SOUTHFIELD - As the U.S. financial crisis deepens and ripples through the global economy, worldwide light vehicle sales are expected to slow down and reach 56.8 million units in 2009, a drop of 13 percent compared to last year, according to new research by R. L. Polk & Co. After experiencing a 17 percent decline
LANSING - Michigan's U.S. Senate members said Tuesday that the $838 billion stimulus bill that chamber passed on Tuesday will help put Michigan residents back to work once it takes effect, but the stimulus plan got mixed support from the House, which passed a resolution on largely a party-line vote supporting the stimulus measure. The
DETROIT - General Motors Corp. will cut 10,000 jobs, or 14 percent of its salaried work force, this year as the auto maker struggles to cope with a steep drop in world-wide vehicle sales. The job cuts are part of the plan the company submitted to Congress in December to secure bailout funding from the
DETROIT - Next Tuesday GM and Chrysler have to go before the US Treasury to prove they can be viable and get more government money. At the same time, the French government will give Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, and French auto suppliers nearly 8 billion Euros in aid, or about $10.5 billion. They get it as
LANSING - Gov. Jennifer Granholm's budget proposal will be released to the public on Thursday, but top legislators and other officials have started to get a glimpse at what is being called "a grim" budget document. A spokesperson for Granholm said the administration will not outline any aspects of the budget before Thursday's presentation. But
LANSING - For the second year in a row, Michigan's tourism web site received more traffic than any other state tourism web site in the country - a record 11.7 million visits. Click-throughs to Michigan tourism industry Web sites also set a record, averaging 16,074 clicks per day. Among the custom category of the 50
REDMOND, WA. - Microsoft on Monday made available an add-on to its Dynamics AX business applications that allows mid-size companies to collect and analyze their energy usage and translate that into the environmental impact. It's part of a broader effort around environmental sustainability at the company, headed by Robert Bernard, Microsoft's chief environmental strategist, who
NEW YORK - IBM on Monday announced a broad update of its products and services aimed at building intelligent infrastructure systems and dealing with the massive amounts of data they would create. Such projects could include adding millions of sensors to the nation's power grid or digitizing every American's health records. IBM's revamp includes an
LANSING - Michigan will now have two bodies looking at optimal siting for wind energy in the state. Governor Jennifer Granholm created and appointed Friday the Great Lakes Wind Council specifically to look at offshore locations for wind turbines. The new council, created under Executive Order 2009-1, has until September 1 to come up with
LANSING - A state lending program that was to have expired on Friday has been extended for another three months in part because of a sudden interest from state-chartered banks and credit unions - but the state has lent less than one-tenth the $150 million it available for loans. Some bankers have said the program