BEIJING - Every few years, a gold discovery emerges with numbers so large they demand attention — even from an industry trained to be skeptical. China’s latest announcement fits that pattern. Geologists drilling beneath the Wangu gold field say they may have identified more than 1,000 metric tons of gold buried deep underground, potentially extending
DETROIT -If self driving cars were judged by promises alone, Michigan highways would have been filled with autonomous vehicles years ago. Instead, the state that built the modern auto industry has spent more than a decade quietly stress-testing a harder truth: getting a car to drive itself reliably, everywhere, and in all conditions is far
COLUMBUS - Most people assumed Ohio’s marijuana revenue would work the same way legalization did. Fast. Sales would begin.Money would follow. That isn’t what happened. After voters approved Issue 2 in November 2023, recreational marijuana sales launched in August 2024. Dispensaries opened. Consumers showed up. Taxes were collected every day. Cities and villages waited. Not
DETROIT - Detroit’s launch of a new microgrant program aimed at helping small businesses adopt modern technology underscores a much larger challenge facing Michigan’s innovation economy: early-stage tech companies and digital-dependent small businesses are chronically underfunded at precisely the moment when technology investment is becoming essential to survival and growth. City officials, working with the
ANN ARBOR — As U.S. auto prices and monthly payments hit historic highs, new data reveals generational differences not only in borrowing but in how these costs are squeezing household finances. A LendingTree analysis of ~66,000 anonymized credit profiles from mid-2025 highlights stark contrasts in debt loads, payment burdens, and now leasing vs financing payment
LANSING -Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a high-stakes federal antitrust lawsuit this week targeting major oil companies—including BP, Chevron, Exxon and Shell—and the American Petroleum Institute, alleging a decades-long conspiracy to stifle competition from renewable energy and electric vehicles. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in western Michigan, frames the case as not
ANN ARBOR - A growing number of millionaires and billionaires are publicly urging governments to raise taxes on the world’s wealthiest individuals, arguing that extreme inequality threatens economic stability, democratic institutions, and long-term growth. In an open letter released alongside global economic forums, wealthy signatories warned that current tax systems allow vast fortunes to accumulate
LANSING — The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity is encouraging manufacturers and their workforce/non-profit partners to apply for a share of $260,000 in funding to develop and implement transportation programs that improve employee retention, productivity and access to work. The Reliable Rides Incentive Grant Pilot Program builds on the recently-released Reliable Rides: Connecting
ANN ARBOR - During 2025, MichBio focused not just on visibility, but on building the underlying conditions that allow companies to start, scale, and stay in Michigan. Convening the Ecosystem, Statewide Convening Michigan’s life sciences community remained a central pillar of MichBio’s work in 2025, with a renewed emphasis on geographic reach, inclusivity, and high-value
NORWAY - A speculative proposal making the rounds again in global infrastructure circles imagines a 3,400-mile tunnel beneath the Atlantic Ocean, capable of moving passengers between New York and London in under an hour. Highlighted recently by Ecoportal, the concept carries a staggering $20 trillion price tag and relies on a combination of vacuum-tube travel
