ANN ARBOR - University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman will co-chair a new council formed by the U.S. Department of Commerce to spark economic development through technology and early-stage business ideas, an Obama administration cabinet member said Tuesday in Ann Arbor. Coleman will co-chair the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, U.S. Secretary
MANISTEE ? Huge wind turbines could pop up in Manistee farmlands in 2012, generating enough electricity to power 30,000 homes, while employing nearly 300 workers in a rural county hard hit by the recession. Duke Energy of Charlotte, North Carolina, has been quietly contacting farmers in Manistee and Benzie counties to see if they would
WASHINGTON DC - The U.S. Department of Transportation has analyzed dozens of data recorders from Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles involved in accidents blamed on sudden acceleration and found that at the time of the crashes, throttles were wide open and the brakes were not engaged, people familiar with the findings told the Wall Street Journal.
LANSING - Insurers can continue to consider customers' credit scores when setting rates for auto and homeowners insurance, a divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a much-anticipated decision. The ruling is a bitter setback for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, legislative Democrats and urban activists who have decried the practice, which they say unfairly leads to illogically
WASHINGTON DC ? The U.S. government is launching an expansive program dubbed "Perfect Citizen" to detect cyber assaults on private U.S. companies and government agencies running critical infrastructure such as the electricity grid and nuclear power plants, according to people familiar with the program told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. The surveillance by the National
LANSING - While she said the Legislature should have remained in session to continue working on the final resolution of the 2010-11 budget, Gov. Jennifer Granholm told reporters Wednesday completion of the budget may rest on federal action on the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentages issues. She also raised doubts that the Legislature would ever act
LANSING ? Ray DeWinkle, who was a fixture for nearly two decades at The Right Place economic development program in Grand Rapids, and left to become CEO of GreaterFindlayInc, has returned to Michigan, this time as senior vice president of Global Business Development for the Lansing Economic Area Partnership. More specifically, DeWinkle leads business development,
WASHINGTON ? In just three years' time, the U.S. Small Business Administration's Patriot Express Pilot Loan Initiative has supported nearly $500 million in Patriot Express loans to small businesses owned and operated by veterans, reservists and their spouses. Patriot Express Loans, which can be used to start or expand a small business, increased over the
ANN ARBOR - Three Michigan companies recently received a combined total of $104,000 through the Michigan Microloan Fund Program, bringing the total amount invested through the Fund to over $1.3 million. Terra-Telesis, KnowledgeWatch, and uwemp received the funding to support commercialization of their core products. Terra-Telesis, doing business as AWGET (Airport Wind Generated Electric Turbine),
LANSING - An existing statutory ban on drilling for oil and natural gas in or underneath the Great Lakes would be placed into the Constitution under a proposal approved Wednesday by the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee. The measure (SJR Z ) comes about a week after the House overwhelmingly approved its own constitutional