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.
Jonathan Cohn, Senior Editor at the New Republic and a Michigan resident, has a column at Kaiser Health News criticizing Attorney General Mike Cox for joining a lawsuit seeking to overturn the recent health care reform bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama. Noting that there are currently around 1.1 million [...]
As the House prepares to hold hearings on the state’s health budget next week, the state’s hospitals are warning that under funding of Michigan’s Medicaid program is causing a breakdown in the safety net.
The Detroit News reports what has been obvious for quite some time, that the state agencies that oversee social services for the unemployed and impoverished are struggling with massive workloads brought on reduced staffing accompanied by a record number of people needing their services.
A central provision of the health care reform bill will be limited by its short duration and narrow terms of coverage.
At a time when a record 1.8 million Michigan residents rely on Medicaid for their health care and hospitals and doctors are increasingly reluctant to take Medicaid patients due to the low reimbursement rates, the Republican-led Michigan Senate wants to cut those payments even further rather than raising the necessary revenue to keep the primary [...]
The battle lines over the FY 2011 state budget, which begins on Oct. 1, have already been drawn. And to no one’s surprise, they’re in the same place they were last year, with Gov. Granholm seeking more revenue and smaller cuts and the Republican-led Senate seeking all cuts to balance the budget. On Wednesday, the [...]
With the state government facing another $1.8 billion deficit for the next fiscal year, everyone is expecting a bitter fight over the budget this summer and fall. But there may be some federal help on the way. On my radio show Thursday night I interviewed Mike Lillis, the congressional correspondent for our sister site, the [...]
Chris Christoff of the Detroit Free Press has an entirely unsurprising article about how state offices that handle unemployment, food stamps and Medicaid are being overrun with new clients as Michigan continues to lead the nation in unemployment and the Department of Human services has been cut to the bone with 320 recent layoffs. The [...]
It happens in every recession: Medicaid enrollment leaps at precisely the same time that states are least able to afford the additional costs. The structural flaw has left state lawmakers threatening program cuts, Congress scrambling to find emergency funds to prevent a coverage crisis, and children’s health advocates urging an overhaul in the way Medicaid is funded.
The Michigan Senate voted 32 to 4 to kill a proposal which would have placed a three percent tax on doctor’s incomes. The bill had already been approved by the State House.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter