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.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is concerned that Michigan’s inability to maintain its wetland permitting program could have negative impact on water resources, create confusion, and compromise federal stimulus projects that require permits, EPA Acting Regional Administrator Bharat Mathur wrote in a Sept. 3 letter to Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality Director Stephen Chester. If [...]
The wetlands program proposed by Republican State Sen. Patty Birkholz of Saugatuck Township last week would give the quasi governmental Michigan Economic Development Corporation a role in permit decisions, eliminate public hearings, and put the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to work scouting land for development by the cranberry industry, according to Great Lakes Blogger, [...]
If Congress does end up doubling the funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, as they are likely to do, the Detroit News reports that there are five primary areas where the money would go: invasive species containment; restoring wetlands; cleaning up contaminated rivers and streams; fertilizer and pesticide runoff from agricultural and residential lands; [...]
Republican State Senator Patty Birkholz of Saugatuck Township says that she is “cautiously optimistic” that a bill she plans to introduce on Thursday will keep the state’s wetland program running for a few more years. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has called for the elimination of the program as a cost-savings measure, appropriations committees in the legislature have zeroed its budget, and the Department of Environmental Quality has prepared layoff notices for staff that work in wetland permitting.
The legislature hasn’t allocated any money for the state’s wetland program and the governor has recommended turning it over to the federal government, so with just over a month left in this fiscal year, the Department of Environmental Quality is preparing to lay off staff involved with protecting wetlands. DEQ spokesman Bob McCann said the [...]
A Traverse City hotel owner who illegally bulldozed the beach and a portion of Grand Traverse Bay behind his hotel has been sentenced to 25 days in jail for failing to perform community service with local conservation groups. The Traverse City Record Eagle reports:
In an interview with Michigan Messenger this month, the commissioner, Jim Koski, acknowledged that he has ignored DEQ wetlands regulations while acting on behalf of Hemlock Semiconductor — and dared the state to sue him. This week, the Department of Environmental Quality referred the violations to the attorney general.
What better way to celebrate Sunshine Week than by watching from home or work as lawmakers discuss a plan to end state regulation of wetlands. Discussion on this topic was streamed live at 2:00 p.m, from a joint meeting of the House Committee on Great Lakes and Environment and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Environmental Quality. [...]
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