Michigan “no longer wants to pay the $52,000 annual cost of the NFB-Newsline service, which provides 24/7 free audio access to about 360 local, national and international newspapers and magazines,” the service’s director, Scott White, tells Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press.
The service — which has about 3,100 subscribers in Michigan — is run by the National Federation of the Blind, whose website says participating newspapers in Michigan are the Free Press, The Detroit News, The Flint Journal, The Grand Rapids Press, the Lansing State Journal and The Mining Journal.
White told Egan the service will end this week. State Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs spokesman Jason Moon “issued a brief statement late Monday suggesting the decision may not be final.”
“An initial request to fund the new grant cycle was denied by the bureau,” Moon said. “That denial was due to NFB’s failure to provide timely and sufficient information.”
