Elms Progressive Media

chigan's new Republican governor is earning enemies and friends with his sweeping budget proposal, a plan that would slash corporate tax bills by applying a limited flat tax while making up the difference with new taxes on seniors and other groups.  AARP Michigan has been one of the most vocal critics of Gov. Rick Snyder's plan, calling it "the biggest tax increase in the history of our state." The group held a rally last week under the banner, "It's Not Fair."  Unions and Democratic officials have also come out against it, while business types claim the plan will spur growth.  Snyder's budget gambit, which came after a bill that would give him the power to intervene in local government affairs during a fiscal emergency and cancel union obligations, is setting up another Midwestern battle in the same vein as the showdown in Wisconsin over union rights. It's unclear whether he'll have the momentum to push the tax plan through, with...

Alerts have been issued on radiation levels in Japanese milk, spinach, leeks and tap water. Food shipments from four prefectures around the Fukushima nuclear power plant have been suspended . So how hazardous are the radiation levels found, and should people panic about what they're eating? Which goods have been contaminated? Today the Japanese government ordered four prefectures to stop selling spinach and leeks after levels of radiation above the legal limit were picked up in them. The affected prefectures were Fukushima, where the nuclear plant damaged by the tsunami is based, and the nearby Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures. Traces of radioactive iodine-131 were discovered in Tokyo tap water on Sunday . In Iiate, a village in Fukushima prefecture, there was so much in the water that the health ministry advised the village's 3700 residents not to drink it. The water here contained 965 becquerels of radiation per kilogram – treble the "safe" legal ...