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.
Michigan has more than 4,000 contaminated parcels where there is no owner liable for the hazardous pollution that remains. Cleaning up these sites and setting up long term monitoring would cost at least $10 billion dollars, but the prospects for cleanup at this point are grim — under the current state budget all funds for [...]
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is asking people to go online and vote for a new logo for the agency. The merging of the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality this January was ordered by the governor as a way to streamline government and save money. Some have argued [...]
State Rep. Sarah Roberts (D-St. Clair Shores) has introduced a bill (HB4472) that would require the state to do annual unscheduled inspections of companies that hold permits to discharge pollutants into Michigan waters. Amanda Skalski of the Michigan Policy Network writes that the bill deserves recognition and support.
The state House Committee on Tourism and Outdoor Recreation has adopted a resolution urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list. “Michigan’s current gray wolf population of nearly 600 wolves exceeds by nearly three times the number of wolves biologists consider necessary to maintain a [...]
Michigan’s solid waste program is funded by a 21 cents per ton dumping fee at landfills. Between recycling and the economic recession Michigan landfills took in 5 million fewer cubic yards of trash last year. This means that unless a new method of funding is established this year, the state will be unable to inspect [...]
Department of Natural Resources director Rebecca Humphries has been picked to lead the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment — the new department slated to form next week when the DNR and Department of Environmental Quality merge. The combination of the departments, described as a streamlining measure, was ordered last October in an executive [...]
In the name of increased efficiency and amidst massive budget deficits, Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued an executive order on October 8 combining the Departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality and appointed a specialist in corporate “asset repositioning” to manage the transition.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm is facing opposition to her Oct. 8 executive order that restructures government by combining the departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality. The order also removed the power of the Agriculture Commission and the Natural Resources Commission to appoint the directors of their departments. The move was presented as a way to save money but farmers, sportsmen and conservationists say they are worried that it will improperly concentrate power in the governor’s office.
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