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.
Legislation to allow a state-appointed Emergency Manager to replace local officials and terminate contracts is an opportunistic Republican power grab aimed at crushing workers rights and disenfranchising minority communities, Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit) said yesterday.
Federal agency clears way for Emmet County’s negotiations with tarnished disaster-response privateer The Federal Aviation Administration has granted Emmet County the right to lease some of the Pellston airport for commercial use, reviving concerns in the Petoskey area about a controversial company that has pursued space at the airport for a training center. The FAA [...]
A roundup of recent stories involving Blackwater, the private military contractor founded by Michigan native and wealthy Republican supporter Erik Prince: Blackwater spins off inconspicuous subsidiary Mother Jones reports that Prince has formed a new company, Greystone Limited, which subcontracts for Blackwater and was founded to fulfill many of the same missions with a much [...]
Company insiders say job-starved Michigan was poised to make a bad investment When Sovereign Deed LLC came to Emmet County last year advertising a plan to invest millions and create jobs with a privatized disaster-response service, state legislators and the Northern Lakes Economic Alliance put together a tax-financed incentive package worth $19 million. Then troubling [...]
Barrett Moore, founder of a private disaster response firm seeking tax breaks to establish operations in northern Michigan, has acknowledged for the first time that he lied about his military service and was once convicted of criminal fraud in Australia. In a commentary published in the Petoskey News-Review Thursday, Moore repeated claims that his firm, [...]
Resignation follows report that his CEO lied about his own military record. Retired Brig. Gen. Richard W. Mills has left Sovereign Deed, the company that is seeking public funds for development of a national disaster response center in Northern Michigan. Mills served as deputy commander of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command before joining Sovereign [...]
In the wake of our coverage of Sovereign Deed, we wondered whether traditional media would sit up and pay attention to this story. Would they look deeper into the underlying issues and into the people involved? Would their work encourage greater accountability and reporting transparency for constituents? Here’s what the media has reported so far; [...]
Homeland security, a concept born after the September 11th attacks, has developed into a $54 billion global market of goods and services. Several Michigan colleges and universities offer degree programs to meet emerging homeland-security needs and prepare students for employment opportunities in this brave new economy. But not all in academe are buying this idea. [...]
Michigan Messenger’s reporting on Barrett Moore, founder of the Sovereign Deed private security firm, is “unscrupulous and defamatory,” says the firm’s attorney in a letter sent to Michigan Messenger last Friday. The letter demanded that Michigan Messenger remove from its Web site a story headlined “Sovereign Deed CEO lied about military service, records show.” Sovereign [...]
[COMMENTARY] “An ounce of hypocrisy is worth a pound of ambition,” a famous publisher once said. Hypocrisy and ambition, alas, are the dominant themes that have emerged from Michigan Messenger’s months-long investigation into Barrett Moore, the chief executive officer of Sovereign Deed, the private security company looking to set up its headquarters in Pellston, Michigan. [...]
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