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.
State Rep. Kim Meltzer (R-Macomb Township) says she will be introducing legislation similar to Arizona’s controversial new immigration enforcement law here in Michigan. Here’s how Meltzer announced the legislation in a press release:
A hearing on motions from groups asking a Macomb County Circuit Court to dismiss bio-terrorism charges against a 44-year-old HIV-positive man has been delayed. The hearing was scheduled before Macomb Circuit Court Judge Peter Maceroni on Monday, but was postponed until May 10 to allow the prosecution time to respond to amicus briefs filed by [...]
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and three Michigan groups who represent or work with HIV-positive individuals have filed an amicus brief in the case of Daniel Allen. Allen, 44, was charged last year with bio-terrorism for allegedly biting a neighbor during a fight. Prosecutors charged him because Allen is HIV-positive. They argue that spit [...]
The man facing charges under Michigan’s bio-terrorism laws has rejected an offer from Macomb county prosecutors. The Macomb Daily reports 44-year-old Daniel Allen was in court Thursday and rejected an offer to plead guilty to a ten-year felony assault with intent to great bodily harm less than murder. He is facing charges of assault with [...]
In a friend of the court filing in Macomb County Circuit Court, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has asked that bio-terrorism charges against an HIV-positive man be dismissed. The ACLU filed the brief in the case of Daniel Allen, a 44-year-old Clinton Township man. Allen was arrested in October of 2009 following a [...]
In one of the numerous annual battles over nativity displays on public property, a federal judge has rejected a motion for a preliminary injunction allowing a long-standing nativity scene to be put up in a median barrier in Warren, Michigan. The case is Satawa v Macomb County Board of Road Commissioners.
From terrorism to discrimination to privacy issues, HIV-related issues made headlines in Michigan in 2009.
1. HIV-as-terrorism case in Macomb County
Perhaps the most watched, and outrageous, HIV related story of 2009 is the situation facing Daniel Allen, a 44-year-old Clinton Township resident who has been charged by Macomb County prosecutors under state terrorism laws.
While the Macomb County Circuit Court has delayed the HIV-as-terrorism case against Daniel Allen until next year, lawmakers and advocacy groups are already moving to address the charges.
The HIV-as-terrorism case involving 44-year-old Daniel Allen of Clinton Township is now the subject of at least two cyber-protests. Allen was charged with terrorism in Macomb County because he allegedly bit a neighbor during a fight in October. The prosecutor, upon learning Allen was HIV-positive, announced he would seek additional charges from the original assault [...]
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith is so incensed at the Macomb County Board of Commissioners over cuts to his office made necessary by a county budget deficit of nearly $16 million that he is considering filing a lawsuit against his own county to have those cuts overturned. The Detroit News reports:
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