Independent journalist Anna Matson is no stranger to controversy or government officials trying to keep information from the public. She’s covered a wide range of stories, from government shutdowns to the release of the JFK Assassination files.
She’s made news of late due to her coverage of a story much closer to home for her. Right in her backyard, she’s trying to pry open one story in Grand Blanc Township, Mich., and she’s facing unusual resistance.
Matson is local to the township, and she decided to investigate a controversy centered on petitions filed against six township officials, whom the filer alleges played a role in putting the township’s fire chief, Jamie Jent, on administrative leave. After community backlash, he has since been reinstated to his position.
Monica Shapiro, a former candidate for Grand Blanc Township supervisor, filed the petitions that demand a recall of township supervisor Scott Bennett, clerk Dave Robertson, and trustees Joel Feick, Mike Yancho Sr., Paul White, and Sarah Hugo.
This all comes after Jent had expressed his own concerns over the fire department’s staffing levels.
If the name “Grand Blanc Township” sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you saw news stories at the end of September about a mass shooting and fire that happened at a Latter-Day Saints church in the township.
On Sunday, Sept. 28, Thomas Jacob Sanford, who had served in the U.S. Marines, rammed his pickup truck into the side of the church building, he got out, he then shot up the church, and using gasoline he brought with him, he set it on fire. Four people were killed, and nine were injured in that attack. Police dispatched the gunman on the scene, putting an end to the havoc he created.
According to the FBI, Sanford was motivated by his own “anti-religious beliefs against the Mormon religious community.”
After the attack, people in the local community raised concerns over the low staffing levels in the fire department and related risks to the community’s safety.
Just this week, Jent pushed for the township to add four new firefighters to the department at a cost of roughly $313,000 to local taxpayers, a move that the community appears to be receptive to in the wake of the church fire.
In her efforts to cover this story, Anna Matson filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with Grand Blanc Township, and that’s where things get unusually weird. If you’re not familiar with FOIA requests, they are a means for journalists and members of the public to gain access to records and information, as is their right as citizens. More often than not, there is no charge to the citizen making the request. If there is a fee, the FOIA filer might pay roughly $75 per request.
So when Matson filed two FOIA requests with the township, she was shocked to find that the township wanted to charge her $100,000 and $64,000, respectively, for the records she wanted.
“I was the first reporter on scene during that tragic Grand Blanc LDS fire and shooting,” Matson told WNEM-TV. “So, I was there to witness that, and the first responders just did incredible, and they deserve our respect and our support. It was insane for me to see that just three weeks later that fire chief was put on administrative leave. And I have questions, and I want answers just like the rest of Grand Blanc.”
Matson has stood before township supervisors in a public meeting where she outlined the issue and made her case, engendering a groundswell of community support for her efforts.
These particular township officials seem to follow a pattern of making a bad situation worse. First, a tragic mass shooting and fire happened under their watch. Next, they disciplined the fire chief who raised staffing concerns in the wake of that tragedy. Now, they are throwing ridiculous obstacles in the path of one journalist who is not making unreasonable requests.
Journalist Anna Matson put in a Freedom of Information Act request in Michigan
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) November 27, 2025
“Grand Blanc Township charged me over $100k for a FOIA request”
She appealed the cost, it was denied
This corruption is insane
“When a government body issues six-figure fees to access public… pic.twitter.com/Jbt9MNye4q
"When a government body issues six-figure fees to access public records that is not being transparent, that is not being accountable. That is obstruction, it is intimidation, and it goes directly against the intent of the (FOIA) law," Matson said.
If the supervisors thought their actions would put this matter to rest, they are now in the “find out” stage of the redemptive process. Their efforts to make it harder for the public to know are only drawing more attention to this sleepy little community north of Detroit.
Thank God for tenacious reporters like Matson. Without them, you’d never know just how untrustworthy our elected leaders can be, regardless of whether it’s at the federal level or all the way down to your local township supervisors.
