Subpoena's for Detroit International bridge hearings?
State Senate hearings are scheduled to being this week over the controversial Detroit River international crossing. It's a bridge Governor Snyder and many others want built, but there have been many charges and counter-charges over the costs and the need for a second bridge crossing into Canada.
State Senator Mike Kowall (R-White Lake Township) is the chair of the Economic Development Committee.
Kowall says he will ask the state Senate for subpoena power, if he suspects anyone is not being truthful during the hearings.
From the Detroit Free Press:
If approved, Kowall would be empowered to compel sworn testimony -- meaning someone who lied could be charged with perjury -- about the various and contradictory claims being made about the proposed bridge and the Ambassador Bridge.
Kowall counts himself as a skeptic of the need for a second bridge crossing, but promises fair hearings.
Catholic Church to review liberal Sunday Mass for "liturgical abuses"
A retired Catholic priest presided over a mass held yesterday in Cobo Center for around 1,500 to 2,000 progressive people who are seeking to reform the church (attendees want to give women and married men the ability to be ordained as priests, among other reforms).
From the Detroit News:
The Archdiocese of Detroit is seeking a review of a Sunday Mass at a progressive Catholics' group's conference to determine if there were "serious liturgical abuses," church officials said Sunday. "Those abuses, along with several other concerns, will now be — and must be — reviewed by the Detroit archdiocese and, potentially, by the Vatican," spokesman Ned McGrath said. The Rev. Robert Wurm, who presided over the Mass on Sunday at the American Catholic Conference at Cobo Center, had said he didn't believe the archdiocese would take action against him. "I felt good about this," said Wurm, 78, who conducted the nearly two-hour service.
Anuzis won't run for U.S. Senate
Former state Republican Party chair Saul Anuzis is the latest potential Republican challenger to U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) to announce they will not run for the seat in 2012. Former U.S. Representative Pete Hoekstra and former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land both declined to run.
Anuzis announced his decision on his blog That's Saul Folks:
After talking to hundreds if not over a thousand donors, activists and friends around the state I have decided NOT to run for the U.S. Senate in 2012... Mine was a more personal decision. Unfortunately I have to work for a living:) I do not have the financial wherewithal to take a year off from working and run an aggressive, fulltime campaign.
Anuzis said he's confident a strong Republican contender will step forward, saying he has "personally encourage [sic] Frank Beckmann, Clark Durant and John McCulloch to run."
