The case involves a lesbian couple that wants to adopt three children, but is barred from it under both a state constitutional amendment and a state statute. As Marty Lederman at SCOTUSblog explains, the constitutional amendment, "enacted in 2004, provides that '[t]o secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.'" The state statute limits adoption to single people or married couples. Thus since they are not considered married under state law, the couple cannot adopt.

Continue Reading...

Michigan Live reports:

The decision from U.S. District Judge David S. Lawson grants an injunction which prevents Gov. Rick Snyder and state officials from enforcing the 2011 law prohibiting cities, counties and other public employers from offering benefits to same-sex domestic partners.

A group of five same-sex couples had filed suit against Snyder and the state alleging the law violated the U.S. Constitution by violating due process and equal protection rights. Attorneys for the state had argued the couples lacked standing to bring the suit and had not suffered an identifiable injury as a result of the law.

"It is hard to argue with a straight face that the primary purpose -- indeed, perhaps the sole purpose -- of the statute is other than to deny health benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees," Lawson said, the Associated Press reports. "But that can never be a legitimate governmental purpose."

Continue Reading...

Once again, the search was futile.

"Certainly, we're disappointed," Detroit FBI chief Robert Foley told reporters Wednesday as federal and local authorities wrapped up another excavation that failed to turn up anything that could be linked to Hoffa, who has been missing since 1975.

Many people interested in the mystery assume Hoffa ran afoul of the mob and was whacked.

"Right now the case remains open," Foley said. "At this point, if we do get logical leads and enough probable cause that warrant the resources to do an investigation, then we'll continue to do so."

The latest search for Hoffa's remains was prompted by a tip from reputed ex-Mafia captain Tony Zerilli. About 40 FBI agents searched a small field surrounded by trees and a gravel road in Oakland Township. With the aid of a backhoe, they spent about 10 hours in the field Monday and another 10 Tuesday before calling it quits about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Continue Reading...

Earlier this week there was a brief spark of hope that the Michigan Legislature would swiftly pass a bill to try and prevent a potential sale of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ (DIA) collection. That spark has been put out, at least for now, by both the State House of Representatives and Governor Rick Snyder.

Although the state Senate has moved quickly on the bill sponsored by Republican Senator Randy Richardville, the House of Representatives is insisting on going on summer break first. A spokesman said the House wouldn’t consider the bill until the fall, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Even worse, though, is the article’s statement from Governor Rick Snyder, also a Republican, about the situation regarding the city and its beloved museum:

Continue Reading...

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), or Scotland Yard, said the estimated cost of surrounding the Ecuadorean Embassy from June 19, 2012, when Assange entered the building, until Jan. 31, 2013, is the equivalent of $4.5 million.

Continue Reading...

Reuters reports:

The case before the justices was brought by Abigail Fisher, a white suburban Houston student who asserted she was wrongly rejected by the University of Texas at Austin while minority students with similar grades and test scores were admitted.

The ruling is the only one the court has yet to issue following oral arguments in cases heard in October and November, the opening months of the court's annual term which lasts until the early summer. A decision might come as early as Monday, before the start of a two-week recess.

The Court could also decide to hold off on ruling, since it will be taking up another affirmative action case, this one brought by the state of Michigan challenging a lower court decision that a ban on the policy is unconstitutional.

As Bloomberg reported in March, when the Supreme Court elected to hear the Michigan case:

Continue Reading...

The bill passed by a vote of 288-127, with 92 Democrats backing it. The legislation will now head to the Senate, where it's prospects for success are a bit murkier - a previous version of the legislation passed the House but died in the Senate last year. Obama has already threatened to veto it if it reaches his desk.

From CNET:

Continue Reading...

David Ottenwess, an attorney for McCotter, who represented Michigan, filed a suit against Don Yowchuang and Dillon Breen on Thursday. From the Associated Press:

Elections officials discovered bogus signatures on the Livonia Republican's petitions, keeping him off the 2012 primary ballot. McCotter quit Congress in July. Yowchuang pleaded no-contest to forgery charges and was sentenced Jan. 18 to probation and community service. Breen was not charged.

In a statement, Ottenwess said the two men "purposefully submitted forged petitions in order to keep McCotter off the ballot and, thereby, denying him the opportunity to appear on the August 2012 Republican Primary ballot." The lawyer said he said he would use the subpoena power in the civil proceeding to "get to the bottom of what really happened to sabotage ... McCotter."

As Salon's Steve Kornacki wrote last May, the four-term congressman was "the first incumbent congressman in seven decades not to qualify for his party’s primary ballot."

Continue Reading...

Encouraging workers to get a little competitive on the elliptical by offering them cash incentives may be the best way to help them lose pounds—and to slow companies’ spiraling health care costs.

That’s what researchers from Michigan and Pennsylvania discovered when they implemented a dollars-for-dieters program among the medical staff at Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital.

Each participant was given a monthly weight-loss goal, based on his or her body-mass index, and assigned to one of two cohorts.

Members of the “individual incentive” cohort were eligible to win 100 dollars for every month that they hit their goal; if they fell short, the hospital simply kept the money.

Continue Reading...

Then he caps it off with what he wanted most.

Another national championship.

For that, he can thank 13 of the grittiest guys he's ever coached.

Luke Hancock produced another huge game off the bench, scoring 22 points, and Pitino became the first coach to win national titles at two schools when Louisville rallied from another 12-point deficit to beat Michigan 82-76 in the NCAA championship game Monday night.

"This team is one of the most together, toughest and hard-nosed teams," the coach said. "Being down never bothers us. They just come back."

More like relentless to the very end.

They're not stopping now, either. The players intend to hold Pitino to a promise he made: If they won a national title, he'd get a tattoo.

Better leave a lot of space, coach, if you want to make this a tribute to the team.

"I have a couple of ideas," said Hancock, who became the first sub in tournament history to be designated as most outstanding player. "He doesn't know what he's getting into."

"Our biggest motivation," Peyton Siva added, "was to get coach a tattoo."

Continue Reading...

The bill stalled last year after privacy advocates said it would open American's private Internet records like bank accounts and email to agencies such as the FBI and National Security Agency.

But with fresh accusations from industry that the Chinese government is hacking into U.S. networks and stealing billions of dollars in trade secrets, Reps. Mike Rogers of Michigan and Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland say they think the bill can become law with some changes.

The House panel plans to mark up the legislation on Wednesday, with a floor vote possible next week. Its prospects in the Senate and at the White House are unclear.

Continue Reading...

Every basketball fan knows the story: Michigan was out of timeouts, but Webber panicked, resulting in a technical foul against the Wolverines and nailing the coffin shut on the Fab Five's second straight championship game loss. It was a true stunner. Before the timeout, Webber was in the conversation for greatest college basketball player of all time. After the timeout, he became a national laughingstock.

Memory is a bitch. For all these years, I have excused Webber's horrible mistake by arguing that the game was already all-but-lost for Michigan when he choked. But just now, rewatching it (thanks for nothing, YouTube!), I saw that there were 11 seconds left on the clock and the Wolverines were only down two points and had the ball right next to their own basket. A potential tie or even a win was utterly within the realm of possibility. We've seen much more unlikely finishes during this year's tournament; most notably, the incredible game-tying 30-foot three point shot against Kansas launched by Michigan's current super-sophomore Trey Burke.

Continue Reading...

Top overall seed Louisville will face Wichita State next Saturday, while Michigan takes on Syracuse in the other national semifinal.

In regional playoffs for the women's tourney, Kentucky plays UConn and Georgia faces California on Monday. Notre Dame faces Duke and Tennessee plays Louisville on Tuesday. The winners advance to their national semifinal.

Continue Reading...

In November, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Proposal 2, a voter-approved ban on affirmative action policies in Michigan universities, ruling that it violates the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Proposal 2, which was passed in November 2006 by a margin of 58-42 percent, was pushed by Jennifer Gratz, who worked for the American Civil Rights Institute. Gratz won her own affirmative action case against the University of Michigan in 2003, in a landmark Supreme Court ruling.

“The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative was backed by 58% of the Michigan electorate and simply states that public institutions cannot grant preferential treatment to any group or individual on the basis of race.  The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the will of the people last November," Gratz said in a statement on the Supreme Court's decision Monday. "The Court erred when it declared equality unconstitutional.  We believe the US Supreme Court is poised to overturn the Sixth Circuit’s decision.”

Continue Reading...

Jurors convicted Kilpatrick of a raft of crimes, including a racketeering conspiracy charge. He was portrayed during a five-month trial as an unscrupulous politician who took bribes, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means while in office until fall 2008.

Prosecutors said Kilpatrick ran a "private profit machine" out of Detroit's City Hall. The government presented evidence to show he got a share of the spoils after ensuring that Ferguson's excavating company was awarded millions in work from the water department.

Business owners said they were forced to hire Ferguson as a subcontractor or risk losing city contracts. Separately, fundraiser Emma Bell said she gave Kilpatrick more than $200,000 as his personal cut of political donations, pulling cash from her bra during private meetings. A high-ranking aide, Derrick Miller, told jurors that he often was the middle man, passing bribes from others.

Internal Revenue Service agents said Kilpatrick spent $840,000 beyond his mayoral salary.

Continue Reading...

Democrats are left to keep a seat that hasn't been closely contested since the Detroit Tigers won the World Series in 1984.

The early focus is on the state's congressional delegation, where at least four members are considered possible candidates. Republicans Justin Amash, Dave Camp and Mike Rogers are being mentioned along with Democrat Gary Peters.

Former Republican Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land told The Associated Press on Friday that she's considering running.

Republican Rep. Candice Miller isn't running for Senate. Another Republican to rule it out is 2012 Senate candidate and charter schools founder Clark Durant.

Continue Reading...

A video that went viral at the time showed Crowder getting punched by a protester as he tried to stop an Americans for Prosperity tent from being torn down. The right picked it up as evidence of “union thuggery” at the protests. But, shortly after, the video was revealed to have been selectively edited, and left out a key part where the protester was knocked to the ground right before he got back up to punch Crowder.

Continue Reading...

Casperson took the bait. "Don't know," he replied. Really? Shiels pressed. "Yeah," Casperson confirmed.

“I don’t know because it seems like that issue was dropped immediately as far as the major media went,” Casperson continued. “My gut tells me if it had been a different president, say George W. Bush, they’d have been digging into like there was no tomorrow and trying to get to the bottom of, which they never really tried to get to the bottom of, so it became a conspiracy theory. No big deal.”

"I think it's strange, again, that it's not being looked into," he hadded.

Shiels said he saw a poll showing that only 26 percent of delegates at the Michigan Republican Party Convention believed Obama was born in the U.S. Casperson said that number did "not really" surprise him.

Progress Michigan clipped the audio and Deadline Detroit posted on it.

Continue Reading...

According to the Detroit Free Press, "a report says nearly $10 million in revenue was collected from applicants — more than double the cost of running the program. The report covers the state's last budget year, which ended Sept. 30."

To register as a marijuana user in the state, individuals must pay $100, while those who grow medical marijuana must also pay a fee to the state.

Continue Reading...