GRAND RAPIDS ? The Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center will present in metro Detroit a series of financial tools workshops to help non-financial manager business owners achieve fiscal fitness. Five Keys to Achieving Fiscal Fitness is a state-wide training program designed to strengthen financial literacy and improve the ability to access capital businesses
LANSING - Public employees in the state are generally paid about market wages, but most state employees are below those market rates, according to a study released Thursday by Citizens for Accountability and Reform and the union-backed Economic Policy Institute. The study, done on the heels of a report from Governor Rick Snyder on Monday
LANSING - There are more video service choices in the state, but fewer people choosing them, while there are more companies taking advantage or electric choice, according to reports issued this week by the Public Service Commission. In video, the number of choices was up, but the number of subscribers was down, the annual report
LANSING ? Gov. Rick Snyder's agreement with the federal government to tie Canadian money offered for the Detroit River International Crossing to the state's federal matching rate for transportation infrastructure projects is a good deal, road interests say, but does nothing to improve the existing system. "We're encouraged there's a recognition that infrastructure has to
LANSING - A decade ago, most of Michigan's public retirement systems were in splendid shape, but 10 years of economic battering, especially by the stock market, has left the state with an unfunded liability of $15.4 billion, a report by the Senate Fiscal Agency said. The report also said measures undertaken in 2010 to have
LANSING - The budget that Gov. Rick Snyder will propose February 17 will only ask the Legislature to pass a budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year because of constitutional issues clouding the ability to enact a two-year budget that includes the 2012-13 fiscal year, Budget Director John Nixon said Monday. Nixon said until the constitutional
TROY- Automation Alley has elected three new board members for 2011: Donald H. Clayton, managing director of Clayton & McKervey; Mark Symonds, CEO and president of Plex Systems; and Peter H. Webster, member of Dickinson Wright. "The staff and I look forward to working with the new board as we continue to grow the innovation
ANN ARBOR ? Fusion Coolant Systems of Ypsilanti won the $5000 first prize in the Emerging Companies category of the fall 2010 Great Lakes Entrepreneurs Quest business plan competition Monday night at the Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurship at Ann Arbor Skyline High School. Fusion Coolant is developing next-generation metalworking fluids for machining and metal forming.
WASHINGTON ? Women-owned small businesses can begin taking steps to participate in a new federal contracting program on Feb. 4 when the new Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program begins. First contracts are expected to be awarded by the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011. On Feb. 4, SBA will release instructions on how to
WARREN - The Michigan Business and Professional Association, along with its sister association the Michigan Food and Beverage Association, strongly urge legislators to support legislation that would eliminate the State's unnecessary Item Pricing Law. Both Associations large membership represent over 20,000 small businesses, employing over 160,000 individual employees, support House Bill 4158 sponsored by Representative