around 8,000 tax-reverted parcels to people who want to start gardens, but so far few have taken advantage of the program. According to Carrie Lewand-Monroe, executive director of the Michigan Land Bank, only around eight parcels have been leased through the Garden for Growth program.
In an effort to increase access to healthy and affordable food the state is offering to lease vacant land to gardeners for $50 per year. The new program was announced in the written version of Governor Jennifer Granholm’s State of the State message.
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