Free Republic

Tuscola County prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges Saturday against three men who they say bought dozens of cell phones Friday in Caro in a globally coordinated plot involving the Mackinac Bridge. They charged brothers Adham Abdelhamid Othman, 21, and Louai Abdelhamied Othman, 23, along with their cousin, Maruan Awad Muhareb, 18, with identical counts of collecting material to support terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target with intent to committ terrorism.

Would the 900,000 visitors who annually swarm the fudge shops, horse-drawn carriages and scenic vistas at Mackinac Island still come if the state charged a fee to go there? The head of the commission overseeing the Mackinac Island Historic Parks doesn't think so. But Gov. Jennifer Granholm said it's one way the state could raise money to cover the parks' $3 million in annual expenses without taking $1.5 million a year from the state's financially strapped general fund. (snip) Dennis Cawthorne, chairman of the seven-person Mackinac Island State Parks Commission, worries that any kind of additional fee could decrease the...