Free Republic

In September 2013, the Michigan Education Association had a surprise for the nearly 8,000 public school employees who thought that by not signing up for the union’s e-dues that they were expressing their desire to disaffiliate from the union and thereby exercise their freedoms under Michigan’s newly enacted right to work law. The union announced that it was going to enforce its little-known bylaw purported to only allow members to resign during the month of August. Through the efforts of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation and four brave Saginaw school teachers, the so-called August window has been declared illegal. When...

SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) — Only a couple of families have taken advantage of a new service available at a Saginaw funeral home. Drive-thru viewings. Paradise Funeral Chapel recently started offering the option, which allows mourners to pay their last respects on the go. It was designed in part to cater to those with physical limitations.

A government money grab that's been operating under the guise of public safety might soon be ended. Legislation to scrap Michigan's "driver responsibility fees" has overwhelming support in the Legislature. In 2003, state lawmakers passed a bill that assessed "driver responsibility fees" in an effort to bring in additional revenue. The move was thinly veiled as a measure to ensure drivers were operating vehicles safely. However, the fees often go beyond simply assigning stiffer penalties for unsafe driving practices. In many instances they pile on costs that individuals don't have the ability to pay. What's more, under certain circumstances they...

SAGINAW, MI — A group of Saginaw County-area Democrats joined together at Saginaw's Savoy Bar and Grill to endorse Michigan gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer. Michael Hanley, chairman of the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners, said he met Schauer in 1996 on the former congressman's first campaign for state representative. "I can't tell you what a strong leader Mark has been since the very beginning," said Hanley at the event Monday, Feb. 24. "He certainly has a great wealth of experience. One thing he has carried with him throughout that entire experience is a strong support for working people." Schauer pledged...

An atheist organization has sent a letter of complaint to a city council in Michigan over the local government's usage of prayer at council meetings. The Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has threatened legal action against the Saginaw City Council. In a letter sent to Saginaw City Manager Tim Morales, FFRF staff attorney Rebecca S. Markert wrote that Saginaw "should drop these prayers altogether." "Government prayers exclude a significant portion of Americans from the democratic process, are of dubious legality, and are a repudiation of our secular history," wrote Markert. "City Council members are free to pray privately or...

Even the most dangerous cities in America can have relatively safe neighborhoods, as there is more variation in crime within most cities than between cities. But using exclusive data developed by NeighborhoodScout, and based on FBI data from all 17,000 local law enforcement agencies in America, we here report those specific neighborhoods in America that have the highest predicted rates of violent crime per 1,000 neighborhood residents of all., Violent crimes include murder, forcible rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. These neighborhoods are the epicenters of violence in America, where social issues are likely to ignite into violence and spread.

Once again proving that racism crosses party lines, Gloria Platko, a Democratic Township Clerk in Buena Vista, Michigan, is refusing to step down from her position after being busted calling Township Supervisor Dwayne Parker an “an arrogant (racial slur),” reports Mediate.com. Interim Township Manager Dexter Mitchell taped a phone conversation and, though Platko’s words are clear, the 63-year-old Dixiecrat claims that it was a “slip of the tongue.” Hear the full conversation below. Platko’a remarks come at the 6:00 mark. Speaking to NBC 25 reporter Walter Smith-Randolp, Platko pulled out the go to bigot card when denying that she’s racist:...

Attorney General Bill Schuette filed a lawsuit Monday against the Health Care Clinic in Delta Township and the affiliated Women's Choice Clinic in Saginaw, forcing the local abortion clinic to close its doors. The court order to shut down operations came after the attorney general said an investigation showed a number of violations. Schuette hopes to keep the clinic's doors from ever opening again. "Doesn't matter whether you're an abortion clinic or a podiatrist, there are state regulations that you have to follow that must be enforced. That's what this case is all about," said Joy Yearout, spokeswoman. Yearout, a...

Saginaw [TX] police are investigating a fatal shooting Monday afternoon in the 200 block of Straw Road. Investigators said the homeowner, firefighter David Wilson, opened fire around 2:30 p.m. after interrupting a burglary in progress. The gunshot victim was not identified.

The president of a Saginaw business says his company could miss out on a contract worth more than $2.5 million if it remains tangled in federal red tape. But a federal agency says the company’s equipment presents a national security risk. Larry Slovin, president & CEO of B&P Process Equipment & Systems, said the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry & Security is denying his company permits it needs to sell & ship equipment to the Chung-Shan Institute of Science & Technology in Taiwan. Slovin said his business will suffer tremendously — losing about 10 percent of its sales...

There was some interesting news breaking when St. Louis got its new archbishop: he announced was bringing along a woman who'd worked with him in Saginaw to be his chancellor. That's not unprecedented -- lay people have been allowed to fill that role since the 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law -- but it's still out-of-the-ordinary. And the local paper has taken the time to profile the new chancellor-to-be: Nancy J. Werner is the first lay person, as well as first woman, to hold the post in the diocese’s history, which goes back to 1826. Only since 1983...

Jason L. Savage brought national, night-time jokester humiliation and worldwide embarrassment to the Great Lakes Bay Region by having sex with a vacuum hose in a Thomas Township car wash, Saginaw County Circuit Judge Fred L. Borchard said while scolding him at his sentencing Wednesday. Late-night television's "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and the "Late Show" with David Letterman poked fun at Saginaw because of him, Borchard told Savage before sending him to jail for 90 days for indecent exposure. A Thomas Township resident saw "someone acting suspicious" at the car wash at 7362 Gratiot at 6:45 a.m. Oct....

Strong winds push ice into beachfront homes along Saginaw Bayby Tom Gilchrist and Pati LaLonde | The Bay City Times Monday March 09, 2009, 9:37 AM Mountains of ice crept up the beach and over sea walls of Linwood homes early Monday morning. The ice made its way into backyards, broke windows and spilled inside homes on the shoreline. Tim Boutell said he and his wife heard the screech of "metal on metal," and then screamed themselves Sunday night as walls of ice pushed toward their Kawkawlin Township home along Saginaw Bay. "About 9 p.m. my wife, Beth, heard some...

The Saginaw home that hit the housing market at a cut-rate price sold Wednesday for less than the price of a McDonald's value meal. The abandoned home on 1606 Perkins received eight bids on eBay.com and sold for $1.75. The high bidder was 30-year-old Joanne Smith of Chicago. ''I am going to try to sell it,'' she said of the house. ''I don't have any plans to move to Saginaw. I don't have any plans of moving from (Chicago).''

SAGINAW, Mich. -- Tightening budgets have forced Mt. Pleasant to take Christ out of their Christmas.The traditional Dickens Christmas Festival has been re-named the Dickens Holiday Festival so the city can advertise in local schools.In order to get more bang for their buck out of a thinning advertisement budget, the organization wants to put fliers in schools. For that to happen, the word “Christmas” had to be removed.Downtown Development Coordinator Michelle Sponseller said many people are unhappy with the change. “We changed the name this year for the schools because we wanted to advertise in the school brochures and the...

October 24, 2007 (SAGINAW, Mich.) - Four students attending a middle school football game were shot Wednesday afternoon, but none of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening, police say. The shootings took place at South Middle School, said a Saginaw police officer who declined to give his name. The victims, believed to be middle school students, were taken to a hospital for treatment, the officer said. He said one had a grazing neck wound and the others had leg wounds. Police arrested a suspect, believed to be a high school student -snip-

The first woman to serve as Saginaw's mayor could become the first councilwoman to serve time for a felony conviction if prosecutors make their arson fraud case stick against Wilmer Jones Ham.... But Councilman Willie Haynes defended Ham's decision to stay on and dismissed the accusations, saying the stakes for the crime were too low to make sense. "I don't think she should step down because I'm quite sure she didn't do it," Haynes said. "I know she's innocent. You're talking about a $5,000 car. I know she wouldn't do nothing for no $5,000. Wilmer wouldn't do that. The facts...

LETTER FROM BISHOP CARLSON Dear Fathers, Deacons, Pastoral Administrators, and Faithful of the Diocese: Since my installation as your bishop more than one year ago, I’ve had the privilege to celebrate liturgy with many of you and have come to know you as a people of deep faith for the Gospel and a strong commitment to excellence in liturgy.As I have said before, I am grateful to know that our diocese has benefited from the liturgical leadership of my predecessors, I affirm the rich liturgical involvement of the many lay ministers of our diocese, and I appreciate the educational opportunities...

WASHINGTON - Wanted: Face time with President Bush or top adviser Karl Rove. Suggested donation: $100,000. The middleman: lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Blunt e-mails that connect money and access in Washington show that prominent Republican activist Grover Norquist facilitated some administration contacts for Abramoff's clients while the lobbyist simultaneously solicited those clients for large donations to Norquist's tax-exempt group. Those who were solicited or landed administration introductions included foreign figures and American Indian tribes, according to e-mails gathered by Senate investigators and federal prosecutors or obtained independently by The Associated Press. "Can the tribes contribute $100,000 for the effort to bring...

WASHINGTON - A Republican Party official and Jack Abramoff's lobbying team bluntly discussed using large political donations as a way to pressure lawmakers into securing federal money for a tribal client, according to e-mails gathered by prosecutors. The e-mails detail how Abramoff's team worked to leverage assistance from the White House, Congress and the GOP to get a reluctant federal agency and a single Republican congressional aide to stop blocking school construction money for the Saginaw Chippewa tribe. The e-mails were obtained by The Associated Press. Abramoff's team ultimately prevailed when the congressional aide was overruled, several lawmakers pressured an...