LANSING - State officials are estimating as many as 19,000 teachers and eligible school personnel could retire under the incentive/penalty plan adopted by the Legislature. The state had seen 16,000 retirement applications as of noon Friday, said Kurt Weiss , spokesperson for the Department of Technology, Management and Budget. Weiss said the Office of Retirement
ANN ARBOR - In-Pore Technologies won the inaugural $100,000 SmartZone Award Thursday night at the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest business plan writing contest awards program, the top prize in a night when $250,000 in checks were handed out. The SmartZone Award, sponsored by the Michigan SmartZones and funded through the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, a
LANSING - Making it more likely that the tactic could be used to help balance the 2009-10 budget, a spokesperson for Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Thursday that she is open to using some School Aid Fund monies to help offset cuts in the general fund budget. House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) also said he
HOLLAND - For the first time since the Technology Employment Forecast began in 2003, not one of the participating companies reports that they will decrease their information technology staffs. Every category of business plans to increase IT staffing in West Michigan. Almost three-quarters of computer consulting firms will be hiring. Nearly half of the participating
LANSING - Matthew Hill, Founder and CEO of Liquid Web, a Web hosting and Data Center company, was honored by Ernst & Young as Entrepreneur of the Year for the Michigan & Northwest Ohio region Thursday night. Hill will now compete against the other regional award winners for the prestigious honor of Ernst & Young
SAN FRANCISCO - A group of hackers exploited a hole in an AT&T Web site to get e-mail addresses of about 114,000 iPad users, including what appears to be top officials in government, finance, media, technology, and military. The leak could have affected all iPad 3G subscribers in the U.S., according to Gawker, which broke
LANSING - Unless the Department of Transportation turns over revenue data on how much money the tolls from a new Detroit River International Crossing would generate, the Senate will not vote on the legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop said Wednesday. And in another development, Sen. Jim Barcia (D-Bay City) said he is leaning against
ANN ARBOR ? Four Michigan companies recently received a combined total of $122,000 through the Michigan Microloan Fund Program, bringing the total amount invested through the Fund to over $1.2 million. Akervall Technologies, Blaze Medical Devices, Ellison Corp., and Waste Water Heat Transfers Systems received the funding to support commercialization of their core products. Based
LANSING - The Department of Natural Resources and Environment announced Wednesday that anglers can now purchase a 24-hour fishing license with any web-enabled mobile device. The project - called Mobile Fish - is a joint effort between the DNRE and the Department of Technology, Management and Budget. Mobile device users can access Mobile Fish at
ANN ARBOR - Plymouth Management Company, a recipient of a Michigan Venture Capital Association Fund Development award, has reached a first close of $15.65 million on its Plymouth Venture Partners II, L.P. The company expects to begin investing the money in growth stage companies in the Great Lakes region immediately, while raising an additional $15