LANSING - Two alternative energy companies want to buy a closed Ford Motor Co. factory in southeast Michigan and convert it into a renewable energy park that could employ at least 2,800 workers within five years. The $725 million project involves Xtreme Power of Kyle, Texas, and Clairvoyant Energy of Santa Barbara, Calif., which are
WASHINGTON - The U.S. economic recovery gathered steam in July, according to better-than-expected reports issued Wednesday on manufacturing and the housing market. The two segments of the economy that were among the weakest during the depths of the recession - new-home sales and durable-goods orders - both registered big gains last month to bolster the
LANSING - Legislation that would allow state economic development officials to offer more Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credits this year while mandating greater transparency was unanimously approved Wednesday by a Senate committee. Meanwhile, a House committee reported legislation designed to lure a major advanced battery manufacturing operation to the site of the shuttered Ford
LANSING - Michigan's online chronicling of federal stimulus dollars ranks Fifteenth in the country according to a Washington, D.C.-based group, but the state is lacking when it comes to disclosing how many jobs the money has created. Good Jobs First, a policy resource center that promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development, compared the
LANSING - If you have been convicted of child pornography or sexual contact with a child, you should not have access to Internet sites children frequent, said Attorney General Mike Cox and a group of Republican legislators Wednesday. Legislation to be introduced in both the House and the Senate would make it a crime for
ANN ARBOR - Americans are apparently quite happy with their Internet search options. That's the conclusion reached by a survey of U.S. consumers conducted earlier this year by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The Internet portals and search engines category - made up of Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft - scored an 83 on the index,
LANSING - The Michigan Economic Growth Authority has two more standard tax credits to offer between now and the end of the year after it reassigned two remaining high-tech credits. The board agreed Tuesday to reassign credits for Compact Power Incorporated and Johnson Controls from standard to high-tech, essentially using up the remaining high-tech and
LANSING - Reducing the state's tax credit for filmmakers will crush the budding industry in Michigan, those working in the field said at a Capitol rally Tuesday. Talk continues to swirl that Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers are looking at curbing the credit, which allows a 40 percent tax credit on productions filmed in the
DETROIT - Autoline Daily has learned that the American auto industry faces a steel shortage that could hurt automakers just as they plan to boost production. When automakers began cutting production late last year steel demand plummeted and many steel mills slowly closed down, and now there's a shortage. It can take an integrated steel
LANSING - Proposals to raise the cigarette tax and tax entertainment tickets are far less likely to be sources of new revenue than the elimination of tax exemptions and restricting of tax credits, sources said Friday. News reports this week said Gov. Jennifer Granholm is proposing a 25-cent per pack increase in the cigarette tax